Dark Souls III Review (Revisited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, so I did a revisitation of Dark Souls II quite recently and I actually did one of Dark Souls Remastered over a year ago, so I figured it was time to do a revisit of my Dark Souls III review and expand on it a bit more, as I have played many times since and thought I would do an update on my thoughts on it. 

So, with that said, let's take another look at the final game of the Souls trilogy...

And I will say a bit about the plot below, so the usual warning is coming...

STORY

So, I will quote a bit of the story line from Wikipedia just to save myself a bit of time...

"Set in the Kingdom of Lothric, a bell has rung to signal that the First Flame, responsible for maintaining the Age of Fire, is dying out. As has happened many times before, the coming of the Age of Dark produces the undead: cursed beings that rise up after death. The Age of Fire can be prolonged with the linking of the fire, a ritual in which great lords and heroes sacrifice their souls to rekindle the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric, the chosen linker for this age, has abandoned his duty and instead chooses to watch the flame die from afar.

The Ashen One (your playable character) an Undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder and thus called an Unkindled, rises and must link the fire by returning Prince Lothric and the defiant Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink Shrine..."

THOUGHTS

As a sequel and what is a conclusion to the series, Dark Souls III is an excellent and highly enjoyable game similar to its predecessors and it is arguably a better game than Dark Souls II as it is tighter one with fewer bosses, which are of a higher quality than the previous game. I also felt in Dark Souls III, they raised the bar on the level of challenge too, albeit in a more consistent manner than in Dark Souls II, which is a good thing given DS2's difficulty was very inconsistent.

It also makes quite a few references to the previous games throughout and brings back a few things that were missing from Dark Souls II, so it stays more faithful in a way to the original Dark Souls and also makes references to Demon's Souls.  So, you could argue that the game is lacking in innovatie new ideas as it appears to borrow so much but it still does have some new features and challenges to work through, which I will get to as the review goes on.

GAMEPLAY BASICS

The gameplay mechanics here are very similar to the first two games with the usual third person perspective in use here and your character do the usual running, jumping, attacking etc but I will mention more about that later. Your character has a similar inventory system as before in Dark Souls II where you can access your equipment and items. The HUD (heads-up display) is also similar with a red bar for health and green bar for stamina but this time round there is a blue bar, which is for what's known as "Focus Points" which are reserved for casting spells and carrying out special moves with your weapons. Focus points or "FP" also featured in the first game in the series, Demon Souls (the predecessor to Dark Souls).

Throughout the game you will also be able to upgrade your various stats such as your vigor (health), endurance, strength, intelligence and faith. These stats can be upgraded with the number of souls that you claim from fallen enemies and the requirement becomes higher each time you level up. However not all the choices of character have the same starting stats as they will be based on their different skill sets, e.g. a warrior's main stats will fall under strength and endurance whereas a sorcerer would rely more on intelligence and a cleric could be a mixture of faith and intelligence.

Similar to the previous games, the player will also rest at bonfires, which act as checkpoints throughout the game and through the main bonfire at Firelink Shrine, the player can also upgrade their health recovery items, Estus Flasks at the bonfire with the help of additional items (known as Estus Flask Shards). The shards are spread throughout the game and can be obtained as the player progresses, which will see them end up with 15 Estus flasks in total. Estus flasks this time around are a little different as with the introduction of the FP system, you also get blue coloured flasks called Ashen Estus Flasks, which will restore your Focus Points for casting spells and using specific weapon skill moves. The player can also through Andri, allot their estus flasks between using one for restoring health and another for your focus points.

WEAPONS

The game also has a very similar number of weapons to the first two DS games with a large selection available such as swords, bows, axes, halberds, spears, throwing knives and firebombs in addition to shields and armour. All the weapons and shields can be upgraded through the game's blacksmith, Andri of Astora (who also appeared in the first Dark Souls) at Firelink Shrine (also from DS1!) which he will do via the use of different types of material known as titanite, which come in different shapes and sizes. The player will also have to meet certain strength and dexterity requirements to successfully wield these weapons, which they can. However this time around you can no longer get your armour upgraded unlike in the previous DS games and this is similarly the case in Bloodborne where you can't upgrade armour.

Of course the game also features options as before for sorcery, pyromancy and clerics all of whom can cast spells via the use of specific items, such a staff for the sorcerer, a pyro glove for the pyromancer and a chime for the clerics. The spells for sorcery generally require intelligence to use and the miracles require faith, which you will need to upgrade as you go on in the game. Again these items can be upgraded by the blacksmith Andri with the use of titanite or if not some other materials, so they can increase their power and damage output.

COMBAT

The combat system is pretty much the same as before but with some slight changes with the main one relating to the FP system, where a player can perform a skill move with their weapon, which could be a weapon buff or a specific enhanced type of attack. The player can as before also lock onto their enemies to keep track of them in combat although this isn't always 100 percent reliable as you can tend to lose sight of them at times, which automatically cancels out the lock-on! Another big addition this time around is the inclusion of liberal amounts of blood gushing from your enemies as you hit and kill them, however if you don't like that you can turn the blood settings off.

ENEMIES

The enemies in the game are very much varied and can range from being a minor nuisance to being downright brutally difficult! As usual there are a mix of enemies from the previous games such as the standard hollows, skeletons, basilisks (who can curse you, which ends up killing you!) as well as the return of the black and silver knights. However there are of course plenty of new enemies as well some of which can be very challenging while others more straight forward but you always tend to fight the enemies will get tougher as the game progresses and DS III is no different here.

So, this time around we get new enemies such as the really annoying Ghru, who come in different varieties and can cast a poisonous mist at you aswell as smother you to near death. There are also other enemies such as the loudmouthed fat female Evangelists, who cast spells at you and can cause heavy damage with their large spiked clubs. And later there far more challenging enemies such as Pontiff Knights, who can hit hard and fast with curved swords. Then there are stranger enemies that include the Jailers, who can attack you with soldering irons and use lanterns that when lit red can reduce your health bar down to near zero! So, these new enemies can be quite annoying and challenging all at once for sure.

RINGS

Another key aspect of the game similar to the previous ones is the use of rings, which all give the player different abilities throughout and like Dark Souls II, you can now equipment four rings at once. Some rings will give you the ability to boost your attacks, especially for pyromancy and sorcery whereas others will allow you boost your overall health or discover more items or increase your resistance to hazardous things such as poison, toxicity, frostbite (new to this game) and curse.

It also recycles one or two rings from the original game such as the Dusk ring (increases spell use) and of course the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring (I think!) that cancels out any noise you make when you move, which is very useful sneaking up on enemies. It also brings back the Silvercat ring, which appeared in DS2 and is one of the best rings in the game, which negates fall damage very well. 

NPCs & SUMMONS

As before, in Dark Souls III, there are plenty of non-playable characters (NPCs) for you to interact with as the game progreses and some of which become merchants who will sell and trade items with you. However some of the NPC merchants require you to save them from capture in order for them to make it back to Firelink Shrine to trade with you. As for the summons, similar to the previous games, you can summon certain NPCs to help you in the boss fights but in order to do this your character must use an ember so that the summon sign will appear. 

HOLLOWING

The hollowing process (which always happened when you died in Souls 1 and 2 and it left you looking more zombie-esque with emaciated skin) is different this time around to the previous games in the series because in this game when you die, you will not go hollow, so their appearance will not change. However you can still become hollow in this game by gaining an item called a dark sigil, which is supposed to increase your "inner strength". Hollowing can also be reversed with the use of an item called a purging stone (which was used to remove curse in the first Dark Souls). Your hollowing level increases with every time you die and will max out at 99 and being hollow can also benefit some weapons as you can infuse them with hollow gems for additional damage. 

BOSSES

Again just like the previous Souls games, DS III has its share of bosses to fight although they had reduced the number that appear after the excessive amount that appeared in Dark Souls II. So, this time round there are only 19 bosses in the official game but there are an additional six more in the two DLCs for the game.  As usual as in the previous games, the player will take on these bosses by stepping through a fog gate into an area where they will fight and they cannot leave until the fight is over.

