Shane Black is worth watching for the people arguing their way through his crime stories. We like the affection beneath the insults, though his fondness for a clever interruption can make an already tangled plot harder work.
Fi1m perspective
In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Harry Lockhart keeps interrupting the detective story he is meant to be telling. Shane Black gives Robert Downey Jr. a narrator who cannot resist interfering, even when the mystery already needs some sorting out. We laughed at Harry's inability to leave the telling alone, because Downey makes him sound fallible rather than pleased with himself. Black's writing works well here because we still care about the person speaking.
His breakthrough screenplay, Lethal Weapon (1987), had already made the partnership more persuasive than the investigation. Richard Donner's film depends on Mel Gibson and Danny Glover making us care about the two men, and they do. Black's explanations of murder and corruption are less convincing; the exposition slows things down without making the case much clearer. We recommend it despite that untidiness, though it establishes a difficulty that persists in his work: keeping a crime story moving once everyone has started talking.
The Last Boy Scout (1991) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) belong to his first run as an action screenwriter. His directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang brought him back after a quieter stretch and made the interruptions part of the entertainment. Downey and Val Kilmer's sparring gives the film its warmth, even when Black supplies one clever remark too many. We rate it for their company, with a warning that the mystery is tangled enough without the narrator repeatedly stopping to explain how detective stories work.
The craft around those performances is quieter than the script. Michael Barrett's cinematography lets us watch their irritation rather than merely listen to the lines. Aaron Osborne's production design establishes familiar detective-film surroundings without competing for attention. That restraint helps, because Black's dialogue rarely risks being ordinary, and there are passages where we wish he would let a scene proceed without commenting on it.
He went on to direct and co-write Iron Man 3 (2013). The Nice Guys (2016) returned to buddy comedy. It is a sensible choice for a writer whose characters need someone nearby to argue with. Start with Lethal Weapon, then try Kiss Kiss Bang Bang if a narrator who keeps interrupting himself sounds like good company.
Biography
Shane Black is an American screenwriter, director and actor. Born on 16 December 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in theatre.
Black wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon (1987), which launched the franchise. He followed this with The Last Boy Scout (1991), Last Action Hero (1993) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). He also appeared as Hawkins in Predator (1987).
Black made his directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), which he also wrote. He later wrote and directed Iron Man 3 (2013), The Nice Guys (2016) and The Predator (2018).
