The Nice Guys (Limited Edition) 4K UHD Review

Second Sight Films

4K UHD Release: June 16th, 2025

Video: 2.39:1/2160p/Color

Audio: English Dolby Atmos

Subtitles: English SDH

Run Time: 115:54

Director: Shane Black

If you need muscle, you might hire Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who makes a living carrying around brass knuckles and discouraging people from bad behavior. If you need a detective (and aren't too picky), you might hire Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a widowed private investigator with a drinking problem and no sense of smell. In this case, both of them have been hired because of Amelia (Margaret Qualley) -- Healy by Amelia, to get March off her back; March because he's looking for the seemingly-deceased adult film star Misty Mountains, and Amelia is his only lead. When two thugs (Beau Knapp and Keith David) show up to put the hurt on Healy, he suspects Amelia is in danger. Solution? Team up, with March's clever but sensitive daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) in tow (whether March likes it or not).

Much like writer/director Shane Black's previous detective movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which teamed a fresh-out-of-rehab Robert Downey Jr. with Val Kilmer (RIP), The Nice Guys is a witty, funny, and twisty crime thriller set on the fringes of the Los Angeles film industry. Tragically, like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, it was another box office disappointment, much to the chagrin of, well, pretty much anyone who saw the movie in theaters. Thankfully, with Warner Bros. finally opening their catalog to licensing agreements, the UK label Second Sight has pulled out all the stops for a true special edition of the film, which fans will want to choose over the US MOD 4K recently dropped by WB themselves thanks to an enticing slate of exclusive extras, including an audio commentary by Black himself.

First: the film itself. Much like the unexpectedly inspired combination of Downey and Kilmer, Black's primary stroke of genius is in the pairing of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Not that there's any reason to suspect they wouldn't make for a perfect team, but they're also so good together that one immediately wonders why nobody thought of it before. Crowe provides the grizzled, slightly weary, deadpan backdrop for Gosling's more jittery, screechy comic performance to bounce off of, and the joy of that chemistry is evident from their very first scene together. Not that Crowe is any slouch here, but it would be hard to overstate how funny Gosling is in the movie; even his voice frequently has a plugged-up nasal quality that makes him seem like he might be on the verge of tears at any minute, which makes every line reading funny, and that's before he starts shrieking. As I write this, I wonder: if this affectation really is coming from the nose, is Gosling physically doing something to illustrate his character's inability to smell? It wouldn't shock me, given his perfectly-timed eye twitch in one scene.

Of course, given this is Shane Black, there's no shortage of great material for the characters to draw upon. For those who haven't already had the joy of seeing the film, I wouldn't want to spoil too many of the jokes, but some of the movie's great bits include a memorable story about how there's two ways to look at something, a drunk March doing a party trick that goes wrong (and a bloody callback later in the film), March developing a crush on the wrong person, a runner involving killer bees, and a dream sequence that ultimately feeds someone misinformation. The character of Holly also adds to the dynamic, with Angourie Rice giving a performance on par with her two movie-star scene partners. Among the supporting cast, new fans of Margaret Qualley working backwards through her career may be disappointed by her limited screen time, and the film doesn't provide as much of a reunion for L.A. Confidential co-stars Crowe and Kim Basinger as I would've liked, but Matt Bomer has a memorable part as a ruthless hitman saddled with a pop culture nickname.

Between The Nice Guys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I'd give the edge to the latter in terms of the mystery, which is more complex and scratches the whodunnit itch a little more thoroughly, but the plot here, involving corrupt Detroit car manufacturers and the adult film industry, is still pretty good. Given the film's box office, I can't say I have much faith in fans' hopes for a belated sequel, but I also wonder whether or not Black ever intended to turn these movies into ongoing franchises. It makes sense that either pairing could've been sent to investigate a new mystery, but maybe Black is satisfied with these being one-and-done outings. I'd have taken a sequel to either one, but I'd also be just as happy if Black dreams up another pair of mismatched mystery-solvers (perhaps drawing again on author Brett Halliday, who is credited as source material on KKBB, and who gets a thanks in the credits here).

Video

Although The Nice Guys was finished as a 2K DI, I actually felt like Second Sight's UHD represented a noticeable upgrade. There may be no more fine detail to extract from the image, but it certainly felt sharper and better resolved in 4K, with all sorts of textures and depth to the image that felt like an improvement over the Warner Bros. Blu-ray (although admittedly, I can't seem to find my copy of that release to do a 1:1 comparison). The disc boasts HDR, but I admit I did not see much difference in the look of the palette. Darker scenes are nicely resolved, with no noticeable banding. The new extras will probably be the selling point of this disc, given it's an upscale, but I also think fans will be pleased.

Audio

Warner's Blu-ray offered the film in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The MOD 4K they released earlier this year was advertised with Atmos, but didn't include it (and apparently the track was also missing the LFE information). Second Sight's disc makes good on the Atmos promise. Admittedly, I've always been more of a videophile than an audio expert, but I can't say that I noticed a significant amount of difference, aside from a little bit more dynamic range in some of the movie's more action-packed sequences. That's not a dig, either: the film sounded great before, and it still sound great now. Perhaps those with more attuned ears will hear more of a difference. Either way, no complaints. English SDH subtitles are also included.

Extras

As previously mentioned, for their release of The Nice Guys, Second Sight has gone the extra mile and created a bunch of new and exciting bonus features, whereas the Warner MOD just ports the EPK-style featurettes from their BD. No question which release is the winner.

