There are films out there that people love that was originally shunned. These films were tossed away during their original debut from theatres and critics, but gain a new life in home media and groups of fans that love and defend these films, making them cult classics. "Last Action Hero" is one of those films that has a very unique identity from the rest of the cult films in the category. The story revolves around Danny, a boy who loves action films, most specifically Arnold Schwarzenegger films. When he receives a magic ticket to attend a pre-screening of Jack Slater IV, he gets magically transported into the movie, where he now has to help stop the villains with Arnold while also pointing out movie tropes at the same time. For me, the story extremely works by giving you the fantasy of a kid being in a Schwarzenegger movie, which was a dream for many of his young fans at the time. The tone and comedy is where many get divided over the film's quality and entertainment. The tone is light-hearted, since the film is rated PG-13, which is used cleverly in a few jokes. I kind of like the tone as it is, but I understand that people wish that the tone was more adult for potentially funny scenarios. The jokes can be either extremely well-written or have a strange visual gag such as a cartoon cat around actual people or a dogs piling up on each other. Half of the visual gags seem targeted to children, but the other half, the dialogue-based jokes as well as the jokes comparing to real life and film are actually pretty funny as the screenplay understands the genre and character tropes they are satirizing.
Schwarzenegger plays Jack Slater, a fictional LAPD cop who is the typical action hero that always saves the day. As the film goes on, we later see the vulnerability of Slater as he feels that his life isn't great with his wife leaving him, his daughter being an action figure as well, and his son killed in the third film. Outside of his personal drama, Slater is the trope of a Schwarzenegger performance with cheesy one-liners, always smoking cigars, and having low tolerance towards Danny, who is forced to be his partner. Austin O'Brien plays Danny, the youthful adolescent boy that enjoys being on screen with his idol. The movie tries to show off why Danny is the way he is with a dead father and his desire of escapism into the movies from the real world, but it's not really used much in the film. Charles Dance does a fantastic job plays Benedict, the typecast though intelligent lackey who discovers the properties of the magic ticket and plans to cross to the real world, where he claims that the bad guys can win in reality. Side characters include Nick, Danny's friend who owns a run-down theatre, Dekker, Slater's boss who always screams whenever something goes wrong, Vivaldi, the primary antagonist of Jack Slater IV who is a bumbling Italian mobster, and the Ripper, the antagonist of Jack Slater III, who is responsible for killing Slater's son. There are other characters that I'm missing here like Slater's daughter and Danny's mother, but they don't impact the narrative of the film at all. Overall, the characters and performances are all good across the board. They may not be the most deep or developed characters, but they do show great chemistry and dedication to what are basically generic character tropes.
The film is directed by John McTiernan, who has directed action classics such as "Predator" and "Die Hard". Although some claim that the directing duty should have gone to one who is experienced in comedy instead of action, McTiernan does a good job regardless. The comedic moments, particularly the visual gags, are done well, even if they aren't too funny. The action scenes are a bit on the generic side, seeing that the film is poking fun at the action genre, but there are some creative and even funny moments throughout those small bursts of action. The score by Michael Kamen is pretty good with capturing the musical beats of the genre, stand-outs including Slater's epic theme, Benedict's softer, sinister theme, and the theme during the scene when Slater must stop the Ripper from killing Arnold Schwarzenegger in real life. The film also uses a lot of rock and pop songs that I feel help give the movie help in an audio identity with the original score. While McTiernan did a good job directing with the comedy scenes, I do feel that a different director should have been chosen to help give the action scenes more creativity in both content and camerawork.
"Last Action Hero" is a film that I wished performed stronger than it did back in its initial run. Is it the best action-comedy satire every? No. I can't say that it's one of the best comedies out there, since the characters aren't the most memorable due to the tropes they are playing, few jokes don't land, and perhaps a different director could have made this film stand out as one of the greats. As it is though, it's still a very good film with a lot of laughs that make fun of Schwarzenegger, the action genre, and films in general, the actors doing their best in portraying typical character roles, the nice use of original music and licensed tracks, and the overall sensation of a movie being based on many fan's dreams. I believe that this film deserves a remake with Dwayne Johnson either poking fun at action films or perhaps the superhero genre. If a remake is never made, at least this film will stand out as time goes on with the unique narrative and Schwarzenegger's participation in a one of a kind film!
Verdict: 7.5/10 Could have been one of the great comedies if few things were changed, but still remains a very enjoyable film 26 years later!
No comments:
Post a Comment