The Hard Way (1991) - 7/10

Going back into some of these 90s movies has been interesting. The Hard Way doesn't offer a ton of new stuff in terms of buddy movies, but what it does offer is mostly well executed. This is also my first time seeing James Woods in a prominent lead role, and continues the venture of seeing Michael J. Fox in some non-Back to the Future roles. With that in mind, let's move into the rubric. 

1. Acting 

As already mentioned, your two leads here are James Woods and Michael J. Fox. Starting off with Fox, he gets to play to his typical strengths. Nick Lang is fast talking, boyishly charming, witty and has just enough earnestness to keep it all together. Fox is also getting to have a little fun poking at annoying actor tropes in a meta fashion. Fox is the 'crazy' to Wood's 'straight man' and his half of the dynamic is well executed, albeit a bit campy. 

For his part, Woods does well carrying the bulk of the movie. Again, the character is playing to Woods' strengths since John Moss is overly serious, short tempered, foul mouthed and a has a nice touch of sincerity and cautious vulnerability to tie it together. Woods manages to make Moss feel actually cop-ish and I was pleasantly surprised at the performance; although it slips a bit in the final section due to some issues with the ending showdown.  

Since it's a buddy cop movie, the pair need a villain. Stephen Lang does the honors here and he makes, well, some interesting choices as the Party Crasher. I don't know how much of PCs characteristics come from the script and how much come from Lang, but it's an off beat take that verges on cartoonish. Point being, it's a bit silly, but maybe that was the point. 

Other than the leads, the supporting cast does well even though I don't have any particular notes. 

2. Cinematography 

A fairly straightforward endeavor with some decently shot action scenes. 

3. Production/Costume Design 

Presumably, a lot was shot on location with some added set dressing. Everything feels distinct and everything felt lived in and un-movie like (trying to give an awkward compliment here). I especially liked the Nick Lang billboard which is a motif that keeps appearing and also serves as the final set piece. Also, the inclusion of fake footage of Nick Lang's movies was both very funny and well done.  

4. Writing 

I actually really enjoyed the writing for the film for the most part. Really the only parts I felt were weaker was the overly cartoonish villain and the fact that the final 'showdown' was a bit clumsy and crashes into a very abbreviated outro. However, I think I recognize that a good deal of my enjoyment comes from the interactions of the main characters, and less with compelling plot or writing technique. 

As far as the plot goes, I like the premise of gritty street detective having to contend with an annoying actor tagging along for research. It's a setup that feels like it's full of potential for comedy and the writers utilized it well. Helping in that effort is most certainly a great deal of witty and contentious banter between the two leads which Woods and Fox handle quite well. And though the two may be polar opposites, I actually feel like there was a nuanced level of understanding between the leads which plays out in their interactions. 

As far as characters, the two leads make very small changes by the end of the film with Moss becoming slightly more open and Lang getting a bit of a humbling throughout the plot. Their respective journey's are fairly simple and thus the ending feels a bit more hollow than other 'buddy' films. On one hand, it's a cliche when the two leads become best friends by the end of the movie, but to mostly avoid that as this film does, makes it seem like the characters didn't really learn anything about themselves or each other by the end. 

5. Sound Design 

It definitely has that 90s exaggerated foley artist style to it. The gun shots are that classic bullet 'ping' sound that most films of the era utilized, and the punching has the classic 'woosh' style as well. As far as soundtrack goes, nothing really memorable stood out, but it at least felt era appropriate.  

6. Editing 

The runtime came in at 111 minutes which is a decent pace for the plot. There was probably a bit of fat to trim if they wanted, especially in the finale where they finally corner the Party Crasher. However, it doesn't egregiously overstay its welcome. And then with the billboard sequence of the finale, there did seem to be a bit of a disjointed edit. If I had to guess, they had a bunch of different shots, but weren't fully happy with how all of it looked in the end. So basically, they took the better parts and pieced them together as best they could. 

7. Visual Effects 

All practical effects as far as I can tell with maybe a few in-camera tricks for the billboard scene. Everything looked solid so no real critiques here. 

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation 

Like I said before, it doesn't offer much that other 'buddy' films do. What makes it slightly above average is the comedic dialog and the performances by Fox and Woods. 

9. Stunt Coordination 

There were a couple of decent car chase sequences buried in the film. But the finale drags things down a bit as it felt a bit sloppy at times. 

10. Direction 

There are times where it feels like John Badham is just doing his best Richard Donner impression, but the direction is competent and built on solid character work by his actors. 

Legacy/Final Thoughts

There are plenty of great 'buddy' movies, but it's hard to not compare these types of films to Lethal Weapon. The Hard Way, in particular, was released right between Lethal Weapon 2 and 3 and clearly takes a lot of inspiration from it (even if just incidentally). It's also why I probably had never heard of this particular film because it got lost in the shadow of the more well known buddy cop franchise. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it as a sort of hidden gem title that's been forgotten about and thought the pairing of Woods and Fox was a great decision.