(And people give me a hard time for collecting film scores and Dario Argento flicks. Sheeeesh...)
CAST: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Brian Cox, Jay O.Sanders, Gina Simmons, Roma Maffia, Tony Goldwyn, Gina Ravera.
DIRECTOR: Gary Fleder
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and highly-questionable hobbies straight ahead...
When it comes to Serial Killer flicks, sometimes a little atmosphere can go a very long way. A potent aura of doom, gloom, and building dread can possibly paper over any holes or weaknesses in the script. As Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) opined at the climax of SCREAM 2, "Execution is everything!" Presumably, he didn't mean that in a murder sort of way. Well, given the movie he was in, maybe he did.
Anyhow, the difference between a Serial Killer flick that is merely okay or average (RED DRAGON) and one that is actually good or very good (TAKING LIVES, JENNIFER EIGHT, HANNIBAL, COPYCAT) or one that is simply terrific (SEVEN, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), can often be measured in how much it gets under your skin. Sadly, while I found RED DRAGON to be a technically competent film, it was about as creepy as a training video on how to dice carrots.
KISS THE GIRLS is a prime example of a film that might have collapsed under its potentially ridiculous premise: a serial killer who calls himself Casanova is abducting beautiful young women in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. What's so potentially ridiculous about that? Well, for one thing, Casanova doesn't actually kill his victims unless they prove to be too much of a handful.
Nope, he prefers to keep them imprisoned as his, ahem, concubines. See, he actually thinks he's in love with them. Since he's only killed two of the eight women he's kidnapped - for not following his rules - I guess you could say he's more of a serial abductor. Who likes his women to be seen rather than heard.
Right, C. Whatever you say. Good for you the movie you're in has atmosphere to burn; otherwise, the Raleigh-Durham Police Department would be laughing their asses off over you.
Anyhow, our hero is D.C. forensic psychologist Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), who gets pulled into the fray when his niece, Naomi (Gina Ravera), becomes the latest of Casanova's unwilling brides and disappears from her campus. Suffice it to say, Casanova makes mistake # 1 in abducting the niece of someone who is basically Hannibal Lecter, but not evil. Just as quick a study, though. Sure enough, Alex hightails it down to Research Triangle Park to whoop some ass and take care of his own.
Finding resistance from the Raleigh-Durham P.D., Alex has his work cut out for him. Fortunately, he's got more intelligence in a single hair follicle on his head than his RDPD counterparts do in their entire family trees. After just a few minutes of studying the profiles of the eight missing women, as well as taking into consideration that only two bodies have been found, Cross does the Lecter thing and quickly realizes that: (1) killing is not Casanova's primary motive; (2) he's more of a collector who only kills when he meets any kind of resistance from his captives; and (3) all of the women are extraordinary in some way - meaning it's not enough that they be beautiful. They need to have the "X-Factor."
I guess Big Daddy C. is into quality, and not just big tits. Can't say I blame him. Because if you let beauty be your sole criterion in choosing the kind to have a semi-relationship with, you run the risk of potentially finding more than you would ever want to know about Cover Girl Simply Ageless Make-Up. It's either that, or simply fuck her and never have a single meaningful conversation. Me? I'd actually like to have a couple of heated debates, thank you very much.
But I digress. Shocker. Anyhow, Alex and his useless colleagues get a huge break when one of Casanova's lovely ladies decides being held prisoner in a dungeon with seven other chicks is not her bag - and gets the jump on our villain by demonstrating her knowledge of Tae-Kwon-Do. Yeah, fucker! Take that! This woman is the lovely Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), a doctor who is also Casanova's latest addition to his reluctant harem.
After shoving Casanova's spleen into his nasal cavity, Kate books it out of that dungeon and out into the surrounding woods. She races through the forest with our villain behind her yelling: "Kaaaaaaate!!!!, Kaaaaaate!!!!, Kaaaaaaaate!!!, Kaaaaaaate!!!" Question: does this idiot actually think that she's going to stop in her tracks, turn around, wait for him, and be all like, "'Sup, dude?"
Whatever. Anyway, Kate gets cornered on a cliff next to a waterfall. Casanova advances on her, his face hidden behind a mask - which is our first clue that our killer is actually one of our main characters. Ahem. Otherwise, why bother to hide his face? Double Ahem.
