Review of Last Action Hero

Introduction

Small American kid of the archetypal brat variety meets major action hero in cross genre movie. Doesn`t sound good for starters and the critics panned it, but this film does have it`s merits and manages to provide an entertaining couple of hours.

John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard, Hunt for Red October) directs Arnie and said brat (Austin O`Brien) in an action movie that pokes fun both at itself and the whole action movie category.

Danny Madigan (brat) is Jack Slaters (Arnie) biggest fan. Jack is an on screen maverick cop who always gets his man and annoys his superior. Danny gets an opportunity to see the new Jack Slater film before it`s release and in the midst of this the projectionist gives Danny a gold ticket which once belonged to Houdini which has supposed magical powers.

Danny is transported into the film and joins Jack to fight evil and catch the bad guy, Mr Benedict (Charles Dance). The characters are then transported back to the real world where the obvious difficulties of changing from the movie world to the real world are explored.

The film takes in nice cameos from many stars both real and cartoon, Mafia funerals, contract killings and on the loose maniacs but all of them are tongue in cheek and normally accompanied by nice explosions and gunfights.

Things don`t go too well for Jack in the real world so Danny has to get him back to movie land before it`s too late or at least by the end of the picture.

Video

Both the widescreen and full screen transfers are included on the disk, with the widescreen version being a very nice anamorphic picture with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Colours are sharp and the movement between shade and bright scenes is handled very well, with a nice depth to the images. The original film stock look to have been cleaned up for this release as there is very little artifacting or noise.

The detail of faces and skin tones is excellent and the scenes in the police station with cartoons and stars that died many years ago is extremely well blended into the picture.

The first action hero Hamlet scene is nicely handled in black and white with hints of colour to enforce the image but the effects for the action of the magic ticket are a little bit cheesy.

Audio

Massive scope here for a very good soundtrack and the 5.1 Dolby Digital effort does not disappoint. When you`ve got these sorts of explosions and gunfights to play with, you just know the sound engineer is going to have some fun.

The sound is nicely steered throughout the soundstage with effects being well localised when needed to be and the loud sections are indeed loud and deep.

A musical score by the likes of AC/DC, Megadeath, Def Leppard and Aerosmith should set the scene for what`s in store for your speakers.

A very good effort that gets better every time you listen to it, as well as louder if my habits are anything to go by!

Features

There had to be a downside and this is it. There are none. Absolutely none. Even the menus are static.

The region 2 release features a 6-minute Behind the Scenes featurette, and AC/DC video, US theatrical trailer and filmographies.

Conclusion

A very enjoyable film that proves that Arnie is not afraid to laugh at himself and what has made him a major star. Charles Dance is superb as Mr Benedict the assassin, with a very dry wit and low tolerance for the work of his Mafia bosses.

Favourite scenes include the advert for Terminator 2 with Stallone playing the lead and Arnie saying it was one of his best performances, now there`s something to make you shudder. Of course there is the traditional "I`ll be back" line which gets mocked as well.

This film contains something for everyone be they action movie fan, Arnie fan or comedy fan. The critics may have panned it, but I love it.