The bosses themselves are for the most part very high in quality and range in difficulty level from easy to extremely difficult. There are also plenty of memorable boss encounters to be found here also that include the Abyss Watchers, which are a legion of undead knights who keep resurrecting and fight you. Pontiff Sulyvahn is another boss, who can be pretty tough to deal with as he uses two swords with a giant range and he can also spawn a clone of himself that deals hefty damage. Then there is of course the notorious Nameless King, who I struggled BIG TIME against on my first playthrough and took almost 200 goes to beat him! 

And lastly there are a couple of DLC bosses worth of note, Sister Friede, who is hands down one of the hardest bosses in the game as she has a 3 phase fiight, which is incredibly difficult to get through and to this day still haven't beaten her solo! And last of all is Slave Knight Gael, who is the final DLC boss in the Ringed City and he is unquestionably a difficult boss but is easily the best DLC boss in the entire game. 

So, DS3 definitely isn't short on challenge when it comes to its bosses.  

GRAPHICS 

As for the graphics, I was initially disappointed in the game's visuals as I played it on the base PS4, which is locked at 30 fps but when I got the PC version, I saw a big upgrade in terms of visual quality as well as a steady 60 fps, which makes the game a lot more enjoyable. And on the PC, Dark Souls III looks terrific as it has arguably the best visuals of any Souls game up to this point as the environments are nicely detailed throughout with plenty of rich textures and details to the buildings and surrounding areas. 

Character models for the most part are quite good although the shading and lighting on their faces in darkened areas doesn't look as good and does lack fine contrast it has to be said and their hair lacks the vivid colours of the previous games. In fact I would say that out of the Fromsoft games so far, Bloodborne has the best character models with DS3 a close second. 

Your character also unlike the previous can also get all messy as they go through areas such as poison swamps or indeed just water, they're clothes will get all muddy and wet, so its a nice touch that they added this in. However, it has to be said that the blood in this game looks a bit silly as it looks like your character is covered in black tar! 

MUSIC

As for the music score it is primarily scored by Yuka Kitamura with some contributions by Motoi Sakuraba who composed in the first two Souls game and overall this is an outstanding score with plenty of highlights contributed by both composers. And the score has a real epic and emotional feel to it on a greater scale than the previous games with the tracks all primarily for the boss fights.

The standout tracks for me are Pontiff Sulyvhan, The Abyss Watchers, Twin Princes, Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Sister Friede to name a few but the very best two tracks for me are The Nameless King and Slave Knight Gael themes, which are both outstanding in different ways but both are undeniably brilliant pieces.

If there was one criticism I could level at the score maybe is that it does have a somewhat repetitive feel to it with its extensive usage of choral singers and operatic singing and the score itself can be a bit of a downer at times. However, none of this really detracts from what is largely a terrific soundtrack with superb contributions by both Kitamura and Sakuraba. 


FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Dark Souls III isn't perfect.

For starters there are some frustrating omissions from the game such as the ability to upgrade your armour, which is pretty daft if you ask me as you could upgrade it in the previous so why take that option in this one??? It makes little sense to me as upgrading armour was a key aspect in Dark Souls I and II but here they just followed Bloodborne mandate of having armour with a base level of defense only the settings for Bloodborne I feel were better optimized than they are here. Further to this, in DS3 you can upgrade your torch but not your armour but how often will you use a torch in the playthrough compared to armour?! Not as much that's for sure, so yeah it doesn't make sense why they changed this. 

Another thing that bugged me was to do with the whole idea of Andri, the blacksmith being the go-to guy to upgrade your estus flasks and NOT the bonfire keeper! I mean what is all that about??? However you can upgrade your Estus flask's strength at the Firelink bonfire yourself, so it makes little sense as to why you would need Andri to do the rest.

In fact it would have been much easier to have you upgrade your stats, allot your estus flasks between health and FP ones at the bonfire yourself without even relying on Andri to all that in the first place! It just makes things less convenient for the player and involves a lot of tedious back and forth between areas.

I also felt that the game's progression is just a bit too linear as you don't have the same freedom as you did in Dark Souls I and II to branch off to different areas, so instead you need to logically make your way from A to B. This might not be a problem for everyone but I have to say it does kind of bug me a bit although there are a couple of exceptions to this in the game as you can enter inside Lothric castle earlier on if you kill an NPC but you need to fight a pretty tough boss first (the Dancer). Also the DLC for Ariandel provides a break from the linear path of the game, which is a good thing. However, those two aside, you are pretty much forced to play the game in a linear order.  

Another issue is to do with how the game makes farming for titanite shards difficult early on as they are pretty sparse in the game until a bit later and you of course need 2 to upgrade weapons to +1, 4 for +2 and 6 for +3. After this again you are forced to wait until you can upgrade your weapon using large titanite shard (which upgrades your weapons to +6) until later on in the game. And of course don't get me started on the wait you have before you can upgrade your weapons up to +9 as you need titanite chunks for that and that is also pretty sparse in the game until much later on! So, the whole titanite upgrade process does get quite frustrating but again no doubt it was deliberate on the part of the makers to make life tricky.

And this brings me onto another area of frustration about the game, which is to do with the limited amount of alternative items to estus flasks that can replenish your health and while there are some they are always available in a limited capacity. So, as an example in the game you have an alternate health restoring item called divine blessing, which will restore your health completely and cure any poision/toxic effects but they are available only in limited amounts. You can however use miracles to heal if your faith is high enough and have a cleric build. So, if you are going into a big boss fight and find you are burning through your estus flasks too quickly you are left with little or no viable alternative most of the time, which does suck.

And then of course we get to the NPC summons for the boss fights, which are a bit of a mixed bag in their effectiveness in the fights themselves as some are clearly better than others. As an example both Sirris and Orbeck are summonable into the Twin Princes fight but they generally don't last beyond the start of the 2nd phase and then they are clobbered to death by sword wielding prince, Lorian, which makes them pretty useless at lasting the whole fight. 

Its also a bit annoying that you can only click on a single summon sign at a time and you need to wait for the first summon to come in before you can click on the second summon sign. This feels like a backward step from DS2 where you could easily click on summon signs one after the other and didn't have to wait ages for them appear either.  

I also wish there would have been more options to top up your focus points for casting spells as there will be times in boss fights or indeed enemy areas where you will run out of FP until you get back to a bonfire. However there is one item that can do this in the game called hidden blessing but they are available in limited quantity, which kind of sucks it has to be said. Another alternative is to equip a weapon infused with a simple gem, which will slowly regen your FP but I mean SLOWLY as it takes forever to do it!

Then there is of course the issue with the game's blood options, which I am OK with to an extent as you see the animation of blood flying from your enemies when you attack them and vice versa (a la Bloodborne style). However my main grip here is with the blood option turned on, your character ends up with a bloodied face but instead of the blood being red its black! So, instead the character looks like they are covered in tar or soot and it looks silly!

Another problem I have with the game is to do with volume of the enemies as there are some enemies in the game that are way TOO NOISY!!! Yep, there are quite a few enemies that screech like hyenas such as the female hollows who carry lanterns, the tree enemies in the Painted World DLC area and of course the Ghru, who screech loudly when you kill them (OK they are pretty funny the way they screech I admit!). So, I do wish that they turned down the volume just a little bit on these enemies as the previous games were never like this and it can be annoying and it was clear that DS3 borrowed its soundscape from Bloodborne, which was also a noisy game.   

I also felt that with this game, the director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, took the idea of bringing back mimics (i.e. the monsters that disguise themselves as a treasure chest) just a little too far as virtually every second chest you come across is a mimic! Now, it is common practice to hit chests to make sure they aren't a mimic in disguise in the Souls games but they did not feature as half as much as they do in this game! So, yeah I think they went a bit too far with the mimics in this game.

