There’s no way The Last Boy Scout could possibly have failed. You’ve got Bruce Willis, in the prime of his action cinema career in what is arguably his best film role to date. You’ve got legendary director Tony Scott who produces one of the best looking movies of his career (pretty impressive when you consider Scott has made his name conjuring up slick visuals) and finally dumping the script-by-committee stories of Beverly Hills Cop II and Days Of Thunder for something that’s actually brilliantly written.
That script is of course penned by Shane Black who was the mastermind behind Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout shares many story beats with that classic screenplay. There’s the mismatched crime-fighting duo, one white and a highly trained, ex-government badass while the other is black, less lethal and also highly resourceful. One is a loner with a tragic past (dead wife or girlfriend) while the other is a family man (or woman if you’re Gena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight) with a daughter who will inevitably get kidnapped by the baddies. Boy Scout’s tone is a notable notch up on the bullshit action factor than Lethal Weapon with the trademark Shane Black witticisms and one-liners mainly hitting their targets. This being Tony Scott, the visuals are more colourful and slicker, the gunfights & fisticuffs far less intense and the smoke machine and neon lights are working overtime.
A strong argument could be made for Bruce Willis performance as private detective Joe Hallenbeck as being his best to date as it’s a perfect blending of the charming, cocky and charismatic Bruce from the Die Hard/Moonlighting era with the still/intense Bruce of the post Pulp Fiction/Sixth Sense era. The rest of the cast are top of their game but I especially love Taylor Negron as henchman Milo with his attachment to calling everybody by their full, unshortened names. Perhaps Boy Scout will best be remembered for the gags and quips…and that’s just fine because most other action thrillers don’t even get this close to complete entertainment even with a full compliment of A-list stars and Baysplosions.
That script is of course penned by Shane Black who was the mastermind behind Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout shares many story beats with that classic screenplay. There’s the mismatched crime-fighting duo, one white and a highly trained, ex-government badass while the other is black, less lethal and also highly resourceful. One is a loner with a tragic past (dead wife or girlfriend) while the other is a family man (or woman if you’re Gena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight) with a daughter who will inevitably get kidnapped by the baddies. Boy Scout’s tone is a notable notch up on the bullshit action factor than Lethal Weapon with the trademark Shane Black witticisms and one-liners mainly hitting their targets. This being Tony Scott, the visuals are more colourful and slicker, the gunfights & fisticuffs far less intense and the smoke machine and neon lights are working overtime.
A strong argument could be made for Bruce Willis performance as private detective Joe Hallenbeck as being his best to date as it’s a perfect blending of the charming, cocky and charismatic Bruce from the Die Hard/Moonlighting era with the still/intense Bruce of the post Pulp Fiction/Sixth Sense era. The rest of the cast are top of their game but I especially love Taylor Negron as henchman Milo with his attachment to calling everybody by their full, unshortened names. Perhaps Boy Scout will best be remembered for the gags and quips…and that’s just fine because most other action thrillers don’t even get this close to complete entertainment even with a full compliment of A-list stars and Baysplosions.
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