THE LAST BOY SCOUT
Rating: 3.5 on 4/Buy the DVD Here
Tagline: The goal is to survive.
Directed by Tony Scott
Starring: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Danielle Harris, Taylor Negron.
THE PLAN: Washed-up ex-cop Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) gets hired by smokin’ hot stripper Cory (Halle Berry) to watch her back after she blackmails the corrupt owner of a football team. When she gets turned into swiss cheese by hired thugs, Joe and Cory’s boyfriend – washed-up ex-football star Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) – team up to exchange wise cracks and take down the baddies… In badass “washed-up” fashion!
THE KILL: What sets Joe Hallenbeck apart from the heroes we’ve covered so far in REEL ACTION, indeed, apart from movie heroes in general, is just how flawed he is. A “flawed” hero is nothing new in an action/adventure movie, but Joe Hallenbeck isn’t just flawed. He’s a bum. Almost literally – when we’re introduced to him he’s asleep in his wreck of a car, being taunted by dead squirrel-wielding kids. Joe is at first glance as hopeless and unappealing as any protagonist we’d want to be stuck with for two hours. But the fact of the matter is, he’s played by Bruce Willis, and Willis makes this foul-mouthed misanthrope so engaging, so ballsy, so damn likable, that we forgive him his unkempt appearance and brutally sardonic personality. Hell, we grow to love the lug. (And it’s not easy to love a guy who at one point holds a gun to his own daughter’s head, lemme tell ya.)
It’s pretty tough to steal scenes from Bruce, but just so happens THE LAST BOY SCOUT gives him a partner to reckon with. Coming off the success of “In Living Color” (remember how freakin’ great that was?), Damon Wayans matches Willis’ wit and tenacity every step of the way. What’s great about the performance though is that he’s not just your “funny black sidekick” by any means. Jimmy Dix has got problems – even before his girlfriend is brutally murdered before his eyes. He was a star quarterback who got booted from the league because he was hooked on painkillers, gambling – and oh yeah, his wife and son both died in an accident. There’s real torment in Jimmy, just as there is in Joe, and makes the character more than just a punchline machine… Of course, this doesn’t mean he can’t be a constantly-quipping wiseass (“We’re being beat up by the inventor of Scrabble!”).
The real star of the show is screenwriter Shane Black, who also wrote THE black/white buddy movie: LETHAL WEAPON. This is a far more unhinged piece of work. This movie’s profanity is so excessive and omnipresent that the most filthy-tongued character – and Black’s most, um, interesting creation – is Darian (Danielle Harris), Joe’s daughter. She is, of course, every BIT Joe’s daughter, so her initially jarring stream of obscenities quickly becomes endearing, even if it’s the one time in your life you feel like saying “Do they have to use so many cuss words in this movie?” Oh yeah, her mother – and Joe’s estranged wife – is also what my late grandmother would call a “sewer mouth.”
Black is also just a clever enough critter to make practically EVERY character we meet
a memorable one, be it any of the cadre of thugs Joe and Jimmy encounter (the standout being the most unusual villain “Milo” (Taylor Negron) who is half girlie-man/half snarling psycho) or the poor schmuck who is unlucky enough to own the pool Milo’s car drops in (he gets shot in the head, but not before a couple of amusing exchanges).
As you can probably tell, the plot, complex as it is, is secondary to all the high-strung shenanigans on display – it’s the dialogue and the people who fling, toss, yell, spew and sometimes, say it that make THE LAST BOY SCOUT such a fun example of REEL ACTION.
TOP DEATH: I could choose the dude-falling-into-helicopter-propeller moment, which is pretty sweet, but I’ll go with the extreme badassery of Joe insta-killing a goon with one-punch to the face. Hell, why can’t he do that EVERY time?
TOP ACTION: An intense meeting in the woods, where Joe is meant to be set up for a senator’s assassination (don’t ask, just see the flick) turns into a shooting gallery/high-speed pursuit that’s flippin’ fantastic. Of course, the one-liners fly in the face of that pussy “danger.”
HOMOEROTIC MOMENT: Well, Milo sure brings a swish to the proceedings – I reckon if he could, he’d do things to Joe that even Joe wouldn’t find funny.
FEMALE EXPLOITATION: I mentioned Halle Berry, right? She looks fantastic – too bad she doesn’t last a quarter of the flick.
TOP DIALOGUE: “I think I f*cked a squirrel to death.”
DRINKING GAME: Down a shot every time Joe says something sarcastic… You’ll be utterly shitfaced before the first hour is up!
TRIVIA: At the time, this was the most money ever dished out for a screenplay – a cool $1.75 million. Black himself would later make a mockery out of that when he pocketed over $ 2 million for THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (which in turn would make a mockery out of his career when it completely bombed, kicking director Renny Harlin down a few notches as well. Lucky for Shane KISS KISS, BANG BANG was such a good time).
When Darian is introduced, she’s watching LETHAL WEAPON on t.v.
Bruce recently reteamed with Halle Berry in this year’s PERFECT STRANGER. It’s trivia because no one’s ever seen it.
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