For someone who left such an indelible mark on the action thriller, it’s incredible to think that Shane Black has experienced a great deal more failures than he has successes as both a writer and director, with The Long Kiss Goodnight standing out as one of the most painful.
The phenomenal hybrid of odd couple caper and hard-boiled psychological noir finds Geena Davis giving one of the cinematic shoot ’em up’s most complex, well-rounded, and underrated performances as an amnesiac housewife who discovers she used to be one of the deadliest assassins in the business, with Samuel L. Jackson’s private eye dragged into the equation when he takes on the case of digging into her past.
Naturally, her old allies and enemies aren’t best pleased that she’s back on the scene, and end up setting out on a revenge mission of their own to ensure that she dies and stays dead this time. Bolstered by a fantastic screenplay, some eye-popping action, and effervescent chemistry between the two leads, The Long Kiss Goodnight is one for the ages.
Unfortunately, it ended up joining The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Predator, and The Nice Guys as projects boasting a heavy involvement from Black that ended up disappointing commercially, earning less than $100 million at the global box office on a $65 million budget.
On the plus side, cult classic status was secured a long time ago, with FlixPatrol revealing that the top-tier escapade has one more sunk its hooks into streaming subscribers, this time on the ViaPlay platform. Black’s hit-to-miss ratio is unfairly skewed, but make sure you don’t sleep on this one.