The Nice Guys

Summary

“I had to question the mermaids. What were you doing, while I was working? Thank you.”

In 2016, Warner Bros. released an extremely enjoyable action-comedy from screenwriter Shane Black called The Nice Guys. It was a welcome return to form after his short stint working with Marvel on Iron Man 3. I didn’t think Iron Man 3 was his best effort, but I have enjoyed every other film that Shane Black has written. He is probably best known for writing Lethal Weapon, but he also wrote such classics as The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout, The Monster Squad, Last Action Hero, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys has a mystery at its core with noir elements and the film also happens to be hilariously funny. Shane Black is arguably one of the best to ever write in the buddy-action genre, and paired with the talented actors Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, The Nice Guys proved to be one of his best efforts. For some reason that I fail to grasp, the picture was only a modest success at the box office with roughly $62.5 million in box office sales against a $50 million budget. Luckily, in the years since its release it has continued to find an audience. When the Blu-ray was released in 2016, Warner inexplicably opted out of releasing a 4K, but now they have corrected that mistake. It is notable that the Warner release relies on the 4K transfer from that time, which came from a 2K Digital Intermediate, whereas a new 4K transfer is being prepared for Second Sight’s upcoming release. This will certainly make the decision on purchasing the Warner 4K a more difficult proposition. Regardless, I was more than a little bit excited to own this film on 4K, because it is one of my favorites of that decade.

Los Angeles – 1977

A teen boy steals an adult magazine from under his parent’s bed. As he looks at a picture of adult actress Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio) in a nude centerfold, a car smashes through his house from the hills above. Thrown from the vehicle is the naked centerfold herself. The boy steps outside and walks around the pool where the girl is sprawled out. She asks the boy “What do you think of my car, big boy?” before she passes away. Across town, on a sunny day, Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) watches from a safe distance as a 13-year-old girl is taken to an apartment by an older man who has been courting her. As she leaves the house on her bicycle, Jackson approaches the house. When the homeowner opens the door, Jackson punches him in the face and warns him to stay away from little girls. Jackson’s job is essentially to give people warnings backed up with some physical contact. He is divorced and lives alone. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a Private Investigator and owns his own firm – March Investigations. He largely takes on low level jobs, including looking for people’s relatives that he knows are deceased in order to make an income. He lives with his young teenage daughter Holly (Angourie March.) His wife had died years earlier, so he raises Holly alone. When Holland is given a job of tracking down Misty Mountains, after her demise, Holland begins to track down a girl named Amelia who knew Misty. Amelia (Margaret Qualley) hires Jackson to get March off the case. Jackson arrives at Holland’s house and proceeds to get all of the info out of him about who hired him and everything without having to lift a finger. He still breaks one of Holland’s arms before leaving. Outside of the house, Jackson meets Holly who offers him a Yoo-hoo. He happily accepts and leaves. Returning home now with a case full of Yoo-hoo, Jackson is ambushed by two men -an older black man (Keith David) and a younger man (Beau Knapp.) They are looking for Amelia. It gets personal when the younger man begins throwing Jackson’s fish out of his fish tank. The younger man sees a suitcase in the other room with some cash in it, and Jackson warns him not to mess with it. A blue bank bomb goes off covering his face. Jackson defends himself when he sees an opportunity and the two assailants leave. Given the situation and the danger that Amelia is in, Jackson hires March to help him track down Amelia. The unlikely pair begin searching through Los Angeles for the girl.

I absolutely love The Nice Guys. The picture rides a delicate balance between comedic moments and action sequences while still telling an enjoyable detective story. It is a tremendous amount of fun. Shane Black can really write these types of films. There are some moments in The Nice Guys that I could not have predicted that are either tremendously funny in an unexpected way or just very surprising in general in terms of plot mechanics. Fans of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang will be right at home with the rapid fire comedic banter between the two lead actors, and they have have wonderful chemistry together. Ryan Gosling is an excellent comedic performer, and the role of Holland March is to this date my favorite comedic performance by the actor. He is unbelievably funny in the film. Russell Crowe is a little bit more of a straight man in the picture, but not many straight men say lines as hilarious as “marriage is buying a house for someone you hate.” The casting of Gosling and Crowe pays off in every scene in which they interact. Like Shane Black’s other efforts, the picture has a bevy of enjoyable actors in smaller roles. Angourie Rice is great as the teenage daughter with a level head and disdain for her father’s cowardice and opportunism. Keith David shows up as a bad guy. I would be happy to have Keith David in every movie. Matt Bomer plays a hitman. Margaret Qualley is enjoyable as Amelia a full three years before her role in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Kim Basinger is always welcome in a picture and has a nice role as Amelia’s mother. Beau Knapp is also good as “Blueface.”

