Long Kiss Goodnight, The (4K UHD Review)

Reviewed by: Stephen Bjork
Review Date: Apr 01, 2025
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Renny Harlin

Release Date(s)

1996 (April 8, 2025)

Studio(s)

Forge/The Steve Tisch Company/New Line Cinema (Arrow Video)

Film/Program Grade: B
Video Grade: A
Audio Grade: A-
Extras Grade: A

https://www.arrowvideo.com/

Review

Shane Black made a name for himself writing action movies like Lethal Weapon, and he also gained some notoriety earning record paydays for scripts like The Last Boy Scout—seriously, nothing pisses off Hollywood (and especially the Hollywood press) more than a writer actually getting paid for their work. Those record-breaking paydays continued when New Line Cinema gave Black $4 million for his screenplay to The Long Kiss Goodnight, but that script was significant for reasons having little do with money. Black had always demonstrated an ear for witty and sometimes pithy dialogue, but The Long Kiss Goodnight fused that sharp dialogue with the latent neo-noir tendencies that had been lurking at the margins of his other scripts, and perhaps just as importantly, it introduced a postmodernist flair that went beyond mere pop culture references. As a result, The Long Kiss Goodnight was the first significant step on a journey that would lead to Black making his directorial debut in 2005 with the ultimate in witty postmodern neo-noir: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Still, back in 1996, bringing The Long Kiss Goodnight to the screen required fusing Black’s sensibilities with those of a commercially successful director whose own sensibilities couldn’t have been farther removed from Black’s: Renny Harlin. Granted, Harlin was fresh off one of the most expensive flops of all time, Cutthroat Island, but he still had an established track record at that point, including hits like Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. Harlin also had the advantage of being married to his Cutthroat Island star Geena Davis, who signed on to play Samantha in this film. So, it’s not too surprising that New Line tapped him to direct, even if Harlin’s approach to humor was to use it as a blunt instrument rather than like Black’s surgical scalpel. The Long Kiss Goodnight also fell victim to Harlin’s predilection for action movie bloat, and the expensive production ended up being a disappointment at the box office (though it was hardly a bomb on the level of Cutthroat Island). Yet like the best neo-noirs, it quickly developed a cult following. That’s thanks in no small part to Black’s gift for dialogue—The Long Kiss Goodnight is an eminently quotable film, as any fan will attest:

“Easy, sport. I got myself out of Beirut once, I think I can get out of New Jersey.”

“Yeah? Well, don’t be so sure. Others have tried and failed. The entire population, in fact.”

The Long Kiss Goodnight features Davis as Samantha Caine, a seemingly ordinary schoolteacher in a small Pennsylvania town. Yet she’s hiding an open secret: she had appeared out of nowhere eight years ago, pregnant with her daughter Caitlin (Yvonne Zima) but with no memory of who she was or how she got there. She’s started a new life in Pennsylvania, raising her daughter with the help of her boyfriend Hal (Tom Amandes), but she still wants to know who she used to be. She’s hired a string of private investigators in order to track down her past, all of whom have failed, so she’s currently scraping the bottom of the barrel with Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson), a former cop who has become the ambulance chaser of the PI world. After years with no progress, three things happen almost simultaneously: Mitch actually finds something; Samantha bangs her head in a car accident and starts to regain vague memories but very specific skills; and an old associate inadvertently sees her on television and comes looking for her. All of that ends up leading Samantha and Mitch on a wild run for their lives—with the lives of hundreds of civilians at stake. The Long Kiss Goodnight also stars Brian Cox, Craig Bierko, David Morse, Patrick Malahide, G.D. Spradlin, and Alan North.

Obviously, there’s more to Samantha than meets the eye, but while the trailers for The Long Kiss Goodnight gave away too much, we’re going to keep this as spoiler-free as possible for the benefit of those who haven’t seen it yet. No, there aren’t any big surprises in The Long Kiss Goodnight since it leaves little doubt about what kind of movie that it actually is, but it’s still more enjoyable to discover what’s really happening along with Samantha and Mitch. Mind you, it may have been a Shane Black script but it’s still a Renny Harlin film, so those reveals are handled with all the subtlety that this Finnish bull in a Hollywood China shop could muster—in other words, none whatsoever. (He even includes a clip from Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, just in case you couldn’t figure out the title of this film for yourself.) The action scenes also display his predilection for shooting everything in slow motion, and the physics are as laughable as you would expect in an action film from that era. It’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang via Die Hard 2, with everything that entails.

