Kiss Me Deadly (2008)

"Kiss Me Deadly" is the first installment of a planned spy franchise centered around gay former government agent Jacob Keane (Robert Gant) who can't seem to escape his former life. Keane is a photographer living the family life in Milan with his loving boyfriend Paolo (Nathan Whitaker) and Julia (Alessandra Muir), the daughter he shares with his lesbian friend Kyra (Katherine Kennard). Keane is pulled away from his boyfriend and daughter and back into the world of international espionage when his former partner Marta (Shannen Doherty) reappears after 17 years. With her memory erased, they now must elude a pair of ruthless assassins and a mysterious villain looking to gain classified information at any cost. What ensues is a fast paced game of cat and mouse as Keane must determine who wants them dead, and why.

The story begins on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as Keane and his partners Marta and Jared (Fraser Brown) are attempting to either get a man out of the country or learn something important from him. But before the assignment is completed there's an explosion and Marta is sent flying, with the mystery man lost in the flames. A few days later Keane learns that the Cold War has ended and he has lost his job. We fast-forward to the present with a montage of major political events moving through Bush, Clinton, another Bush, the World Trade Center attacks and the attacks on the Pentagon.

Keane is now living a comfortable life in Milan as a photographer specializing in rather tacky underwear campaigns. He kisses his assistant and has two of the male models pose together, so we realize rather quickly that Keane is gay. Marta reappears and leaves an urgent message on his answering machine that she is coming to Milan and must see him. He drops the kid off at Kyra’s house and heads to the train station to meet Marta. When he gets there he learns that she has amnesia and is being pursued by an evil thug. From here on the movie is all about learning why Marta can't remember anything and figuring out what Frosty the Hitman and his thug henchman Fredrick (Ian Roberts) are after. Keane has some pieces of the puzzle and must reconnect with his old agency after 20 years of retirement. As he does, he begins to wonder if they may be in on the scheme. He's also not telling Marta everything he knows, which leads her to become suspicious of him--especially when she regains memories of sleeping with him.

Keane kisses his lover goodbye and hits the road with Marta. The action moves to St. Albans, then to London, Zurich, and finally back again to Milan, keeping up a fast pace to make the viewer lose track of the story and overlook some holes in the plot. Along the way there's some gratuitous full-frontal male nudity which is frequently more distracting than anything else. After Keane and Marta leave town, they unearth some secrets and get a few more innocent people killed. It's strange that these super operatives are not very good at deducing the obvious solution to their situation. The climactic fist-fight between Keane and a beefy goon is the most satisfying action of the film, and not just because of the added joy of knowing that these are two strapping gay men wrestling one another to the ground.

"Kiss Me Deadly" is an action-packed spy thriller that has mixed reviews. The action is uneven, and a few of the scenes are so badly shot and edited that they're funny. There's a car chase where neither vehicle looks like it’s going over 15 miles per hour and a car crash where the vehicle suddenly flips over--off-screen. It's almost completely humorless and the characters don't have much electricity or chemistry with one another. But there are a few clever twists and unexpected shocks that keep things from getting too dour. Claude Foisy composed the original music, George Schenck and Frank Cardea wrote the screenplay, and Ron Oliver directed.

Clandestinos (2007)

Gay, cute and charismatic Xabi (Israel Rodríguez) has been living in reformatories, detention centers, and prisons since he was abandoned as a child. His feral life led to a life behind bars. He seldom manages to escape, but does on one occasion and meets Iñaki (Luis Hostalot), a middle-aged ETA terrorist who becomes his friend, teacher and lover--a Basque separatist who instructs him about the nature of revolution. However, Xabi is sent to a high security correctional facility after throwing a gasoline bottle at a policeman in a street raid, nearly killing him. Xabi, with friend Joel (Hugo Catalán), a young Mexican, and a Moroccan named Driss (Mehroz Arif) who is going to be deported, manage to escape and arrive in Madrid. They are the "clandestinos" of the title.

Xabi looks for Iñaki because he wants to join the ETA, but cannot find him. Joel and Driss are more interested in hooking up with two girls they meet on the bus. Desperate to prove himself to the terrorist, Xabi plants bombs and robs unsuspecting johns. As Xabi tries to prove himself to Iñaki, he gets in over his head, especially when a john he picks up to rob turns out to be a police chief (Juan Luis Galiardo), and his plans begin to crumble. Finding Iñaki turns out to be difficult, because Iñaki doesn't want to be found. A far more serious terrorist, he's driving around with a trunk full of C-4 and doesn't want to reunite with his young acquaintance. Surprisingly, Xabi and Driss have some success with their homemade bomb, but their situation is doomed not only because the anti-terror squads are on their tail, but also because the comically slutty girls with whom Driss and Joel have shacked up start to have suspicions. They realize what is going on with Xabi and call the police. The ending is done poorly and is a disappointment

Politics and gay love come together in this melodrama, and as we go inside the heads of the three boys we end up with a pleasurable viewing experience. The film provides some wonderful eye candy (the shower scene in the prison, for example) but it tells us about the desire for acceptance and how to achieve it. The cast is very good and Israel Rodríguez as Xabi is excellent. But while the action here is exciting, the tone is quite wrong for the movie. Since when is terrorism a lark? Sergio De La Puente composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Gabriel Olivares and Antonio Hens, who also directed. In Spanish with English subtitles.