And last of all is to do with cursing (not swearing!) in the game, which appears to do nothing in this game other than kill you and that's it with no other after effects! Now in the previous games when you were cursed it actually did something to you when you were resurrected at the bonfire as in the original game, cursing halved your life and in the second game it increase your level of hollowing by one each time. However here apart from death, the curse has no other effect so to me I think it was just a pointless inclusion in the 3rd game, which I think was just added for the sake of consistency with the other games.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Dark Souls III is an excellent conclusion to the Souls series and it is packed with plenty of gripping and exciting combat and stern boss fights that will keep you thrilled and frustrated in equal measure. The game does still have some faults but overall would say its still the second best of the Souls trilogy with the original Dark Souls being the best of the three and Dark Souls II the slightly weaker overall. So, suffice to say Dark Souls III is a game that is still as addictive and long lasting as the previous ones with near endless replay value and is well worth checking out.

So, I will give Dark Souls III a rating of:

9.2 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another post.

Till the next one, its bye for now!

Cyberpunk 2077 Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for a change, I thought I would a new review with NEW content (yay!) and the review in question will be on the RPG action game, Cyberpunk 2077, which I recently finished at the Easter weekend there. The game itself has of course received much praise for its graphics and gameplay but also equally as much criticism for its numerous bugs and glitches on its initial release. 

So, what do I think of Cyberpunk 2077? Well, let's take a look and find out...

And as I will mention a little about the story, I will give the usual warning:

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!

STORY

And this section of the plot has been lifted from the Wikipedia page:

"In 2077, you play as a mercenary called V (voiced by Gavin Drea and Cherami Leigh) who becomes involved in Night City and befriends a local crook, Jackie Welles (Jason Hightower) and together they work numerous jobs. 

As time passes, V meets with a local fixer Dexter DeShawn (Michael-Leon Wooley) who hires V and Welles to steal a biochip known as "the Relic" from Arasaka Corporation. They acquire the Relic, but the plan goes awry when they witness the murder of the megacorp's leader Saburo Arasaka (Masane Tsukayama) at the hands of his treacherous son Yorinobu (Hideo Kimura). Yorinobu covers up the murder as a poisoning, and triggers a security sweep in which T-Bug is killed by Arasaka's netrunners. V and Welles escape, but Welles is fatally wounded in the process, and the Relic's protective case is damaged, forcing V to insert the biochip into the cyberware in their head."

"DeShawn, furious at the unwanted police attention, shoots V in the head and leaves V for dead in a landfill. Upon awakening, V is haunted by the digital ghost of war veteran turned iconic rock star Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves), believed to have died in 2023 during an attempted thermonuclear attack on Arasaka Tower. V learns from their ripperdoc Viktor Vector (Michael Gregory) that DeShawn's bullet triggered resurrection nanotech on the biochip. In a few weeks, Silverhand's memories will irreversibly overwrite V's. The biochip cannot be removed, so V must seek out a way to remove Silverhand and survive...".

THOUGHTS

As an RPG action game, Cyberpunk 2077 succeeds very well in creating an immersive and entertaining experience that is basically a futuristic GTA but its one that also features many interesting characters with multiple paths for them to go on that can lead to numerous endings. The game also has plenty of main missions but even more side missions for players to explore that will lead to different characters and other bonuses along the way, which I will mention more about in the gameplay section. 

The game itself as mentioned was notorious on release for having many different bugs in it and it was even withdrawn from the Playstation 4's online store due to the vast amount glitches in the game not to mention running at poor frame rates. Thankfully since then, the bugs have largely been patched out and I waited until a couple of weeks ago before buying (on PC) it to be sure that was the case, so I could enjoy it glitch free (well mostly!) and it did receive a big patch update during my playthrough time of the game, which also helped with other issues. So, overall I have managed to enjoy playing CP77 without any major problems at all.

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay, well this is going to be a pretty expansive section as Cyberpunk 2077 is such a big game and offers so much variety for the player, so as usual it will be split into sub sections below.

MOVEMENT AND PERSPECTIVE

Starting with the game's movement and perspective, the game is in the first person perspective, so you will generally only see their hands when using fists or a weapon. In certain cutscenes you will see more of your character when picking up bodies, hacking into computer systems or climbing ladders and platforms. Move wise you can walk, run, jump, slide, crouch and climb and engage in melee combat with your fists when not using weapons. V can however occassionally be seen in the third person when he/she looks into a mirror or when they are riding a bike or driving a car.

CHARACTER CUSTOMISATION

Character wise for V, you can customise the look of your character and make them male or female (hence the two voice actors playing the part) change their face, hairstyles and body type and yep there is even an option to change penis size! Yep... nice one CD Projekt Red! You can also choose which type of background character to play as, which are a Nomad, Streetkid or Corpo.  

STATS

There are also several stats you can upgrade as you progress in the game that are: body, which determines your raw physical power and will allow you to force open doors and deal more melee damage with your fists. Then there is Cool, which determines your composure, resilience and effectiveness when in stealth mode. Then we have Intelligence, which will determine your proficency in your netrunning skills and increase your RAM capacity when hacking. Next are Reflexes, which determine your maneuvoring capabilities and your speed when moving. And last of all is your Technical Ability, which is to do with your technical abilities and allows you to unlock doors and use tech weapons. 

WEAPONS 

There are also a large variety of weapons in the game, which are split into different types for firearms, which are power weapons, tech weapons (which penetrate walls) and smart weapons that having homing bullets. Ranged weapons can be used to ricochet bullets off walls and even slow them down using bullet time mechanics, which are achieved through cyberware upgrades for your character. There are also a selection of melee weapons that can be found throughout the game that include baseball bats, crowbars, hammers, cleavers, knives and katanas. So, overall you won't be stuck for a weapon in the game as there are plenty to found!

CYBERWARE

One of the key aspects of the game is cyberware, which are implants that can be installed, exchanged and upgraded into V's body via NPC's known as ripperdocs. Cyberware available in the game are split into categories for different parts of V's anatomy. 

As a few examples of the cyberware available there are Cyberdecks, which can be used to hack into enemy networks and controll all the devices within them. Ocular system is another example of cyberware, which upgrades V's vision for scanning environments and items. Integumentary system is another cyberware, which increases V's resistance to shock and burns aswell upgarde his armour. And last one I will mention is the Operating System, which can determine different features such as increase in melee damage, armour resistance and weapon recol and sway reduction. 

NIGHT CITY AREAS

As for the game's environment, Night City is a pretty big metropolis with much to explore and it is split into six different regions, which are City Centre (corporate area), Watson (an immigrant area), Westbrook (luxury), Heywood (suburban), Pacific (gang lands) and Santa Domingo (industrial area). There is also another area in the game called Badlands, which can be explored also and features playable missions too. 

NPCs (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

The game also features numerous NPCs, which V can do main and side missions for and the main NPCs in the game include for starters, Johnny Silverhand, who was once the leader of the band, Samurai but also waged a war against the Arasaka crime family, which cost him his life. Johnny's memory would later appear in a chip V stolen from the Arasaka's and it would be fused to V, so he would often see and interact with Johnny throughout the game and there are even moments where you can play as Johnny.

Other NPCs in the game also include Jackie Welles, a small time crook, who V befriends and they do some jobs together, which come to an unfortunate end further down the line. Goro Takemura is another NPC, formerly a loyal Arasaka soldier, who works with V after he saves his life from a job that goes badly wrong. 

Then there is Judy Alvarez (who is pretty cute!) who works with V and is a braindance technician who can also become a possible romantic partner for V (regardless of you being male or female, now that's hot lo!). Then we have Panam, who is a mercenary and former member of the Aldecados nomad clan, who V also works with and can also be a romantic partner for the male version of V only. And lastly there is River Ward, a Night City police officer, who V helps out with different missions and he can also be a romantic opportunity for the female version of V. 

VEHICLES 

V can also have access to a wide variety of vehicles in the game that V can obtain by carjacking on the streets or by purchasing them from vendors. V can also quick access vehicles from the HUD menu and they will appear on screen after a short time. V can also perform side missions where he/she will steal specific ones but they can also be rewarded with vehicles also.

