Blu-Ray Review: THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT - Entertaining Actioner Let Down By Careless Transfer
Another back catalogue release- this time from Warner Home Video- given the high definition treatment, The Long Kiss Goodnight should well be considered one of the best action movies of the 1990s and is available to buy on Blu-ray now. But even more fundamentally than that, it should be heralded as one of the only films (other than Beetlejuice) to ever get a good performance out of Geena Davis- and a full year after the debacle of Cutthroat Island as well! The question, as always, is: do we need it? Based on the film alone, the answer would be yes. The Long Kiss Goodnight is a pleasure- ahead of its time in terms of its rather post-modern pastiche of action films (going way beyond cliche by injecting some knowing nods and winks for instance), and pleasantly positions Geena Davis in what would usually have been a male role. The premise is so good that it feels very familiar- the amnesiac super agent who by accident rediscovers her skill set after another bump on the head, and finds the key to unlocking the secrets of her past. But it isn't just the premise that works so well: the execution is excellent, from the generally hyped up feel of the action, to the brilliant, memorable and eminently quotable dialogue through to the chemistry (both in-script and on screen) between Samuel L Jackson and Geena Davis. I have always maintained that Jackson is at his best when he has someone else to bounce off- as in Pulp Fiction, Unbreakable, even Soul Men- he needs a counter-point to balance, and to a certain extent restrain his intensity. Otherwise he just ends up shouting into a vacuum, unable to judge the ferocity of his performance, and descending to a later Al Pacino style of acting that amounts to no more than shouting as loud as possible at every one else on screen. The film rests on Geena Davis though- it is her performance that makes it a lot more than just the hugely expensive actioner without much in terms of substance that it is often accused of being. She handles the necessary schizophrenia of her character(s) well, even offering a convincing segue from masculinised and feminised identities, and more than holds her own in the boy's world of the action film. I only have one problem with the film: I have always hated, and I think will always hate the cheap Bond-rip-off style opening credits that look an utter mess, and if you look hard enough give away the bloody secret about Geena Davis' character before we even meet her on screen. That's just silly. But other than that, it is a great action film experience. Never too complex, and just self-aware enough to pull off a gentle parody among the big guns and explosions. But how does it fair as a high-definition offering?