The Long Kiss Goodnight *** (1996, Geena Davis, Samuel L Jackson, Yvonne Zima) – Classic Movie Review 911

The Long Kiss Goodnight is a very cynical, fast-driving, exciting 1996 action thriller from director Renny Harlin, who likes to deliver sadistic moments, creating a hard edge for what is essentially a rather corny piece.

The silly, totally incredible plot has the estimable Geena Davis in her prime as a suburban amnesiac teacher who, after a bump on the head, begins to remember small parts of her previous life. She hires a low-rent private eye (Samuel L Jackson) and discovers she has a secret past as a top-secret US government agent and lethal assassin.

Davis and Jackson then have to race against the clock to try to stop her former bosses from putting a horrendous plan into action. For Davis’s old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her.

Story-wise, it’s all very daft and hard-to-swallow in Shane Black’s screenplay. But it’s the performances, handling and action that count, and these deliver explosively and grippingly big time all the way.

Davis and Harlin were married on 18 September 1993 and divorced on 21 June 1998.

Black became famous in the Eighties and Nineties for writing the hit buddy action movies Lethal Weapon (1987), The Last Boy Scout (1991), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Robert Downey Jr starred in Black’s films Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Iron Man 3 (2013).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 911 derekwinnert.com