Sandcooler The great thing about Shane Black (of "Lethal Weapon" fame) is that he makes action movies work by doing things that look really obvious on the surface. It makes sense that you have the audience care for the characters before you put them in mortal danger, but how many action movies actually bother to do that? You don't even need a long build-up or anything. There are just these quick moments here, subtle touches, some funny lines that make us like Geena Davis' character right from the start. Once you realise her wholesome family life is nothing more than a cover for a professional killer, you genuinely feel bad, even though you've only seen a couple of scenes. That's great writing. Geena Davis is kind of an unlikely action star, but she does fine and Samuel L. Jackson (who can take more abuse than RoboCop in this movie) is a great comic relief. "The Last Kiss Goodnight" was a complete dud at the box office, but thankfully it's gained a cult following once it hit the video shelves.

Python Hyena The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996): Dir: Renny Harlin / Cast: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, David Morse, Brian Cox, Craig Bierko: Here is an action film that makes even less sense than your average action film. Title symbolizes Geena Davis giving up one life for another but eventually united with the former. She was an assassin zapped of her memory. Now she has a husband and child. Enter Samuel L. Jackson as a private eye who needs her help in defeating a government agency. The basic plot concept has appeal but its structure is full of gun play and objects being blown up as expected from director Renny Harlin. He often deals in massive budgets as seen in Cliffhanger and Cutthroat Island, and famous for the latter film being one of the most expensive flops ever made. Davis undergoes torture at least twice and even breaks the neck of a deer with her bare hands. Jackson provides one-liners fit for a Saturday Night Live comedian. Flat supporting roles with David Morse playing the mastermind villain who isn't interesting and only leaves viewers waiting for Davis to off him. Brian Cox appears as a doctor. While the budget is big on action scenes, its target audience will likely sense that this is just an exercise is blatant stupidity. It is a pointless charade where viewers may wish to spend their long night at home and kiss this film a deserving farewell. Score: 4 / 10

badfeelinganger 1996's The Long Kiss Goodnight was the second movie in a row that director Renny Harlin made with his then-wife Geena Davis. Davis played a pirate in the previous year's Cutthroat Island. Harlin previously directed The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and Die Hard 2 which were edited simultaneously and released just a week apart. Die Hard 2 was a huge hit and Ford Fairlane starred Andrew Dice Clay. Harlin started his career by directing Finland's most expensive film and the slashers Prison and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. The screenplay was written by action movie pioneer Shane Black who also wrote Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, The Last Boy Scout and The Last Action Hero. Alan Silvestri composed the Original Music and the Cinematography was by Guillermo Navarro.There are rumours and rumours of rumours that a sequel to Renny Harlin's The Long Kiss Goodnight is in the works. I inexplicably missed the original when it came out and dismissed it as just another action flick. I was more than surprised at how prescient a movie it was at the time. The nineties was an adventurous time for filmmaking. Increasingly influenced by music videos, a lot of the art showed dark overtones, in bright colours and quick cuts. Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs brought a sense of low-budget high-octane fun and breakaway banter back into the movies. He also expanded on the naturalistic acting styles in Barry Levinson's conversational film Diner that let everyday small talk happen while allowing the plot to move along as it might. On the surface, The Long Kiss Goodnight is a fast-paced adventure movie with a quick wit, an accelerating pace, famous locations, and a female hero that performs too many impossible physical feats. Underneath it is an allegory to the growing paranoiac conspiracy theories that are now flooding into the mainstream. The movie references the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Samantha Caine's transformation into the regrettably-named Charly Baltimore can be seen as an allusion to sleeper-agent multiple personality assassins.

Maziun *SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERSThe tile is a reference to the fact that Samantha kissed her other personality goodbye. She stopped searching about her past – that's it. It was probably inspired by the movie "The long goodbye" by Robert Altman – Samuel L. Jackson is watching this movie in the hotel.The movie is very stupid at some places . How did the one-eyed prisoner escaped from the prison ? Plot hole. Why didn't he broke into Samantha's house or kill her with a sniper gun from the distance , while she was for example shopping ? The motivation for the main villains to do the bad things is ABSURD. Little girl hides in the worst place possible.The movie is also very cheesy and unrealistic sometimes . Samantha seems immune to pain , cold and has TOO MUCH STRENGTH. The assassination by the one-eyed guy is ridiculous , same as the flashbacks with Charlie. Oh , and the little girl is annoying.Thankfully there are some good things here. Geena Davis gives a good performance and is very convincing with both of her personalities. Samuel L. Jackson is fun as always and David Morse is solid as always. Renny Harlin always makes sure that his movies aren't boring and this is no exception. I guess he really put some effort to make this movie entertaining with his wife (Davis) as the main star. Shane Black , the writer of "Lethal weapon" provides us some incredibly funny moments and dialogues . Thanks to the humor watching this movie is rather painless. The scene "What I told you about smoking ?" is one of the funniest I've seen.It's not a good movie , but it's too good to be "so bad , it's good " type of movie. This is no "Bourne identity". It's cheesy and stupid , but thankfully there is a good ironic distance to the whole story . It doesn't take itself too seriously and if you lower your expectations you should have one night of mindless fun. It's certainly a better action movie with woman in main role than "Tomb raider". I give it 6/10.