The Last Boy Scout

And then some.

"This is the '90s. You don't just go around punching people. You have to say something cool first."

—Joe Hallenbeck

The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 action film starring Bruce Willis as former Secret Service agent Joe Hallenback, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans as retired professional football player Jimmy Dix. The two join forces to solve the murder of Dix’s girlfriend Cory (played by the then-obscure Halle Berry), leading them into a conspiracy and the plotted assassination of a senator. The entire film consists of often violent action scenes and an endless parade of one-liners. Classic example of better than it sounds.

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Tropes used in The Last Boy Scout include:

• Asshole Victim: Mike Matthews, the scumbag private detective.
• Badass Boast: "You touch me again and I'll kill ya."
• Big Bad: Sheldon Marcone.
• Bond One-Liner - The final scene of the movie has the Damon Wayans and Bruce Willis discussing future use of Bond One-Liners.
• Boom! Headshot!: Milo kills McCaskey this way.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Darian. However, she comes from an extremely troubled home so it's understandable (mostly).
• Card-Carrying Villain: Milo

Joe: You're the bad guy.
Milo: I am the bad guy.

• Cruel and Unusual Death: Milo is shot by several SWAT officers and falls into the blades of a police helicopter.
• Chekhov's Gun: The duo comes across a box of shotgun shells. Later, Jimmy uses one to help Joe, Darian and himself escape Marcone.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment

Milo: Just once, I would like to hear you scream in pain.
Joe Hallenbeck: Play some rap music.

• Crapsack World: Taken almost to parodic heights.
  • "Nobody likes you. Everybody hates you. You're gonna lose."
• Deadpan Snarker: Hallenbeck always win the snarking contest against other characters. See below.
• Driven to Suicide: Billy Cole, after shooting several opposing players.

Ain’t life a bitch?

• The Dragon: Milo.
• Drugs Are Bad: Manages to do this in a reasonably subtle way, contrasting Joe's zero tolerance with justifying Jimmy's addiction through his tragic backstory.
• Embarrassing Middle Name
• Eureka Moment: Overlaps with Oh Crap with Joe, as Jimmy hints that the supposed key he tossed into Marcone's fireplace is "the kind that Shred."
• Faux Affably Evil: Marcone and Milo. Both lose their niceness VERY quickly.
• Friend to All Children: Despite his drug problems and short temper, Jimmy is remarkably good with kids, if Darian is any indication because they quickly bond with each other after a little friction.
• Gorn: Brutal moments punctuated by humor. There is a scene where Bruce Willis punches Chet’s NOSE through HIS BRAIN!!!! Also the infamous helicopter scene.
• Helicopter Blender: Milo, after being shot by a SWAT team, falls into the blades of a helicopter. The result is the upper half of his body turning into Ludicrous Gibs.
• If We Survive This

Joe Hallenbeck: "I swear to Christ that if I survive this fucking case I'm gonna dance a jig." He does.

• Jerkass: Mike gives Joe the surveillance job on Cory in the hopes he’d be killed.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Joe. However, it's buried pretty deep under a cover of sarcasm and self-loathing so it's nearly a Hidden Heart of Gold at certain points.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Unintentional, retrospective aversion for modern viewers--yes, they really would kill off Halle Berry's character after a couple of scenes, because when this film was made she was a no-name playing a bit part.
• Little Miss Badass: Darian Hallenbeck.
• Love Hurts: "I wish the sky wasn't blue. I wish that water wasn't wet. And I wish I didn't still love my wife."
• Metaphor Is My Middle Name
• One-Hit Kill

"Told ya."

• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner - quote on top of the page
  • "Touch me again and I'll kill you."
• Private Detective: Joe Hallenbeck and Mike Matthews.
• Punctuated Pounding
  • "I told ya [BIFF!] if you touch me again [BAM!] I'll KILL YA! [POW!]"
• Sanity Slippage: Billy Cole, after being told by Milo that he’d be killed if he lost the game, consumes PCP and shoots several opposing players before blowing out his own brains.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness - Milo
  • As well as Scrabble Man
    • "The envelope, very smart. See, Jake, here's a man who knows when a situation is untenable."
• Stuffed in The Fridge: Cory. An especially egregious example when you condsider that Joe and Jimmy spend the rest of the movie tossing out flippant one-liners.
• Stuff Blowing Up
• Take Me Out At the Ball Game
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Joe and Jimmy.
• What Would X Do?:

Jimmy: What would Joe do...(Beat) He'd kill everyone, and then smoke some cigarettes.

• World of Snark: The WHOLE movie is flooding with this.