BRAINDANCES

Another important aspect of the gameplay are braindances, which are devices that allow V to undergo other peoples experiences and are essentially like the tapes that Ralph Fiennes character in the sci-fi film, Strange Days, used to relive people's experiences also. V however can manipulate and scan the data within the braindances to look for clues that can help obtain leads during main and side missions in the game. During the braindances, V scan replay through the entire video clip, fast forward or rewind it and change layers (audio, visual and thermal) that will give further clues. 

STREET CRED

And last of all is street cred, which is basically V's reputation on the streets of Night City, which can be upgraded simply by completing missions or performing other activities all of which will accumulate in V's street cred increasing. This will also result in V getting calls for new jobs and opportunities from fixers (who are well connected smugglers and info brokers) and other contacts throughout Night City.

GRAPHICS 

As for the game's graphics...well depending on what version you play you will get mixed results with the PS4 and Xbox One base console versions being disastrous on release and Sony even had to withdraw the game from its Playstation store. 

However, I will the review graphics based on the PC version, which is what I played myself on my system and the game frankly looks absolutely stunning as it is rich with vibrant colours and richly detailed environments that have superb lighting and shadow detail. Character model wise, the graphics also look terrific as the character models all look excellent and while not quite lifelike, they look more than good enough from the rockstar figure in Johnny Silverhand to the sultry Evelyn, the sexy Judy and the feisty Panam, they all are well designed.

And regarding the game's graphics, if you have a ray tracing compatible graphics card then you can enjoy this game looking its best that way as the shadows and reflections are far more realistic with this feature. The only downside to ray tracing is that it is very demanding technique for graphics cards and CP77 is already a pretty demanding game, so you need a really well specced PC to play the game on and get good solid frame rates as well as the ray tracing feature enabled. I think the ray tracing support will be added (or maybe already has been) for the next gen consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X, so that would be a cheaper way to run the game this way, only if you could get a console! 

VOICE ACTING

As for the voice acting, the game's cast are all excellent and give solid performances all round.

Starting with Keanu Reeves, who is excellent in his role as Johnny Silverhand, the charismatic rockstar and former war veteran, who also wages war against the Arasaka clan in his former life but in 2077, his memories end up inside V when V steals an experimental chip containing Johnny's engram (imprint I guess). Keanu isn't the world's best actor for sure but overall this is definitely one of his best performances in recent years. 

As for the dual role of V, Gavin Drea and Cherami Leigh are both excellent in the role as the male and female versions of the character respectively and they are given plenty of dialogue to work with here and plenty of emotion also. 

Jason Hightower is also really good in his role as Jackie Welles, a merc who befriends and works with V at the start of the game and then on several missions after that before things go a bit sour and end on a rather emotional note (won't say more than that!). 

Emily Woo Zeller is excellent too in her role as Panam, a merc who V works with and was a former member of Aldecado clan and she can also engage in a romantic relationship with the male version of V in the game. 

Carla Tassara is very good too as Judy Alvarez, a braindance technician who works with V and they do several missions together. Judy can also have a romance with V in either male or female form in the story and based on dialogue choices, their relationship can take on different outcomes.

And last of all is Rome Kanda as Takemura, a former Arasaka foot solider, who rescues V from being killed and later works with V, who knows the truth behind the death of Saburo Arasaka and wants the truth to come to light. 

FLAWS 

As for flaws...yeah Cyberpunk 2077 isn't quite perfect.

For starters, I think while the game offers plenty of variety and that is ultimately a good thing, it is also a bit too overwhelming at times and you are left with so much to do and choose from that it can be hard to make a decisive choice on your next mission. This is especially the case as the game's map is so big and spread out, you have so much ground to cover and it would easily take hundreds and maybe even thousands of hours to platinum this game! 

Another issue is to do with certain gameplay aspects such as e.g. stealth, which can be a problem when you are trying to evade detection in certain missions, I often found I got caught out too easily by enemies, so stealth felt like a redundant option at times, especially when you try to stay crouched by the alert meter maxes out! However, there are times where stealth is necessary and in one mission it is almost totally essential to its completion.

I also feel at times the first person perspective can make the gameplay a bit awkward, particularly when it comes to melee combat as it doesn't feel that natural fighting enemies with your fists or even using a knife of sorts, it just looks out of place. I mean for using firearm weapons, the first person mode is fine but not so much for melee combat.

The game's main storyline I also have to admit drags on WAY TOO LONG similar as to how The Last of Us Part II's story did. I mean the final missions must have taken me about an hour and a half at least to finish alone with a hugely protracted finale! There are of course different endings but the one I had chosen just went on forever and in the end it dragged the pacing way down.

It also has to be said that some of the missions that involve braindances can be pretty obscure to work out fully as it is very easy to miss out just one clue and if you do then you will be left stumped as to how to complete it! And that is where I needed to consult a few Youtube videos in order to make sure I got all the clues I needed, which can make for an annoying experience if you are stuck forever on the same mission.

The hacking processes in the game can also take a while to work and I know this depends on how sophisticated your cyberware and cyberdecks are (which hack into enemy networks) but the wait to hack certain devices such as gun turrets can take a tediously long amount of time. So, this can slow down the gameplay quite a bit and make for some frustrating moments when you want to just to get on with things. 

Another problem I had was to do with the sheer amount of calls V get's after completing a mission where he is offered more jobs to do. I mean there are times where the game really is bombarding with new missions and content just a bit too much and would be better if they tried to tone it down rather than overload gamers with their choices.

And last of all, I have to say while the game's bugs have mainly been ironed with recent updated patches, I still did encounter one or two annoying bugs here and there. And one such example is during a mission in Badlands where V is supposed to get on a bike and drive out with Panam to take down an enemy gang, however at the time, I couldn't get on one of the bikes to drive and Panam herself was glitched out in the scene! So, yeah in the end I had to reload the mission in order to get V to mount the bike and drive off. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Cyberpunk 2077 is a very good RPG with the plenty of variety in its gameplay with a ton of missions and other activities for players to check out. The game also features an excellent voice cast featuring Keanu Reeves, Gavin Drea, Cherami Leigh in the main roles of Johnny Silverhand and V. The game's graphics are also definitely worthy of note as they are utterly stunning in their detail and look even better if you have ray tracing enabled graphics card to play them on for enhanced lighting and reflections. 

There are some gameplay issues of course and it has been hampered with loads of bugs and glitches on its release that have hindered the game and has even seen CD Projekt Red been subjected to various lawsuits for releasing the game in such a subpar format. However if you can forgive the game's faults then there is still much to enjoy here in Cyberpunk 2077 and its definitely worth a look, especially if you have a decent PC to play it on.

So, I will finish and give Cyberpunk 2077 a rating of:

8 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back some time soon with another post.

Till then its bye for now!

The Last Boy Scout Review (Revisited) "And then some!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we are now into April, which is pretty unreal as how quickly time flies and as we near Easter, I thought I would do a couple of posts. So, I figured I would start with another revisit of an older post I did of the 1991 action film, The Last Boy Scout starring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans, which I've been re-watching again recently. 

So, 30 years on from its original release, let's take another look at this buddy action film...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

The film begins with an American football player named Billy Cole (Billy Blanks) who receives a phone call from a mysterious caller, who tells Billy that he must start scoring touchdowns or he will be "history".  Cole, who is under the influence of drugs, then goes out onto the pitch and during play he produces a gun and shoots a few of the opposing team's players before taking his helmet off and saying in front of the crowd and TV cameras "Ain't life a bitch?!" and shoots himself in the head. 

The next morning, private investigator Joe Hallenback (Bruce Willis) and former secret service agent, discovers that his wife Sarah (Chelsea Field) is having an affair with his friend and fellow detective, Mike Matthews (Bruce McGill).  Mike however is killed in a car bomb just outside Joe's house, but before he died he gives Joe the assignment of protecting a stripper named Cory (Halle Berry).  

