Movies
Ranking John McTiernan Films: #6 – “Last Action Hero” (1993)
Oh wait, it was a disaster from start to finish? Genuinely, it shocked me.
“With the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.”
Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Zak Penn, Adam Leff, Shane Black, David Arnott
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Ian McKellen, Tom Noonan, Anthony Quinn
Release Date: June 18, 1993
IMDB
While I personally don’t love Last Action Hero as a movie, McTeirnan must have had a fantastic time making it. Bad press and box office success be damned. The movie is an overt homage to the action genre.
Oh wait, it was a disaster from start to finish? Genuinely, it shocked me.
Last Action Hero has all the tropes you’d expect and then some. McTiernan and Schwarzenegger team up for the second time in this happy adventure, emphasizing comedy and satire more than anything else.
The movie centers around Danny Madigan, a tempestuous child with a man crush on the action movie character Jack Slater, portrayed by Schwarzenegger in Madigan’s world’s cinematic universe. The world shifts on its access when Danny is transported into Slater’s world via a magic ticket. Suddenly the kid who loves movies more than reality finds himself in one.
Last Action Hero takes the filmography of Schwarzenegger, Willis, and Stallone and wraps every one-liner it can think of into a snack-bite sushi role. The script is written, heavily inspired, and saved by some reports in part by Shane Black, who starred in Predator and The Hunt For Red October. It’s safe to say he knew McTiernan’s language, which helps make Last Action Hero entertaining, at the very least.
McTiernan’s cinematic creation appears like it’s purposely made a tad sloppy. This elementary school paper mache quality hinders its watchability for me, especially after the precision that made up his first three projects.
STANKO RATING: C
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