Review of Last Action Hero (1993) by Yash S — 30 Nov 2010

Arnold doesnt have the ability to mock himself and his genre of films. Not even when it is the POINT of the film. He takes himself so seriously that he can only ever be effective in his action cartoons, not in a would-be reflexive film.

Here he's self-consciously out of place; it just cannot work. Other than that, bad storytelling brings the whole thing crashing to the floor. This crew would have you believe that making movies about movies is easy.

Sorry, but no. Since the 80s' action movies were already being made (and viewed) as self-aware parody on some level, so this needs to go beyond just being an overt parody. Oh, but it has no such ambition or awareness, its not effective even on its own terms.

A few giant action sequences are the viewer's only respite in an otherwise numbing, sodding mess.