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Long Kiss Goodnight, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Director Renny Harlin has had his mix of success("Die Hard 2", "Deep Blue Sea") and failure("Cutthroat Island"). "The Long Kiss Goodnight" falls somewhere in the middle. Geena Davis stars as Samantha Caine, a woman who is an otherwise normal housewife, taking care of her young daughter and taking life day by day. She doesn't remember her past due to amnesia, but she doesn't actively seek out her past, until one day, it seeks out her. After some hints about her past come to the surface, her memory of the past as a CIA agent begins to come to the surface. In reality, she was Charly Baltimore, an assassin for the government.
And, of course, everyone from her past sees one by one that she's alive. And, they don't want her around for too much longer. Assisted by a detective named Mitch(Samuel L. Jackson in a performance that's the highlight of the movie), the two of them set out to get Charly/Samantha out of trouble. Although the general ideas behind the plot are rather interesting, the plot doesn't stick around for too long. I'll say this about Renny Harlin, he does know how to stage a stunning action sequence, and that's pretty much what this movie is: action sequence after action sequence, and a little talk thrown in every so often to update us where everything is currently at. It's written by Shane Black, who was also famous for writing "Lethal Weapon".
There are many movies like this, and in this sort of "action genre", it stands up fairly well. Some fairly stylish and loud action/explosions and for a couple of hours, it's entertaining. But once it's over, it's pretty forgettable.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is an outstanding 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer and definitely one of the very best of the early efforts that New Line Home Video has brought to DVD. The picture is nothing less than razor sharp throughout the entire movie, and colors are perfectly saturated and vibrant, as well. Black level is strong and flesh tones are accurate as well.
This is a bright, clear picture that doesn't have any distractions in the way of the usual artifacts like pixelation. The print used is also in very good condition, with no instances of scratches or marks. A very, very good transfer from New Line. There's the choice of the 2.35:1 edition or the pan/scan edition. The pan/scan edition is absolutely not recommended.
SOUND: "The Long Kiss Goodnight" isn't one big action scene like Harlin's "Deep Blue Sea", but when action does arrive, it sounds exceptionally good, with a few very strong explosions(especially towards the end) and a few scenes where gunfire zips from all around the room. The score is clear and rich sounding and dialogue is fine as well. Not a constant thrill, but there are plenty of great sounding single scenes along the way.
MENUS:: Suprisingly, New Line chose to go with rather basic menus for this title(in comparison to some of their other menus, which provide amazing animation).
EXTRAS: Strangely, this title was not included in New Line's Platinum Edition series. All we get here is the trailer for the film. It would be nice if New Line could re-issue this as a bigger special edition. Director Harlin has done commentaries for other films of his(recently on "Deep Blue Sea") and Samuel L. Jackson has provided two fantastic commentaries already("Sphere", "Deep Blue Sea"). I think there's definitely an audience that liked this film enough for there to be an interest in a future special edition
Director Renny Harlin has had his mix of success("Die Hard 2", "Deep Blue Sea") and failure("Cutthroat Island"). "The Long Kiss Goodnight" falls somewhere in the middle. Geena Davis stars as Samantha Caine, a woman who is an otherwise normal housewife, taking care of her young daughter and taking life day by day. She doesn't remember her past due to amnesia, but she doesn't actively seek out her past, until one day, it seeks out her. After some hints about her past come to the surface, her memory of the past as a CIA agent begins to come to the surface. In reality, she was Charly Baltimore, an assassin for the government.
And, of course, everyone from her past sees one by one that she's alive. And, they don't want her around for too much longer. Assisted by a detective named Mitch(Samuel L. Jackson in a performance that's the highlight of the movie), the two of them set out to get Charly/Samantha out of trouble. Although the general ideas behind the plot are rather interesting, the plot doesn't stick around for too long. I'll say this about Renny Harlin, he does know how to stage a stunning action sequence, and that's pretty much what this movie is: action sequence after action sequence, and a little talk thrown in every so often to update us where everything is currently at. It's written by Shane Black, who was also famous for writing "Lethal Weapon".
There are many movies like this, and in this sort of "action genre", it stands up fairly well. Some fairly stylish and loud action/explosions and for a couple of hours, it's entertaining. But once it's over, it's pretty forgettable.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is an outstanding 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer and definitely one of the very best of the early efforts that New Line Home Video has brought to DVD. The picture is nothing less than razor sharp throughout the entire movie, and colors are perfectly saturated and vibrant, as well. Black level is strong and flesh tones are accurate as well.
This is a bright, clear picture that doesn't have any distractions in the way of the usual artifacts like pixelation. The print used is also in very good condition, with no instances of scratches or marks. A very, very good transfer from New Line. There's the choice of the 2.35:1 edition or the pan/scan edition. The pan/scan edition is absolutely not recommended.
SOUND: "The Long Kiss Goodnight" isn't one big action scene like Harlin's "Deep Blue Sea", but when action does arrive, it sounds exceptionally good, with a few very strong explosions(especially towards the end) and a few scenes where gunfire zips from all around the room. The score is clear and rich sounding and dialogue is fine as well. Not a constant thrill, but there are plenty of great sounding single scenes along the way.
MENUS:: Suprisingly, New Line chose to go with rather basic menus for this title(in comparison to some of their other menus, which provide amazing animation).
EXTRAS: Strangely, this title was not included in New Line's Platinum Edition series. All we get here is the trailer for the film. It would be nice if New Line could re-issue this as a bigger special edition. Director Harlin has done commentaries for other films of his(recently on "Deep Blue Sea") and Samuel L. Jackson has provided two fantastic commentaries already("Sphere", "Deep Blue Sea"). I think there's definitely an audience that liked this film enough for there to be an interest in a future special edition
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