When historians look back and write the story of the career ofRobert Downey, Jr., they will say thatbecoming Tony Starkwas what saved his career. you’re able to’t fully blame them, as there has been no greater definition of a comeback in recent history than RDJ going from a former drug addict has been to one of the biggest stars on the planet. His ongoing act as the poster boy of the MCU for 11 years brought him everything you’d yearn for as an actor: a secure job, a new generation of fans, and, most importantly, dump trucks of money.But that doesn’t tell the complete story, as people often skip over the fact that Downey, Jr. wouldn’t have even been considered for the role were it not for his performance in the cult classicKiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.
‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ Is One of the Great Neo-Noir Films
From the mind ofShane Black,Kiss Kiss Bang Bangis the culmination of a man who spent his career writing action bonanzas that answered the question, “what ifJoss Whedonwrote movies for adults?“Reinventing the buddy cop formula withLethal Weaponimmediately set Black on a trajectory as one of the most respected (and envied) screenwriters in Hollywood, churning out hits likeThe Last Boy ScoutandThe Long Kiss Goodnight.He made a name for himself forhis sense of intensely snarky humor, usually built around pithy dialogue being exchanged between hardened characters who can barely tolerate each other.Evoking the crime novel writers he no doubt grew up idolizing, Black’s sense of a golden heart lurking underneath all the black comedy makes him the perfect person to skewer the genres he plays in, as you can’t properly make fun of something unless you understand it first. Even Black’s one-time dalliance with the MCU,Iron Man 3, showed that he had enough of a sense of superhero movies to know how to poke the right holes in them while still keeping it a sincere story. That film featured one of Downey, Jr.’s best performances as Tony Stark,tapping into the anxiety and insecurity simmering underneath his bravado exterior due to his PTSD.It makes sense, then, that the performance that would first catch the attention ofIron MandirectorJon Favreauwould also be about a cocky guy who can’t keep his deep insecurities at bay.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bangis about Harry Lockhart (Downey, Jr.), a petty thief on the run from the cops, who stumbles into an acting audition. Using his recently traumatized feelings of witnessing his partner-in-crime get shot, he aces the scene read without fully knowing he’s doing it and gets sent to a party. At this party, he meets Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), a detective who will let Harry moonlight with him on assignments to study for the role. At the party, Harry also re-encounters Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), his childhood crush, and the two reconnect over a night of drinks.This trio will become accomplices in an investigation involving murder, mistaken identity, shootouts, and enough noir conventions getting ribbed tomake Philip Marlowe smirk. This being Black’s directorial debut, it might be the most “Shane Black” film he’s ever made (even more so than his otherbeloved cult classic,The Nice Guys), with Black riffing on his buddy-cop knowledge and filling every dialogue exchange with enough snap, crackle, and pop to elevate the story above its conventional structure.A story like that needs to be led by an actor who can be simultaneously grounded in his understanding of the character and light on his feet enough to keep up with the necessary pace, and Black found the perfect actor to be his muse.
Robert Downey, Jr. Is Sardonic Glee as Harry
Let’s get something straight:voice-over narration is tricky. It’s a tough sell at best and a deal with the devil at worst, often a crutch and rarely a 100% artistically sound idea. So when I say that Downey, Jr. doing voice-over narration for a comedic riff on pulp fiction is a stroke of genius, I appreciate how rarely that sentiment gets expressed. Harry is a character without much backstory outside a childhood devoted to magic tricks, with little to no insight as to how exactly his life fell apart enough to become a petty thief. Making Harry the author of his own story allows for his personality to fill in the blanks, and all the better when you have that personality be filled in by quite possibly one of the most truly spontaneous actors we’ve seen in the business.One of the hallmarks of Downey, Jr.’s acting is his sense of improvisation and energy, being one of the rare actors who can make everything he says feel like the first time it’s occurred to him.Few actors can pull off a gimmick like a narrator getting so caught up in his own story that he forgets important information and rewinds the film to fill in the gap or goes on full-fledged rants about how the conventions of a story are played out. It makes you wish that Shane Black had made aDeadpoolmovie, ashis sense of meta-commentary is light years beyond anything those movies have done so far.
