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Last Action Hero

Last Action Hero

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "To be or not to be? Not to be" (Something explodes!)
Review: This is a resoundingly misunderstood film. Probably the finest parody ever made of the action genre as a whole; this film mocks the absurd excesses that most summertime action blockbusters indulge in. The script is clever enough to divide itself between the dark brutality of the real world and the campy superficiality of Hollywood. It revels in poking fun of the very films that have made Arnold Schwarzenegger (in?)famous.

The world outside the silver screen is filled with stark reminders of how un-Hollywood life is. There is crime, bullets hurt good people, and extras that are killed have families they've left behind. Young Danny (Austin O'Brien) loves film more than anything else. He attempts to put aside the problems of his life in live in the world that Hollywood has created for him. His favorite indulgence is the Jack Slater series of films. They star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title-hero, a cop modeled after the cloned result of Dirty Harry and Rambo. Slater is a smooth operator who never makes a wrong step and never fails to land on his feet. He is essentially everything that Danny, and in reality most children, wish they could be. When he is given a magical movie ticket by Nick the friendly pathetic mildly wise projectionist at his favorite theater, Danny is transported beyond his world into that of his hero, Jack Slater. He is quickly engulfed in one of the most entertaining action sequences ever put to film. It is the crystallization of the genre where there is unexplained action and unnecessary and unequal reaction. A car explodes because another car goes near it. A would-be assassin is thrown from his perch atop a moving truck into a parked ice-cream truck that then explodes. A truck explodes in the air for no good reason, and meanwhile, all the women are attractive (by Hollywood standards). They move from action sequence to action sequence, all of which are completely superfluous and equally delightful. Anyone who has ever made fun of, or rightly criticized, the films of Jerry Bruckheimer would find this work profoundly amusing. On screen, Slater and Danny must confront the cycloptic henchman Benedict (Charles Dance) and his benefactor Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) in order to stop a takeover the SoCal black market and to extract revenge for the killing of Slater's favorite second cousin. This plot of course, is secondary to the parody. It moves well and revels in its self-justifying fictional world where a cartoon cat can be a cop, because it's normal there.

The other side of the screen is filmed with dim lighting and always hinting at danger beneath the surface. Danny's mom (Mercedes Ruehl) is a widow who struggles to support her child both materially and emotionally. She works the unglamorous midnight shift. Nick is a washed-up never-was who had dreams of another career and justifies compromises he has made to his goals by referring to his job in the manner, "Hey, it's still show business." When Slater enters this world, and gets shot, not only do the bullets hit him, but they cause more than flesh wounds. In the "real world" the on-screen villains can take advantage of corrupt systems to come out on top.

This film parodies not only action heroes and the action genre, but also bad scripts. Danny knows not only what has already happened in the movie, he can accurately predict the next steps of the transparent plot of the action film he was watching and then participates in. The film makes groan-inducing puns and points them out. The film points out how action films sometimes modify classics to fit into modern pop culture. This movie could have been a bit shorter and could have done without some of the melodrama in the "real" world. But those are miniscule flaws next to the eminently enjoyable rest of the film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Watch and NOT be disappointed!!!
Review: This is one of those movies that a lot of people that haven't seen it say, "That movie wasn't really that good, was it?" but those that have seen it, say, "Why wasn't this movie more popular?" Maybe it was bad timing, or as some others suggested, just not correctly billed to the public.

Last Action Hero is hard to describe. It's funny, it's witty, with lots of those one-liners that Arnold became so popular with, and I loved the way he constantly poked fun at his fictional character as well as his "real" self. Some of my favorite dialogue in the movie is when the kid is trying to convince "character Arnold (aka: Jack Slater)" that he's actually just a character in a movie. The kid starts asking about phone numbers and how can they possibly all start with 555- in a city with several million phone numbers, when Jack Slater exasperatedly says, "That's why we have Area Codes..." Priceless. The movie is full of fun stuff like that, and I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is even remotely a Schwarzenegger fan, or who just like campy, yet intelligent, movies. The parody within a parody, and movie within a movie actually worked well in this one.

I thought the movie had a lot of great character performances, and clever scripting, and I think this movie got a bum rap. It's really a great movie, I'm glad I bought the DVD. The transfer is a little sloppy in places on the one I bought, but since it's a "Special Anniversary Edition", I have a feeling that had something to do with it. There's only a fullscreen version on my DVD, no widescreen, and the camera pans are really noticeable in a few places.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark...."
Review: and Hamlet is taking out the trash!

