The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 6.5 Alternative Scale: **1/2 out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 10/11/96 (wide) Running Length: 2:00 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity, brief nudity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Malahide, Craig Bierko, Brian Cox, David Morse, Yvonne Zima Director: Renny Harlin Producers: Stephanie Austin, Shane Black, and Renny Harlin Screenplay: Shane Black Cinematography: Guilermo Navarro Music: Alan Silvestri U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
Great premise, terrible execution. How many times have I written that line this year? It was true of too many summer releases, and apparently nothing has changed with the turning of seasons. In the case of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, it's especially frustrating, though, because the basic idea is so intriguing -- the perfect background for a top- notch noir thriller. Unfortunately, director Renny Harlin (DIE HARD 2, CLIFFHANGER) wasn't at all interested in making a tightly-paced, character-driven movie. What we get instead is exactly what we've come to expect from him -- lots of gunshots, explosions, and general mayhem. When the smoke finally clears for the final credits, we may have had a tolerably good time, but there's no lingering satisfaction.
The premise involves that age-old plot staple of soap operas: amnesia. Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is the perfect mom. A teacher at a suburban Pittsburgh elementary school, she doesn't allow cursing around the house and dotes on her 8 year old daughter, Caitlin (Yvonne Zima). Samantha doesn't have much of a past, however. She was found on a New Jersey beach eight years ago, and, because of a condition the doctors call "focal retrograde amnesia", she can't remember anything before that. But lacking a personal history doesn't really bother her because her present is so pleasant. She has almost given up on discovering her former identity -- almost, but not quite. Then Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson), the latest in a long line of private investigators she has hired, finds a possible clue. At the same time, Sam is involved in a car wreck, and, as the result of a head injury, her past personae -- a government assassin named Charly Baltimore -- begins to resurface.
It would have been fun watching Sam struggle with the emotional and moral consequences of uncovering a sordid past, but, what we get instead is a gallery of villains (Craig Bierko, David Morse, Patrick Malahide) using guns, bombs, and hand grenades to eliminate her. (True to form for a 1996 film, some of the bad guys are government agents.) She shifts effortlessly from Sam to Charly as circumstances demand, never paying a psychological penalty. Maybe I was expecting a little too much from an action film, but the Hitchcockian ideas are so juicy that they deserve deeper exploration.
The action, unfortunately, is distressingly routine. There are some nifty sequences, such as when Mitch gets blown out of a window or when Sam does a little surfing on top of an out-of-control, overturned tanker truck. Alas, these are nothing more than visual candy. Missing is the freshness that marked that action sequences in Harlin's directorial debut, DIE HARD 2.
Apparently, Harlin did A LONG KISS GOODNIGHT to escape the ugly shadow of CUTTHROAT ISLAND, one of the biggest duds of last year. (Imagine anyone thinking they could make money with Matthew Modine as an action hero!) His wife, Geena Davis, is again the lead, but for this role she has beefed up a la Sigourney Weaver (ALIENS) and Linda Hamilton (TERMINATOR 2). Davis is a good enough actress to carry off the dual identity, although Charly seems a lot like a humorless cross between LA FEMME NIKITA and a female James Bond. Sam is more appealing, which is obviously the intention. Everything possible is done to delineate the differences between Sam and Charly. We're supposed to root for Charly, the ruthless killer, knowing that Sam is buried somewhere in her personality. At least the end is about reconciling these disparate identities.
The real reason to see A LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, however, is Samuel L. Jackson, who steals the movie out from under Davis. Jackson is magnificent, and I'm going to recommend the film largely on the basis of his turn as Mitch. I wasn't wild about A LONG KISS GOODNIGHT as a whole, but this is the kind of delightful performance that deserves to be seen. Jackson adds more than a dash of humor to the action mix, throwing out one-liners guaranteed to send audiences into paroxysms of laughter (his line about people trying to get out of New Jersey brought down the house, but that may have something to do with where I saw the movie). Whenever Jackson was on screen, I forgot about the film's shortcomings and appreciated what he was doing with Mitch.
Ultimately, I suppose an individual's enjoyment of A LONG KISS GOODNIGHT will be greatly affected by expectations. If you're searching for a slick-looking, mindless, Bond-derived action film with a buff female hero, this should fit the bill nicely. But if the premise leads you to expect something a little more interesting -- possibly even a change of pace for Harlin -- A LONG KISS GOODNIGHT will disappoint. Regardless of your viewpoint, however, keep your eyes on Jackson, and you'll understand how I can generate some enthusiasm for this otherwise uneven, overblown explosions extravaganza.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
"We go away from our parents in youth and then we gradually come back to them; and in that moment, we have grown up." -- Ingmar Bergman
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