Review of The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) by David C — 24 Jul 2010

Finnish Director Renny Harlins' is conspicuously hit-&-miss as a rule with his movies. While there was the monotonous and harebrained exploitation of camera handling in the films such as sadistic Jaws version 'Deep Blue Sea', there was also the aerial extravaganza 'Cliffhanger', where Harlin was able to gel the yarn into a one location / compact image that keeps it amazing that he is still only regarded as a B-Director.

Present day and middle-aged school teacher & town belle, Samantha Caine (Davis) is suffering from amnesia and has only been living in this mountain town since she woke up as a woman eight years ago. After paying out for countless private eyes and small-time detectives, she is now running rapidly out of funds to support this habit, as none of them have yet to find a shred of her former self. One day, Caine strikes gold with Mitch Henessey (Jackson), who is himself contending his own demons as a disgraced ex-cop fighting to regain the respect of his wife and son. Discovering new skills about herself on a daily basis it isn't long before an escaped convict breaks into her house looking for payback. Caine freaks, throwing her child from the house into the arms of safety, she battles against the intruder, fighting with moves she never knew she had learnt. Henessey later joins her on a trek across America to find clues to what she did and discover evidence to why the man attacked her. On the way, a suitcase containing possessions of her former self include a telephone number to a secret agency, raunchy clothes that the languorous Caine wouldn't look twice at and a sophisticated sniper rifle. Reinventing herself as the new government assassin of all time, the once Samantha Caine - now Charly Baltimore fights back against the ones who are responsible for her ordeal, only to uncover a darker truth about the life she has been living and why.

In the same vain as an early James Bond flick, Harlins' direction is first-rate with colour, precise editing and two very plausible leads as the love / hate relationship of the brave. Written and co-produced by Shane Black, who had the astonishing victory in the early 1990's with gung-ho movies such as 'The Last Boy Scout' starring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. Fun in an upbringing kind of way, Harlin delivers special effects with all the mind-boggling physics of a Bond film, with one example when Davis shoots out a frozen-over pond with machine-gun fire as she falls from a five story train station window to break her fall. But of course, this is what dreams are made of and really I'm not one to complain about stuff like that. With the intermittent corny line that makes you wince with mortification, the dry humour should keep you entertained as Jackson's' use of the English language is staggering, while the burly Davis handles the action set-peices with style. Violent in the very extreme, this was the second outing for former husband & wife duo, Harlin & Davis, after the critical flop 'Cutthroat Island' a year earlier in 1995.