You Kill Me is an effective little neo noir/romance/comedy about a professional hit man who tries to walk the line and get off booze. 

The film’s wonderful lead actors are Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), who is

unexpectedly convincing as the mobster and the always quirky Tea

Leonie (Flirting with Disaster) as Laurel, his love interest.

There is also a marvelous supporting cast, including Dennis Farina as

the head of the rival Irish mob family, Luke Wilson as the hitman’s

supportive AA sponsor, and Philip Baker Hall, the head of the hit man’s

Polish mafia family.

The film was directed by John Dahl, who is associated with crime films

and film noirs. Some of his previous features include, Red Rock West

(1992), Rounders (1999), and Joy Ride (2001).

Dahl’s masterpiece, The Last Seduction (1998), was one of the best

and toughest neo noirs ever, but it was disqualified from Oscar

consideration because it played on cable TV before it reached the

theaters.

You Kill Me is a bit lighter and more romantic than most of Dahl’s

other works. It stars Kingsley as Frank, a polite, clean cut and likeable

middle aged man with somewhat of a schizophrenic personality. He is

kind and decent when he is not drunk, but his evil side comes out

after a few drinks.  Also, he is addicted to the excitement of killing

people and he works as an assassin.

But after Frank blows a hit on the leader of a rival family because of

his drinking, his mobster relatives send him out of town so that he can

dry out. A friend of the mob sets him up with a funeral job, and there

Frank meets Laurel, a woman who is not especially torn up over her

foster father’s death.

Frank is intrigued by Laurel’s bold brash personality, and he is amused

by her wry sense of humor. He asks her out to coffee and the two

begin dating.  They quickly become intimate, but of course, Frank’s

past comes out, and threatens his future with Laurel. The plot is

passable, nothing special.

The film has some unexpected and surprising dark comic scenes (such

as when  Frank confesses his profession at an AA meeting), as well as

some biting dialogue.

You Kill Me is not as uniformly strong as Red Rock West or The

Last Seduction but it is more charming, amusing, and engrossing than

your typical mob film.

If you liked Prizzi’s Honor, which has a similar tone and subject

Matter, you will also probably appreciate You Kill Me. 

 Live Free or Die Hard

It’s the beginning of the July 4^th holiday, and New York City Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is not a happy patriot. He and his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead from Grindhouse) have been at odds since McClane and his wife divorced. Lucy even uses her mother’s last name now. McClane seems to spend his time keeping tabs on Lucy, and now he’s been ordered to bring in some computer hacker for questioning.  

All hell breaks lose when McClane goes to pick up the hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long, The Breakup). Farrell’s apartment is riddled with bullets and the two barely get out alive. New York City is under technological siege, with all auto and air traffic and financial systems in chaos. Finally, McClane delivers Farrell to FBI Deputy Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis, Sunshine, Whale Rider). 

The mastermind behind this virtual terrorism is Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant, from Catch and Release and HBOs “Deadwood”), a disrespected former government agent, angry that his security recommendations following 9/11 were ignored. He’s out to get even and seek revenge. He’s not above taking the 9/11 violence to a higher level, as he kills without conscience. Gabriel’s plan is to hack into key systems in the US that control our defense and money.   

The “fire sale,” meaning all critical systems must be crashed, was instituted by recruiting unsuspecting hackers, which included Farrell, to write the code for Gabriel’s master plan. When Gabriel is ready to pull the trigger and set the plan in motion, he starts by killing the hackers who helped him build his infrastructure of sophisticated codes. Each person only has a part of the puzzle, similar to sleeper cells, so that if the FBI picks them up, the plan can quickly be put back in the bottle.  

Good old-fashioned action rather than CGI gets the movie off to a fast start. We’ve all seen the previews where a police car hits a helicopter in mid-air, but how we get to that point is a thrill ride of its own. Great action scenes prove that age is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, much of the action is far beyond reality. Sure, there are stunt doubles but Willis continues to amaze and amuse in the Die Hard series -- 20 years later, and carries the film in his world weary, inimitable style.  

One of our favorite supporting characters is Mai (Maggie Q of MI:3), a real kick-ass assassin. And Kevin Smith as uber-hacker Warlock, brings a smile when he first appears on screen. Farrell is able to guide McClane’s helicopter right to Warlock’s Baltimore abode, even though the Eastern Seaboard is plunged into darkness, because his is the only house illuminated, “because I’m rocking five generators,” Warlock explains.   

The climatic action scene with an 18-wheeler, a military jet and the freeway is so over the top that you have to laugh, not only because it’s unreal but that someone would think of doing it. This alone will probably get some teenage boys back to see this for a second time. 

What is realistic is how vulnerable we probably are to attacks by people in the know. With so much material being digital as compared to hard copy, IDs and passwords can change the world. 

Maybe that is why we liked the fact that a key link to save the day was McClane’s use of his CB radio to get in touch with Warlock to patch him through to the FBI, when all phone lines and satellites were inoperable.  

This is an action movie that is clearly on top of its game.