At a bar where Cory works, Joe ends up meeting her boyfriend, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) a former LA Stallions quarterback, who was banned from the sport for gambling and drug abuse.  After Joe argues with Jimmy, Jimmy angrily takes Cory away while she is performing her striptease.  Joe afterwards is attacked by henchmen outside and taken away into an alley, but he manages to escape.  

Meanwhile Jimmy and Cory head back to her apartment where Cory tells Jimmy that she could get him his old job back as a quarterback with the Stallions. Not long after, they leave in separate cars, another car hits the back of Cory's car who gets out to confront the driver, but she is then shot dead by hitmen in the car.  Jimmy scarcely survives the hit as he is rescued by Joe, who turns up and kills the hitmen. 

After they are taken to the local police station and Joe meets with police Captain Benjamin Bessalo (Joe Santos) who despise Joe and warns him to watch his step.  Bessalo also tells one of his officers McCoskey (Clarence Felder) however that Joe one time saved the president's life when he was a secret service agent.  Jimmy after they leave the station persuades Joe to help him track down who was behind Cory's murder.  

The next day Joe and Jimmy go to Cory's apartment where they find a tape, which is of a phone conversation between Senator Calvin Baynard (Chelcie Ross) and the owner of the LA Stallions football team, Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham).  While listening to the tape, Jimmy accidentally ruins the tape by pressing fast forward on Joe's faulty car tape player.  Jimmy then realises that Cory was actually going to use the tape as leverage to force Marcone to give Jimmy's job back.  

Jimmy decides to leave in his own car, but Joe then stops him as he realises that Marcone would have rigged Jimmy's car as well and they find plastic explosives planted in the car.  At this point two thugs turn up and beat them up and force them to hand over the tape, but Joe tricks them having planted the explosives under the boot of the car, which one of the hitmen tries to open by shooting it and they are killed in the blast with Joe and Jimmy diving out the way just in time.

Later at the police station again, Bessalo berates Joe for his actions and gives him a final warning not to see him again.  Joe also reveals to Jimmy the reason he kicked out of the secret service was because he stopped Baynard from sexually assaulting a woman and as a result Joe was fired from the secret service as he refused to cover up the incident.  

Joe then goes back home with Jimmy, where they meet Joe's feisty 13 year old daughter, Darian (Danielle Harris) who argues with her dad, as she is angry because he won't let her go to a party.  Joe later catches Jimmy in the bathroom using drugs and furiously punches him and tells him to get out.  As Jimmy leaves Darian asks for his autograph and reveals that Joe used to be a fan of Jimmy's before he got busted.  

The next morning however, Bessalo learns of Mike's affair with Sarah and concludes that Joe killed Mike himself and sends McCoskey to arrest him.  However the hitmen lead by Milo (Taylor Negron) capture Joe and Milo shoots McCoskey as he arrives, using Joe's prints to make it look he shot McCoskey.  Joe is then taken to Marcone who reveals he intends to use Joe to frame him for murdering Baynard, as a result of Baynard's refusal to take Macrone's bribes to cease his investigations on him into illegal sports gambling.

Joe is then taken out into the woods where he is photographed handing over a briefcase to Baynard's bodyguards, which contains explosives.  Joe however manages to escape from Milo and the hitmen with help of Jimmy and Darian, who comes along with him.  Joe manages to run Milo off the road however during the ensuing car chase, but Milo survives and kidnaps Darian.  

And after this, Joe decides the only thing they can do is take down Marcone in order to save his daughter and save Baynard...

THOUGHTS 

There is no doubt that The Last Boy Scout is a ridiculous movie and it is so over the top that it makes some other action films look credible in comparison.  However its because it dares to be so silly and over the top that it manages to succeed in being a very entertaining film to watch especially as the two leads of Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans share a good onscreen chemistry in their at first grudging buddy buddy relationship.

The film's production however was far from smooth as it was hampered by many problems, especially between Willis and Wayans, who both hated working with each other. The director Tony Scott also had his share of problems with the film's producer, Joel Silver, who continually tried to wrestle control of the production throughout. 

The film's screenplay was also written by Shane Black (who wrote the Lethal Weapon screenplay and later directed and worte Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) which he got a whopping $1.75 million dollars for.  Whether or not Black's script warranted such a high fee is highly debatable but he does allow for plenty of amusing dialogue and witty one liners but he too also had his struggles during the production and had to do extensive rewrites of his script (which was ironically originally titled as Die Hard!).

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

As for the performances, overall they are pretty good here with a fine cast all on good form.  

Starting with Bruce Willis, who is excellent in his role as Joe Hallenbeck, the cynical, unshaven, private detective, who is essentially a good guy and has a fine line is dry witty one liners.  

And Willis's best scenes include the one where Joe finds out Mike has been having an affair with his wife, Sarah and Joe figures it out as he uses his detective skills to suss things out. So, in the scene, Joe goes into the bathroom and sees the shower is off and the toilet seat is up. So, he goes back out and asks Sarah "Who's the guy in the closet?" and Sarah asks "What?" and Joe says "Oh, that's right, sometimes you forget I'm a detective! Guess you figured you'd hide him in there when you heard my key hit the lock a day early. So, who's the guy in the closet?". Sarah however angrily says "OK! We'll open the closet and then we'll both know you're a FUCKING PSYCHO! Is that what you want?!". Joe however warns her "No, the door stays shut. What I'm gonna do, is count to three and then I'm gonna put a bullet in that door. You can stop me any time by telling the truth!".

So, just as Joe counts to three, Mike suddenly opens the closet, putting his hands up and he says nervously to Joe "Come on, Joe. Don't do nothing dumb!". And Joe says "Keepin her warm for me, Mike?" and he then asks "How was she? On your finger scale how was my wife?" and Mike pleads with Joe "It just happened" and Joe sarcastically says "Oh sure! It just happened. You walked in, tripped on the floor and accidentally stuck your dick in my wife! I'm sorry, Mrs H! I guess this just isn't my week!". 

There is also the scene where Joe first meets Jimmy at the strip bar and the two them argue and Joe tells him he is a private detective and Joe also says how he knows who Jimmy is. So, in the scene Jimmy says to Joe as he is reluctant to tell him why he is working for Cory as a detective "Man, you couldn't protect a cup of warm piss!" and he throws some ice at him and Joe says "OK, why don't you just hit me?" and Jimmy asks "What?" and Joe taunts him "Come on, chicken shit, bust me in the chops! You don't think an old guy like me could hurt you, do you, Jimmy?". 

So, Jimmy asks "Oh, so you know who I am?" and Joe says "James Alexander Dix. Quarterback for the LA Stallions, 89-90. Banned from the league on allegations of gambling and drug abuse. Another tragic tale of wasted youth" and Jimmy angrily stands up and says "NOW you're starting to piss me off!". Joe then says "About fucking time!" and he offers his hand "Joe Hallenback...private detective" but Jimmy angrily knocks it away and shouts "You look like fuckin low life to me!" and Joe says to him "At least I didn't shit my talent away on coke!" which prompts Jimmy to take a swing at Joe, who blocks it with his hand and he overpowers Jimmy and knocks him to the floor and he picks his glass and says "I seemed to have dropped my warm cup of piss!". 

Also there is the moment where Joe is about to killed in an alley by a hitman and he teases the hitman by saying how he allegedly had sex with the hitman's wife, and teases how fat his wife allegedly is. So, in the scene Joe asks the hitman "Ask me how fat she is" and the hitman annoyed says "Fuck you, man!" but he takes a moment and smiles and asks "How fat is she?". So, Joe jokes "She's so fat, I had to roll in flour and find the wet spot" and the hitman laughs and Joe continues "If you want to fuck her, you have to slap her and ride the wave in" and the hitman laughs some more and Joe finishes "I'm not saying she's fat, but her high school picture was an aerial photograph!". And at this time point, the hitman is roaring with laughter, which catches him off guard long enough for Joe to hit him with a broken bottle and escape, leaving injured hitman to say "Ohhh, you bastard!" and Joe to says hus oft repeated line "And then some!". 

