The Killer Inside Me--Review

The Killer Inside Me was a very good movie (I have to say).  It is based on Jim Thompson's book of the same name, which was written in 1953.  The movie stars Casey Affleck as the gentleman, yet brutal, Lou Ford.  Lou Ford has a dark past which is awaken when he meets prostitute Joyce (Jessica Alba), where the two have lots of sex (and when I say sex I mean its a lot of sex and masochistic as well, hence when he spanks her with his belt and in one scene strangles her with it-nice).  Lou is supposed to run Joyce out of town because she is having sex with a union leader's son, whom Lou hates with a passion over what they did to his brother some years ago.  Can we say revenge!  

Well the set up is done and Lou has his own plan, even though he has made Joyce believe that they are going to run off together.  I shy away from giving you more details but this is actually an excellent movie.  I was surprised at Casey Affleck's performance.  He pulled off the part so well.  He had a great combination for sounding and acting like a sweet Texas gentleman, and then suddenly display this violent dark side, which made him come off as creepy.

Jessica Alba was good as well, showing more skin than I am use to seeing from her in any of her other films.  But her character was so naive and accepted the fact that she was a victim, unlike women now who would fight back.  

As for Kate Hudson's character Amy, the typical good girl--who wants a husband and loves Lou a lot.  Her character was smart and knew about Lou's dark side, but didn't care--because she loved him and wanted to be with him regardless.

This is typical Hard-boiled Noir! Great in all areas.  The ending was fantastic (well only if you understand what noir is and how movies or books like that end).  I will give you a brief example of a noir-film/book: The characters in a noir hate their surroundings.  They long to escape the trapping of their life and will do whatever it takes to get out.  They will also do whatever it takes to not go back to that old way of life as well. This may result in the character killing themselves and whomever is with them.  They also don't think what they have done is wrong.  They feel justified with the results--so a few people have to die for me to survive, so-be-it-kind-of-attitude. Nihilistic all the way.  

I suggest you keep an open mind when watching the movie and explore your dark side a little.  If you are a film student this is a great example of noir.  I am glad this movie was made in this year, because if it was made in the fifties then there would be a lot cut out.  I am also glad they didn't try to adapt it for modern times.  It would have become possibly silly and dry.  They would have to have a great director to modernize this movie or any other noir film.  They have tried but without success.

I hope you like this review and feel free to go to Amazon.com where both the book by Jim Thompson and the movie are available for purchase.  Thank you.