Still, The Long Kiss Goodnight works surprisingly well, and that’s thanks in no small part to Davis and Jackson, who have fantastic chemistry together (in more ways than one). Jackson in particular delivers every juicy line that Shane Black wrote for him with obvious relish, turning what could have been the thankless sidekick role into the heart and soul of the film. The rest of the cast handles their respective roles with aplomb, even Tom Amandes in the genuinely thankless role of the boyfriend who’s left behind in this journey (and how often do you get to write the phrase “thankless role of the boyfriend,” anyway?). The villains all chew appropriate amounts of scenery, and Black wasn’t stingy about giving them plenty of great lines, either. The Long Kiss Goodnight is as much good clean fun as a bloody, ultraviolent action movie can be.

Unfortunately, audiences weren’t convinced about that back in 1996, which is a little odd considering that the film landed in the wake of the smash success of Pulp Fiction, so clearly they were willing to accept humor blended with graphic violence. It may be that viewers were making assumptions about the nature of the film, and you know what happens when you make an assumption, don’t you? Sadly, the disappointing box office of The Long Kiss Goodnight, hot on the heels of the disastrous failure of Cutthroat Island, helped send Harlin’s career into the tailspin that he’s never quite been able to pull out of ever since. On the other hand, it helped establish the template that Shane Black would utilize in his own directorial career, and that’s what gave us the delightful Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. So, God’s in his Heaven, all’s right with the world. Viva la Black.

Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro shot The Long Kiss Goodnight on 35mm film (in Super-35 format) using Arriflex cameras with spherical lenses, framed at 2.39:1 for its theatrical release. This version is based on a 4K scan of the original camera negative by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, with digital cleanup and grading performed at Duplitech (High Dynamic Range in both Dolby Vision and HDR10 are included on the disc). The final results were approved by Renny Harlin. Super-35 sometimes had a bad reputation in terms of image quality, but that was due to the fact that release prints were anamorphic blow-ups that magnified the grain. This 4K remaster is an excellent reminder of just how good that Super-35 can look on the UHD format. It’s arguably the poster child for it.

The Long Kiss Goodnight was finished on film, of course, so any optical work like the opening titles, transitions, and VFX work had to be derived from dupe elements and they do display the expected loss in resolution and coarser grain. That’s the sum total of any and all issues with this 4K presentation, and they’re inherent to the original production. Everything else is crisp and clear, with beautifully refined textures like Jackson’s knit turtleneck and his fuzzy green ivy cap. Optical work aside, the grain remains tight and smooth throughout, and there isn’t a trace of damage visible. The color reproduction is fantastic, from Jackson’s eclectic wardrobe on down, and the contrast range is beautiful, adding some genuine depth to the blacks without losing detail in the process. It’s a huge upgrade over the old Warner Bros. Blu-ray—if you still have that disc, deposit it into the nearest trash receptacle and never look back.

Audio is offered in English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, both of which are presumably the original theatrical mixes (The Long Kiss Goodnight was released relatively early in the 5.1 era, so there would have still been a Dolby Stereo mix for theatres that weren’t offering digital audio yet). Yet it’s worth checking out the new Dolby Atmos mix that was created at Deluxe Audio in London (once again, with Harlin’s approval). It enhances the immersive qualities of the original 5.1 mix without straying too far from it, but it does take advantage of the expanded soundstage whenever appropriate. For example, Samantha’s early dream sequence now has the sounds of thunder extending overhead, and the water wheel scene also utilizes the overhead channels in order to dunk viewers aurally. Even when the ceiling speakers are less active, sound effects are still placed throughout the soundstage with more precision. It’s an incremental improvement over 5.1, not necessarily a drastic one, but frankly that’s exactly how remixes like this should be done. (English SDH subtitles are available if needed.)

