Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson headline an explosive collector’s edition
The Long Kiss Goodnight comes at the tail end of screenwriter Shane Black’s (Lethal Weapon) blistering late-’80s to early-’90s run of action thriller projects, the script for which netted him a then-record $4 million payday. The film, about a schoolteacher with amnesia who discovers she’s a CIA wetwork operative, and directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) opened in 1996 to decent reviews but a disappointing box office compared to its meaty $65 million budget. Since then, it’s become a cult favorite for fans of Black, Harlin, and stars Gena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, getting folded into the Christmas Action Canon alongside the likes of Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. Now, boutique label Arrow Video has rolled out the red carpet with an extravagant 4K set that’s both packed with extras and boasting a new restoration for action fans to sink their teeth into.
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) doesn’t know who she was before she washed up pregnant and sporting a head injury eight years ago, but has made a life for herself, her daughter Caitlin (Yvonne Zima), and her boyfriend Hal (Tom Amandes) until she’s in a freak accident. Not only do memories of her previous life as elite assassin Charly Baltimore begin to resurface, but so do long-evaded enemies who have a score to settle with her alter-ego. It’s a good thing she retained the services of P.I. Mitch Henessey, because this is definitely sort of situation where you want Samuel L. Jackson watching your back.
The film certainly bears influences from the works of Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, but goosed with Black’s signature snappy self-aware dialogue and knack for escalating set pieces with Swiss watch setup and payoff gags. The movie bounces from location and subplot with surprisingly deft pacing given how much ground it has to cover in 120 minutes, and is always introducing a new red herring or explosive ambush so it doesn’t feel like an endless sequence of Davis and Jackson bantering as they drive to the next exposition dump.
Not that just hanging with Samantha and Mitch would have been a bad way to spend the two hours – Davis and Jackson have great chemistry, both as Samantha is first beginning to unravel her past and as her POV and personality changes in the process of recovering her memories. Jackson is a fantastic motormouth rogue, but as a character increasingly realizing he’s the person out of his depth rather than his partner, he emerges as the unlikely conscience of the film. You can draw an almost straight line from Mitch to “knights in tarnished armor” like Holland Marsh from Black’s neo-noir masterpiece The Nice Guys, but this film also gives Jackson plenty of opportunity to shine in the gonzo action sequences.
I don’t rate Harlin as highly as an action director as his contemporaries like Cameron, McTiernan, or de Bont, but he’s got a solid meat-and-potatoes functionality in executing Black’s escalation on the page, albeit an execution that seems to always be set at “11.” From the opening attack on Samantha’s kitchen by a one-eyed assassin wielding a shotgun that blows holes through walls large enough to toss a child through to a finale on the US/Canadian border that set a record for largest explosion filmed at the time, Harlin seems incapable of not indulging in maximalism. The rock-solid template that Black’s script provides, however, keeps the narrative grounded in action and character enough that it never tips over into being a cartoon like some of Harlin’s other films.
This balance is helped not only by the cast keying into the proper tone, but by Alan Silvestri’s “subtext does not exist in this dojo” score. Silvestri is no stranger to big bombastic action scores, but also plays with both the mysterious and the festive in his motifs to both enhance the Christmas setting and underline Samantha’s unease at who she thinks she can trust. He even sprinkles in some upbeat jazzy “sitcom” riffs to lay under the more domestic scenes so that various rug-pulls are even more effective. Davis plays the evolution of Samantha/Charly with a delightful “aw, shucks” energy that careens headlong into one-liner spitting murder machine, employing a deftness that softens some of the clumsiness Black can have writing female characters.
She also did an incredible amount of her own work for the film, and it’s as mesmerizing to watching her dice food like a veteran chef as it is to see her sniping fools with a high-powered rifle. The Long Kiss Goodnight gives her plenty of chances to flex her skills with blade, rifle, and other accoutrements as she blasts her way though the conspiracy. The false flag disaster she has to prevent is scarily prophetic by accident, but apart from that is an agreeably goofy excuse to have character actors like Brian Cox, Patrick Malahide, and Craig Bierko strut around and dine on the scenery. Bierko in particular gets to be especially sleazy as the golden god with a rotten heart who acts as the main heavy, and the movie works overtime to make the explosive finale as viscerally satisfying as possible.
It’s hard not to yearn for original high-concept blockbusters like this one, even when they’re not quite the five-star bullseye that you’d hope for from those involved. The Long Kiss Goodnight may have started as an intellectual exercise of Black wondering “well, wouldn’t it be more interesting if the main character of a spy movie were a woman?” but the resulting film captures a certain energy that we don’t much see anymore. The Christmas trappings wind up being more symbolically and mechanically important to the film than one-off references like Last Action Hero or Iron Man Three, and the movie is endearingly eager to show you a good time.
The proposed sequel may never have materialized and it may have taken a while for it TLKG to find its people, but as a self-contained roller coaster of explosive holiday hi-jinks it’s a singular delight for fans of old-school action.
Presentation:
Arrow Video has made something of a name for themselves with these boutique releases featuring sumptuous 4K transfers, and this further cements the reputation. This new 4K restoration comes from the original 35mm negative and was overseen by director Renny Harlin, and is presented in UHD Dolby vision. This release sees none of the artifacting that impacted the previous Blu-ray release, maintaining the high-gloss color palette of Guillermo Navarro’s cinematography without it becoming oversaturated. Blacks and shadows are appreciably deep with grain being present but not overpowering (although especially apparent in the impressionistic dream sequences).
This release is particularly good at highlighting the fine details of the film’s production design, both in details from long and medium shots and skin, clothing & weapon textures in closeups. The film is presented in its original 2:39:1 theatrical aspect ratio.
The soundtrack comes in both a DTS HD 5.1 surround mix and stereo 2.0 with Dolby Atmos options. This mix is similarly punchy to the previous Blu-ray release, but with far more detail in the position of sound effects depending on whether you’re using surround vs. stereo. Effects and music find an agreeable balance without ever overpowering dialogue, which remains clear throughout.
Bonus Content:
This is another area where Arrow has made a name for themselves, in bringing back the “lots of special features” ethos of the ’00s-era DVD golden age. The Long Kiss Goodnight not only has lavish packaging with new writing on the film, but the discs are stuffed with features new and old, including two brand-new audio commentaries.
The Set
- 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 UHD):
Theatrical cut of the film (120 minutes)
- Brand new audio commentary by film critic Walter Chaw
- Brand new audio commentary by film critics Drusilla Adeline and Joshua Conkel of the Bloodhaus Podcast
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Theatrical Trailer
- Image gallery
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
- Symphony of Destruction – new interview with stunt co-ordinator Steve Davidson
- Long Live the New Flesh – new interview with make-up artist Gordon J. Smith
- Girl Interrupted – new interview with actress Yvonne Zima
- Amnesia Chick – new visual essay by film scholar Josh Nelson
- The Mirror Crack’d – new visual essay by critic and filmmaker Howard S. Berger
- A Woman’s World – 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 – archival promotional featurette
- Behind the Scenes – archival EPK footage from the filming of The Long Kiss Goodnight
The Long Kiss Goodnight is now available on 4K UHD from Arrow Video.
