Yearning for some 90s action? Are you missing the era of over the top, easy to watch explosive entertainment? Well, you cannot get more 90s than The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), written by Shane Black (the scribe behind the Lethal Weapon franchise, and, more recently, The Nice Guys) and directed by Renny Harlin (of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger fame).
Following a cryptic enigma in the form of Geena Davis (Harlin’s then wife), the actress plays Sam Caine (work the anagram out), an amnesiac of eight years. . . a teacher with a cute daughter, Caitlin (Yvonne Zima), and loving husband, Hal (Tom Amandes). Completely unaware of her past, the woman washed ashore two months pregnant. . . everything before this, a puzzling mystery.
Having hired a slew of highly rated private investigators, none have yielded dividends. . . Samantha now scraping the bottom of the barrel, unscrupulous Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson) on the job. A sketchy former cop who leaned on the nefarious side, he still pulls diabolical tricks to rake in the cash. . . the type of guy who says, “I’m always frank and earnest with women. Uh, in New York I’m frank, and Chicago I’m Ernest”.
Happenstance is a fickle thing, and, soon, a killer known as One-Eyed Jack (Joseph McKenna) escapes prison after seeing the teacher on tv (playing Mrs. Claus in a local Santa Claus parade). Tracking the lady down, their encounter brings back memories of her past (which began a few days earlier when she got into a car accident). . . a sort of split-personality developing within the woman.
Her reactions heightened, her knife skills superlative, gun play spectacular, something rather special lies beneath the fragile facade of this conservatively dressed teacher. With Henessey finally finding a breakthrough, the pair hit the road to discover her sordid past, the faces of Timothy (Craig Bierko), Nathan (Brian Cox), Perkins (Patrick Malahide), and Luke (David Morse) not immediately recognizable – possible danger coming from every former acquaintance (friend or foe, she knows not). Is Timothy her former lover, Nathan a stately professor, Perkins her CIA boss, and Luke her former fiancé???? Questions abound. . . for instance, is Larry King, who has a cameo in this movie, actually the unknown father of Sam’s kid?
The master of the so-called buddy action film, for fans of Black, you will immediately recognize his writing style. . . quirks and comedy abound. For instance, as Sam recovers her memories, she tells Henessey, “Easy, sport. I got myself outta Beirut once, I think I can get outta New Jersey.” The man’s reply, “Yeah? Well, don’t be so sure. Others have tried and failed. The entire population, in fact.”. Building two interesting characters, Davis has a field day playing the split personality. . . her yin, a sweet housewife, her yang, a foul mouthed, sexually driven killer with a wholly different look. As her sidekick, Jackson brings that swagger to a role that finds him less skilled than ususal, a man who sings the blues to remember his daily chores and yearns for a chance to make a righteous decision after building a domino effect of bad ones (he has said, more than once, that this is his favourite role – and the one he most likes to re-watch). Sadly, one of the flaws of the film is that the story could be a bit more developed, yet Black’s original screenplay had much more in-depth back stories for the two leads. . . their darker history cut out for fear of lack of marketability (further developing Sam’s past and delving into Henessey’s time in prison and family issues).
Another nice touch, in one scene the television is on, and The Long Goodbye is playing – its story, about a private eye (played by Elliott Gould) wandering through L.A. after being asleep for twenty years, in many ways shares a sense of fish out of water loss and confusion with this picture.
An engaging watch, Renny Harlin’s The Long Kiss Goodnight is an action packed extravaganza with quality performances, witty banter, and slick visuals (its ample entertainment overcoming its flaws). So, enjoy this bombastic 90s action film – and discover whether Sam will be able to bridge the gap between her two very unique personas.