The Long Kiss Goodnight: CR #32

Happy Easter everyone! I would review an Easter themed movie, but the only one that doesn't involve Jesus being horribly crucified is that Russel Brand movie "Hop", and, yeah, not going there. Instead, I'm going to review an action movie that's written by the legendary Shane Black. Who is Shane Black? Well, he's just the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon at age 18. He also wrote and directed "Kiss Kiss Band Bang" and the upcoming "Iron Man 3". So, get ready for my review of...

PLOT
Samantha Caine is your average woman. She has a great husband, lovely daughter, teaches elementary school, and lives in a small town. What makes her different is that, as she says "Was born 8 years ago". This translates to her having Amnesia. She has no idea what her real name, age, or life was before all this . That is until people from her past start to show up and attack her. She now is slowly regaining her memories and goes with her hired private detective Mitch to find out about her past, which may be more deadly and bloddy then she originally thought.


PROS
Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson are great in this film. They also have some really great chemistry together, making for fun moments and witty banter.

The dialogue is suburb and feels like a Shane Black script. That is to say it's very funny, and very sarcastic. There are some awesome and memorable lines, one of my favorites being " Samantha: Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Mitch: I hope not, cause I'm thinking about how much my balls hurt."

The idea and premise are very interesting and catches you immediately. I was enthralled in the film from start to finish because of this plot.

The action scenes, while nothing too special, are still fun and never boring.

The villains of the film are a lot of fun. They're the type of villain you love to hate, and when the final show down, which you know will eventually happen, happens, it is so satisfying.

The film's soundtrack is awesome, full of great blues and funk songs, basically anything before the 80's.




CONS
Samantha's family is very plain and not deeply developed. They're just the nice people that Samantha loves, that's about it. The worst of the two is the father, who literally is perfect and never reacts to anything Samantha does, he just blindly supports her. I wish we could've gotten a little bit more development than "the nice family".

The film does have some of those old dumb action stuff that in reality is impossible to even attempt. While they're not a huge issue, some of them I just can't get past, like escaping an explosion by jumping out of window into a frozen lake and getting up like it's nothing.


CONCLUSION
This is a fun action movie that while never becomes a Lethal Weapon level of good, it's certainly close and still worth you time. If you want an action that has little substance but still doesn't insult your intelligence, this is a great one to watch.


RATING
WALK TO


Want to read more of my reviews? Well here's last week's review, just for you! No, not you, you: http://newandclassicreviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-cr-31.html