’90s Action Staples Get a Great 4K Treatment With Arrow’s Renny Harlin Double Feature

It’s impossible to talk about the action movies of the 1990s without bringing up director Renny Harlin. He kicked off the decade with Die Hard 2, launching a killer action run that included Cliffhanger, Cutthroat Island, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Deep Blue Sea — all in the span of nine years. As physical media continues to improve, and films from previous eras continue to get much-needed restorations, Harlin’s films have found new life in the world of 4K.

Cliffhanger and Cutthroat Island received 4K restorations and studio-backed Steelbook rollouts over the last two years, but Harlin’s real cult classic double feature had to wait a while longer. Thankfully, the last month has seen both Deep Blue Sea and The Long Kiss Goodnight receive full 4K remasters and releases from the folks at Arrow Video, and these two underrated action flicks look better than ever.

Arrow released the new 4K editions of Deep Blue Sea and The Long Kiss Goodnight just a month apart from one another, creating a rad double feature not focused on Harlin, but also on the director’s work with Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson starred in The Long Kiss Goodnight, opposite Geena Davis, back in 1996, bringing to life some of the best dialogue from screenwriter Shane Black. When Harlin took on his next film, shark thriller Deep Blue Sea, he brought Jackson back into the fold and gave him one of the most memorable on-screen deaths of the entire decade.

[Order Your Copy of The Long Kiss Goodnight Here]

Even though it the second of the two films to be released in theaters, 1999’s Deep Blue Sea was the first of the Harlin/Jackson double feature to get a 4K release from Arrow. The distributor released a special edition of the Deep Blue Sea 4K back in March, followed by The Long Kiss Goodnight just a couple of weeks ago. Both releases came packed with a slew of special features, brand new art work, and restorations that were approved by Harlin himself.

If you’ve ever bought any films from Arrow Video, you know that the company has a reputation for producing excellent work. These Harlin films are no exception. Fans of either movie should consider these new releases as the definitive editions to own.

I will say, watching them both back-to-back, The Long Kiss Goodnight is the better of the two — both as a movie and when it comes to the new 4K discs. Not that there wasn’t great work done with Deep Blue Sea, but the film’s notorious special effects simply made for a much greater challenge. While seemingly revolutionary back in 1999, the CGI-heavy effects in Deep Blue Sea have not aged well at all. The restoration brings a vibrant, new life to every part of the picture, which sometimes works against those VFX.

With a much lower quality version of the picture on Deep Blue Sea — like on the VHS, for example — it’s almost as if the bad CGI is somewhat hidden. The computer-generated sharks blend right in. But with this restoration, they stand out in a way that makes the issues a lot more obvious.

[Order Your Copy of Deep Blue Sea Here]

Again, this is no fault of the restoration itself, or even of Harlin’s work. Deep Blue Sea is very much a product of its time. The Y2K aesthetic created by out-of-place cartoon sharks brings a level of nostalgia to the film that a lot of fans love.

The Long Kiss Goodnight doesn’t have the same CGI issue. It’s a gritty, fast-paced little thriller that looks immaculate on 4K. Sequences like Davis speed skating across a frozen lake and Jackson driving a bullet-riddled sedan straight towards an explosive semi-truck absolutely pop off the screen.

These two Harlin classics may not have been on the top of many wish lists when film fans started thinking about the movies they wanted to see restored for 4K. But the new Arrow editions show just how ripe the ’90s era of mid-budget action is for the restoration treatment. Those movies that became staples of cable TV throughout the decade are being given brand new life three decades later.

Both Deep Blue Sea and The Long Kiss Goodnight are available now from Arrow Video.