Title – Kill Me Three Times (2014)

Director – Kriv Stenders (Red Dog)

Cast – Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton, Teresa Palmer, Alice Braga, Luke Hemsworth, Callan Mulvey, Bryan Brown

Plot – Hitman for hire Charlie Wolfe (Pegg) gets caught up in a game of murder and deceit in a small West Australian town where anyone and everyone seems to be hiding a secret.

“I’m having a bad day here”

Review by Eddie on 17/09/2015

“Once is never enough” – a tagline used to promote Kill Me Three Times and a tagline that couldn’t be more far from the truth as one single watch of this dire Australian black comedy is most certainly enough.

On the back of one of the most successful Australian films of all time, Red Dog, you’d think that long time director Kriv Strenders would’ve known a thing or two about making a competent and well-made feature length film but judging by Kill Me Three Times, the director certainly has a fair bit more to learn about what it takes to deliver when it comes to filmmaking treats.

Kill Me Three Times is sad to say as a proud Australian, yet another telling example of why quite often local productions fail to resonate with either local or international audiences and while the locations of this West Australian set comedy/thriller certainly look nice and I’m sure the crew enjoyed their two weeks away in the sun and sand, Kill Me Three Times lacks any type of personality, heart or most tellingly for a comedy caper like this, wit. Too often Australian productions come off as amateurish and rushed and Stenders film is both of those things plus more with an abysmal scripting, unlikeable characters, plodding editing and one of the single most annoying scores ever committed to screen by Johnny Klimek (without exaggeration the score is almost too much to handle) and not even a name cast can save the film.

Cast against type as a hitman who likes to laugh (a lot) Simon Pegg is the single watchable acting presence in the entire production in which the likes of 300’s Sullivan Stapleton, Warm Bodies’ Teresa Palmer and local industry veteran Bryan Brown all meander about getting to chew on atrocious dialogue and get involved in increasingly unlikely circumstances. Perhaps they all signed on thinking this was going to be some type of Aussie flavoured Pulp Fiction but more likely they all saw the benefits of a nice paid holiday.

With an insubstantial plot, a lack of any rhythm or rhyme and with a wasted cast, this nasty box office and critical flop is most defiantly not worth your time. A shame as there was potential here but in the end being killed once is more than enough as we’re safe then, never having to watch this tripe again.

1 why didn’t I just watch Red Dog? out of 5