The Long Kiss Goodnight

"Chefs do that."
Samantha Caine doesn't know who she is. She knows she's a teacher and has a daughter and a fiance, but she doesn't remember anything about her life before eight years ago.
That is until a private detective she hired finds a lead that none of the other private detectives she hired managed to dig up. They go on a journey to find out who she really is.
The previews for The Long Kiss Goodnight gave away Sam's true identity but I'm not going to because ... well, because I don't feel like it. But it is an action movie, so that should give you a clue.
Much like Cutthroat Island, this movie seems mainly to have been made so Renny Harlin could turn Geena Davis into an action star. Unlike Cutthroat Island, this movie kicks ass! It's funny, the action is really fun, the plot is interesting and I just think Geena Davis is cool.
It is a little too long, though, and the movie does lose something with Sam recovers her memory and gives herself a Honey Whitlock makeover. It takes a turn into full on action movie and there's a lot less humor and, I never thought this would be something I'd complain about, less characterization.
Usually if I want to watch an action movie, things like plot and characterization annoy me. They get in the way of explosions. "Stop talking and blow some shit up!" But in The Long Kiss Goodnight's case, I was really enjoying the characterization, watching Samantha Caine slowly put the pieces of her memory together and teetering between her life now and her life before. It was cool.
But eventually the movie gave up on the slow transition and, while it was still a really entertaining movie, I just wasn't as interested in what happened after Charlie Baltimore completely resurfaced.
Still, I'm really glad I saw it and I can't believe it took me this long to get around to doing so.

End of line.
-Sally