Jack Slater (Aronld) is a LA cop who is teamed up with Daniel Muggian. Daniel is from OUR world, via a magical ticket that old Nick gave him. Jack Slater is Daniel's hero. There has been several Jack Slater movies, as we see that this is "Jack Slater IV" that Daniel was watching when he enters the world of movies.
An Underated movie!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: YOUR AVERAGE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FILM
Review: A BOY [AUSTIN O BRIEN] IS GIVEN A MAGIC TICKET, AND WHILE HE'S WATCHING HIS MOVIE HERO'S LATEST FILM, HE ENDS UP BEING A PART OF THE ACTION. THIS STAR-STUDDED ACTION MOVIE IS OK, TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT FOR REAL, HOW DID AN INGMAR BERGMAN STORY GET INTO THIS MOVIE? ANYWAY, THE MOVIE STARTS OUT GREAT, BUT MOST OF THE SECOND HOUR IS A DISSAPOINTMENT. AS ALWAYS, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER IS FUN TO WATCH AS JACK SLATER, THE MOVIE COP WHO'S THE BOY'S IDOL. CHARLES DANCE IS COOL AS THE VILLAIN WHO MURDERED SLATER'S SECOND COUSIN. THIS MOVIE FEATURES APPEARANCES BY MANY STARS, SUCH AS; JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME, LITTLE RICHARD, TINA TURNER, TORU TANAKA, ART CARNEY, AND MANY MORE. FAR FROM ARNOLD'S BEST, BUT IT AIN'T A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: There's a good movie waiting to come out of this.
Review: This movie should be used in film schools to illustrate the importance of both tone and editing. Here we have a clever concept, a fun (thought not always clever) script, an appealing star at the top of his game and a top flight action director.

There is a good movie in here waiting to be brought out. I think a director's cut put togther without the incredible time restraints they were under when this was released a decade ago could truly save this movie. A good editor could easily fix the issues in tone, continuity, and pacing with a few tweaks.

I can truly see that, when read on the page, this script looked like a great idea. Maybe someday someone will have the time and inclination to revist LAH. But I doubt it...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's A Floor Wax AND A Dessert Topping!
Review: LAH is a lot of fun if you're willing to keep two mindsets at hand and switch between them on demand -- because LAH suffers from having multiple screenwriters with wildly divergent attitudes toward the concept: fluffy parody (seen mainly in Slater's world) and fairly dark satire (in "ours"). It's two halves of two good films edited together, and they don't blend _at all_. In one half, the comedy sidekick bounces across housetops on his bicycle with no harm done and all the bullets miss our heroes; in the other, the hero, angst-ridden since the death (debatably, murder) of his son, ends up in a traffic-stuck ambulance dying graphically in blood and agony.

Oil and water would look positively emulsified by comparison.

But it's an _interesting_ film, especially for the type of people who like to argue over issues like creators' moral responsibility toward their characters. ("...I don't really like you. You've brought me nothing but pain." -- J Slater to A Schwarzenegger)

I grant that the animated cat does not belong in the picture at all.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not seeing it.
Review: This movie isn't that good. It's been, like, eight years since I've seen it and I STILL plan on never seeing it again. It's not TERRIBLE, it's just not the kind of movie you'd want to own under any circumstances. Corny, unbelievable, sometimes just odd. Unless you're a HUGE Arnold Schwartzinager fan, I think you could probably find an abundance of better Arnold movies than this. Maybe rent it. Maybe.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A HIGHLY UNDERRATED MOVIE
Review: I must ask: WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!? This is a grossly underrated movie; it's actually pretty darn good. Despite several glaring continuity errors, it's highly enjoyable. In fact, it's arguably Arnold's best movie. Yes, I realize that's not saying a whole lot, which is actually part of my point. This is much better than most of his other films that were far more successful. Where's the logic? If you haven't seen this movie yet, you owe yourself a guilty little treat.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good movie !
Review: Last Action Hero is probably Arnold's best comedic performance.This movie is funny and it has a ton of action.Don't pay attention to the critics,this movie may be hard to comprehend but it tries something new with its unusual plot. Overall this movie is very entertaining and it stays that way through the entire movie.
I would recommend this movie to any Schwarzenegger fan.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: You reviewers must be kidding...
Review: This has to be one of the worst movies ever made. Terrible plot, and all the co-stars can't act at all. A big budget movie that should have never been made. A giant black mark on Arnold's career.


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