Last Action Hero (1993)

Director: John McTiernan
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, Charles Dance

Synopsis:
A boy obsessed with movies gets a magic ticket that allow him to cross into the film world, but it turns out to be a two-way road.

Impressions:
I remember dismissing this when it came out. "This is dumb. I'm not gonna watch this crap." It took more than 20 years for me to give the movie a chance and now that I've seen it, yes, it's dumb, but it's dumb in the most brilliant way. It really is a cutting satire of the action movie genre and being helmed by John McTiernan and having Shane Black on the screenplay, it's little surprise how on the nose it is. Yes, Austin O'Brien's character is annoying, but as far as kid sidekick characters go in movies from the era, he's not too bad. Charles Dance is amazing as the villain and I really can't understate that. Also, Ian McKellen has a small but memorable role. Don't count this one out just taking it at face value. It's not the best thing since sliced bread, but action fans should be able to appreciate the ribbing the genre gets. It's definitely better than I thought it'd be. Bad luck for it to be set against Jurassic Park when it came out. Give it a watch. You might be surprised.

Rating:
Watch It