Saturday, 18 January 2025

Movie Review: The Last Boy Scout (1991)


Genre: Buddy Action Thriller  
Director: Tony Scott  
Starring: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Halle Berry  
Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, former Secret Service agent Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) is now a lowly private investigator. His wife Sarah is having an affair, and his teen daughter Darian hates him. Joe inherits an assignment to protect stripper Cory (Halle Berry), but she is soon gunned down. He teams up with Cory's boyfriend Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), a disgraced former star quarterback, to investigate. They uncover a plot mixing blackmail, political corruption, and sports betting, with pro football team owner Shelly Marcone and senator Calvin Baynard deeply involved.

What Works Well: The Joe Hallenbeck character is a terrific throwback to deeply flawed film noir protagonists convinced that societal darkness is closing in. Bruce Willis wears the role like a trench coat on a dark rainy night, and revels in writer Shane Black's often razor sharp and eminently quotable script. The interplay between Willis and Dix is smooth as they build rapport, chase down smug baddies, and clash with goon armies, while director Tony Scott generates and sustains admirable levels of stylish energy. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The excessive coarse language is eventually numbing and starts to betray a lack of imagination, and Joe's ability to talk himself out of tight situations is overused and wears thin. The plot gallops from incredulous to ridiculous, with the final third just a blur of repetitive and continuous car chases, gunfire, punch-ups, stunts, and near-misses. Behind Willis and Wayans, the secondary characters are disposable sketches, and Joe's young daughter (played by Danielle Harris) is the best that writer Black can come up with in the form of a relatable female role.

Key Quote:
Joe: All private detectives are scumbags.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

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