Two young Palestinian men living in the West Bank are recruited as suicide bombers in a compelling drama by Palestinian-born writer-director Hany Abu-Assad. When their mission hits a snag, each must decide whether to stay the course. The thought-provoking film was shot on location, heightening its immediacy.(PG-13)
KISS KISS, BANG BANG
The action, jokes and plot complications never stop in a wacky, self-aware whodunit set in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr. plays a thief turned actor turned detective who teams up with a gay private eye nicknamed Gay Perry (Val Kilmer, in a lively comic turn) to solve a murder or two. It's sometimes hard to keep track of what's going on here, but the effort is worth it. Kiss marks a promising directing debut for screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon). (R)
SAW II
This lifeless follow-up to last year's gorefest about a resourceful serial killer named Jigsaw follows his latest prey: eight stereotypes (one of whom is dirty cop Donnie Wahlberg's son) stuck in a booby-trapped building. Unlike its oft-inventive predecessor, this one just twiddles its bloody thumbs until the too-little-too-late final twist. (R)