Then there is the scene where Joe is captured by Milo and taken to Marcone's place and is beaten by one of Milo's thugs, Chet (Kim Coates) and when Joe asks for a light he says to Chet "I'm gonna need a light, and if you touch me again I'll kill you" but Chet punches Joe again, who gets up and delivers a sucker punch to the man's face, which puts his nose into his brain, killing him instantly, Joe then stands and spits on him saying "Told you!". 

And as Milo enters, and says to Joe "Joseph, you don't disappoint me. You took an awful risk. Pablo here could have shot you dead" and Joe cooly says "If you wanted me dead, you would have killed me already" and Milo smiles and says "That's true". Milo then says to Joe "Could we do a formal introduction..." and Joe interrupts him and says "Who gives a fuck?! You're the bad guy, right?" and Milo smiles and says "I AM the bad guy!" and Joe asks "And I'm supposed to be trembling with fear, something like that?" and Milo says "Something like that" and Joe coolly says "Fine! I'll start trembling in a minute".  

And later on when Joe and Jimmy escape from Milo and during the car chase Jimmy tells Joe he has a plan to distract the bad guys by drawing a picture of a bomb, which Joe berates him for. So, in the scene Jimmy says "Roll down the window and I'll yell at them" and Joe shakes his head and shouts "That's the lamest fucking plan I've ever head! Its bullet proof glass, they're not gonna hear you, ya moron!". 

So, Jimmy draws a feeble pic of a bomb that looks more like an apple with "BOM" written on it and Jimmy shows it to Joe and Joe looks at him in disbelief and says "You kidding me?!". So, as Jimmy shows the pic to the bad guys in a car right next to them, they shoot passegner window, which shatters and Joe says "By the way, "bom" means fuck you in Polish!" and Jimmy says "That's funny, man! I almost bought it!" and Joe sarcastically says "Tragic loss to the art world, I tell you!".  And last of all in the scene, Joe admits to Jimmy "I swear to Christ, Junior, if I ever survive this fucking case I'm gonna dance a jig!".

Damon Wayans is also very good in his role as Jimmy Dix, the former American football player, who was disgraced due to gambling and drug abuse charges, and teams up with Joe to help find out who was behind her murder.

Wayans also get's his fair share of snappy one liners and he also has some good moments in the film (even the odd dramatic one).  

As for his scenes, for starters there is the one where Jimmy first meets Joe at the bar when Joe meets with Cory to discuss her case. So, Jimmy says to Joe "You're nobody!" and Joe says "Shh! Don't tell anyone!". And as they talk, Jimmy get's annoyed with Joe for not being so forthcoming about why he is dealing with Cory and he says to him "Look, Cory is my girl. If she's in some kind of trouble, I want to know abou it!". Joe however says "Confidential, big boy!" but Jimmy insists "Well, why don't you just tell me anyway?!" and Joe firmly says "Nope!". So, Jimmy angrily says "Man, you could protect a cup of warm piss!" and sips a drink throws some ice at Joe, who tells him he knows who Jimmy is and how was "another tragic tale of wasted youth". So, Jimmy angrily stands and says "Now you're starting to piss me off!" and Joe says "About fuckin time! Joe Hallenbeck, private detective" and Jimmy angrily says "You look like fuckin low life to me!" and Joe says "At least I didn't shit my talent away on coke!". 

Then there is the scene where Jimmy and Joe go to Corry's apartment after Jimmy tells Joe that Corry had a high tech security system installed and only he could deactivate or "circumvent" it.  So they go to Corry's apartment and  at the door, Joe says to Jimmy "Your show, Ace" and Jimmy proceeds to kick the door in and Joe looks at him saying "Security system??" and Jimmy says "Yeah, I circumvented it!".

Another funny scene is when Jimmy and Joe are being beaten up by Milo's henchmen and one of them likes using fancy words such as "untenable" and "exuberance" and Jimmy gasps saying "Shit! We're being beaten up by the inventor of Scrabble!". 

And one of Wayans best moments actually comes in a more serious scene where Joe catches him sniffing drugs in his bathroom and Joe decks him and tells him to get out his house.  And Jimmy tells Joe about how easy it is to get fixed on painkillers in the sport "This shit starts real easy man.  First you take dimmerol because your fuckin knees are shot and before you know it you are chewin codine with your pancakes!".  And then he angrily says to Joe "Why is there a fuckin personal injury report in pro football? No one else has one, pro football does. You know why? Its because so the gamblers can have a fucking accurate spread!  Its all business now, they push you till you blow your brains out!  Just like Billy Cole did! Can't you see those fuckin hypocrites took away MU FUCKIN LIFE??!". 

Wayans has some funny moments of course in the film such as the scene where Milo's thugs bounce Jimmy off a car and before they do he says to them "Look I can't figure which one of you looks more like my dick! So, if you've got something to say, say it or get the fuck out of my way!" and Jimmy struggles with them, they throw him off the bridge onto a car below he groggily get's up and says "Don't try this at home folks.  I'm a trained professional.  There's me and there's Super Dave!" and he passes out. 

And later as Jimmy and Joe race off to try and stop Baynard from being assassinated by Milo, Jimmy says to Joe "I figure you gotta be the dumbest guy in the world, Joe and Joes asks "Why's that?" and Jimmy says "You're trying to save the life of the guy who ruined your career, and the avenge the death of the guy that fucked your wife!". 

And last of all is the scene where Joe and Jimmy confront Marcone and in the scene, Jimmy asks Marcone "Why did you kill Cory?" and Marcone tells him "She took to blackmail, Jim. I got no truck with that. Hell, she was one of the sweetest little whores I've ever tasted!". Jimmy then turns angry and says "There's five feet of marble between me and you. Maybe I make it, maybe I don't. If you call her a whore again, I'm gonna find out!". 

And this is followed by where Jimmy makes a last ditch effort to save his and Joe's lives by telling him they know where the six million dollars Marcone was using to bribe Baynard, is located. So, Jimmy says to Marcone "We've got the key, its in a locker!" and Marcone asks "Where is it?" and Jimmy says "I've got it stashed in my shorts" and Marcone says "Ok, easy easy". So, Jimmy reaches into his leather pants and takes out one of the explosive shredders with the key and he throws it on the fire and he says "Whoops! Looks like no one get's the key. That's one of those new plastic keys!" and he turns to Joe and warns him "The kind that shred!" and Joe realises what he means and he yells at Darianne to get down just before a huge explosion goes off.

Taylor Negron makes a pretty effective villain as the creepy Milo, who is in Marcone's employee, and has a tendency to call everyone by their Sunday names, i.e. Joe is Joseph.  

And Taylor's best scenes include the one where Milo kills the police officer, McConey, who asks him if there is a problem as he approaches Milo's car and Milo says "Yes there is a problem, officer, apparently there are too many bullets in this gun!" and he shoots him dead.  And as they take Joe's prints they dump the gun out the window and Milo says "you've been a naughty boy, Joseph.  You've just shot a policeman!". 

Another good scene is when Milo enters to find a captured Joe, has just killed one of Milo's men, Chet and says to Joe "Joseph, you don't disappoint me. You took an awful risk. Pablo here could have shot you dead" and Joe cooly says "If you wanted me dead, you would have killed me already" and Milo smiles and says "That's true". Milo then says to Joe "Could we do a formal introduction..." and Joe interrupts him and says "Who gives a fuck?! You're the bad guy, right?" and Milo smiles and says "I AM the bad guy!" and Joe asks "And I'm supposed to be trembling with fear, something like that?" and Milo says "Something like that" and Joe coolly says "Fine! I'll start trembling in a minute. In the meantime, you think I could have a drink?". And Milo replies "Of course" and he says to Pablo "Pablo, could you take Chet's corpse out of here and fix Mr Hallenbeck a drink?".

