Armato per uccidere

The script of this movie never shows why or how a seemingly decent, almost boring small-town cop is transformed into a scheming bad-ass who plans not only murder, but to pin the blame for it on a fellow officer. Love is just not enough, especially when the object of it, Camelia Kath, is so woefully lacking in the femme fatale department. Then there is Keifer, who is excellent, except we don't get to see much of him. A lot could have been done with this character, but instead we get large dollops of the poisonous relationship between two quite unattractive people (Kath and her nasty, clichéd, property tycoon husband). Hitchcock could probably have pulled off a denouement in sand dunes on an overcast day but probably not many others could. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Joe Don Baker's performance as the old sheriff.

we bought this movie, as a second-hand copy, and first thing to strike us, was that we didn't have to turn up the sound, and talking bout sound, this score is one of the best we have heard, if score means coordinatiniton with the scenes in motion. the scenes too were artistically cut, to the score. we strongly recommend this copy to be copied by serious distributors for the future. unlike recent releases like matrix and others one can actually see and mostly hear this movie on and on. the screenplay is predictable, and a copy of an old perry mason episode. reference: new world international, danish copy by filmlab no 7736.

If you are in it for the long game ... well you may have more success than others. But an interesting take and interesting character Sutherland gets to play here. Overall it still has its flaws (pacing and otherwise), but it is more than a decent thriller - casting alone made sure of that.

You may see where this is going and there are glimpses of two sides of Sutherland. Who is channeling quite a lot here. He came a long way since then, but he is multitalented, also playing music quite succesfully. Keep your expectations a bit low and you'll be more than entertained by what you get served here - no pun intended. Even if it is quite predictable.

Having just watched another Kiefer Sutherland good movie (Truth or Consequences N.M.), I found "The Killing Time" almost equal. True the end was probably as predictable as ever, but getting there was as twisty as a California coastal road. Michael Madsen kind of disappeared, and that was somewhat disappointing. The character development was very good, the acting was fine also. I found the enjoyment level better than some of Quentin Tarantino's supposed classics. It is no "Fargo" but has that kind of feel to it. You could do much worse for an evenings entertainment. I give "The Killing Time" a solid 6.5 stars. - MERK

Above all, I mean the opening and ending scenes, which could be different: the first killed a lot of thrill for subsequent events, the latter was too abrupt and short. The tensions are also not maintained high throughout the movie and events connected to the past remain vague and uncompleted. Dramatic scenes end as suddenly as they begin and do often not provide additional value to the movie; the plot does not run smoothly, the scenes are rather "minced".

But performances are good (Bridges, Baker, Kath) or great (Sutherland, Rogers); Madsen could have played a bigger part. The Killing Time fits quite well into its title, especially if you like something happening in a quiet American town, without constant chases and bursts.