When I try to describe this movie to people who've never seen it, I always start out with the worst adjectives. This movie is so incredibly mean-spirited and hateful, that it's a wonder no one suggested that the movie was unreleasable.
Thank God, however, the movie came out. This is the perfect antidote to the oh-so-funny Lethal Weapon movies, and is a logical successor to the original Die Hard. Bruce Willis plays the over-the-top hardcore private detective; he's got the world's worst relationships, the world's worst family life. His best friend dies after cheating with Bruce's wife. His life is dark and dreary, and he cuts through it all with an acid tongue and a lot of misanthropy.
Damon Wayans plays a drug-using ex-football star whose life just can't get back on track. His girlfriend dies trying to get his old job, the only thing that means anything to him, back. With her death, Damon and Bruce join together to form a bickering, hateful team that goes after corruption in football and politics, saves the President, saves Bruce's marriage and family life, gets Damon off of drugs (temporarily, in all likelihood), and causes lots of blood splatters, explosions, and deaths.
Sure, the script is unbelievable. Sure, the dialogue causes 3rd degree burns. (The interpersonal bickering *does* get tiresome; by the time Bruce and Damon are searching Damon's girlfriend's apartment, I am fed up with the snippiness...) But the whole movie is so damn entertaining because of it all! Unlike Rambo or whatever, this movie makes no pretensions towards respectability or patriotism. It's pure action- action for people who are sick of all-american muscle bound heroes.
Thank God, however, the movie came out. This is the perfect antidote to the oh-so-funny Lethal Weapon movies, and is a logical successor to the original Die Hard. Bruce Willis plays the over-the-top hardcore private detective; he's got the world's worst relationships, the world's worst family life. His best friend dies after cheating with Bruce's wife. His life is dark and dreary, and he cuts through it all with an acid tongue and a lot of misanthropy.
Damon Wayans plays a drug-using ex-football star whose life just can't get back on track. His girlfriend dies trying to get his old job, the only thing that means anything to him, back. With her death, Damon and Bruce join together to form a bickering, hateful team that goes after corruption in football and politics, saves the President, saves Bruce's marriage and family life, gets Damon off of drugs (temporarily, in all likelihood), and causes lots of blood splatters, explosions, and deaths.
Sure, the script is unbelievable. Sure, the dialogue causes 3rd degree burns. (The interpersonal bickering *does* get tiresome; by the time Bruce and Damon are searching Damon's girlfriend's apartment, I am fed up with the snippiness...) But the whole movie is so damn entertaining because of it all! Unlike Rambo or whatever, this movie makes no pretensions towards respectability or patriotism. It's pure action- action for people who are sick of all-american muscle bound heroes.
