This movie makes a little more sense after the fact given that Shane Black wrote it. Mismatched partners, sharp dialogue, some kinds of crimings involved. The rather unexpected direction of the opening hooks you, then you are in for the full ride.
Burned-out detective Joe (Bruce Willis) with a bad marriage. Disgraced football star Jimmy Dix (Wayans) with a totally not-whooore girlfriend Halle Berry who may or may not end up in some trouble. Bigger picture, Football and Politics and some fuckeries going ons. They all gets involved, resulting in a lot of 50s-style fast dialogue and people getting shot or blown up. It’s kind of a neo-noir film when you look how it all plays out, except for all that colorful football shit and bright lighting? Still trying to nail that definition down.
Good combination here of style and substance, with Tony Scott making it look good and some pithy dialogues by Shane Black. Nice to see Bruce Willis back in the hair days, and Damon Wayans may not be the best actor here, but he does the job good enough. When you wear $650 leather pants, fuck yeah you better bring your A-game! Maybe a little too self-aware for the witty dialogue, but it’s a decent enough backgrounds on the characters to make it a fun ride. Not too deep, just a more actiony update to film noir that also include a version of the buddy cop genre, and some weird marriage counselor therapy worked in too, for good measure. Doesn’t seem like a lot of healthy relationships out there on the west coast though. It’s either hate or whooores? Weird. Even with that, some good dialogue, snappy pacing and pretty engaging from start to finish.
