Kiss Me Deadly Analysis

The film follows Mike Hammer, a private investigator who usually deals with divorce cases. Following a series of dramatic events after picking up a beautiful hitchhiker, he begins to seek revenge and solve a case that takes him on an unexpected journey. Along the way we see the story and characters take many twist and turns before it reaches its dramatic, somewhat apocalyptic final conclusion. Robert Aldrich - the director of ‘Kiss Me Deadly’- gives us some interesting compositions and diverse camera angles; we also see the strong contrast of black, white and the prevalence of shadows, classic elements of the film noir style.

Character

The characters in ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ do take us on a journey throughout the film. The stereotypical characters

Throughout the film we see murder, blackmail and even illegal nuclear weapons.

Murder is heavily present in ‘Kiss Me Deadly’. Most of the murders are committed in the film are by Dr. Soberin and his thugs. Christina is murdered in the first few scenes, we hear about the murders of two other individuals who knew the secret, Nick is murdered by the gang and Dr. Soberin is murdered by someone we thought he trusted, Lilly. Murder in the film enhances the sense of danger, betrayal and sets a dark tone for the whole movie.

The nuclear weapon featured at the end of the film is unexpected. During the film one of the main questions is what is inside the secret box everyone wants hold of? When opened by Mike when he finds in it’s in the locker and he burns his wrist, it just adds to the question and confuses the viewer more.
When opened fully by Lilly in the last few scenes, we see that whatever was in the box is nuclear and has the power to cause a lot of damage. We don’t really see the full extent of the damage caused but when released it really would have added to the “paranoia” surrounding nuclear weapons and it creates a sense of fear, horror for not only the characters but the viewer too.