Joanne Whaley is a deceitful slut in this complicated neonoir thriller, and Val Kilmer is the private eye she manages to suck into her scheme to steal money from Michael Madsen who has just stolen it from the Mafia. There are multiple murders along the way. In the end everybody gets dead except for Kilmer who makes off with the entire stash. I don't know why the plot let him get away, because he's done all kinds of illegal stuff and proved himself as untrustworthy as anyone else. But the narrative has established him as just about the only sympathetic character in the movie -- his wife recently died in a drowning, for instance.
The natural locations around Lake Mead are splayed out across the screen in gorgeous color. You really want to dive into the electric blue of that man-made lake. Urban settings are less well realized.
The story line is involved and not very plausible. This babe, Whaley, conks Michael Madsen over the head with a rock while he's at the urinal, which is among other things very bad manners. What's she doing in the men's room anyway? What kind of a movie IS this? After Whaley and Kilmer have been together for a while, Madsen finally catches up to them, threatens and beats Kilmer, and rapes Whaley who manages to find a gun and appears to shoot Madsen multiorgasmically. But no! Madsen shows up for the climax of the film and he and Whaley fall into each other's arms and laugh. I guess he's forgotten about getting bashed in the urinal. And I guess he's still alive because Kilmer didn't bother to check and see if Whaley had REALLY shot him after being raped. Are you following this? Good, because I couldn't. Oh -- and I also must have missed the part in which Kilmer gets to take the money out of the attache case and fill the case with junk, including a can of Spam. In fact -- well, okay, I admit it. I lost track of the money per se once or twice during the film. I'm also not certain why we are left to assume that, at the end, Kilmer can be presumed to be safe from both the Mafia and the police. I'm sure there's some reason because I am a mechanical determinist.
Performances. Whaley is suitably sluttish and very yummy. She looks a little and acts a lot like Natalie Wood and is about the same size. I rather liked her appearance -- that saucy ever-jiggling bosom, those big dark eyes looking outward in two slightly different directions.
Whatever "charisma" means, Val Kilmer hasn't got it here. He recites his lines as if reading them from a cue card on an afternoon drama. There is no animation in his delivery or his movement. He seems bored by having to speak. And he has prissy good looks that are repugnant. But, man, did he come awake for some roles in later movies, doing for instance a splendid job in "Heat." But here he seems to be playing his instrument with a mute.
Poor Michael Madsen, a nice guy in real life apparently. But if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs," you know what he's like here, slavering over the prospect of torturing bound prisoners with lighted cigarettes, automatics, a hunting knife, a baseball bat. Sometimes he switches from one application to another in the middle of a schtick.
I was kind of in the mood for it and was pretty much disappointed by it, but I can see why someone in a less demanding mood might enjoy it. It doesn't really seem to deserve much applause.
The natural locations around Lake Mead are splayed out across the screen in gorgeous color. You really want to dive into the electric blue of that man-made lake. Urban settings are less well realized.
The story line is involved and not very plausible. This babe, Whaley, conks Michael Madsen over the head with a rock while he's at the urinal, which is among other things very bad manners. What's she doing in the men's room anyway? What kind of a movie IS this? After Whaley and Kilmer have been together for a while, Madsen finally catches up to them, threatens and beats Kilmer, and rapes Whaley who manages to find a gun and appears to shoot Madsen multiorgasmically. But no! Madsen shows up for the climax of the film and he and Whaley fall into each other's arms and laugh. I guess he's forgotten about getting bashed in the urinal. And I guess he's still alive because Kilmer didn't bother to check and see if Whaley had REALLY shot him after being raped. Are you following this? Good, because I couldn't. Oh -- and I also must have missed the part in which Kilmer gets to take the money out of the attache case and fill the case with junk, including a can of Spam. In fact -- well, okay, I admit it. I lost track of the money per se once or twice during the film. I'm also not certain why we are left to assume that, at the end, Kilmer can be presumed to be safe from both the Mafia and the police. I'm sure there's some reason because I am a mechanical determinist.
Performances. Whaley is suitably sluttish and very yummy. She looks a little and acts a lot like Natalie Wood and is about the same size. I rather liked her appearance -- that saucy ever-jiggling bosom, those big dark eyes looking outward in two slightly different directions.
Whatever "charisma" means, Val Kilmer hasn't got it here. He recites his lines as if reading them from a cue card on an afternoon drama. There is no animation in his delivery or his movement. He seems bored by having to speak. And he has prissy good looks that are repugnant. But, man, did he come awake for some roles in later movies, doing for instance a splendid job in "Heat." But here he seems to be playing his instrument with a mute.
Poor Michael Madsen, a nice guy in real life apparently. But if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs," you know what he's like here, slavering over the prospect of torturing bound prisoners with lighted cigarettes, automatics, a hunting knife, a baseball bat. Sometimes he switches from one application to another in the middle of a schtick.
I was kind of in the mood for it and was pretty much disappointed by it, but I can see why someone in a less demanding mood might enjoy it. It doesn't really seem to deserve much applause.