The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) - A Review

 

Now THIS is a cool poster!

 

The Long Kiss Goodnight is a 1996 action movie starring Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Craig Bierko, and Yvonne Zima. The film was written by Shane Black and directed by Renny Harlin. This is one heck of a Christmas movie!

Geena Davis plays Samantha Caine, a school teacher who is suffering from amnesia. One night during the Christmas season, she gets into a car accident, sustaining a head injury. While recovering from this, she begins to exhibit highly specialized skills with a knife, to the amazement and shock of her fiancee and daughter. Later on, a crazed killer comes to their house and attacks Samantha. She ends up killing him with her bare hands! After this, Samantha hires a private investigator (played by Jackson) to help her find out who she really is. The attack ends up getting the attention of a nefarious organization, where one of the members (played by Bierko) is on a ruthless mission to kill her.

This movie is awesome! Geena Davis plays her part well. She is very believable! It is amazing how she can play such a caring, loving person in one scene and a cold, ruthless killer in the next, and you still root for her the whole way through. Geena Davis is underrated as an actress and as an action star. She kicks butt in this!

I'd trust her with my life...if we were friends.

Samuel L. Jackson is the man in this! He plays a kind of skeezy character named Mitch Hennessey, but he has a heart. He also has the perfect one-liners for every situation. This is prime Samuel L. Jackson! He is so funny in this. You genuinely care for his character, and root for him as well. This role is apparently Jackson's all-time favorite role to have played, and that is understandable. He rules in this!

Samuel L. Jackson is the man in this!

 The action in this movie is over the top, but in a good way. There are a lot of bullets, knives, blood, and explosions! Geena Davis handles her fight scenes like a pro. Samuel L. Jackson gets in on the action as well! There is some creative violence in this. There's even an homage to Jackie Chan's Police Story at the end! There is a lot of blood, and it has one of the craziest explosions I've ever seen in a movie!

The story of the movie is very interesting. We find out about Samantha Caine's past through flashbacks, and through those flashbacks we find out about the larger overall plot of the film. I must say, it feels like Jackie Chan's Who Am I was influenced by this movie to a certain extent. The heroes are tough, but realistic (for the most part), and the villains (especially Craig Bierko) are detestable. You really want the bad guys to get their butts kicked! It is really awesome to see a female amnesiac butt kicker story out there. 

So, should you see this movie? I would say yes. It is very entertaining. It has lots of action, explosions, and laughs. And what a better way to spend Christmas than seeing Geena Davis gun down loads of bad guys! I know that puts me in the holiday spirit!

 

Reviewed by David Williams