Style: Buddy Motion Thriller
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Halle Berry
Operating Time: 105 minutes
Synopsis: In Los Angeles, former Secret Service agent Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) is now a lowly personal investigator. His spouse Sarah is having an affair, and his teen daughter Darian hates him. Joe inherits an task to guard stripper Cory (Halle Berry), however she is quickly gunned down. He groups up with Cory’s boyfriend Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), a disgraced former star quarterback, to research. They uncover a plot mixing blackmail, political corruption, and sports activities betting, with professional soccer workforce proprietor Shelly Marcone and senator Calvin Baynard deeply concerned.
What Works Nicely: The Joe Hallenbeck character is a terrific throwback to deeply flawed movie noir protagonists satisfied that societal darkness is closing in. Bruce Willis wears the position like a trench coat on a darkish wet night time, and revels in author Shane Black’s typically razor sharp and eminently quotable script. The interaction between Willis and Dix is clean as they construct rapport, chase down smug baddies, and conflict with goon armies, whereas director Tony Scott generates and sustains admirable ranges of fashionable power.
What Does Not Work As Nicely: The extreme coarse language is finally numbing and begins to betray a scarcity of creativeness, and Joe’s potential to speak himself out of tight conditions is overused and wears skinny. The plot gallops from incredulous to ridiculous, with the ultimate third only a blur of repetitive and steady automotive chases, gunfire, punch-ups, stunts, and near-misses. Behind Willis and Wayans, the secondary characters are disposable sketches, and Joe’s younger daughter (performed by Danielle Harris) is one of the best that author Black can give you within the type of a relatable feminine position.
Key Quote:
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