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Last Action Hero (1993)

post #1 of 17
7/8/10 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
I don't hate this movie. Now I'm much younger than the majority of you and my best memory of it (until I just rewatched it on blu-ray) was how it used to play constantly on TNT throughout my childhood. I don't have that memory of the summer of 1993 where it was hyped to the max and then squashed by Jurassic Park.

There is a lot wrong with this movie (the kid can't act, the third act kind of sucks, most of the jokes fall flat), but I love the concept so much I allow a lot of it to slide. There are some pretty inventive action sequences in it if you can get over the constant "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" that comes along with them. McTiernan still knew how to direct the hell out of a good set piece and I really like the majority of the Leo "The Fart" sequence.

The one thing I really thought they dropped the ball on was that they should have gotten Max von Sydow to play Death as opposed to Ian McKellen. How awesome would that have been? Also, the one thing I didn't get was when Death showed up at the end he acted as if he was a part of the real world saying things such as "I don't do fiction". Did he not come from another piece of fiction? Maybe I should just focus on the films other much larger problems.

Has anyone ever read any of the earlier drafts of the script? I know there were dozens of screenwriters and the earlier drafts weren't so tongue-in-cheek.
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post #2 of 17
7/8/10 at 5:51pm
I like Schwarzenegger enough for him to be able to carry the film, but the real gem in the film is Charles Dance as Mr. Bennett. Such a wonderfully slimy villain, and such a fun performance from Dance. I used to really like the film when I was younger, snuck into the cinema when I was nine to see the thing, but I found it dragged a lot when I watched it a while back. I still think there's a lot to like, and I kind of love the stuff with Slater in the real world, but it just feels overly long.
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post #3 of 17
7/8/10 at 5:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Woods View Post
the kid can't act
How dare you besmirch the good name of Austin O'Brien, star of the Lawnmower Man films?!

Eh, I've always had a soft spot for this one. Like you said, this was pretty heavy TNT viewing for me. Worth it for Arnold's take on Hamlet, at least.
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post #4 of 17
7/8/10 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I like Schwarzenegger enough for him to be able to carry the film, but the real gem in the film is Charles Dance as Mr. Bennett. Such a wonderfully slimy villain, and such a fun performance from Dance. I used to really like the film when I was younger, snuck into the cinema when I was nine to see the thing, but I found it dragged a lot when I watched it a while back. I still think there's a lot to like, and I kind of love the stuff with Slater in the real world, but it just feels overly long.
Hey man, his name is Mr. Benedict. I can't believe you got the villain's name from Last Action Hero incorrect.
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post #5 of 17
7/8/10 at 6:19pm
I went to an Arclight screening of this during their "What Did They Do To My Script?" series, and the original writers, Zak Penn and Adam Leff, were on hand to talk about their script's long and bumpy road to the screen. They had a, believe it or not, darker approach than what ultimately ended up on the screen. No talking cartoon cats for one thing.

I feel the movie has a lot of wasted potential. It could be that McTiernan and Black became too self-conscious of sending up their own respective outputs, but the film ultimately isn't a comedy that isn't very funny and an action film that isn't all that thrilling. Cinematic blue balls of the first order.
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post #6 of 17
7/8/10 at 7:30pm
Given to a different lead actor and perhaps a different director, I still think this film with this script could have really worked. I honestly feel when I'm watching it that, despite how much he fits the Jack Slater part, Schwarzennegger is the reason the film doesn't rise above "interesting failure". I still kind of love it, for some reason though. And yeah, the Leo the Fart sequence is pretty great.
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post #7 of 17
7/8/10 at 7:37pm
Haha wow, I actually kinda love this movie. Arnold and Dance are fantastic.
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post #8 of 17
7/8/10 at 7:39pm
I unabashedly love the movie, but I'm admittedly a Schwarzenegger superfan. I think it's pretty fun. And whatever flaws it may have are easily made up for by Arnold as Hamlet and Leo the Fart and Mr. Benedict, and all the great (read: bad) one liners.

"Iced that guy. Cone a phrase."
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post #9 of 17
7/8/10 at 8:33pm
Kid sucks. First hours great. Benedict is fantastic yet wasted. Concept is wasted. Any villain you want? Bring back a villain that Slater has already defeated! I get thematically what they were going for, but it was shit. Fuck the Ripper. Movie World was more interesting than the real one. Once again I get the thematic sense and while the concept of an action hero being transported to the real world I'd rather see more of Slater's.

Interesting failure. I'll stop posting like a James Ellroy novel reads.
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post #10 of 17
7/8/10 at 8:55pm
AKNEE, SHAYVING, PREMATOOR EJACCH-ULLATION AND YEH FUHST DEVOORS
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post #11 of 17
7/8/10 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
AKNEE, SHAYVING, PREMATOOR EJACCH-ULLATION AND YEH FUHST DEVOORS
That line was so good they had to bring it back for the kid's emotional beat.
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post #12 of 17
7/9/10 at 12:50am
The key to being a Last Action Hero fan is to not watch it too regularly. That way you remember the highlights, the concept, the fun meta aspects, and are able to ignore the fact that it's one of the worst paced action movies of all time.
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post #13 of 17
7/10/10 at 5:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
The key to being a Last Action Hero fan is to not watch it too regularly. That way you remember the highlights, the concept, the fun meta aspects, and are able to ignore the fact that it's one of the worst paced action movies of all time.
This is ridiculously true. I catch this movie every 3 or so years and it's still highly enjoyable. The meta stuff is what really makes it work for me. Always get a kick out of that T2 with Stallone joke.
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post #14 of 17
7/10/10 at 8:09pm
The whole movie is worth it just for the doberman-pyramid gag. Some more recent movie recycled that gag to lesser effect, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was.
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post #15 of 17
7/10/10 at 10:02pm
the soundtrack was pretty good during its time. ACDC's Big Gun, songs from Alice in Chains, Anthrax and Megadeth's Angry again.
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post #16 of 17
1/25/12 at 10:36am

Empire just ran a great piece about the making of this film http://www.empireonline.com/features/last-action-hero/p1

 

The highlight has to be Zak Penn trying to convince Columbia boss Mark Canton that Jurassic Park was going to trounce it.

 

 

 

Quote:

“It was insane,” laughs Penn. “I rang him up and said, ‘I want to see Jurassic Park more than Last Action Hero, and Last Action Hero was my idea!’”

 

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post #17 of 17
1/25/12 at 11:54am

Great article, and it pretty much underlines my biggest issue with the movie, which is that it's cobbled together from a bunch of disparate ideas and tones.

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