An action super team got together to create this

THE LAST BOY SCOUT MOVIE REVIEW (1991, Warner Bros)
with Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Noble Willingham
Directed by Tony Scott

“The Last Boy Scout” is every bit the high octane thrill ride you would expect from the people involved. Bruce Willis, “Lethal Weapon” screenwriter Shane Black, “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder” director Tony Scott, and mega action producer Joel Silver. This isn’t just a movie, it’s an action super team, and from the shocking first frame to the over the top finale, it’s working overtime on the thrills and the jokes.

Using the “Lethal Weapon” template, Willis plays former Secret Service agent turned burn-out private eye Joe Hallenbeck, who’s forced to work with ex-pro quarterback Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) when the pro’s former girlfriend (Halle Berry) is mysteriously killed. It’s an investigation that leads them all the way up to two of the most powerful men in Los Angeles, the corrupt owner of the pro-football team (Noble Willingham) and a sleazy Senator (Chelcie Ross).

It’s no surprise that what follows is the guys being beset by villains from all sides- explosions, gunfights, car chases, and so on litter the screen- and many will not be spared some of the harshest and bloodiest of deaths- the best of which involves a fall and a helicopter blade. Given a smokey, gritty look and a pedal to the mettle pacing by Scott, it’s enough to make action fans both wince and cheer at the same time.

Willis and Wayans work together too- treated as two guys down on their luck who bicker and wise-crack with each other to the point where they reach a mutual respect. It’s the kind of role that fits Willis like a glove; grizzled, unshakeable, unshaven, sarcastic, often times hungover, underestimated but still noble while Wayans gets some of the better lines, is saddled with a drug addiction, and tries to keep up on the action side of things.

It’s the banter and camaraderie, something that Shane Black has proven he’s such a genius at in everything from the “Lethal Weapon” movies, “The Nice Guys”, and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, that gives them the edge. The jokes fly fast and furious between them and Black takes moments to allow for backstory that wins them sympathy.

The villains work too, from the oily Willingham to a teeth-gnashingly psychotic henchman played by Taylor Negron. This is also the kind of action film that has one of those constantly shouting, constantly angry police chiefs- a sure sign that all out mayhem is transpiring from scene to scene.

The film was criticized back in the day for its treatment of women. As the film opens, the Willis character has a wife who cheats on him, the Berry character has ditched Wayans to be a prostitute. Neither gets a chance to be very redeemable, which is a flaw, but I felt like both were also there to highlight the fact that both men had emotionally abandoned them and this is where they’ve ended up. Plus, the film has one very good female character in Danielle Harris’ feisty, foul-mouthed 13 year old daughter of Joe’s.

The plot can oftentimes get unbelievably ridiculous, like when that daughter is left on her own by Joe, making it super easy for the villains to kidnap her, but for every act of stupidity there are 5 or 6 moments of humor and thrills that make you forget the bad. This is not a great movie, but it’s so eager to please (and manages to do so) the action crowd that it may as well be.

Rating: 7 out of 10


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