Last
Action Hero
(1993)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 2 Hours and 10Minutes
Reviewer: Erik
Grade: DJust because someone utters the word parody doesn't mean it's funny, or even good for that matter. "The Last Action Hero" is a good indication of that.
The premise of the movie is that a young boy with a thing for action movies gets a special (magical?) ticket to a screening of the new Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) movie. He goes to the movie, then gets sucked into Jack Slater's world.
Once there, he gets involved in all sorts of danger with Slater, but is amused that Slater can't figure out he's in a movie. There are a lot of jokes involving 555-numbers, tar not sticking to the hero, every girl being the hottest thing on two feet, people not pulling the trigger on their enemies when they should and ridiculously goofy action sequences that are downright impossible, to say the least.
Although bad, this isn't the worst part. Somehow, and you'll have to forgive me because I've seen the movie once, the boy and Slater come back to "real" life, and their villains follow.
Somehow, everybody ends up in a long action sequence at the debut of a new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. I can't begin to describe the embarrassment I felt as a viewer watching this scene.
I know, I know, it's a parody. Or so they say. The movie tries to walk the fine line between parody and realistic. It doesn't work. If it's going to be a serious movie, it should stick with it, and vice versa. Instead, we get this goofy film where it's serious for a minute, then unbelievably stupid the next. The makers of this movie should have picked a direction and stuck with it.
As for the so-called "parody", it's not that funny. Arnold's one-liners are intended to be bad, and in that respect, the makers of this film succeeded. I was hoping someone would shoot me right then and there in the theater. The scene where hundreds of mafia mourners open fire on Arnold...not funny. The action sequences... barely passable. The ending...I'm still trying to forget it.
"The Last Action Hero" has got to be one of the biggest letdowns in recent history.