Arrow’s Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD release of The Long Kiss Goodnight is a two-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with additional extras—note that there’s no Blu-ray copy of the film itself, and it doesn’t appear that Arrow is offering a separate Blu-ray version, either. The insert is reversible, featuring new artwork by Sam Hadley on one side and one of the original theatrical poster designs on the other, and there’s a slipcover with the Hadley artwork. There’s also a 40-page booklet with essays by Priscilla Page, Richard Kadrey, Maura McHugh, and Clem Bastow, as well as a Sam Jackson Christmas postcard and a “Thin Ice” sticker. The following extras are included:

DISC ONE: FEATURE FILM (UHD)

Audio Commentary by Walter Chaw
Audio Commentary by Joshua Conkel and Drusilla Adeline
Theatrical Trailer (Upscaled SD – 2:33)
Image Gallery (UHD – 5:20, 312 in all)

Arrow is offering not one but two new commentary tracks with this release. The first is with author Walter Chaw, who is also a senior film critic at Film Freak Central. He calls it one of the signature action films from the Nineties, and offers plenty of stories about the making of the film, including biographies of all the major cast and crew. Chaw acknowledges the “mean streak” in Harlin’s films (a fair criticism) and points out how that can be an obstacle for some viewers. The second commentary features Joshua Conkel and Drusilla Adeline of the Bloodhaus podcast, and they take a more relaxed approach to the film. They do mention some details that Chaw doesn’t, so there’s a complementary aspect to it, but their track is more of an appreciation of the film and of Shane Black’s cult appeal. (They’re also fans of Cutthroat Island and say that if you enjoy their commentary, you’ll probably enjoy that film, so you can work your way backwards from there if necessary.)

After praising Arrow for the phenomenal level of organization that they displayed with the Image Galleries on their Cruising UHD, this one is just a single gallery consisting of over 300 images. On the plus side, they’re all in full 4K, but it’s still a pain to try to navigate them.

DISC TWO: ADDITIONAL EXTRAS (BD)

Girl Interrupted (HD – 16:02)
Symphony of Destruction (HD – 9:06)
Long Live the New Flesh (HD – 11:53)
Amnesia Chick (HD – 19:32)
The Mirror Crack’d (HD – 38:36)
A Woman’s World (HD – 14:20)
Deleted Scenes (Upscaled SD – 2:32, 2 in all)
Promotional Interviews:
- Renny Harlin (Upscaled SD – 2:16)
- Geena Davis (Upscaled SD – 1:28)
- Samuel L. Jackson (Upscaled SD – 1:24)
- Craig Bierko (Upscaled SD – :42)
Making Of (Upscaled SD – 5:53)
Behind the Scenes (Upscaled SD – 8:14)

In addition to the two new commentary tracks, Arrow has also produced three new interviews for this release of The Long Kiss Goodnight. Girl Interrupted is with Yvonne Zima, who describes how she became an actress, her involvement in making the film, and continuing to work with Shane Black. Symphony of Destruction is with stunt coordinator Steve Davidson, who talks about how everything got bigger and bigger once Renny Harlin got involved, and he also breaks down specific stunts in the film. Long Live the New Flesh is with makeup artist Gordon Smith, who discusses working on the silicon and urethane dummies for the bodies, as well as making silicon masks for the stunt performers.

Arrow has also produced three new visual essays. Amnesia Chick is by film scholar Josh Nelson, who traces the history of amnesia stories onscreen (many of which were film noir) and how The Long Kiss Goodnight fits in with that tradition while still breaking with it at the same time. The Mirror Crack’d is by The Flying Maciste Brothers, aka Howard S. Berger and Kevin Marr (with an assist from Angela McEntee), and their sub-title says it all: Domesticity & Liberation in Black and Harlin’s Psychosexual Shoot ‘em Up. It’s an examination of the film on a thematic level, showing how it subverts the cultural tropes of the genre while essentially being about Samantha’s midlife crisis. Finally, A Woman’s World is by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who explores the career of Geena Davis and how she ended up struggling with Hollywood’s bias against older women.

The rest of the extras consist of archival materials. The Deleted Scenes are really extended scenes, showing very different edits of two action sequences. The Promotional Interviews were all taken from the original EPK materials, featuring Renny Harlin, Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Craig Bierko. While they’re pretty typical promotional fluff, it’s still interesting hearing Harlin acknowledge that for him, more is more, and he always paints with a big brush. The Making Of and Behind the Scenes also came from the original EPK, so they use interviews taking from the same sessions, but the Behind the Scenes featurette does offer a pretty extensive collection of on-set footage, including a few things that went wrong.

There’s nothing missing here from any previous releases of The Long Kiss Goodnight, which isn’t particularly surprising considering that all of the Blu-ray versions have been bare bones. (Most of the archival extras included here came from DVD.) So, this is a massive upgrade in more ways than one. It includes a significant quantity of new extras accompanied by all of the older archival ones, and the A/V quality puts the dated Blu-ray master to shame—it’s greatly improved audio with damned near reference-quality video. Highly recommended.

-Stephen Bjork

(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).