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It kind of sucks when we get a themed episode thrust upon us. Because we’re very bad at making a theme. Then someone dies and we comb over their catalog for something interesting. Which can also make for a bad episode. So we decided to do two of Val Kilmer’s lesser discussed films together. It doesn’t hurt that we’ve seen both before. That made this a bit of a refresher.
First up The Ghost and the Darkness(1996). It’s a move based somewhat on a book which is, itself, based on the deployment of a royal engineer, played by Kilmer, to Africa. He’s there to help construct a rail bridge which is being derailed by numerous factors. Just when he gets things going, lions start offing a bunch of the crew. This means it’s time for a wild animal hunt using late eighteenth century rifles and can do attitude.
Last but not leastly is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang[2005]. This star Robert Downey Jr playing himself which he then ported over into Tony Stark. Val is a private detective, gay Perry, who is babysitting him. Downey is a thief, turned actor who gets pulled into a murder mystery. A movie that is clearly mocking detective noir thrillers which ends up adopting quite a few of the conventions.
