Seeing Nicholas Cage perform this lunatic gangster boss, with asthma and an aversion to metal spoons, is the biggest gift for me.This actor is truly maniacal in his performance and way more convincing and scary than any rampage of bullets could ever be. This is firstmost an actor's movie, with truly terrific performances from leading (David Caruso) AND suporting actors. I mean, with supporting roles from Philip Baker Hall, Stanley Tucci and Samuel L Jackson things can only become better. And they do!

This movie is a remake of an old classic and the basic story is quite smart and full of sudden plot turns, which kept me on the edge of my seat. The many great true to life dialogues and terrific acting performances lift this movie way up above all the other average gangster movies out there.

The story: a petty criminal (David Caruso) gets busted for car hijacking. He becomes a snitch and in order to save his own ass, he has to frame gangsterboss Nicholas Cage. Will he succeed in bringing gangster boss Nicholas Cage down or will he die trying?

Highly recommended gangster movie for anyone who is into action and cool, maniacal gangsters. They dont get much cooler than this. Anyone who is into great acting performances and true to life dialogues however will be VERY pleased as well, because this is one mother of a great nineties gangster classic!

The low Imdb rating is probably due to the unusual downbeat twists in the story, which wont please the masses. But the true gangster fan will certainly appreciate the finer qualities of this nineties classic!

David Caruso and a beefed up Nicholas Cage star in this remake of the 1947 noir film..In this one David Caruso, on parole, is talked into doing a job to help his cousin, when he is busted, his cousin takes advantage of him and his wife Helen Hunt. Caruso is offered a deal by a slippery DA with political aims, played with the usual excellence by Stanley Tucci. Caruso then discovers the meaning of the word politics and seeks revenge on those who betrayed him. An underrated movie that didnt get much press when released (probably due to Caruso's controversial exit from NYPD Blue) this film builds the suspense and keeps you involved and interested.Caruso, the Cagney for the 90s, plays his part great with a tension you can feel. All the other roles are played well in this sleeper movie.. Well recommended Kiss of Death rates a 8

Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) is trying to stay clean in Queens. He and his wife Bev (Helen Hunt) have a baby. His cousin Ronnie Gannon (Michael Rapaport) pulls him back into working for Little Junior Brown (Nicolas Cage). Jimmy is arrested. He doesn't rat out Little Junior and in exchange, Bev is taken care of. Bev is forced to work for Ronnie as he cheats her out of the money. Big Junior Brown (Philip Baker Hall) is Junior's father and they own the strip club Baby Cakes. Ronnie gets the recovering alcoholic Bev drunk and she wakes up in his bed the next morning. In shock, she drives off and dies in a car accident. During the funeral, Bev's sister Rosie (Kathryn Erbe) tells Jimmy the truth. To get Ronnie, Jimmy rats out the crew except Ronnie. Believing Ronnie is the actual rat, Little Junior has him killed. Year later with parole coming up, police detective Frank Zioli (Stanley Tucci) threatens to out Jimmy to Little Junior. Jimmy is forced to be an informant on Little Junior. With Big Junior dead, Little Junior is the new boss and the police is actually targeting his business partner Omar (Ving Rhames). Meanwhile, Jimmy has remarried to Rosie and trying to carve out a normal life.

Nicolas Cage steals this movie for both good and bad. His character is unforgettable. However, it's so big that the movie loses the thread of an intense noir thriller. David Caruso is fine and so is almost everybody else. Michael Rapaport continues his jittery sleazy bad-influence character. The story is a little long trying to do too much. For example, it would cost nothing to keep Bev around for the whole movie. With a couple of tweaks, Bev and Rosie's characters could have been combined. With some simplification and compression, this would a much tighter thriller.