Kill Me Three Times
Contemporary World Cinema
Kill Me Three Times looks great, but it’s a tired, done to death kind small town noir gangster/revenge flick that only sparks to life thanks to some sharp comic moments.
A dental surgeon (Sullivan Stapleton) with a sexy and cunning spouse (Teresa Palmer) run afoul of a corrupt cop (Bryan Brown), a hunky auto mechanic (Luke Hemsworth) who wants to run away with his secret lover (Alice Braga) who is married to a hotel proprietor (Callan Mulvey) who is getting a little too possessive of his wife, and it’s up to the hit man with the sardonic wit Mr. Wolfe (Simon Pegg) to bear witness to it all in order to get the biggest payday that he can. Yes, it’s one of THOSE movies that has a lot of stuff going on at once.
Borrowing from movies we’ve seen many times before, it’s a stylish and occasionally funny effort, but it brings nothing new to the table. Director Kriv Stenders and screenwriter James McFarland’s work lacks any genuine emotion or reason to care about any of the characters in the film. Pegg carries the film on his back for the most part even though he isn’t the lead, and the twisting third act that actually kind of works.
Ultimately, Kill Me Three Times isn’t the kind of movie that you chase down. It’s almost custom made for Netflix curiosity. (Dave Voigt)
Screens
Friday, September 12th, 7pm, Scotiabank 1
Thanks to SPiN TORONTO for sponsoring our TIFF 2014 coverage.