• Audio commentary by co-writer/director Shane Black and co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi, moderated by critic Priscilla Page - This is a relaxed, enjoyable chat with Black and Bagarozzi, with Page feeding the duo questions about the making of the movie. Discussion topics include the development of the project starting all the way back in 2001 (including briefly being prepped as a TV show), the things that Crowe and Gosling brought to their roles, their writing processes both individually and as a team, the things studios would make them change if they tried to make it today, crime novel influences (including Halliday), violence in films, the true story behind the smog conspiracy at the heart of the movie, deleted scenes (sadly not included on the disc), their friendship, a table read with Peter Weller and Thomas Jane (even more sadly not included on the disc), and ideas for a sequel (along with little tidbits about their upcoming film, Play Dirty). The group has a good sense of humor, frequently chuckling along to their own movie (with both Black and Bagarozzi noting they haven't seen it since they made it), and Page is more than well-prepared, having done exhaustive research -- some of her notes are more detailed than their memories. Those who want as much information as possible out of a commentary may find this a little too relaxed for their taste, but I found it a very enjoyable listen.

• "Knights in Tarnished Armor" interview with co-writer/director Shane Black (35:47) - Those who listen to the audio commentary first will hear a couple of the same stories a second time at the beginning, but Black touches on plenty of new subjects as well. Discussion includes further detail about the earlier television versions of the project, his desire to subvert tropes, what it's like finding the right actor for the part (including detail on some specific casting choices), his working relationships with both producer Joel Silver and cinematographer Phillippe Rousselot, filming in freezing Atlanta temperatures for the car show, the difference between an improvisation that amuses the cast and crew and one that works in the film, shooting party scenes, getting enough material and what makes for a good gag, the correct way to think of the audience while making a movie, developing the soundtrack with John Ottman, the movie's performance at the box office as a midbudget movie, the possibility and ideas for a sequel, the novelization of the movie, and what really matters to him in the long run.

• "Finding an Audience" interview with co-producer Ethan Erwin (22:15) - Erwin is an enthusiastic subject, tracing the journey of the film's development from a point in time when both Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys were on Joel Silver's desk through to actually making the film. Along the way, he reveals some more information about the TV version (Chi McBride and Jason Statham!), other versions of the movie (Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth!), convincing both stars to commit, the casting process, ad-libbing, post-production, the reception of the movie both at the time of release and afterward. He closes with a couple of anecdotes about the two

  stars and his overall feeling about the experience of making the film.

  
  

• "A Thousand Cuts" interview with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (14:04) - Rousselot, who calls comedy "the ultimate film art," talks about being plopped down on the set and getting off to the races immediately, his view of Black as a filmmaker, working with digital for the first time (and which technological change he finds more impactful), evoking the 1970s as someone who worked in the 1970s, an amusing story about encountering an irritating person, a memory of filming one of the scenes from the film that evolved a bit on the day, working with Ryan Gosling for a second time, changes to the color timing process over the years, and the relationship that one develops with a filmmaker on a movie and what makes for a good director. This piece feels a little heavier on clips than the others, but not so much as to become distracting.

Note: while I liked these interviews, I can't say I was a fan of all three starting with the exact same clip from the film, which -- shocker -- gets repetitive.

• "From Lethal Weapons to Nice Guys" visual essay by film scholar Leigh Singer (21:29) - As one may be able to deduce from the title, this piece takes a look at the evolution of the buddy movie, with a particular focus, unsurprisingly, on Shane Black's contributions to the genre. As such, Singer touches on not just The Nice Guys, but also Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, while tying those back to famous pairings like Laurel and Hardy, Lemmon and Matthau, Newman and Redford, and many more (even if he also brings them up to define Black's oeuvre as being a little different than those historical examples). Fans of the genre should enjoy this piece.

• Cast Interviews (11:09) - Although these are from the set and were used to create the featurettes in the next section, these uncut interviews with the cast are technically "new," in the sense that they haven't been included on a previous release. Worth one go just to hear from Gosling, Crowe, Basinger, Qualley, and Bomer.

• Archival Extras - Carryovers from Warner's Blu-ray release.

  • "The Making of The Nice Guys" featurette (6:16) - standard behind-the-scenes look.

  • "Always Bet on Black" featurette (5:27) - another behind-the-scenes piece, focused on the film's co-writer/director.

  • Theatrical Trailers (5:04) - Three trailers: a '70s-style version that was apparently an Easter Egg on an older Blu-ray, plus two standard versions from Warner.

Second Sight is offering The Nice Guys in three configurations. You can get a standard 4K UHD or Blu-ray in regular UK-style casing, or you can get their Limited Edition package, which includes both a 4K UHD and Blu-ray (thank you, please always combo packs -- sorry Arrow, I hate single format releases!) inside a digipak tray, as well as 9 art cards, a hardback book featuring new writing on the film by Mitchell Beaupre, Barry Forshaw, Jamie Graham, Justin LaLiberty, Naomi Roper, Hannah Strong and Nadine Whitney, all inside a hardbox with new artwork by Obviously Creative. (No packaging was included with Genre Grinder's review copy.)

Conclusion

The Nice Guys is more than nice -- it's great, generating big laughs from the inspired pairing of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling and a traditionally note-perfect Shane Black screenplay, as well as great supporting work from Angourie Rice as Gosling's daughter. Fans of the film will definitely want to snag one of Second Sight's discs over the Warner MOD from the United States, thanks to the upgraded A/V presentation (including the Atmos mix promised but not included on that disc) and a boatload of great new extras.

The images on this page are taken from the Blu-ray edition of Second Sight's release and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.