In the opening scene of The Last Boy Scout, the movie starts off with a series of unexpected violence with a pro football player shooting himself in the head at close range. Now why did that happen? According to a unknown source, the player knows for a fact that he isn't going to score an touchdown and therefore, ends up blowing his brains out on the field.
Cut to the early morning. Joe Hallenbeck, (Bruce Willis), is resting in his car when suddenly a couple of street punks decide to drop a dead squirrel in his car. The punks think Joe has fallen for the trick, but he proves them wrong. Hallenbeck's job is a private detective. His main job is to protect an stripper, (Halle Berry), who has been receiving threats from someone. Who is that sending those threats? Hallenbeck doesn't know. His investigation deepens when he encounters the stripper's boyfriend, (Damon Wayans), an disgraced quarterback who was kicked out of the game because of his drug abuse. After the quarterback's girlfriend is shot to death, the duo decides to investigates together. But that isn't going to be easy. At first, they trade insults between the two of them. Later on, they realize that they need one another to continue their investigation.
The story of The Last Boy Scout is not at all original, however. The reason why is because it was written by the screenwriter who wrote Lethal Weapon 1 and 2. When I first heard of the plot of this movie, I immediately thought of Lethal Weapon. The plot of the movie leads the two completely different strangers into much more bigger things. Their clues leads them to the world of sports gambling, make that, illegal sports gambling. Among the bad guys in the movie is a character named Milo, (Taylor Negron), who is perhaps the most despicable of them all.
From the looks of it, I have seen The Last Boy Scout several times over the last 4 years and all I can say is that my criticism is the same as it was 4 years ago. There are several good moments in the movie, but most of them come from the thrilling action sequences. There are a number of great stunts in the movie such as the finale where one character is hanging off a light tower while hanging onto a chain linked barrier. That some good stuff. There is a level of humor in the movie and those come from the funny jokes that Willis and Wayans mentioned in the movie.
However, I was very concerned about the structure of the movie. I've said before that this is not a original movie and I guess it shouldn't be. But I felt that the dialogue should have been tone down because the movie littered with four letter words and sometimes twelve letter words. Most of the profanity comes from Willis' daughter, (Danelle Harris), who, in one particular scene, squares off against her father to see who can say the most bad words. Besides that, I also noticed the atmosphere of the movie, which is very mean-spirited and at certain times, unpleasant. That kind of atmosphere comes into place when we first meet Willis and Wayans. The way they talk to one another is sometimes funny. I have to admit that I did laugh at some of their bickering. But, the problem is that the way Willis and Wayans treated the women in their lives is very cruel. There's a subplot involving Willis' wife having an affair with someone else. On the other side, Wayans treats his stripper girlfriend very cruelly. I supposed there's a reason to all this.
The violence in this movie is pretty bloody and like the language, I wish the editor of the movie would tone down the violence because I felt at certain times, it border on the unnecessary kind. Shane Black, who wrote the script for the movie was paid an hefty price for the script and I supposed the script would have to be pretty popular to made into a formula picture.
All I can say is the movie works on a technical level. I especially like the actions sequences of the movie. But, the storytelling is not at all original. Director Tony Scott, who made Top Gun 5 years ago, does know how to make energetic action pictures. He certainly knows how to deliver. But, on the storytelling process, he doesn't know how to come up with a fresh story to tell. Yet, I think that is the reason why The Last Boy Scout works. Audiences don't really care about the story. They only care about the action sequences and the stunts. I did have that craving inside of me. I know for a fact that for a movie-goer to be turned on by the thrill of an action movie, one would have to be in the right mood for the movie. I was in the mood to see The Last Boy Scout. I knew that it was going to be a action film from the get-go, but I couldn't really buy most of what the movie had to offer, meaning the story and the plot.
For a movie to work, I have to give The Last Boy Scout 3 stars for the technical aspects for the movie. As I said before, they do work. But, not the story. I guess I'm being too kind. With this being said, I've cut you some slack. ★★★ 3 stars.
Cut to the early morning. Joe Hallenbeck, (Bruce Willis), is resting in his car when suddenly a couple of street punks decide to drop a dead squirrel in his car. The punks think Joe has fallen for the trick, but he proves them wrong. Hallenbeck's job is a private detective. His main job is to protect an stripper, (Halle Berry), who has been receiving threats from someone. Who is that sending those threats? Hallenbeck doesn't know. His investigation deepens when he encounters the stripper's boyfriend, (Damon Wayans), an disgraced quarterback who was kicked out of the game because of his drug abuse. After the quarterback's girlfriend is shot to death, the duo decides to investigates together. But that isn't going to be easy. At first, they trade insults between the two of them. Later on, they realize that they need one another to continue their investigation.
The story of The Last Boy Scout is not at all original, however. The reason why is because it was written by the screenwriter who wrote Lethal Weapon 1 and 2. When I first heard of the plot of this movie, I immediately thought of Lethal Weapon. The plot of the movie leads the two completely different strangers into much more bigger things. Their clues leads them to the world of sports gambling, make that, illegal sports gambling. Among the bad guys in the movie is a character named Milo, (Taylor Negron), who is perhaps the most despicable of them all.
From the looks of it, I have seen The Last Boy Scout several times over the last 4 years and all I can say is that my criticism is the same as it was 4 years ago. There are several good moments in the movie, but most of them come from the thrilling action sequences. There are a number of great stunts in the movie such as the finale where one character is hanging off a light tower while hanging onto a chain linked barrier. That some good stuff. There is a level of humor in the movie and those come from the funny jokes that Willis and Wayans mentioned in the movie.
However, I was very concerned about the structure of the movie. I've said before that this is not a original movie and I guess it shouldn't be. But I felt that the dialogue should have been tone down because the movie littered with four letter words and sometimes twelve letter words. Most of the profanity comes from Willis' daughter, (Danelle Harris), who, in one particular scene, squares off against her father to see who can say the most bad words. Besides that, I also noticed the atmosphere of the movie, which is very mean-spirited and at certain times, unpleasant. That kind of atmosphere comes into place when we first meet Willis and Wayans. The way they talk to one another is sometimes funny. I have to admit that I did laugh at some of their bickering. But, the problem is that the way Willis and Wayans treated the women in their lives is very cruel. There's a subplot involving Willis' wife having an affair with someone else. On the other side, Wayans treats his stripper girlfriend very cruelly. I supposed there's a reason to all this.
The violence in this movie is pretty bloody and like the language, I wish the editor of the movie would tone down the violence because I felt at certain times, it border on the unnecessary kind. Shane Black, who wrote the script for the movie was paid an hefty price for the script and I supposed the script would have to be pretty popular to made into a formula picture.
All I can say is the movie works on a technical level. I especially like the actions sequences of the movie. But, the storytelling is not at all original. Director Tony Scott, who made Top Gun 5 years ago, does know how to make energetic action pictures. He certainly knows how to deliver. But, on the storytelling process, he doesn't know how to come up with a fresh story to tell. Yet, I think that is the reason why The Last Boy Scout works. Audiences don't really care about the story. They only care about the action sequences and the stunts. I did have that craving inside of me. I know for a fact that for a movie-goer to be turned on by the thrill of an action movie, one would have to be in the right mood for the movie. I was in the mood to see The Last Boy Scout. I knew that it was going to be a action film from the get-go, but I couldn't really buy most of what the movie had to offer, meaning the story and the plot.
For a movie to work, I have to give The Last Boy Scout 3 stars for the technical aspects for the movie. As I said before, they do work. But, not the story. I guess I'm being too kind. With this being said, I've cut you some slack. ★★★ 3 stars.