Monday, November 29, 2010

Great Movie of the Week - Last Action Hero (1993)



A classic Arnie film that never got its due respect.

A little kid called Danny, is a massive fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and is obsessed with is hit action films. One day when he is given a special ticket to go see Schwarzenegger's newest film, he is somehow taken inside the film and into the world of Jack Slater, Arnies character in the film. Slater has no idea he is in a film, but Danny attempts to convince him that he is by showing him all the crazy, unreal elements of Slater's film world. Like why Sharon Stone's character from Basic Instinct is standing outside the police station or why Robert Patrick from Terminator 2 is walking around this movie world. Danny and Slater band together to stop the movie villain, who becomes much more aware of his existence and when he retrieves the magic ticket.



Last Action Hero wasn't well received by the critics when it was released back in 1993. They thought it was uneven because that it wasn't sure if it was an action film or a film that was parodying such films. I can to some extent understand that criticism, but to this day I have a deep fondness for this film. The film starts of great and ends even better. It starts by showing us the craziness that is this movie world, with lots jabs at action movie clichés and some fun remarks at Arnie's movie career too. The Terminator 2: Judgement Day poster with Sylvester Stallone is a brilliant scene. The last half hour of the film then switches to the real world where at a movie premiere real Arnie meets his fictional movie version. Also this when the villain of the film (played superbly by Charles Dance) transports a couple of movie villains into the real world.

The action in the film is undoubtably over the top, but this is on purpose of course, but it's fun to watch nevertheless. The film for me was a treat because of the imaginative freedom it gave itself, as it was free to do what ever it wanted while in the movie world. Also its proof that anything with Arnie in it is sure to be entertaining and fun and Last Action Hero ticks both of those boxes.

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