Last Action Hero released 25 years ago today

It was twenty five years ago today (and one week after an adventure sixty-five million years in the making opened) that Last Action Hero opened.



As usual, my discussion questions are:

When did you first see this movie?
What did you think?
Has this opinion changed?
Do you or did you own it on some home video format (VHS, laserdisc, DVD, BluRay)?

 

The week it opened, in the theater.

Loved it.

Nope!

Yep!

The film never found it's audience. The people who went expecting a standard action film never got the parody, and the people who would appreciate the parody avoided it because it was an action film. My wife and I loved it, probably because we love both action films and comedy.

 

Saw it opening night, loved it then and love it now. Always felt it was wrongly criticized. I have the DVD, probably should upgrade to BD.

 

loved it. particularly the schwarzenegger version of hamlet.

 

One of the few examples of where I have never seen the movie but owned the soundtrack.

 

...introduced by a clip from the Olivier version of Hamlet. "...who you may remember from the Polaroid commercial."

 

When did you first see this movie?
at the movies

What did you think?
loved it!

Has this opinion changed?
NO...

Do you or did you own it on some home video format (VHS, laserdisc, DVD, BluRay)?

VHS, DVD, BLU...

 

I think this movie is underrated, and a lot of fun. It didn't deserve the panning it got when it was released. Also, the soundtrack is great!

 

if you do get the original BD issue...unfortunetly it's now widely available new on a MILL CREEK BD...the original BD is OOP but available used for a reasonable price.

 

My bestfriend and I went to see it opening weekend, and loved it. I still remember sitting through the end credits just to rock-out to Big Gun. We played the hell out of the soundtrack that summer. It's a fun watch to this day.

 

The soundtrack is hilarious - hard rock and Metal versions of classical themes.

 

Jack Slater: [John Practice has just betrayed Slater] Danny told me not to trust you. He said you killed Mozart.

John Practice: Mo- who?

Jack Slater: -zart.

John Practice: [thinks for a bit, shrugs] You know, I kill a lot of people, I can't remember half of them.

 

At the theatres,open weekend, and I still have it on video, but cassette..AND I have the tie in books..novelization and BEHIND THE SCENES book..!

 

What, you mean you don't have the Super Nintendo video game?

 

In Chicago, the film got a bit more attention when Mike Royko praised it in his column. He wasn't a movie critic - more of a general columnist writing about anything that interested him.

 

My god... what a horrible film. A 34 on Rotten Tomatoes, and to me, that's about 20 points too high.

RottenTomatoes: Last Action Hero

 

One of those movies we agreed to stop watching midtape. Bee Kind -- Rewind!

 

I recently rewatched this movie.

Its biggest issue is tone; it doesn't know whether it wants to be a parody of 80's action movie or just be the biggest, most over the top of them all.

 

Oh come on, it's creative, and kind of clever. I've seen much, much worse movies.

 

Gotti?

 

Saw it at a brand-spanking new Dollar Cinema Multiplex while on vacation in northern Florida in late August 1993. The kind where you order food and they bring it right to your seat!

Paid about 99 cents too much.

Somewhere in HELL "Last Action Hero" is on a double-bill with "Hudson Hawk".

 

Wait a minute...

They had in-theater dining in a second-run dollar cinema... and in 1993?! Around here, the second run theaters are all cheap for a reason and the high quality (expensive) theaters are the ones with the in-theater dining options.

 

Here's a dictionary definition of "spoof":

a humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.
​

Yes, they made the most ridiculous, over the top, '80s action movie of them all. Deliberately.

For instance, an ice cream truck gets rear-ended, explodes in a huge fireball...and a cone gets embedded in the forehead of one of the bad guys.

My favorite character is Charles Dance. Best Bad Guy monologue ever:

Benedict: Gentlemen. Since you are about to die anyway, I may as well tell you the entire plot. Think of villains Jack. You want Dracula? Dra-cool-la? Hang on...

[takes out the ticket]

Benedict: I'll fetch him. Dracula? Huh. I can get King Kong! We'll have a nightmare with Freddy Krueger, have a surprise party for Adolf Hitler, Hannibal Lecter can do the catering, and then we'll have christening for Rosemary's Baby! All I have to do is snap my fingers and they'll be here. They're lining up to get here, and do you know why Jack? Should I tell you why? Hmm? Because here, in this world, the bad guys can win!​

 

Yep! It wasn't high quality food though: pretty standard movie theater fare (nachos, pretzel bites, etc.) with perhaps full sized pizzas, potato skins and beer as well - a very "Happy Hour" kinda vibe, delivered right to your seat! Each seat had a little pop-up dining table like old school airline seats used to have. The four of us spent $4.00 total for the film and like $40.00 for food and beverages!