Un beso antes de morir

Usually when a person is so motivated to go to any lengths to achieve his dream it's depicted as a good thing. But when that person is Jonathan Corliss (Dillon), it's a nightmare for those who care about him and bloody executions for those who stand in his way.

Matt Dillon's performance as a charming psychopath is what works very well in "A Kiss Before Dying". Corliss, a blue collar Philadelphia lad with huge ambitions, sets his sights on a Copper Baron's (Max Von Sydow) empire and plans to become a member of the family. When it becomes necessary to dispose of the Baron's daughter (Sean Young), Corliss (under an alias) moves on to her twin sister (Young again) and enters the family. But hiding his tracks and his former life proves quite the hassle and Corliss has no reservations with killing every one who stands in his way of greatness in the Copper business.

A double doze of Sean Young is a bit too much to take; she's simply an astonishingly bad actress but Dillon more than makes up for that. His Jonathan Corliss is a very memorable psychopath. It's never made crystal clear as to why he set his sights solely on Von Sydow's empire but his journey on the way is suspenseful. It's not a very graphic film but it does have some very nasty moments and disturbing death scenes.

Director Dearden makes no attempts in admitting his affection for Alfred Hitchcock and some moments here are obviously a tribute to the old master of suspense. The ending does feel a bit rushed but overall "A Kiss Before Dying" is an above average thriller with some striking and memorable set pieces.

Why do they do it? Just because a film was made once in the fifties, someone thinks they need to remake it with today's hot stars. At least they could improve on the story.

The most glaring hole in this version is the fact that the father (Max von Sydow) hired a private detective to investigate the boyfriend of his daughter, and yet he declined to investigate the boyfriend of his other daughter, both played by Sean Young, which would have exposed the plot.

Matt Dillon plots to have it all and has to do some things that just stretch us beyond belief to get there. He just seems to be in the right place at the right time just once or twice too often for my tastes.

I fell in love with Sean Young when she did No Way Out back in 1987. I haven't seen much of her lately and understand that she has not been doing so well. I thought she was good in this role and think that she has been unfairly criticized.

Still, I believe film noir is best watched in films of the fifties and remakes just don't do it for me.

A remake of the 1956 film of the same name, A Kiss Before Dying is directed by James Dearden and Dearden adapts the screenplay from Ira Levin's novel. It stars Sean Young, Matt Dillon, Max von Sydow, Dianne Ladd and James Russo. Music is by Howard Shore and cinematography by Mike Southon.

Story has Dillon as a troubled young man who murders his pregnant girlfriend (Young) and then hones in on her twin sister (Young again obviously) for further psychotic shenanigans.

It's just about an average thriller at best, where even if the plot line and character motivations are intriguing enough to hold the attention to keep one interested to the ending, even there the outcome is rushed and unsatisfying. From the negative reaction at the initial test screenings, to Golden Raspberry awards, and tales of rewrites and re-shoots et al, this noir reboot is messy.

The tie-in to Hitchcock's Vertigo is glaringly "not" homage worthy, and not just content with that, director Dearden tries to use some of Hitchcock's macabre black humour to unintentionally "not" witty results. So with Young on hilariously bad form as well, the thriller aspects strain to get resuscitated for dramatic worth.

Dearden does show some nice touches with his camera-work, and there's a lurid quality to Southon's colour lenses that pay respect in heart to Levin's source material, but ultimately it's hard to recommend seriously to noir fans and the 56 version (itself not without problems) is still the way to go. 5/10

For this type of thriller, this movie is entirely average. The plot and overall theme is decent enough, but the film loses any potential it might have by featuring such lousy acting. Even Max von Sydow, who is a veteran and is normally an excellent actor was disappointing in this. The only actor who did even a decent job was Matt Dillon. The film also has a bad pace, it's far too slow; in fact, it's incredibly slow and boring, for such a short film; it's just over 90 minutes, yet I can't bring myself to sit through the entire thing again(I did once, but ever since then I haven't been able to do so). The climax in the film is also below average, and flat-out boring. The supposed twist-in-the-end was lame, and not to mention far too easy to figure out. Also, the film introduces the villain far too early, in my opinion. Five minutes into the film, you knew who you were gonna root against. That's just too early. The film lacks any real surprises, as well as any great qualities. The few scenes detailing the psychopath's gruesome murders are decent, but lacks any real intensity or excitement, simply because you know exactly what will happen. As far as thrillers go, this is average and entirely forgettable. I recommend it only to the biggest of thriller fans. 5/10

"like a bad tv movie" Thanks to MCMucus, Kalamazoo. You summed it up in 5 words. I could only add that a pompous score tries to tell you that a wonderful drama is unfolding in front of you. It's not. It's hard to find anything of value in this film.