The picture is directed very well by Shane Black with the assistance of cinematographer Philippe Rousellot. The camera movements are well executed and the picture looks fantastic. Working with production designer Richard Bridgland, they managed to bring back the Los Angeles of the Seventies. I was very happy with some of the film’s clever placements of digital alterations to help sell the effect (such as bringing back the iconic Tower Records store briefly onscreen during a driving moment.) The score by David Buckley and John Ottman helps the cause as well.

The Nice Guys is a movie that I have rewatched nearly every year since it came out. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it and then watching it again at some point, because its replay value is fantastic. It seemingly is better every time I watch it. Check it out!

Video

The Nice Guys was shot on a combination of Redcode 6K RAW and ARRIRAW 2.8K digital film using anamorphic lenses. The digital intermediate for the film on its theatrical release was 2K. As I mentioned in some other reviews, this tends to muddy the water for fans of the 4K format, because the 4K release of a 2K film will still be somewhat less impressive than a true 4K UHD from a 4K intermediate. The 4K uptick is still more impressive than the original Blu-ray release, showing off the film in a truly uncompressed version, but some fans of the film will probably not find the uptick would be worth the upgrade. That said, I am not one of those folks. I think that The Nice Guys absolutely benefits from the 4K upgrade. Cinematographer Philippe Rousellot had worked on digital film for Guy Richie’s two Sherlock Holmes pictures, so he was very comfortable shooting on digital film. The use of anamorphic lenses allowed him to capture a good amount onscreen, and I loved the amount of movement from the camera. The HDR brings the best out of the film’s colorful pallete. I was really happy with how this 4K picture looked and would rate it a 4.5/5. That said – there was a 35mm print made from the digital which may be used as part of the basis for the Second Sight release, because the Second Sight release will have a new grading in 4K approved by Shane Black. I am not sure if that will lend to a better looking picture than is presented here, but I will probably splurge and buy that release someday to see for myself. As it stands, fans of the film are still very well served by this transfer.

Audio

The Nice Guys originally shipped on Blu-ray in 2016 with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, and Warner has kept that same track. While it would have been a welcome addition to see this track upgrade to Atmos, especially considering the amount of action oriented setpieces, the original 5.1 sound design is very good and is what was intended by the filmmakers. David Buckley and Jason Ottman’s score fits the picture well, although there was the occasional moment where I felt a bit more punch could have been interjected (but that is probably being overly critical.) The songs that appear from the period are all presented well and help to sell the entire vibe of the picture. Overall, this is a solid track. Apparently, the Second Sight release will feature an Atmos track, so that is something to consider.

Supplements: There are roughly twelve minutes of special features ported from the prior Blu-ray release. This is a bit of a missed opportunity for this release.

• Always Bet On Black
• Worst. Detectives. Ever. Making The Nice Guys

Overall Scores:

Video: 4.5

Audio: 4.25

Special Features: 1.5

Overall – 4.75/5

The Nice Guys is one of my favorite movies of the last decade. I have watched it again nearly every year since it was first released, and the film seemingly gets better on each viewing. The two lead performances by Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are both exceptional. Both actors deliver great comedic performances while also nailing their individual characters’ personalities. I would love to see Crowe and Gosling reunited for another adventure, because they have fantastic chemistry onscreen together. The script by Shane Black is very well written and has several moments that are totally unexpected by the viewer on the first viewing. Shane Black has a wonderful ability to blend action-mystery with noir elements while allowing his films to be laugh-out-loud funny as well. This is one of his best scripts, and he directed the film with skill. The cinematography and production design capably sell the audience on the setting of Los Angeles of the Seventies. The movie was theatrically released with a 2K digital intermediate, so the 4K UHD presentation is not a tremendous leap forward from the 2016 Blu-ray, but I honestly thought The Nice Guys looked pretty wonderful on the 4K format with HDR and Dolby Vision. The upgrade in picture quality is the only real selling point of this disc, because the special features are ported over from the Blu-ray and the solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track is also the same as on the 2016 Blu-ray release. Obviously, a better selection of special features and an Atmos track would have made a much more compelling case for people to purchase this 4K UHD release, but I am still excited to have the film in my 4K library. Fans of the film that do not own a copy should snatch up this version, unless they are waiting for Second Sight’s upcoming 4K release which will feature a new 4K grading by Shane Black and an Atmos track. I could see myself double-dipping at that point, but I am ecstatic to have a 4K version of this picture in my library because The Nice Guys is one of my favorite films of the last decade. Highly recommended!

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.