Essential
Summary
The Long Kiss Goodnight may not have got much love when it first came out, but I’ve always enjoyed how outrageous it is and the script from Shane Black never disappoints. It has some insane action and a great villain with Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson providing some entertaining banter. This 4k is one of the year’s best and a worthy addition to your collection.
Plot: From screenwriter Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys) and director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) comes ass-kicking action thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Eight years ago, Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) washed up on a beach, pregnant, with no memory. Now she’s a school teacher living an idyllic small town life with a daughter and boyfriend who love her. She’s almost given up on ever finding out about the life she used to lead, until an accident awakens hidden memories and her past comes back with all guns blazing. With the help of low rent private eye Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson) Samantha must uncover who she was and why so many people want her dead before it kills them both.
With unforgettable action sequences and dialogue to die for, The Long Kiss Goodnight ranks among the very best of 90s action thrillers. Geena Davis is a revelation as the wholesome school teacher struggling to reconcile with her deadly alter ego Charly, while Samuel L. Jackson brings his quintessential charm to a role that so enamored test audiences they refused to let him die. Strap yourselves in and hold on tight!
Review: I just got the 4K of The Long Kiss Goodnight from Arrow Video and as always, they did not disappoint. We all know the movie is crazy fun with Geena Davis clearly having a ball as PTA member Samantha Caine who has amnesia, forgetting that she is in fact assassin Charly Baltimore.
After being in a car accident her memories start to return, and she heads off on a roadtrip with Samuel L. Jackson’s P.I. Mitch Henessey to find out who she really is. Hot on their trail is the villain Timothy (Craig Bierko) who is also the father of Charly’s little girl.
The Long Kiss Goodnight wasn’t a big hit when it came out, which is a shame as I always loved it especially when the teaser trailer played The Eyes of Truth by Enigma over it. It’s a well-paced 2 hours with plenty of action including fight scenes, shoot-outs and ridiculous set-pieces. I remember at the time everyone thought them jumping out the window and shooting the ice below was silly, but it’s more like a documentary compared to some of the nonsense that happens in today’s movies.
Craig Bierko is such a wonderfully hateful, smug bastard in this movie that he is just a cartoon villain. It would have been interesting if once he found out the child was his that he had a redemption arc but that didn’t go anywhere, and he died screaming like he deserved.
Anyway, I love this movie and it’s a regular Christmas watch in my household. The 4K looks and sounds great and there are hours’ worth of special features.
2-DISC 4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Clem Bastow, Richard Kadrey, Maura McHugh, and Priscilla Page
- Seasonal postcard
- Thin Ice sticker
DISC 1 (4K ULTRA HD) – FEATURE & EXTRAS
- Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original 35mm negative approved by director Renny Harlin
- 4K Ultra HD (2160p) presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original DTS-HD MA 5.1, stereo 2.0. and new Dolby Atmos audio options
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by film critic Walter Chaw
- Brand new audio commentary by film critics Drusilla Adeline and Joshua Conkel, co-hosts of the Bloodhaus podcast
- Theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY) – BONUS FEATURES
- Symphony of Destruction, a new interview with stunt co-ordinator Steve Davidson
- Long Live the New Flesh, a new interview with make-up artist Gordon J. Smith
- Girl Interrupted, a new interview with actress Yvonne Zima
- Amnesia Chick, a new visual essay by film scholar Josh Nelson
- The Mirror Crack’d, a new visual essay by critic and filmmaker Howard S. Berger
- A Woman’s World, a new visual essay by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- Deleted scenes
- Archive promotional interviews with director Renny Harlin and stars Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and Craig Bierko
- Making Of, an archive promotional featurette
- Behind the Scenes, archive EPK footage from the filming of The Long Kiss Goodnight
I like how there is a lot of new material as well as some archival interviews here and the deleted scenes are always welcome even if I can see why they were removed.
Overall, The Long Kiss Goodnight deserves more love; it may be silly but it’s such a fun time with some awesome action scenes, a nasty villain and an appealing duo in Davis and Jackson. The 4K is loaded with extras and the quality is amazing making this a necessary addition to your physical media collection.