"Last Man Standing" is a bad movie. Directed by Walter Hill, this film has neither drama nor humor, neither compelling characters nor plot, in fact very little save for a few action sequences to garner a recommendation. Photographed in subdued color, emphasizing shades of brown, this movie makes for a boring watch, with not even technical qualities to make it worthy of note.

In 1961 the acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made an ingenious film about a lone samurai, entitled "Yojimbo." Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel "Red Harvest," we find action and dark comedy tied together in a compelling drama about this lone man's travails and double-crosses in a town bitterly torn by warring gangs. In 1964 Sergio Leone remade this story as the wonderful spaghetti western "A Fistful of Dollars." Clint Eastwood starred as a lone gunfighter, and Leone adapted the story to emphasize action - and did so with amazing success.

In 1996 Walter Hill has bought the rights to the screenplay from Kurosawa, altered the story to the setting of a 1930s western town run by east coast gangs, and carelessly removed the insightful characterization, thoughtful interplay of characters, and dramatic action from the first two films. While clearly derived from these previous films, this is neither an effective homage to westerns nor to samurai films, and fails as a modern or novel retelling of the story.

"Last Man Standing" consists of a half dozen tired Hong Kong-cinema style (i.e. two-fisted gun wielding and flying victim) fight sequences, tied together by an awkward reworking of the original story line. Bruce Willis plays the protagonist, John Smith, who unexpectedly finds himself wrapped up in the drama of feuding gangs who are vying for control of a tiny western town. A variety of gun battles and fist fights ensue as Smith aligns himself with different sides of the feud as he sees fit. Willis squints through this film (probably because of the constant dust storm raging through the town) with a casual, soft-but-gravely delivery similar to Clint Eastwood's Man-With-No-Name.

Unlike his exemplary work as John McClane in "Die Hard", Willis does not extend himself in this role and the dialogue and screenplay provide little opportunity for him to display the humor or action-star drive found in that earlier picture - elements which would have been truer to the original story and might have helped to raise this film closer to the caliber of its predecessors.

The supporting cast is stellar, but fails to live up to the reputations held by its members. Christopher Walken ("The Deer Hunter," "The Dead Zone") briefly appears as a right-hand man to one of the gangs, Bruce Dern ("Silent Running," "The Wild Angels") appears as the less than just Sheriff, David Patrick Kelly ("The Crow," "Twin Peaks") portrays the head of one gang, and William Sanderson ("Blade Runner," "Newhart") appears as the barkeep.

But despite their accomplished resumes, even these actors can only trip through the awkward screenplay - though some over-the-top moments by Kelly and Sanderson are bright spots in the film, if only for their absurdity.

Director Walter Hill's previous work has produced some amazing movies, including "The Warriors," "Southern Comfort," "48 HRS," and production work on all three "Alien" movies - a set of films in which tension and humor are used quite effectively.

By forsaking these elements, Hill has removed the charm and drama of the original film, stifled the most advantageous qualities of the leading actor, and turned away from his own strengths to produce an extremely weak picture.

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