Kiss of Death (1995)

“Don’t you know you can’t go around hitting the police? Huh? What’s wrong with you? ” – Calvin Hart

Number of Times Seen – 1 (6 Jul 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A convict on parole agrees to help a friend with a small crime and after he gets caught, he must find a way to refuse the pressure from the authority for a lighter sentence in exchange for naming names.

My Take on it – This is a film that I recall hearing about back when it came out because it was the film that David Caruso chose to make for his full transition to starring in movies instead of TV, yet I never had much of a desire to see what it was all about.

I had seen the original film that this is a remake of and this modern take on the story fails to work on so many levels.

The story itself isn’t very interesting to watch unfold and things come across as being far too predictable.

The film sports a great cast.

Along with Caruso, it stars Samuel L. Jackson, Helen Hunt and Nicholas Cage.

Unfortunately, their characters are presented in an over the top way which doesn’t help make us care about what will happen.

Th script as written doesn’t allow these actors to do what they do bets and they all seem wasted here.

The action is presented in a pretty boring way and that doesn’t allow for the viewer to take anything that happens here very seriously.

The original version of this story with Richard Widmark is much better and if one wants to see this premise done properly, check that one out.

I still can’t believe that this is the movie that Caruso chose to leave NYPD Blue over… what a waste!!!

Bottom Line – Really silly remake that doesn’t work well at all. The cast is great and they are completely wasted in these roles. The story is quite predictable in the way that things play out and there are far too many over the top scenes. I’m still shocked that Caruso left a promising TV career to star in films like this one. The action scenes are pretty boring and it’s so hard to take any of this film seriously on any level. Stick to the original with Widmark.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – David Caruso left NYPD Blue (1993) in order to film this movie, and pursue a full-time film career. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)