Terminator Salvation (2009)

"Second Chance" Death-Row Kiss

In the year 2003 at the Longview State Correctional Facility (in Texas), convicted death-row inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) was an hour away from a lethal injection. He was approached one last time by terminally-ill researcher Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter).

She was there to have him sign a consent form, to donate his body for a "noble cause." He would receive a "second chance" at life - believing wrongly that he would help save the "human race."

He actually 'sold' himself to Cyberdyne Systems Genetics Division (in San Francisco) for a single kiss. He mused after the kiss:

"So that's what death tastes like."

He became an advanced T-RIP (Resistance Infiltration Prototype) hybrid machine (but with a human heart and brain).

He was summarily executed, without any final words - his last view was Dr. Kogan standing over him.

Elena Undone (2010)

A Record-Long Lesbian Kiss

Writer/director Nicole Conn's romantic lesbian drama ("based on true stories") featured an intense lesbian relationship between:

• Elena (Necar Zadegan), an unhappily-married pastor's shy wife
• Peyton Lombard (Traci Dinwiddie), an agoraphobic, self-help lesbian writer

Elena

Peyton

The film was noted for its very lengthy kiss between them, beginning at the front door. The camera circled around them as they continued kissing into the living room, and then onto the sofa, in the semi-indulgent passionate moment.

The kiss involved lipsmacking, sucking, licking, and culminated with additional body grinding as Peyton laid atop Elena on the couch.

The kiss was about three and a half minutes long, not enough to beat the record established by Kids in America (2005) - with an even longer end-credits kiss (see above), although it was probably the longest 'lesbian' kiss ever recorded.

Splice (2010, Can./Fr./US)

Alien-Kiss and Sex

Director Vincenzo Natali's sci-fi horror film told about a young and rebellious, romantically-linked scientist couple:

• Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody)
• Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley)

The two conducted a secret, sophisticated genetic cloning 'experiment' in which they spliced together human and animal DNA, creating a hybrid creature.

They named the creature DREN after it rapidly evolved into a bald, partly-human mutant adult female (Delphine Chaneac) - a fantastical creature with striking slanted eyes, pointed tongue, a toxic tail-stinger, and bird-like, multi-hinged legs.

Over time, DREN became more troublesome and unstable, but also became infatuated with Clive.

In the film's most remarkable scene of alien-human sex (with hints of bestiality and incest), Clive had unconventional intercourse with the creature when she wrapped her winged-arms around him, naked. She voraciously kissed him, and persistently and eagerly sought sex with him by getting on top and orgasmically expanding her retractable wings - and he possibly impregnated her.

During the sex act in which she moaned and cooed, she regenerated her phallic-like stinger - just as Elsa arrived and caught them in the act.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Fate-Altering, Life-Changing Kisses

There were two life-changing kisses in this highly-speculative sci-fi romantic thriller from director/writer George Nolfi, adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, "Adjustment Team." It speculated about fate, destiny and free-will orchestrated within an alternate reality.

Gifted, young and charismatic NY politician/congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) had just failed in his first bid for the office of NY Senator. He had a chance meeting in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel's men's rest-room with free-spirited, off-kilter ballerina Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) who was hiding in a toilet stall (to evade security guards, actually Adjustment Bureau agents, from a wedding she had crashed), and overheard him practicing a concession speech. She made a deep impression upon him (and they shared their first unexpected kiss). His subsequent off-the-cuff speech was influenced by her - it was heartfelt, "authentic," and devoid of the usual political rhetoric, and would be a positive factor in his second successful run for election four years later.

Although David was never supposed to see Elise again, he unexpectedly met her about a month later during a city bus ride, but the Fates - represented by suited, hat-wearing operatives in the bureau led by Richardson (John Slattery), objected to their second encounter. The puppet-mastering job of the Adjustment Bureau agents was to make minor adjustments, keep things on track, prevent ripple effects caused by behavioral deviations, and if necessary, lobotomize brains (a "square-one reset" or recalibration) to have things go according to plan (according to a grand scheme of things overseen by an unseen Chairman - God?). The Bureau's efforts kept getting foiled by David's wild determination to keep in touch with Elise, and they reestablished their relationship and made love to each other.

Harsh warnings from Thompson (Terence Stamp) cautioned that romance with Elise brought out David's reckless and impulsive side and would distract his attention from his need for accolades, crowds, and applause - and most importantly, it would jeopardize his promising and predestined political career that could lead to the Presidency. The Bureau caused Elise to fall during a dance performance and sprain her ankle, and David thought that staying with her would cause pain. After visiting her at the hospital, he abandoned her and intended never to see her again.

