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Release date: 1970-01-01
DVD
Director:John McTiernan
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance




Im one of those few people who got the joke. I got the joke back in 1993 when it came out. I know that this movie was meant to spoof those absurd action movies.
Premise: Daniel gets a magic ticket from a movie store owner given to him by Houdini. While watching the latest Jack Slater movie, Daniel gets transported into the movie itself and ends up joining Jack Slater(played by Arnold) in his crazy adventures. This particular adventure involves Jack finding out the killer of his brother.
Opinion: There are plenty of good things to say about this movie and a few bad things to say about this movie. The action is plentiful and the sets look great. That kid is annoying little wimp though. The humor hits(the outlandish stunts, shooting TNT away with bullets, the hackneyed catchphrases, a funeral filled with strapped mob families etc)as well as misses(Slater's daughter screaming like an idiot while thrashing a bad guy in her room and the cartoon police cat WTF?). My biggest gripe with the film is that it has to constantly explain itself through that craven kid. Its obvious that Daniel is the voice of reason in this movie and what an annoying voice that is! You mean to tell me that somebody breaks into your house armed with a knife, dares you to stab them in the back with the knife and you do nothing? What a wuss! Besides these flaws, this movie is still underrated gem that is worth picking up. A noteworthy satire on ludicrous action flicks.
This movie deserves much more recognition than it gets. It is well written both in story and in the parody within the story. It's one of Arnold's better movies, along with Predator and T2. The whole concept of a boy with a magic ticket that allows mixing of both real world and fictional cinema world is brilliant. The writers covered all the major bases on this one. It's a movie I can just sit down, relax and watch over and over again. And really, it's the perfect capper to the whole 80's generation of quality, fun action movies. It's a tribute sealed with a kiss and a hell of a good time. Highly recommend it to those who enjoy 80's movies, those who enjoy well-done parodies, and those who just like to have fun and enjoy the little kid inside themselves.
Perhaps the most misunderstood movie released in the 1990s, The Last Action Hero is 130 minutes of tongue-in-cheek laughs at action adventures.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is fantastic in his over-the-top performance as the perfect matinee-idol, Jack Slater. His biggest fan, Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien) receives the chance of a lifetime to meet his fictional hero, through a magic ticket that transports him inside a Slater movie.
But the movie villain swipes the ticket and escapes into the real world. Slater and Danny must stop the crook by traveling back to reality, where the bad guys are not scripted to lose in the "closing" scene.
Directed by John McTiernan and featuring a great cast - F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Anthony Quinn, Ian McKellen - the special effects are dynamite, with dialogue that doesn't take things all that seriously.
By Schwarzenegger flawlessly pulling off such one-liners - "Could I speak to the drug dealer of the house, please?" and "Sir, are you a henchman?" - this is clearly a romp through a timeless genre, with the emphasis on Fun.