Review: Kiss the Girls (1997) A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Gary Fleder
Written by: David Klass based on a James Patterson book
Starring: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, and Gina Ravera
Ingredients: kindly forensic cop psychologist, brave young lady doctor, devious serial killer/kidnapper, abducted young women, trees, mist
Synopsis: In this intelligent, suspenseful thriller Washington DC police psychologist Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) and spunky North Carolina physician Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) team up to match wits against ‘Cassanova,' a devious rapist/killer whose identity remains a mystery until the movie's last scene.
Alex's college-aged niece Naomi (Gina Ravera) is the most recent victim in a series of abductions of women, three of whom have already turned up dead. The police attribute the murder/rapes to a methodical serial rapist/killer who thus far has left no prints, fiber, semen, or hair. Believing the remaining women and his niece might still be alive, softspoken Alex begins a dogged investigation.
Meanwhile beautiful Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), is stalked, drugged, abducted, and imprisoned by Cassanova. Kate manages a desperate escape into the forest, but because of the amnesiac effects of the drug, she can only remember vaguely when she is questioned at the hospital by Alex. What's worse, Kate is wracked by guilt for leaving the other prisoners behind.
Natural allies, Kate and Alex join forces to locate the abducted women and solve the mystery of Cassanova's identity. But are they hunting Cassanova, or is Cassanova hunting them?
Opinion: The mood is set by careful cinematography and plot. For example, the rapist attacks on a stormy night; the heroes launch their assault on the villain's lair at dusk; light symbolizes escape, and; trees and fog symbolize confusion.
‘Kiss the Girls' hooked me into trying to figure out the identity of the (masked) serial killer, because of its grim suspenseful mood, solid characters, believable clues, and the occasional clever plot twist. I left the theater for the most part satisfied, with the gears and clues still clicking away in my head.
Reviewed by David Sunga
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