The Long Kiss Goodnight

-Universal (1999)

Summary:

An average woman with no memory of her past is awakened to realize she's a government assassin.

My Thoughts:

The Long Kiss Goodnight DVD is one of the best cheap DVD editions I’ve ever seen.  It’s a good flick with a great picture and sound, but you get almost absolutely nothing in the area of extras.  

The film begins with a glimpse into the life of Samantha Caine, played by Geena Davis. Samantha lives a normal white-bread life with no memory of her past. All that she knows is that she was found on a beach and she was 2 months pregnant. No one can help her find out about her past, so she goes on living life and raising her daughter. After surviving a car accident, her memories slowly begin to unlock. It's a good thing for her too, since her old enemies come calling for her.

I’ve never thought of Geena Davis as a big action star, but she does a good job. She's not the greatest actress of all time, but it’s an action film so all she has to be is believable, which she is. I have to note that I never really thought Geena Davis was all that attractive before seeing this film, but by god that has that changed now. The shower scene instantly comes to mind for anyone who may not agree with me.

The biggest asset The Long Kiss Goodnight is a Mr. Samuel L. Jackson. He plays a badass P.I. named Mitch who helps Samantha figure out her mysterious past. Jackson fits the role to a T and he's got so many great lines it's unbelievable. I can't stress enough how perfect he is for this movie. If you like his badass characters, his character in this film is one of the best.

There are some moments that are a little on the cheesy side, like the catchphrase, "Cooks do that" that's used one too many times. A few of the stunts seemed totally unbelievable, like the standard action elements such as surviving bullet wounds that most certainly kill the average person. Most of this stuff is acceptable, but there was one instance that I really thought the film went over the line. At an early point in the film an assassin is blasting away at Samantha in her home with a shot gun. He somehow blows a hole through the side of her HOUSE. Now that's a shotgun.

The video quality is great on this DVD, and the surround sound is pretty sweet. Despite being one of the most bare bones editions I've ever seen it's still got a nice 5.1 mix.

There’s also a notable movie connection in this film. The writer, Shane Black not only wrote one of the biggest action movies of our time Lethal Weapon, but he also played the dorkiest character in Predator. That’s right, he was my least favorite character: Hawkins the "my girlfriend's got a big pussy" comedian.

****Spoiler Alert!*****

A Long Kiss Goodnight features a major plot point that's a little creepy in this post 9/11 age. The evil villain responsible for a lot of the evilness going on is the director of the CIA. His main plan involves working with the “bad guys” and faking a terrorist attack to get money back into the intelligence community. Not only that, but he plans to blame it on the Arabs. Creepy!

Extras:

This disc has no extras. Okay, it's got two, a trailer and filmographies. Way to really try.

Score:

Film: 7.0

Extras: 2.5 

Edition: 5.0

-Paul