Disc Reviews
The Long Kiss Goodnight 4K Review
Renny Harlin and Geena Davis didn’t have much luck with the two films they made in the mid-90s. Cutthroat Island was a financial and critical disaster. Their following film, The Long Kiss Goodnight, didn’t have much more success. It wasn’t a complete disaster, and thanks to home video, the film quickly garnered the fanbase it has today. The Long Kiss Goodnight is, in some ways, one of the last of the big bombastic adult action films we had become used to seeing each year. The major difference is that it had a female action lead. Now this is a subject matter that rises and falls on the stars and the films they are in. Luckily, we are in very safe hands with Renny Harlin’s direction and sporting a very fun script by Shane Black (licking wounds from his previous Last Action Hero script debacle).
Davis plays Samatha Caine, a school teacher in a small town who has suffered from amnesia. A break comes in her case thanks to low-rent PI Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson), and before you know it, the due are on the road together with bad guys closing in fast. It seems Ms. Caine had a former life as a government agent named Charlie Baltimore. And now she wants to come back. Cue an impressive array of action set pieces and dialogue to live and die for.
Samuel L. Jackson played in various actioners in the 90s, but this one stands out as one of his finest “sidekick” roles (a close second to Die Hard with a Vengeance). Jackson is on fire from start to finish, exhuming confidence (as the confidence trickster he is), and makes for a great duo with Davis before and after her character’s transition. But he very quickly has to wise up, face reality, and let Davis assume control as she starts to find her former self. Once she is in full control, Jackson is largely fully resigned to her will, often for comedic effect, but also to sustain the argument that Charlie Baltimore is one bad ass bitch.
It’s a shame Davis didn’t get to take this role or one like it any further, but she is cemented firmly in ’90s action lore as well as the ever-growing history of strong female leads that don’t need a WOKE paddle to whack the audience with as they watch the story unfold.
Directorially, this is one of Harlin’s finest action films, and he has enough classics on the table for a good table debate. He dares to go beyond silly in places, and the film works as a result. The Long Kiss Goodnight brings the excesses of action cinema but enough talent to sell it the right way.
We only had the first disc for the review, so the supplementary material on disc two you can read about below the review. It looks like a nice mix of Arrow Video’s usual new interviews, critical essays, and archival material. Disc one houses the lovely looking and sounding 4K rendition of the film – and it looks great! There is also a couple of commentary tracks. A fairly fun one from a podcast team who bounce off each other, and another critical one which is a little more fact laden. Sadly, Harlin does not seem to have done a commentary for the film, otherwise, we are sure Arrow would have ported it over. And that’s a damn shame as he usually shows up for the bonus materials for his other films.
Steven Hurst
4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
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 with director Renny Harlin and stars Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and Craig Bierko
• Making Of, an archive prom
otional featurette
• Behind the Scenes, archive EPK footage from the filming of The Long Kiss Goodnight
The Long Kiss Goodnight 4K is out on 7th April 2025
