Kiss the Girls

1997

Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

67
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 34% · 35 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 62% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 95849 95.8K

washington dc, usa based on novel or book escape kidnapping detective fbi

Plot summary

Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.

Director

Gary Fleder Photo
Gary Fleder

Top cast

Morgan Freeman Photo
Morgan Freeman as Dr. Alex Cross
Jeremy Piven Photo
Jeremy Piven as Henry Castillo, LAPD
Brian Cox Photo
Brian Cox as Chief Hatfield, Durham P.D.
Bill Nunn Photo
Bill Nunn as Det. John Sampson
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
862.89 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 10
1.77 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 33

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by jzappa 8 / 10

A Sufficient Mainstream Psychological Cop Thriller with Particularly Good Lead Performances

In this modest enough psycho-thriller, once more Freeman plays a policeman on the path of a perverse serial killer, and again the shade is bottomless and the antagonist is ingenious and the atrocities are intended to convey some sort of perverted meanings. Though as commercial and formula-driven as it is, the movie's not a rehash but a fertile piece, based on a Patterson book about a criminal who, the Freeman character perceives, is not killing his quarries, but accumulating them. Often said by moviegoers to be the actor whose presence has the most authority of any of his generation, Freeman has an exceptional bearing on the screen, a particular determination that we believe. He never looks or sound like he's pretending. He never gives a superficial, obvious or distracted impression, and even in movies that aren't that good, he's not guilty by association: You feel he's genuine even as a film may capsize around him.Freeman plays Patterson's pet character Alex Cross, a forensic psychologist with the Washington, D.C., police, who becomes entrenched in a chain of kidnappings in North Carolina. When his own niece is taken, he flies there and calls on the police department, where he's kept waiting for hours until he ultimately barges into the office of the chief. The victims are being taken by a man who inscribes himself "Casanova," and one of his victims is found dead tied to a tree and "left for the critters to find." Cross questions why there aren't more bodies, and speculates that Casanova is a collector who kills only when he believes he needs to. His niece and her fellow captives must still be alive somewhere. His hypothesis is certified by what comes of extraordinarily sexy local doctor Ashley Judd, who also gives the sometimes humdrum drama a helping of forceful energy.And what Freeman brings to all of his scenes is a really specific thoughtfulness. He doesn't just listen, he appears to cogitate what he is told, to gauge it. That masterful attribute begets a funny outcome, when other actors will tell him something and then stop to see if he trusts it. And Judd shows us such a boldly defined personality, which makes their dialogue scenes, after she's been developed for awhile, engrossing.Kiss the Girls was directed by Gary Fleder, whose first feature, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, boasted skill but too much artifice. Here he's more careful and restrained, with a story where the shades and details are as chilling as anything else. Here as in Seven, we get a steady feeling of not being able to see everything we believe we want to, as in a chase through the woods which Fleder makes effectively tense through its efficient use of space, never revealing the distance between victim and pursuer.When the film is over and we know all of its enigmas, there's one we'd like to know more about: What precisely are particulars of the histrionics between the two most nefarious characters? But being left with such a wringer is much more fulfilling in a way than being given the explanation in the conventional fast-sketch Freudian description. What we're also left with is the genuine feeling of having met two authentically defined people in the leads. Freeman and Judd are so good, you almost wish they'd chosen not to make a thriller at all, had just discovered a way to create a drama really sinking their teeth into their characterizations. All things considered, I would've preferred that movie.
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Reviewed by Leofwine_draca 4 / 10

Forgettable serial killer outing with a derivative killer

The best thing you can say about this predictable thriller is that it passes the time amiably enough, thanks to some fast pacing. Otherwise, it's nothing we haven't seen before, with Morgan Freeman doing his usual detective shtick (see 2001's ALONG CAME A SPIDER for more of this); a post-SEVEN world populated by dark, shadowy sets and a disturbed killer at the centre of the crimes. Although Freeman's investigation is kept interesting and there are some nice, original clues and twists to go along with, it's all very light and fluffy slick stuff which doesn't get the viewer involved. The editing is occasionally poor and the script confusing, not giving us enough time to register what characters are saying before dashing on in a mad panic to the next scene.

The killer in the movie wears a Michael Myers-style mask, which makes for a few spooky scenes, and his weird cultured voice is also pretty effective. However, towards the end, the movie just becomes very predictable and the revelation that the killer is a policeman is far too obvious. After SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SEVEN you would expect the film to be graphic but it isn't really, apart from a cool shooting at the finale. Morgan Freeman is as good as ever as the gruff detective but he isn't given much emoting to do; Ashley Judd is also pretty convincing as the kickboxing doctor who becomes a victim before regaining her strength and fighting back against the killer.

The film does make good use of some nice photography, especially in some woodland chase sequences which are nightmarish to watch. Otherwise, it's just an interchangeable film which is easily forgotten, offering up a killer who is neither scary enough or original enough in his crimes to be that threatening, and concentrates on scenes of action rather than gradual plot development as it should. Worth a watch for genre fans or if you catch it on television, otherwise give it a miss. Not scary!

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