Blu-Ray/Movie Review: 2 Days in the Valley (Special Edition)

 

2 Days in the Valley is a 1996 crime drama/dark comedy written and directed by John Herzfeld. The movie stars Danny Aiello, James Spader, Eric Stoltz, Jeff Daniels, Glenne Headly, Teri Hatcher, Paul Mazursky, Greg Crutwell, and Marsha Mason in the larger roles. It also stars a very young Charlize Theron (who was only 19 at the time the movie was filmed) in her first movie role. The movie also includes several recognizable actors in smaller roles including Keith Carradine, Louise Fletcher (the nurse from One Flew Over the Cuko's Nest), Austin Pendleton, and a very young Cress Williams (from Hart of Dixie and Black Lightning).

The special edition blu-ray which was released in 2023, includes a remastered version of the movie, which looks and sounds great. The extras include a commentary track on the film by the director and a conversation between Herzfeld and Sylvester Stallone who were both students in the drama program at the University of Miami and have known each other for years. That conversation lasts about 35 minutes and they talk about their time in school and the movie. The most interesting thing from that conversation is how Herzfeld had to fight to cast and then keep Charlize Theron in the movie. The other extras include a 30-minute Q&A panel that includes Herzfeld, Theron, Headly, and Danny Aiello (by phone), a short (about 7 minutes long) archival making-of featurette made when the movie was filmed, about 7 minutes of B-roll footage which kind of doubles as a gag reel, and about 17 minutes worth of cast interview clips, also made as the movie was being filmed. Then there are several trailers, including the trailer for the movie (which actually gives away a lot), and trailers for movies like Out of Sight and The Usual Suspects. So, you get quite a bit of bonus content which is getting rarer and rarer these days.

Overall, the movie is excellent. It is well-written and very well-acted. Aiello and Spader are great in their roles as hitmen (very different hitmen), and Theron shines in every scene she is in. Teri Hatcher (who was coming off her role as Lois Lane in Lois and Clark) plays a very different kind of character than what people are likely used to seeing her play and Jeff Daniels is great as a vice cop with anger management issues. While it definitely has the feel of a 90s movie, it holds up well almost 30 years later. It is absolutely worth the time to watch.