Yesterday we watched the 1989 Jon Dahl film, Kill Me Again. We’ve both seen it before. I may have actually seen it twice but it has been quite a number of years. I wanted to see how well it holds up 25 years after its release.

This movie is very much like an old time “noir” film. Watching it now, it seems almost as if Mr. Dahl was learning his chops by working through the noir genre. This film was touted as “neo-noir” when it was released, but in the fullness of time, I think we can dispense with the neo.

For those who haven’t seen it, Kill Me Again features Val Kilmer as a loser small-time Reno detective. He get hired by (you guessed it) a femme fatale, who has ripped off stolen mob money from her boy friend. She wants Jack, the Kilmer character, to fake her death. Naturally, bad things happen and both the boyfriend and the mob get involved.

For me the film holds up as a well-crafted if highly derivative B-movie. Other noir-type films by this director include The Last Seduction (with a great performance by Linda Fiorentino) and Red Rock West (punctuated by Dennis Hopper’s appearance). I wonder how well they would hold up to another viewing today?