A much talked about film that I recently acquired entitled Kiss Me Deadly features an end of the world plot line as a back drop to a crime noir that was way ahead of its time. Some fans of the complex film genre might be familiar with its reincarnation as the 2006 film "Southland Tales," directed by Richard Kelley(Donnie Darko). In Kelley's re-envisioning of the 1955 classic, we follow our hero "Boxer Santaros"(Played by The Rock) through a mesmerizing cornucopia of conspiring elements that are ripped straight out of Revelations. After traveling through a rift in time/space he is the target of a governmental entity that resembles Orwell's big brother, the plot further thickens as our hero, who suffers from amnesia due to the stress of traveling through the rift, is used and manipulated by fringe political groups. The end result is his role in igniting the sequence of events that trigger the end of the world. The prime similarity between the two films are the kaleidoscopic plotlines and characters and its monumental achievement to leave the audience breathless and wondering what will become of the world in the end. In the film Kiss Me Deadly the main character, a private eye named Mike Hammer who, armed with his love stricken secretary and a no nonsense attitude when it comes to acquiring information whether the end result is a battered women or bloody old man, discovers that not everything is what it seems in his pristine world. The trigger for Mike's change of perspective occurs one night while driving home he encounters a stranded young women with a dangerous secret. After picking up Christine(Cloris Leachman), the two are abducted by faceless men in suits who kill the girl and leave Mike for dead. Mike's determination to uncover the truth brings him to the discovery of a box of which the contents are never fully revealed. The symbol of the mysterious box has been a significant catalyst in other films based off of this remarkable storytelling mechanism. For instance Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pulp Fiction and Repoman. A glowing light is all you ever see of what is inside the container, however several clues are given as to what it might be. Manhattan Project and the head of Medusa are both mentioned at different points in the movie. The box, which when opened instantly vaporizes all who are caught in its gaze, is compared to that of Pandora's Box who, as the legend goes, released all manner of unspeakable evils into the world when it was opened. In the films climax it appears that something along the same lines may have occurred and being that it is never fully explained but rather left up to the audience to decide the fate of mankind is why the film had such a controversial existence. In the newly restored version of the DVD an extra minute of footage was added to help explain the power of what was released and eludes to the fate of Mike Hammer. Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury and has appeared in numerous movies and television program's that span the last forty years, however his most notable appearance on the big screen, (played by Ralph Meeker), remains Kiss Me Deadly. After having a chance to dissect the film and its subtle yet elegant meaning it is clear that the ultimate fate of mankind hinges on his ability to overcome his curiosity with tampering or manipulating his surroundings and his desire to concur the science of nature and the elements behind it. If Mike had abandoned his quest for the truth about why Christine was killed then the box may have never been opened. Crisis averted, but just like Dr .Frankenstein or John Hammond in Jurassic Park we always want to peek behind the curtain of creation or accumulate a deeper understanding of the proxies within our own life which usually results in disastrous consequences. The Film relays this in its final moments, showing you the terror that has been unleashed and how all of mankind will pay the price despite the noble intentions by Hammer. Even the box itself is the result of some kind of environmental manipulation that birthed a dangerous artifact that cannot be controlled, only contained. And isn't that ironic that in our day in age we find ourselves undertaking the hopeless and futile task of trying to contain some horrible evil that we ourselves are solely responsible for.
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