[PEOPLE: From the director of Die Hard, Predator, and Red October (John McTiernan), co-written by one of the writers for the 2nd and 3rd X-Men movies… Comes a movie starring starring Arnold Schwarzenneger both as a character *and* as himself. Also starring annoying kid Austin O’Brien (who managed to later be in 4 episodes of Touched By An Angel).
Also Art Carney’s last movie. (aka Ed Norton from the hilarious 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, which begat The Flintstones which begat The Simpsons which begat Family Guy which begat American Dad). It was kind of a fitting last movie for him. There was even a tiny role for Tina Turner. Also: Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King, Crazy People, Married To The Mob). And when you see Maria Shriver — remember she had to swallow her vomit on live television. It’s just nice to think about.
But mostly it’s just Ahhhnold and the annoying kid.
QUIRKS: An incredibly quirky movie about movies in general, and a magic ticket that lets you travel into a movie.
They pull out every action movie cliche imaginably possible. And they do it as cornily as possible. Seriously… I can hardly think of a more corny movie in my life.
They even sent a rocket into space with an advertisement painted on the side, just to be the “first movie to advertise from space”. And it still took us 16 yrs to watch it. haha.
VISUALS: There are a few neat visuals with going from one world to another, but the movie is mostly standard action movie special effects. Gratuitous explosions, gunshots, etc.
SOUNDTRACK: Megadeth?!?! Really?? And Alice In Chains, Anthrax, Cypress Hill, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queensryche, Def Leppard, Tesla, & Fishbone. Kind of surprised by that.
BAD STUFF: PAIIIIINFULLY corny. I mean, jesus. Talk about sugar-coated. Having a kid as the main character is bad enough, but they made it even worse. The corniness hurt at times, but we also realized it was somewhat intentional, as a parody of the action movie genre.
CONCLUSION: This was an ***incredibly*** corny parody of action movies… But that was intentional, so you can’t completely fault it for it. Not a great movie, but certainly interesting. Way too much heart, though. Really, it was so corny it burned my brain at times.
RATINGS: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10 stars. Carolyn said she was tempted to say 2.5/5 stars. We liked it, but it also hurt at the same time.
RECOMMENDATION: I wouldn’t really recommend this, per se. If you have a kid next to you, really like Schwarzeneggar, or are an action movie buff… You *might* enjoy this. Or you might vomit from having so much heart shoved down your throat. Hard to say.
MOVIE QUOTE: Nick: There are lots of things worse than movies: politicians, wars, forest fires, famine, plague, sickness, pain, warts, politicians…
Jack Slater: You already mentioned them.
Nick: I know I did. They are twice as bad as anything else.
… And then Jack Slater (Ahhnold) went on to become governor of California! Someone should play this clip back to him!
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Jordan hated it. I think my mom saw it in the theatres and liked it.
Mood: I’M GETTING MY FREE CHICKEN BITCHES
Music: KMFDM – Money
Claire's blog 
January 22, 2010 at 11:52 AM
[…] – Interesting for Bruce Campbell, Stacy Keach, and skiing / Killington fanboys. • Last Action Hero, The (2003) – A great send-up of cinema in general, but it did not achieve the epic status it […]
November 24, 2010 at 11:00 AM
JSun B: “I’d also note Sir Ian McKellan’s cameo in there. Just something I remembered from when I saw it a few years back. But yeah- painful.”
November 24, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Afterthought from TwoBeans: Maria Shriver’s *baby* [fetus] had to eat her puke on live television too!
November 24, 2010 at 11:04 AM
There’s an anime movie by Satoshi Kon [RIP] called Millenium Actress that kind of reminds me of this movie in a way.. And it, too, has too much heart. But at least no kids.
November 27, 2010 at 4:22 PM
[…] this elderly movie star end up being drawn into her story — much like what happened in The Last Action Hero. And various time periods look different — the stuff that happens in the 40s/50s is very […]
November 27, 2010 at 6:47 PM
Yes, I did like it–quite unexpectedly. It was generally reviled at the time, but I think that’s because audiences anticipated a conventional action movie. It’s a *parody*, people–up to and including the corniness. I’m no fan of Arnold’s, but I loved the way he ridiculed his image, i.e. the showdown between his dual-characters (“Look, I don’t really like you”) and the scenes where Maria chides and derides him at the movie premiere. I also got a big kick out of the film and literary allusions (Shakespeare: HAMLET’S BACK) and inside jokes. In the beginning, for instance, Joan Plowright makes a reference to Laurence Olivier’s stature as a lauded actor–and she’s Olivier’s widow. That may have gone over some younger people’s heads, eads, but it was clever and I got a big kick out of it.
November 27, 2010 at 7:23 PM
Wow — sounds like you definitely got some extra stuff out of your experience. :)
March 30, 2011 at 7:13 AM
[…] Puff Puff Pass, Se7en, Platoon), Robert Patrick (the T-1000 in Terminator 2, Bridge To Terabithia, Last Action Hero, Die Hard 2), Hector Elizondo (Beverly Hills Cop 3, and a ton of cartoons), Grey DeLisle (Mandy from The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy…))) […]
July 7, 2011 at 7:17 AM
[…] For A Dream, SLC Punk!, Fatal Instinct) as a teacher. Robert Patrick (T-1000 from Terminator 2/The Last Action Hero, Bridge To Terabithia, Spy Kids) as the creepy coach. Piper Laurie (Twin Peaks, Carrie) as another […]