An ordinary woman discovers that her life was not always ordinary in this action
thriller. Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a typical, well-mannered single mother
working as a schoolteacher when she isn't looking after her children. Nothing
on the surface would seem to be remarkable about Samantha's life, but every once
in a while she has vague memories and unexplained impulses that don't add up
with her current life experience; she has scars but no idea of how they got there,
she suddenly displays a deadly talent for knife-throwing while chopping vegetables
for dinner, and when she sees a deer, she suddenly attacks it with her
bare hands. When an auto accident and a television news broadcast stirs some more
uncomfortable memories, Samantha hires private investigator Mitch Hennessey
(Samuel L. Jackson) to look into her past and see what he can find. Mitch learns
that Samantha isn't really Samantha after all -- her name is Charley and she
used to be a professional assassin with a secret government intelligence program.
After a severe head injury, Charley developed a case of amnesia, and in time
she developed her new personality as Samantha. However, her old boss has kept
tabs on her, and now that it looks as if the old Charley is starting to come out
again, he sends a pair of hit men after her to see to it that she doesn't remember
anything else; soon Samantha and Mitch are on the run, trying to outdistance
the killers as they get to the bottom of Charley's secret life. The Long Kiss
Goodnight was directed by Renny Harlin, husband of leading lady Geena Davis;
this was their second project together, following Cutthroat Island, released
the previous year. |