Directed by Tony Scott from an overpriced screenplay by Shane Black, THE LAST BOY SCOUT's title may allude to honesty, but its plot smacks of retread. Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis), a former Secret Service agent on the skids, takes over as bodyguard for Cory (Halle Berry), an exotic
dancer, following the car-bomb death of his colleague Mike Matthews (Bruce McGill). When Cory is brutally gunned down by thugs, Hallenbeck joins forces with Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), Cory's lover and a former L.A. Stallions quarterback with a million dollar arm and a nose for coke. The pair
uncover a conspiracy involving sports betting and the mob; a bravura culminating confrontation with the bad guys takes place during a football game before 70,000 fans and a nationwide TV audience.
Scott, as is his wont, whips up an enthrallingly kinetic style aimed to camouflage the implausibilites. What sport could carry on business as usual after one of its doped-up athletes has shot several opponents and blown his brains out--on national TV? The story is beholden to the trendy
steroid-and-TV world view: pump it up and cut it fast. Still, the dialogue, while fitfully glib, is wry and engaging, like a profane Raymond Chandler on speed. No one acts (in the Stanislavsky sense, anyway) but all perform well. leave a comment