Long story short, Kate decides she'd rather risk a fatal face-plant in the possibly shallow water far below than go back to being one of Casanova's bitches. And just like that, she does a swan dive - literally and figuratively - off that cliff. Meanwhile, Casanova is left to just gawk in disbelief at the spectacle while going, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
Yeah, man. Don't underestimate a strong-willed chick who know martial arts. Ever. That was Mistake # 2 on your part.
Fortunately for Kate, the water below turns out to be pretty deep. Eventually, she's fished out of the river and taken to the nearest hospital. News that one of Casanova's prisoners actually escaped spreads fast, and before you know it Alex and the gang of Keystone cops he's stuck with hightail it down to the Med Center to see what they can find out. Now Kate can literally be considered as "the one who got away."
Will Kate be able to help Alex track down Casanova? Or will Casanova come after her again? Will they be able to save Naomi and the other women before Casanova decides to tie up loose ends? And what happens when Alex discovers a link between Casanova and a West Coast killer nicknamed "The Gentleman Caller?" Are two serial killers working together? Or is Casanova also The Gentleman Caller? What kind of fucked-up co-dependent relationship is going on here? Do we even want to know?
See for yourself. Just don't start imagining what it would be like to have your own gaggle of concubines. That's how it starts, apparently. From there it's a slippery slope, and next thing you know, you're slapping on some night-vision goggles.
Whatever you do, don't kidnap me and add me to your harem. Because I'm telling you right now, I know how to scream like a girl and use my fingernails as a deadly weapon - and I will fuck your shit up.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Like I said before, KISS THE GIRLS had some potential liabiities against it: (1) a villain that could've been ridiculously over-the-top and difficult to take seriously; and (2) a plotline that could've been too busy - especially with the inclusion of a second serial killer. Fortunately, Gary Fleder's assured and clever direction builds a dark, swirling atmosphere of danger around its characters that sells the concept.
Speaking of the characters, it also helps greatly that they are essayed by a top-flight cast. Morgan Freeman was the best thing in SEVEN, and once again he brings his trademark blend of gravity, wry humor, and hidden sensitivity to his role of Alex Cross. Compared to William Somerset in SEVEN, Cross is a slightly less jaded character, and Freeman makes him a pool of warmth and positivity amidst the sinister things unfolding around him.
Cross's relationship with Kate is an interesting one, and it's one of the main reasons (besides the atmosphere and the cast) that KISS THE GIRLS rates as high as it does. In the novel, Cross and Kate developed an intimate romantic relationship. Here, however, the link between them is more multi-faceted, changing like a prism from scene-to-scene, going from formal, to paternal, to friendly, to avuncular, to confrontational, then to something almost approaching a platonic romance. There's definitely some sort of undefined tension between the characters, just as there's definitely a potent chemistry between Freeman and Ashley Judd. It's not hard to see why they were matched again in another thriller, HIGH CRIMES (2002).
Speaking of Ashley Judd, she delivers a very memorable performance as Kate McTiernan. Then again, Kate is fairly compelling to begin with. The character is a web of interesting contradictions: tough, but sensitive; confident, but not arrogant; brave, but also quite scared; kind, but definitely not tolerant of smug idiots. We only spend a few minutes with Kate before she is abducted by Casanova, but those scenes are expertly written in such a way as to paint a full picture of her life before it is turned upside down.
The best one is a scene with Kate and her best friend in a sauna, talking about their love lives - or lack thereof. Kate says, "Know what I'm looking for? The way my Daddy used to look at my Mama. How could I settle for anything less?" With a few simple strokes such as this, the script humanizes Kate and makes her more than just another thriller heroine. It makes her a relatable human being we can't help but root for.
As for the rest of the cast, they are all quite strong. Cary Elwes, Brian Cox, and Alex McArthur are all perfect in their roles as members of the Raleigh-Durham Police Department who may or may not be on the up-and-up with Alex. The other major female characters are Naomi, Alex's niece, and Dr. Ruocco, the doctor who treats Kate after her escape and helps Alex figure out what kind of drugs Casanova uses to keep his prisoners docile. In these roles, Gina Ravera and Roma Maffia follow Ashley Judd's lead in delivering capable female characters.
If there was one thing I didn't like about KISS THE GIRLS, it's that you can easily figure out who Casanova is way early on. The script tries to deflect attention away from the culprit, but it does it in such a way that you immediately know what is up. It's a small flaw in an otherwise engaging, offbeat, and suspenseful thriller.
Here's to a third Morgan Freeman-Ashley Judd pairing in the near future.
