Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13669 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-08
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
John McTiernan (The Hunt for Red October) imaginatively directs this action comedy, which is an interesting failure with some fascinating ironies that make it well worth seeing. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays both a character named Jack Slater--a fictional cop hero who exists only in the movies (ie, the movies seen by the characters in this movie) and the actor who plays Jack Slater in the real world (ie, in the movie we're actually watching). McTiernan's hall-of-mirrors effect is fun, though Last Action Hero never quite identifies itself as a pure action movie, science fiction, a kid's movie, or anything else. (The expensive film suffered at the box office as a result and was roundly criticised for this ambivalence.) What lingers in the memory, however, is Schwarzenegger, playing himself, being confronted by Slater for having created an alter ego for film in the first place. It's a provocative moment: how often have we seen a major star blatantly wrestle with his actor's legacy in this way? --Tom Keogh

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 9
French\German\Italian\Spanish
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital 2.0
Filmographies
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Music Video
Arabic\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Italian\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish

Synopsis
A small boy with a magic theatre ticket travels to a new world where he meets his film star hero and becomes involved in the adventure of a lifetime...

Customer Reviews

Another Arnie classic
To sum up this film in one sentence I would say that it has an original and creative plotline, impressive action scenes and special effects, top quality acting and cameo appearances and a lot of witty humour. I loved this film as a kid, and even as I watch it now I still thoroughly enjoy it and understand a lot of more of the mature humour and in-jokes. I don't know why critics hate this film so much. The film is basically a comedy adventure that isn't taking itself too seriously and niether should its audience. There are a few moments of profound principlism and emotive plotlines, but generally, this film is a laugh. Arnie's acting is top notch and plays a character you generally start to really like, as well as the kid who doesn't overdo it too much on the potentially annoying kid role. The redeeming aspect of his role is the comedy relationship between him and Jack Slater with some classic banter as Jack perpetually gets annoyed with the boy.
I guess the one thing that lets this film down is its age certificate. The storyline is great if you have an open mind and don't mind a lot of over-the-topness, or if you're young. But its missing a bit part of its target audience by making it a 15 when there's only 2 swear words and a tiny bit of blood in the whole film. I've seen PG's worse than this.
I think its such a shame that a film this well made could be so rejected by people just because its a bit far fetched. Obviously a storyline where a magic movie ticket that enables you to go into a movie doesn't exactly compare to anything vaguely real. But then neither does star wars or lord of the rings. Its just a very creative and original story that can capture your imagination if you let it. Ultimately, a great film thats great fun.

Quick Reviews!
This is quiet an underrated movie, even amongst Arnie fans, and one which few people understand, or try to. Last Actio Hero is a spoof of action movies, primarily those starring Arnie and Stallone, ones which director McTiernen has made a living from: The films that have loose plots built around stunts, explosions, fights, and spectacular and over the top set pieces. That said, the action, stunts, and effects are good; the cast, especially Arnie, ham it up as much as possible, the cameo appearances are witty and accurate, and the plot is pretty clever.

Arnie plays Jack Slater, a ficticious cop/action hero who lives in movie land- a place where everything is super sized, and hyper real (a little punch in the gut of Hollywood). His daily routine, usually involving chasing bad guys, and wrecking huge portions of cities is disturbed- mid chase, by the mysterious appearance of a teenage boy called Danny. Danny is from the real world- our world, the world which gorges itself on the exploits of such larger than life characters as Jack Slater. Danny is just about Slater's biggest fan, and no-one could be happier than he to be meeting his hero for real. Slater, naturally is less than pleased. Danny explained how he was given a magical golden ticket which opens a gateway been the real world, and the movie world, and tries to convince Slater that his life is a movie. This leads to some inspired jokes about the film industry, and Arnie's own career- the 'I'll be back' scene and the scene where Danny tries to make Slater swear. Meanwhile, Big Bad (English) guy Benedict hears about the golden ticket, and sees the potential for chaos, and the psychotic Ripper plots more carnage against Slater.

Tons of in-jokes make this an entertaining film, and I'll admit that's all it is. But that's all it is trying to be. There is no need to criticize it for lacking artistic merit, character development, internal meditations on life etc. It's an action movie, where the bad guys are supposed to die, cars are meant to explode when scratched, the good guy is untouchable, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. The soundtrach, featuring AC DC adds to this thoroughly enjoyable throwback to 80's action classics.

Extras unfortunately are light- a trailer, a music video, and a short featurette. The nineties was a revisionist time for movies, and this film was one of the best examples of the movement- self referential, self mocking, while pushing the boundaries of what was expected from the genre. A documentary discussing this and the making of, or a commentary or interview with cast would have been great.

I THOUGHT IT WAS A FUNNY FILM
I am totally amazed that most of the so-called "expert" film critics at the time didn't seem to have a clue what this movie was doing. It is positively one of the tightest, most brilliant, sly, wickedly satirical action movie spoofs of all time. I am also rather amazed that Arnie actually agreed to this one; it's almost like he's biting the hand that fed him.

The biggest clue of this movie is in the opening shot, when the whole picture wipes into frame in the shape of a "movie" screen (hint, hint!) From then on, anyone with any experience at watching blockbuster action movies at all should have picked up how the scene was taking the standard setup-action pieces of the time, and then pushing them a little bit further than normal; so that they become an obvious (to most people) parody of the situation. The close-up of the feet as Jack exits from the car is just a little closer and off-angle than normal. The ranting chief yelling at the hero that he's gonna get fired if he disobeys orders is just a little bit more heated that the standard action movie would do it. Come ON people, couldn't you get the tongue-in-cheek nature of this?

Then we fuzz out and see the "real" story - introducing Danny, our viewer's representative (played by a very adorable and very chatty Austin O'Brien). The one scene I dislike in this movie is the actual "real-life" robbery scene at Danny's home, which comes across as a little too bleak and depressing; even though it does set up the thematic contrasts in the story very well. On the other hand, one of my all-time favorite scenes is when Danny is in school watching the Olivier version of "Hamlet"; and he starts to drift and re-imagines the story in a modern action style. (Gee, if I had a penny for every time I've done that with a pretentious old film - well, anyway...)

Of course the two outstanding highlights of this movie are the police station/video store scenes in the Jack Slater movie; and the climactic show-down at the big premiere, especially when the action hero confronts the movie star: "You have caused me a lot of pain. I don't like you very much." (Y'know, I've often felt that is movie characters could come alive, some actors would have great reason to worry. Just a thought.)

All I can say is, if you can't get this, you don't really deserve to be watching movies, or even let out to the cinema. It's too complicated for you! Just go back to your padded cell, and vegetate.

Best lines: "Mom, you're turning him into a wimp!"; "This has got to work. I'm going to win. Wait a minute; I'm the comic relief. I'm NOT going to win. Ahhhhh!"; "You go through all this pain and suffering, only to find it's all the product of someone's sick imagination, for public entertainment!" [-probably not a precise quote, but you get the gist of it]