Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 26, 2017 13:39:39 GMT
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but you're gonna live to enjoy all the glorious fruits life has got to offer - acne, shaving, premature ejaculation... and your first divorce."
12 year old Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien) are your typical action loving film junkie. One that is always in high demand of yet another explosive adventure of his beloved, favorite movie hero, Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
A hobby that he shares with his only real life friend, Nick (Robert Prosky), the old owner and manager of a local cinema, who's seen far better days.
As a nice touch, Nick offers Danny the golden opportunity of a lifetime by showing him Jack Slater's latest action filled chapter, one day before the official world premiere.
To celebrate the occasion, Danny is given a "magical" ticket, once owned by none other than the great Houdini and just when Madigan thinks it can't get any better, he is about to have more than he bargained for, as he suddenly finds himself being transported right into a world of total chaos, with burning dynamite sticks, over-the-top car chases, heavy metal being blasted out on full power, bad guys popping up around every corner, cheesy one-liners, explosions, and beautiful women all over the place.
But what at first seems like total heaven, later on turns into a living hell, as the young action crazed fan begins to realize that not everything is what it seems like on the big screen, and in the real world, the bad guys can win.
My second favorite Arnold film of the 90s, only beaten by Total Recall (1990) and over the years I always find it amazing to see the kind of hate people are giving Last Action Hero. At some pont the film was down below 4,9 or less on IMDb (not that it means the world) and even Arnold's own fans seem to lash out on it, some calling it one of his worst movies ever, putting it in the same dodgy category along with crap like Junior (1994) and Jingle Bell (1996).
As I was far too young to go and see it back in summer of 93, I guess those who eagerly awaited another T2 experience or a Total Recall might have felt let down, but still what went wrong? Was it Spielberg and his dinosaurs?
Was it badly promoted?
Or did Arnold just suddenly lose his star attraction over night?
The big man was at the top of his game, with both critics and fans, and had become by then a certified box office golden goose, where everything he touched seemed to become a huge success, and with his biggest hit ever, released only 2 year earlier.
Not bad for a guy that 23 years earlier showed such impressive acting talent they had to dub his voice, and change his name from Schwarzenegger to Strong (as I guess they found it too hard to pronounce or just did not think the guy would ever make another movie in his life) and who was being ripped apart for the leading role in the cult-classic Hercules in New York (1970).
Directed by John McTiernan, written by Shane Black, and with what might just be the most impressive and talented cast ever put together in a Arnold film, including Charles Dance, Anthony Quinn, Robert Prosky, Tom Noonan, F. Murray Abraham, Frank McRae, Danny DeVito, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Tina Turner, Art Carney, Professor Toru Tanaka, man oh man the list just goes on and on, hey even Van Damme and Sly shows up here too.
Oh yeah, the kid, Austin O'Brien I never did think he was that bad, I mean people seem to have no trouble seeing how a lethal killing machine is getting bitched around by Ed Furlong.
Last Action Hero is a very well written film, and Arnold seemed to have blast ridiculing his own career, and there are just so many great nods to not just his own movies, but what went on in the late 80s and early 90s action genre.
You have Tom Noonan wearing a goddamn chainmail west (how cool is that) as an obviously nod to the crazy Captain Bennett from Commando (1985), sadly though, this trend did not catch on and died out, but still hilarious stuff.
Charles Dance as Benedict just about completely owns every scene he's in, and even good ol' Subzero (now plain zero!) Professor Toru Tanaka has some fantastic lines such as: "You want me to vacuum now?"
Anyway, I loved the film as kid and even more now as an adult and I still think of it as one of the funniest movies of the early 90s, completely superior to most of the other action-parodies being released at that time.
It got an awesome soundtrack, containing great legendary acts such as AC/DC, Megadeth, Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Aerosmith and Anthrax and really should have been just another one of Arnold's 90s highlights up there with T2, True Lies and Total Recall instead of being remembered as the film that was the start of the downfall of the last great action hero.