Kiss the Girls

Summary

“This guys a collector.”

Paramount Pictures has recently released the 1997 thriller Kiss the Girls starring Morgan Freeman as novelist James Patterson’s protagonist Alex Jones. The film was adapted from the book of the same name. It was a financial success with roughly $60 million worldwide against a $27 million budget. Critically the film received moderately positive reviews at the time of its release with Roger Ebert praising the film with a three star review, while a number of other critics considered the film to be somewhat forgettable. I had not seen the film when it was originally released, and I am a fan of police procedural movies from that era, so I was happy to check the film out.

Washington D.C. – detective and forensic psychologist Alex Jones (Morgan Freeman) puts in time at the local Y helping to coach kids in the boxing ring. He is called in to a crime scene in an apartment. A wife abuser named Edmund lies dead on the floor and his wife Diane is locked in the bedroom refusing to come out. Upon entering the bedroom, Alex sees that she is pointing a gun at herself. Alex talks the battered wife Diane out of killing herself. That situation resolved, Alex tends to a more personal matter. He goes to visit his sister because his niece Naomi is missing. In Durham, North Carolina, a serial killer who is going by the name of “Casanova” walks a blonde girl named Megan through the woods. She pleads for her life and he asks her to tell him she loves him. At the Research Triangle of the FBI in North Carolina, Alex arrives to investigate his niece’s disappearance. When he is not called back for over two hours Alex walks back and sees a board showing their research on the serial killer which shows all the missing girls that are suspected to have been taken by the killer. Alex meets with Detectives Nick Ruskin (Cary Elwes) and Sikes (Alex McArthur.) The killer leaves behind the sign of Casanova at his crime scenes. Megan’s dead body is bound to a tree with an elaborate knot. The killer is a serial rapist who leaves the killing of his victims to the animals in the woods leaving behind no semen and no fibers. Alex meets Chief Archie Hatfield (Brian Cox.) Chief Archie tells Alex to consider himself his guest but not to “mess around in the kitchen.” Alex Cross concludes from the information gathered that the killer is a collector and the women not recovered thus far are still alive. Surgeon Katie (Ashley Judd) works a difficult job with emergency patients. She also attends a kickboxing class to blow off steam. As a storm rolls in, Katie is assaulted by the killer at her home where she lives alone. She fights back and runs, but after knocking over a fish tank, she sits on the floor. She asks ”what do you want from me?” to which he replies “everything” before hitting her with a taser. She wakes in a strange place and she has been drugged. The killer is wearing a mask. He tells her that she is there to fall in love and experience love. He warns her to not try to escape or cry out for help or to try any of her kickboxing tricks before he drugs her again. The killer is in contact with someone else over the web who approves of what he is doing. Kate calls out and learns the names of all the women in captivity. In an explosive escape sequence, Kate escapes from her captor. She pairs up with Alex to help apprehend the killer and rescue the women Casanova has held in captivity someplace in the woods.

In 1995, the back to back success of the films The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en set off a wave of serial killer police procedural films. The truth is that not even the best of them could match the stylistic triumph of David Fincher’s film, or the strong story by Thomas Harris for Silence. At the time, film adaptations of famous novels occurred frequently with strong adaptations of works by Crichton and Grisham lighting the cinema world on fire. James Patterson was and still is one of the bestselling novelists in the world and his series of novels focused on Alex Cross are some of his most well regarded. It made sense that a studio would look at the Alex Cross series as an easy decision to produce, especially if they could get Morgan Freeman in the lead role. The possibility of built in sequels was also a plus, and Alex Cross has shown up in two more films since – Along Came a Spider and the Tyler Perry-led Alex Cross. I think that to me what separates these adaptations of James Patterson from Grisham or Crichton (or Thomas Harris, or Lee Child) is that Patterson is not as talented a writer in my opinion as those folks. Patterson definitely has some interesting ideas, and some good twists, but his writing feels a little too paint-by-numbers for me to ever feel a full connection with his work. This of course impacts the final product of the films made from his work.

Directed by Gary Fleder, who had helmed the cult classic Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, (which I have always enjoyed,) Kiss The Girls from the start of the film shows its age. The opening sequence of the film which has a soliloquy from the serial killer set to images of his captives, feels like it wanted to emulate the amazing opening sequence of Se7en, but was worried about pushing too far into any substantial extremity for its audience. This struck me as almost right out the gate putting the film in the territory of Diet Se7en, or Se7en Lite.

Some of the plot is a little hamfisted such as when Alex Cross diagnoses Kate’s condition in the hospital after borrowing a Physician’s Desk Resource, or the PTSD related retelling of her experience of her escape which feels completely overblown. These are honestly unnecessary diversions in the script that only serve to draw the audience away from the main story, which has its moments. I enjoyed in particular the clever idea of a killer conversing with another psychopath over the internet. The overall plot of the film has enjoyable sequences even if it ultimately feels somewhat predictable and like a little too much of a crowd pleaser as designed by a committee.

The casting in the film for the most part is solid. Morgan Freeman was inspired casting for Alex Cross and plays the role perfectly. Ashley Judd is for the most part pretty good in the film, although I found her PTSD sequence to be somewhat embarrassing to watch, but I am not sure if that was just the writing of that sequence or how it was enacted. I have always liked her in roles and remember finding her to be pretty beautiful when I was a young kid. Tony Goldwyn is perfectly cast in his role. He is one of those actors that I always enjoy whenever he shows up onscreen, and I wish he was in more things. Brian Cox is given very little to do in his role, but I enjoyed seeing him in the film. I have for the most part enjoyed Cary Elwes in films, but in this movie, the southern accent he sports is typical Southern via Hollywood. I was able to get past it eventually, but found it pretty distracting at first. I also noted a cameo by Billy Blanks as a kickboxing teacher.

Overall – Kiss the Girls is neither a good nor bad film. It is ultimately pretty forgettable. I would only recommend purchasing if you are a fan of the film already. Otherwise, you may want to rent it prior.

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, Kiss the Girls looks pretty damn good overall in Paramount’s new UHD presentation. At first, I was a little bit worried about the transfer but as the movie went on the transfer got better. While this transfer is not going to match their recent restorations of The Running Man or The Truman Show, I can not imagine for a second that fans of the film will be less than pleased with how the film looks now. Grain is extremely well resolved and the HDR brings out the very best in the film’s color palette. Aside from leaving a little bit to be desired at the beginning of the film, this is an attractive UHD upgrade. Given how dated the prior Blu-ray release is, I would definitely recommend upgrading if you are a fan of the picture.

Audio

Paramount has presented Kiss the Girls with a  DTS-HD MA 5.1 track which was also featured on the prior Blu-ray release. Honestly, I had no real qualms with this track. The surrounds were engaging enough during the run of the film and, while an Atmos track would have been a welcome addition, I wasn’t disappointed.

Supplements:

• There are no supplements on the 4K disc.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5 

Audio – 4.25/5

Supplements – 0/5

Overall – 3.25/5

Kiss the Girls is ultimately a pretty forgettable thriller. Riding on the wave of serial killer films that were spawned by the success of Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls never quite convinces the audience of the danger its characters face. Adapted from the bestselling novel by James Patterson, Kiss the Girls was the first film to feature one of his most beloved characters Dr. Alex Cross. Paramount’s new UHD release has a high quality 4K transfer but has not updated the audio in any meaningful way. There are no supplements on this release. Overall – this release only comes recommended for fans of the film who want to add it to their collection. I would recommend purchasing this release over the dated Blu-ray if you are a fan.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.