Then we have the scene where Milo get's riled by Joe after he tells him to go "fuck" himself. So, Milo says "OK, that's not polite! That's very abusive sounding" and he takes out his switchblade and holds it to Joe's face and says "What would you do, Joseph if someone told you to go fuck yourself?  Would you cut one of their eyes out?!" and Joe calmly replies "No" and Milo filled with intense anger asks him "No? WHAT would you do?!". So, Milo laughs and says to Joe "You think you're so fuckin cool, don't you?! You think your so FUCKIN cool! Well, just once I would like to hear you scream in pain!" and Joe coolly says "Play some rap music" and Milo just smiles at his glib reply and closes his switchblade. 

And last of all is the scene where Milo kidnaps Darianne and drives with her to the ball game where he will prepare to assassinate Baynard. So, Milo phones Joe (from the car phone in one of the henchmen's cars that Joe shot up) and says to him "Hey, motherfucker!" and Joe asks "Hey, Milo! Where are you calling from? The bottom of the pool?!" and Milo says "I'm on my way to the ball game, of course! I've got someone here, who wants to talk to you". So, Milo hands over the phone to Darianne who, clearly scared says "Dad? I'm OK. I'm not hurt" so Milo takes it back and warns Joe "You better back off, Joseph or I'm gonna show your daughter what a hot date I am!" and he hangs up.  

Noble Willingham is also good as the film's main villain, Sheldon "Shelly" Marcone who owns the LA Stallions and employs Milo as his main henchman, who he uses to take care of business.  

Willingham also has some good scenes such as the scene where he takes a swim at his mansion and Joe is held captive and is somewhat insolent toward him. So, in the scene, Milo tells Pablo to fix Joe a drink at Joe's request and Marcone appears and says "Make that two!". So, Joe looks up and says "Oh, if it ain't Shelley Marcone himself!" and Marcone warns him "Careful, son! Just my friends call me Shelley" and Joe with one of the funniest lines, asks him "You got friends? When did this happen?". And Shelley in mid swim, says "Well I'll give you this, you sure are feisty for a man in your position.  Milo teach him some manners, will you?" who proceeds to hit Joe twice in the back of the neck.  

This is then followed by Shelley telling his plans on how he wants to legalise gambling and that Senator Baynard is the senator he can't bribe, so he intends to have him killed and frame Joe for the crime. So, in the scene, Shelley says to Joe "Its all different now, free agents! Gimme, gimme, gimme! You now got players wigging out, shooting themselves on the field! The public are turning over and piss-pot tired of it!". Shelley then says to Joe "This is big money! We're taking billions! That's nine zeros, son!" and Joe angrily says "I'm not your fuckin son!". 

Shelley then tells Joe how he planned to bribe Baynard but it wasn't enough what he offered. So, Shelley tells Joe "I tried to bribe that son of a bitch but it wasn't enough, so he sent it back" and Joe smiles and asks "How much does he want" and Shelley says "Six million, or he'll go straight to the police. Hell, I think It'll be just cheaper to kill that son of a bitch!". Joe smiles and says "Killing a US senator is a ballsy move even for an asshole like you" and Shelley smiles and says "You said it, Joe boy! That's why we're gonna frame you for the senator's murder".

And later as he captures Joe and Jimmy he says to Jimmy "You got hooked on demerol, because you couldn't take the pain, you hated the pain!  Life is pain, Jim!" and he grabs and shoots Jimmy in the hand and he drops a handkerchief for Jimmy, who painfully wraps his hand round it. So, Shelley says to Joe "Discipline! Kids these days, don't have good discipline!" and he takes hold of a tearful Darianne and says "Don't you cry, honey. Just come round here with old Uncle Shelley" and Joe asks "Let the girl go" but Shelley punches him in the face and tells his men "Get them outta my misery!". 

However, Joe tells him he has the money and if he plans anything, he wil go to the mob with what Shelley is planning on doing to legalise gambling but what that falls short, Jimmy tells Shelley they have the money and where key is stashed to the case. So, as Jimmy takes out the key he says to Shelley "You gotta promise to let me go" and Shelley says "Bullshit! Give him that key or I'll have you knee-capped!" and Jimmy throws the key into the fire and says "Looks like no one get's they key" and Shelle shouts to his men "GET THE GODDAMN KEY!" but Jimmy says to Joe its the "kind that shred!" and they dive out the way as the shredder key explodes.  

Danielle Harris also makes a good impression in her part as Joe's feisty daughter teenage daughter, Darian.  

Harris also get's some good scenes in the film such as her first scene where she has an argument with Joe, while watching TV (and its Lethal Weapon playing in the background!) .

And in the scene, as Joe arrives home with Jimmy, she holds up a toy bear and puts on a fake voice pretending to be the bear, saying "Darian isn't talking to you just now. She is pissed with you big time!". However, Darian then notices the scars on his face from his beating earlier with the two henchman and she asks in her normal voice, a bit concerned "What happened to your face??" and Joe says "Nothing, it always looks like this!".  

Joe then get's out some chocolate ice cream from the fridge for Darian and asks her "Do you want some?" but Darian is clearly angry with him and shouts "Leave me alone! I hate you!". Joe quietly tells Jimmy "She pissed off because I wouldn't let her go on a date with her friend, Tommy" and Darian shouts "I only missed the best party of the year!". So, Joe asks here "You want some of this? Its chocolate chip, you favourite" and she says angrily "I don't care! You're an asshole!" prompting Joe to angrily throw the ice cream out the door and tells her "You know how I hate to waste food!". So, he walks up to Darian and says "You want to abuse me some more? Go ahead, shock me! I hardly every hear the word "asshole"!" and Darian says "Oh, bullshit! I bet you hear it all the time!" but Joe, irritated says "Right that's enough, Darian!". 

So, after Joe tells her off for talking like a "trash mouth" he taunts her to shock him with some more bad language and she angrily turns the volume up on the remote, saying "God! Your such a fuck up!".  And Joe snatches the remote, turns the TV off and angrily tells Darian "Darian! You are my daughter and you are in my house and you will respect me, you got that?! You don't EVER call me a fuck up!" and Darian says "Why not?  Mom calls you it all the time!". Joe then taken aback asks "You're mum called me a fuck up? When?!" and Darian says "On the phone with Uncle Jay" and Joe laughs and says how he is supposed to be "fuck up" but her Uncle is a stand-up guy, who cheats on his tax returns. So, Joe asks her "So, you tell me why "Mr Wonderful" isn't service prison sentence for tax evasion?" and Darian tells him "Because he doesnt't fuck up!".

Chelsea Field is also pretty good in her brief role as Sarah, Joe's wife and their strained marriage has resulted in her having an affair with Joe's best friend, Mike. 

So, I will mention two scenes for Chelsea with the first being when Joe arrives home and discovers a few clues that lead him to believe Sarah is hiding someone in the closet.

So, Joe says to her having checked the shower and the toilet seat (being up) and even under the bed "Who's the guy in the closet?" and Sarah asks "Excuse me?" and Joe tells her "Oh, that's right, sometimes you forget I'm a detective!" and Sarah says "I don't believe this! You're STILL a lunatic!". Sarah then says "OK, so we'll open the closet and we'll both know that your're a fuckin psycho!" and Joe says "The door stays shut. What I'm gonna do is count to three and put a bullet in that door. You can stop my any time by telling the truth!". Sarah then shouts at him "Call your shrink, Joe! Call and tell him you're fucking losing it!" and Joe says "The truth is a beautiful thing. One...two..." and Sarah shouts "How dare you come in here and..." and Joe says "Three..." and Sarah shouts "NO!" and the door opens and we see Mike, sitting in the closet with his hands up. 

And this is then followed by the scene just after Mike is killed by a car bomb, the police arrive on the scene as Joe and Sarah stand nearby both stunned by Mike's death. Sarah then asks "Who the fuck did this, Joe?" and Joe quips "Mr Rogers! How the hell shoud I know?" and Sarah says of her affair with Mike "You knew, didn't you?" and Joe says "I suspected" and Sarah angrily asks "Goddamn it, Joe. Why didn't say anything?!". Joe then says "What do you want me to say? "Fuck you, Sarah?" and Sarah shouts at him "Yeah! Or anything to get a rise out of you! How about "you're lying bitch, Sarah! If there weren't cops here, I would spit on your face!". Joe then asks her "You want me to spit on you?" and Sarah says "It would show you still had some pride left!" and Joe walks off and says "Fresh out, honey!". Sarah then angrily says to Joe "Fuck you, Joe! You are never around, I was lonely!" and Joe coldly says to her "Buy a dog!" and Sarah says to him "I'm not the one that hates you. YOU'RE the one that hates you!" and Joe says "And I get to live with myself 24 hours a day!".       

