Bruce Willis after 2 Die Hard movies takes on another over-the-top action movie but this time as down and out detective, Joe, working in LA. He is hired to look after a stripper the girlfriend of ex LA football player, Jimmy Dix, played by Damon Wayans. She gets murdered and Jimmy and Joe team up in an unlikely pairing to track down the culprit only to uncover a world of corruption in the football scene.
Younger brother of Ridley Scott, Tony Scott takes on the directorship of this action hero that manages to squeeze in every action movie cliche possible. We have the classic hard drinking ‘good guy’ who has just had a bad run of luck (ex-wife, daughter off the rails, once model cop) teams up with a classic fish-out-of-water partner.
The Last Boy Scout isn’t without its physic defying stunts (see cars running down a mountain, yet everyone gets out without injury) or its arch villain with a strange penchant for correct manners. There is one scene where a young
Kim Coates (him from
Sons of Anarchy), having captured Joe, gives him a smoke, but smacks him around a little too much, with Joe responding Touch me one more time I will kill you. Of course you know what is going to happen here. Let us not spoil it.
Joe’s daughter comes to rescue them out of a tricky situation, but the poor young girl should be traumatized after witnessing multiple up-close killings. Yet she bounces along without any emotional scaring at all.
This could have been a Die Hard movie without any effort whatsoever. Interestingly enough, the tower block used for the Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard appears in this movie in the background too.
But it isn’t Die Hard and falls far short because of that. If you are in the mood for mindless action in the text-book sense, then you can’t go wrong here.
Viewing Date
Sunday, 25th October 2015 (San Francisco Marriott)
Rating
6/10
alan williamson 