However, in the climactic finale, David changed his mind when he learned Elise was planning to marry her ex-fiancee. He raced to Elise and in the courtroom's restroom, he begged for her not to marry. He told her that the plan in a book was to keep them apart: "This says that you love me and that I love you, and that we're not supposed to be together...But I know that I'm supposed to be with you because of the way I feel. I love you and I don't care what happens. I want to spend the rest of my life with you even if it's only a little while." Although at first reluctant, she decided, "I'm coming with you." They entered a trans-dimensional door into the NY Public Library - the office-hub of all the operatives, and ascended the building to get to the Chairman's office, to try to change their fate, plead their case, and rewrite their destiny.

When surrounded on the roof with no way out, they professed their love and passionately kissed - and the agents suddenly disappeared. They learned from one of the AB agents that they had been tested, and that their "inspiring" love for each other had affected the Chairman. Although their romance was considered "a serious deviation from the plan," their life's path was rewritten so that they could be together.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

First Kisses - Important to Be With Someone You Love

In this coming-of-age dramedy set in the early 1990s, the main character was Charlie Kelmeckis (Logan Lerman), an introverted, shy and sensitive teenaged HS freshman who had been receiving treatment for clinical depression.

When he started HS in the fall, he became friends with two seniors and was involved in their social circle of self-described misfits:

• Patrick Stewart (Ezra Miller), a charismatic, openly gay and flamboyant senior
• Samantha "Sam" Button (Emma Watson), Patrick's pretty step-sister

When he was first noticed by them as a "wallflower," he responded: "I didn't think anyone noticed me." Charlie claimed he had some issues that he was still facing, although he had resorted to familiar coping mechanisms. He was regularly having disturbing flashbacks and blackouts. He also frequently wrote letters to a "friend."

When he became close friends with Sam, they talked about their first kiss. He confessed that he hadn't ever kissed a girl. She tearfully confided in him about how her first kiss occurred when she was eleven years old and was molested by her father's boss Robert. Since then, she described her self-destructive dating habits: "You know Charlie, I used to sleep with guys who treated me like s--t. And, uh, get wasted all the time. But now, I feel like I have a chance. I could even get into a real college."

Likewise, he was able to freely admit to her (a memory that later changed) that his Aunt Helen (Melanie Lynskey) was also sexually-abused as a child: ("My Aunt had that same thing done to her, too, and she turned her life around...She was my favorite person in the world, until now"). Sam then wished that Charlie's first kiss would be with someone who loved him:

"Charlie, I know that you know I like Craig. But I want to forget about that for a minute. OK?... I just want to make sure that the first person who kisses you loves you. OK?"

Then she leaned forward and kissed him, and they both expressed their love for each other. (Sam: "I love you, Charlie." Charlie: "I love you, too.")

Sam Confiding in Charlie About Being Molested (Her First Kiss)

Charlie's First Kiss with Sam

Mutual Love Expressed

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (2012)

Forever Kisses

The fifth and final installment of the romantic vampire Twilight saga found the two main teenaged protagonists at peace and in love - "forever" - as a vampire couple:

• Isabella ("Bella") Swan (Kristen Stewart)
• Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson)

They were seated together in a meadow of colorful wildflowers. Bella removed her shield and gave Edward access to her loving thoughts for the first time. A montage of the development of their relationship was presented. In the background for the five minute sequence, the soundtrack played "A Thousand Years (Part 2)" by Christina Perri featuring Steve Kazee:

("The day we met, Frozen I held my breath, Right from the start, I knew that I'd found a home for My heart beats fast, Colors and promises, How to be brave, How can I love when I'm afraid to fall, Watching me stand alone, All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow, One step closer. I have died everyday waiting for you, Darlin' don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years, I love you for a Thousand more. Time stands still, Beauty in all she is, I will be brave, I will not let anything take away, Standing in front of me, Every breath, Every hour has come to this..."):

Bella: "I wanna show you something."
Edward: "What? (She closed her eyes and shared her memories) How did you do that?"
Bella: "Been practicing. Now you know. Nobody's ever loved anybody as much as I love you."
Edward: "There's one exception. (They kissed) Will you show me again?"
Bella: (She laughed and shook her head) "We've got a lotta of time."
Edward: "Forever."
Bella: "Forever." (They kissed again)

The film shifted from the meadow to the last page of the Stephenie Meyer's book upon which the film was adapted, with the following similar black text on white paper:

"We have plenty of time to work on it," I reminded him.
"Forever and forever and forever," he murmured.
"That sounds exactly right to me."
And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever.

Then after a wipe left, the text was shown as white on a black background, with the last word "forever" in bold - the only word on the page.

In the final few minutes of the film as a tribute, every actor with a speaking role in the entire film series was credited and identified with a picture, including these three major characters.

Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner)

Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson)

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart)