Review of The Last Boy Scout (1991) by Corey N — 14 Jul 2009

I think every action star goes through this type of movie where the action is good, the dialogue is usually pretty bad, they team up with an unlikely costar, and take on a low-level character actor as the main bad guy. Your enjoyment of this type of movie depends largely on your ability to appreciate the self-aware lack of quality in them. I think of movies like City Heat, Tango & Cash, and The Last Boy Scout as exhibits A, B, and C.

The Last Boy Scout is shot a lot grittier than typical Bruce Willis actioners, though it retains his rough charm, which sort of meshes well with the cinematography. The dialogue is rough and profane, but not the worst in the genre. The action is nice and bloody throughout, in an almost tongue-in-cheek/campy way. Willis' character thinks nothing of shoving a man's nose into his brain, and an entire stadium filled with civilians actually cheers when they see a man get torn apart by helicopter blades (ostensibly, the blood would spatter half the stadium that way, but everyone's laughing and cheering).

An image from this movie that stayed with me for a long time when I was younger is the opening sequence, where a football player pulls out a gun and shoots a bunch of players and himself during a play. For some reason I could remember that scene more than the actual movie the first ten years after I watched it for the first time. It's a pretty jarring scene, especially for someone like me who is a huge fan of the NFL and football in general.

This isn't Willis' best, but it's passably enjoyable nonetheless. Nothing much to really recommend it unless you really like Willis or can't get enough like-minded action movies from the 90's.