Bruce McGill is also pretty good in his brief role as Mike, Joe's best friend and fellow private detective, who just so happens to be sleeping with Joe's wife behind his back but things don't end so well for him as he passes up a case to Joe.

So, I will mention only one of McGill's scenes and its the one where Mike calls Joe at his office and Mike tells him "I've got a job for you. Stripper, sorry exotic dancer. She's hot, Joe. She rates a three on my finger scale. That means I'd cut off three of my fingers if God would let me fuck her!" and Joe quips "Make her one on your nose scale. Improve your looks!". Mike then says "Yeah, eat me! So, you interested?" and Joe says "Well, I was planning on smoking some cigarettes" and Mike asks him "Can't you postpone?" and Joe says "I don't know, they're pretty good cigarettes". So, Joe says "OK, give me her address, I'll be at your office in an hour" and Mike says "Great! Comb your hair and I'll lend you a nice shirt..." and Joe hangs up on him. 

And last of all is Halle Berry as Cory, Jimmy's girlfriend, who is murdered by Marcone's men and Jimmy sets out to seek revenge for her death with Joe's help. 

And I will mention just a couple of her scenes starting with the one where Joe meets with Cory at the strip bar where she works. So, Cory who serves him a drink asks "Should I pay you now?" and Joe tells her "No, you shouldn't pay me now, sit down" and Cory sits down. Joe then asks her "So, you sure the cops can't help you?" and Cory says "Sure, after I'm dead, they'll perform the autopsy" and Joe says "I guess you don't want to wait around that long" and she says "Guess not". 

Joe then complains about the music in the bar and says "Is this the only music they play in this joint? Hate this funk shit!" and Cory asks "What did you expect?" and Joe says "The Four Freshmen, Pat Boone". Cory then scornfully asks him "What are you? My father?" and Joe says "Yeah, I'm your father! Put some clothes on!" and Cory walks up to him and says "You're hilarious! Go up to the speaker and put your head in it and you'll scream "play that funky music, white boy!" and she hits his side with her butt and walks off and Joe says to himself "The screaming part I believe!".

And lastly there is the scene where Jimmy and Cory lie together on a couch and they make a toast with some glasses and drink and Jimmy smashes his glass. So, Cory then says to him "If I were a cat I would purr" and Jimmy slides his hands up to her breasts and she slaps his hands and says "Behave!". Cory then asks him "I've got your birthday, do you want to see it?" and Jimmy peeps insider her top and says "Is it look like that?" and he asks "Can you give me a hint?" and Cory says "OK" and she turns to him and asks "How would you like to get your old job back?". 

DIRECTOR     

Finally moving onto the director, it was directed by the late Tony Scott (younger brother of Ridley Scott).  And Scott overall does a fine job here as he is no stranger to action films he keeps the film's pace tight and the action scenes are pretty OTT by they are well staged and the action is entertaining all the same. Scott however was forced to make some cuts to the film's violence in order to avoid given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and recieve the standard R rating.

Scott did however of course have his troubles during production as he had to deal with the tensions between Willis and Wayans as well as studio interference from producer, Joel Silver. However that all aside, Scott does a pretty good job here with the film despite his problems making it.  

Michael Kamen also provides a fairly good film score which is akin to his other action flick scores of that period with the usual mix of orchestration and even synths at certain points, so its good albeit not one of very Kamen's best. 

The film soundtrack also makes use of a few other songs such as "Get Off" by Prince, "Moody River" by Pat Boone and unfortunately the film's awful intro title track "Friday's night a great night for football" sung by Brian Medley, which the less said about the better! 

FLAWS (Warning: expect some spoilers in this section!) 

Moving onto the flaws section of the Last Boy Scout does it have any????  Well yeah, its not a perfect film by any means, so it does have some. 

For starters the film's buddy buddy preface is pretty generic as Joe and Jimmy form an uneasy alliance to uncover who was behind Cory's murder and evolves into your typical friendship towards the end. The plot however is still fairly good and a cut above most buddy buddy films in that respect but it still kind of plays out the same way as many other films of its type do. 

The other thing that is so ridiculous about the film is how Joe get's away with all the murders he commits, by killing all the hitmen in the film, and he even assaults Baynard again at the end of the film, where Joe asks Baynard "head or gut?" meaning where yo do you want to get punched???  And he does all this yet there are no repercussions for him whatsoever as I'd imagine Baynard didn't press charges, or perhaps Joe revealed in the end he was acting in Baynard best interests to save his life.  Or maybe not.  Again logic in action films is never a strong point, least of all in Hollywood action films!

I also thought the scene near the end of the film where Captain Bessalo turns up at the scene after Joe foils Milo's attempts to kill Baynard was a bit stupid as Joe tells Bessalo where the case of explosives is and he open its to find money inside instead, as Marcone took the wrong case earlier from the car. However, I think given that the case is filled with explosives and as Marcone opens it himself at his house and is blown up, Bessalo was taking a hell of chance in opening the case of money himself because if it was the explosives then he'd be dead too! So, yeah its a bit silly.

Another problem is to do with the scene where Joe kills Milo's henchman, Chet by delivering an upward hand thrust punch to his nose that allegedly punches it back into his brain, killing him instantly. However, this is impossible in itself because the nose has no bone it, only cartilage, so it wouldn't be feasible to punch it back into the brain or anywhere near it! However, someone I know (who works for the NHS) has suggested that such an upper punch could potentially kill someone due to severe trauma it could cause to the brain. So, yeah never know, even though Chet's nose couldn't possibly be punched back into his brain, the trauma of the punch might have killed him instead.   

WARNING: SPOILERS COMING UP RELATING TO THE END OF THE FILM NEXT!  

The film also has one of the most ridiculous over the top action climaxes of any film where Joe fights the psychotic Milo who tries to take out Senator Baynard who ends up suffering a gruesome death as he is shot off the roof by SWAT police and is diced by a nearby police chopper he falls into the path. And this is followed by arguably daftest scene in the film where Joe dances a jig in celebration of surviving the case, which he promised to do earlier. Yeah, OK, he kept his promise but it is a pretty stupid one all the same! 

And lastly I thought the end of the film was pretty silly where Joe offers Jimmy a partnership in his detective business, which Jimmy accepts but Jimmy says he doesn't know anything being a detective and Joe says "There's nothing to it" and the only advice he offers is to have a snappy comeback ready for dealing with bad guys. THAT'S IT?!! You mean to say there's not a bit more to detective work for Jimmy to know than THAT?! I mean come on, surely to God there will be more for Jimmy to learn! So, yeah its pretty silly dialogue and it would have been better if Joe even said "Its OK, you'll pick it up as you go". That would have been better than "nothing to it". 

Anyway that's that for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Last Boy Scout is still a very entertaining action comedy even 30 years on from its original release. It is somewhat held in mixed esteem by audiences and reviewers alike but I personally think its very much underrated and has some very funny dialogue and some good (but cheesey) action scenes as well as some good chemistry between Willis and Wayans, just a pity they didn't get along during filming. 

It does of course have some issues with its plot and as mentioned some very cheesy over the top action sequences and in particular a daft climax where Joe get's away with committing multiple murders (but it is Hollywood and they were bad guys I guess!) and even assaulting a US senator! It also has the WORST opening title credits of just about any film I've seen with the crappiest theme tune I've ever heard in "Friday night's a great night for football" playing over them! Spare me. 

That aside though, there is plenty to like about the Last Boy Scout and for that I will give a rating of:

8 out 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.

Until the next bye for now and have a good Easter!