That voice-over mastery extends to the dialogue scenes, as Harry is a person who can shoot his mouth off enough to cover up for the fact that he isn’t that bright.He’s smart enough that he can exchange banter with anyone, sniping little quips when there’s space, but also dumb enough that he’s routinely outclassed by everyone around him.For instance, when a local creep tries to make a move on Harmony, Harry tries to tough talk him out of his behavior, channelingthe likes ofClint Eastwood. Downey, Jr. is so built for that kind of hard-boiled dialogue that he convinces you he’s serious until we cut right to Harry getting his ass beat by the creep. It’s a nice character moment that shows Harry has a good heart but often doesn’t know what he’s talking himself into.There are many points where he unintentionally makes solving the case so much harder because he trips ass over elbow into bad decisions, like accidentally peeing on a corpse or throwing away Perry’s gun thinking it was “evidence,” which aggravates how much Perry believes he’s an annoying loser. Though this doesn’t seem like a character that could get him Tony Stark, there is more to the story.
What Harry Lockhart and Tony Stark Have In Common
Tony Stark is, above all else, a genius, always the smartest guy in the room and quick to remind people of that. Harry Lockhart is…none of those things, but hethinkshe’s smart enough and carries himself as such.His endless supply of comebacks and putdowns even have the exact tone he would use for Tony’s most ruthless moments, such as when he brags to Harmony that he “used to be great, now I’m amazing.” He is cutting, scathing even, but perhaps a tad bit defensive, hinting at the inner truth he won’t admit. In one of the film’s most famous scenes, he plays Russian roulette with a suspect to interrogate him, and winds up accidentally killing him, which he’s mortified by.That juxtaposition of hubris to immediate downfall is one that’s key to Tony’s eventual arc,seeing this titanic figure realize he’s been wrong the whole time. Similarly, moments where Harry has to watch someone die right in front of him evoke moments like when Tony sees a missile that has his name on it and he has to grapple with the emotional cost. They also both have a streak of misogyny in them, though Harry’s is much more pronounced and clumsy with his than Tony’s, as Tony is nothing if not suave.
That is not to say there’s nothing suave about Harry, as Downey, Jr. makes him more graceful than someone that bumbling should be. Downey, Jr. has always been blessed with a body that can glide through any scene ina manner that evokesFred Astaire, and many moments inKiss Kiss Bang Banglet that come through.From how he stands up after making a split decision to being slumped in the back of a cab, he’s so loose and carefree without being sloppy, much like how Tony always knows what he wants to do without seeming to put any thought into that.One scene that caught my eye is when Harry gets his finger cut off by accident, and how he responds to the pain was similar to inIron Man, when Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) has to fix his arc reactor, and he’s badly gritting his way through the pain. Both scenes are incredibly funny, primarily due to how Harry and Tony try hard to keep their cool in rare moments where they’re stuck not living up to their professed image, especially since both scenes take place in front of the people they care the most about, Harmony and Pepper, respectively.This is the dynamic that made Robert Downey, Jr pop off the screen for Jon Favreau: a guy trying too hard to be cool to cover for the damaged boy on the inside.
The Aftermath of ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’
When the film first premiered, it was met with decent critical reception and made a little bit of money, but it was kind of shrugged off. This greatly disappointed Downey, Jr., as he was “fresh out of prison and all but unemployable,” and it wasn’t the success he hoped it would be.The silver lining to this was that a certain Jon Favreau saw the film and gave him the idea to cast Robert as Iron Man. In Downey, Jr’s own words, “It ended up being my calling card toIron Man,” andthat it made Favreau go"This guy could do an action movie.” He also mentioned how important Shane Black was to his development of Tony Stark, saying, “Shane was one of my lifelines while making the firstIron Man…I would call to ask him about the script and dialogue. He was probably reading a noir paperback while we were talking, but his suggestions were brilliant.” Given how the firstIron Manhad an infamous production with barely any script, it’s a testament to the creative connection that Downey, Jr. felt with Black that he would entrust Black as an outside source on such an important project.
Much has been made of the MCU’s “formula” for telling stories. It often boils down to getting directors who are great with actors and story, peppering the interactions with quippy jokes and a jovial air, and leaving the action scenes up to the second unit andVFX houses. Sometimes, this can work great, andsometimes, it can be a vacuum-sealed parody of itself. That whole formula was modeled off the success ofIron Manbecause if it worked once, surely it would work 30 more times. That production thrived off of the improvisation and chemistry of Robert Downey, Jr. and how the cast and crew followed his and Favreau’s leads.Considering that Downey, Jr. got that opportunity largely off the back ofKiss Kiss Bang Bang, then it stands to reason that the MCU wouldn’t exist without Harry Lockhart.Imagine a thief pretending to be an actor stealing Hollywood’s attention for the next 20 years. You couldn’t write that if you tried.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bangis available to rent on Prime.
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