Review of Last Action Hero (1993) by Octavio M — 02 Jan 2009

My childhood recollection of this film was awesome. But looking at it now, it looks like monkeys put it together. Then again, I like the idea that the film lampoons other action films like the "Lethal Weapon" series and the Die Hard series. It was a nice touch that this film had Anthony Quinn, but his role was too short. This film is a perfect example of action films in the 90s that are loud and dumb. One of the best moments is when the boy fantasizes of a Jack Slater Hamlet mash up. To me this film was three films in one cohesive whole.

In some way, this film was trying too hard to imitate other parody films like Loaded Weapon and the Naked Gun Series. But it's a little odd that they used an Action icon to lampoon an entire genre. The dialogue was too simplistic and borrows too much from other films: 007, and the previous two action films that were just mentioned.

Looking back, this film really does not hold up to today's standards. But it's nice to see this film every once in while. I would not use this film as an academic tool for studying action films.