A Long Kiss Goodnight

A Long Kiss Goodnight is the prototypical buddy cop movie. Except for the fact that neither is actually a cop. One worked for the US government and Samuel L. is a private detective, which is close enough I guess. A long kiss goodnight fulfilled many of the requirements for this genre, which we wrote down the board yesterday. There was a back story on each character and then they met in an awkward manner. Charlie Baltimore became out of control and showed Samuel L. how to get things done. Throughout the movie she is making all the daring moves and upstaging him; until the very end. Samuel L. Jackson makes up for his life of failure and saves Charlie figuring that if she can do it he can do it.

There is a chase sequence between Samuel L.’s character, Charlie, and the enemies. Cross cutting is used during this scene to heighten the level of excitement, similar to the French Connection. While he is being chased by crazed gunmen in a car she is racing to save the day. Samuel L. although driving at high speeds seems to move slowly, while the opposite is true for Charlie. She moves smoothly on skates and quick, almost superhero like.

I also made a link between this movie genre and the James Bond type films. What made me think of Bond were the elaborate torture scenes, her ability to do almost anything, and the way the bad guys told her their master plan at the end. The opening credits also were sort of “Bondish” credits with the gun barrels and silhouettes. Samuel L. almost plays the love interest but he notes that, that would be racially unheard of between their two characters.

However, there were some key parts of the genre that were changed for this movie. For one, the main character is a woman, which we are not used to. There is no sacrificial woman that dies or a major fight scene between Gena Davis and the Villain. What makes up for these missing areas is the fact that she does have a family to protect, as well as her bonding moments with Samuel L. Jackson.