Movies:
The Long Kiss Goodnight
DVD Release
- Release Date: 1997
- Interactive menus
- Scene access
- Cast bios
- Theatrical trailer
- Rating:
- Genre: Action
- Movie Type: Action Thriller
- Themes: Hired Killers, Double Life, Amnesia
- Director: Renny Harlin
- Main Cast: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Malahide, Craig Bierko, Brian Cox
- Release Year: 1996
- Country: US
- Run Time: 120 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R
Plot
An ordinary woman discovers that her life was not always ordinary in this action thriller. Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a typical, well-mannered single mother working as a schoolteacher when she isn't looking after her children. Nothing on the surface would seem to be remarkable about Samantha's life, but every once in a while she has vague memories and unexplained impulses that don't add up with her current life experience; she has scars but no idea of how they got there, she suddenly displays a deadly talent for knife-throwing while chopping vegetables for dinner, and when she sees a deer, she suddenly attacks it with her bare hands. When an auto accident and a television news broadcast stirs some more uncomfortable memories, Samantha hires private investigator Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to look into her past and see what he can find. Mitch learns that Samantha isn't really Samantha after all -- her name is Charley and she used to be a professional assassin with a secret government intelligence program. After a severe head injury, Charley developed a case of amnesia, and in time she developed her new personality as Samantha. However, her old boss has kept tabs on her, and now that it looks as if the old Charley is starting to come out again, he sends a pair of hit men after her to see to it that she doesn't remember anything else; soon Samantha and Mitch are on the run, trying to outdistance the killers as they get to the bottom of Charley's secret life. The Long Kiss Goodnight was directed by Renny Harlin, husband of leading lady Geena Davis; this was their second project together, following Cutthroat Island, released the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideReview
Certainly a vast improvement over the legendary debacle of Cutthroat Island (1995), the previous collaboration of the then husband-and-wife team of director Renny Harlin and star Geena Davis, this overblown action thriller starts out very strong but fails to pay off in a satisfying conclusion. Acting really isn't the hallmark of the action genre, so suffice it to say that the cast is what is required of a fast-paced pulp tale littered with corpses and explosions: They grunt, grimace, and grit their teeth with appropriate determination when firing a weapon or jumping from great heights. It's the script by Shane Black that makes or breaks a film such as this, so it's a pleasant surprise that The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) starts off with an inventive high-concept twist, developing a character nicely. Sadly, it then morphs somewhere in the second act into a routine series of percussive beats and a predictable government espionage/conspiracy/paranoia tale. If their project had delved into the issues of identity as thoughtfully as those action epics based on the works of novelist Philip K. Dick, the filmmakers might truly have had something not only viscerally exciting but intellectually fresh and stimulating on their hands. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie GuideCast
- Geena Davis - Samantha Caine (Charly)
- Samuel L. Jackson - Mitch Henessey
- Patrick Malahide - Perkins
- Craig Bierko - Timothy
- Brian Cox - Nathan
David Morse - Luke/Daedalus; Tom Amandes - Hal; Joe McKenna - One-Eyed Jack; Alan North - Earl; G.D. Spradlin - President; Melina Kanakaredes - Trin; Yvonne Zima - Caitlin
