I coulda sword I’d seen Aldrich’s “Kiss Me Deadly” before, but I had not. This movie is, I feel confident in telling you, insane. It starts out breathless and energetic, then slips into a long private investigator-ish procedural. . .lots of driving around Los Angeles picking up tips and clues. Hard not to think of the Big Lebowski when seeing this kind of stuff — don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Finally we get to the ending (they are chasing a Pulp Fiction-ish “glowing box”) and then everything gets all cold war end of the world B-movie sci fi existential on us. Very unexpected. Another element of this film, again good or bad depending on point of view, is the absolutely horrible acting. In fact, the acting is so bad that I think it must be on purpose, giving this film even more of a beamed-down-from-another-planet vibe than just the ending. A real headscratcher. I can’t say I totally loved this movie, but it wouldn’t be a waste of your time to check it out.
