The Long Kiss Goodnight

Mainstream critics aside, The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) remains one of the best female action films of the 90s. It's a precursor to The Bourne Identity, in which an average suburban wife, played by Geena Davis, starts remembering erased memories of her past as a government assassin. The six-foot Geena, an Olympic-level archer and a member of Mensa in real life, delivers one of the most physical, credible action performances by an actress in a Hollywood film, well before the Hong Kong rip-off craze. And I really don't care what people say about her ex-husband director Renny Harlin's talent, she's also fun to watch in Cutthroat Island (1995), the box-office flop that scared studios off pirate films for a decade. After all, everyone knew pirate films couldn't make any money.