https://ew.com/movies/arnold-schwarzenegger-first-box-office-flop-last-action-hero-hurt/
shareMore importantly, it wrecked Charles Dance's movie aspirations, and he had to wait until Game of Thrones cast him as Tywin Lannister. With that role he paid his debts to society for doing Last Action Hero.
shareHow did wreck Charles Dance movie aspirations? He continued to have plenty of movies each year.
And Charles Dance ahas praised this movie.
I don't care what anybody says. This movie is really good.
shareThis movie is a god damn masterpiece.
shareIn my top 20 of all time.
shareI like John McTiernan's style and direction, and it makes the movie worth watching. But the script thinks it's way smarter than it actually is and it would've benefited from an R-rating. Hard to make a movie about gritty R-rated action crime movies with a PG-13. The scenes in the "real world" feel just as ridiculous and cliche as the stuff in the "movie world". It all feels the same. Lots of meta movies from the time period have the same problem, like The Hard Way for example.
shareJack Slater movies are for PG-13:
Danny Madigan: Say this.
Jack Slater: Hey, grow up.
Danny Madigan: Just say this one word.
Jack Slater: Is this another one of your movie proofs?
Danny Madigan: Maybe.
Jack Slater: Kid... I don't want to say it.
Danny Madigan: Say what? You can't. You can't possibly say it because this movie is PG-13. Admit it.
The real-world scenes are just as cliche and over-the-top as the fake world scenes.
The robber you describe doesn't at ALL feel like a real robber, he instead feels like yet another cliche action movie villain who even has a lame one-liner: "go fish, amigo." A real robber would probably flee at the sight of a witness instead of playing weird psychological games with them. The Robert Prosky character also feels way too ridiculous and overwritten to ever be from the real world.
The movie theatre has marques for fake movies like 'Blood Blood Blood' and 'Hacksaw Killers Pt 7' which are two of the most fake-movie titles I've ever heard, and the real movies playing, like The Seventh Seal, are 30 years out of date. I know Fathom Events are things but where are these movie theaters that only play classic movies?
Benedict shooting the mechanic in public with zero response simply would not happen. I get McTiernan was going for some sense of nihilism like everyone is desensitized to violence, but no. A loud murder would not go unreported. There might be a slightly delayed response but someone would absolutely call the cops.
You also have Jack Slater and kid using thin metal barrels as cover during the rooftop shootout at the end, as if metal barrels would protect them from heavy bullets. A cliche straight from a bad action movie.
I don't dismiss your claims about some scenes been a bit over the top, which does narrow the gap between the two worlds, but it doesn't bother me as much as it does you. I agree that a film title like Blood Blood Blood is too blatant in its attempt to depict Los Angeles as a place of pure ugliness and violence. While I could defend the scene where Benedict shoots the mechanic and provide solid reasons to justify it, I can also understand why it might seem unbelievable. The collision scene between the two vehicles, for example, added depth to the story. This is another powerful and realistic scene that highlights the contrast between the two worlds, pushing the main protagonist into a sort of identity crisis.
As for the 'real' rooftop scene, a closer look reveals that it intentionally blurs the line between Danny's world and Jack Slater's, aiming to inspire hope not just in the viewers but in Danny himself. It shows that heroism, altruism, miracles, and happy endings can also exist in the real world. After all, cinema is a reflection of reality—it may be distorted at times, but it's also mirrors real aspects of our reality.
I place more importance on the film’s overall dark tone, or to be more precise, the parts of the real world, than on any particular scene.
I always liked this movie.
shareI liked it when it came out, rented it on vhs from my local store when I was a little kid. It was fun and entertaining for what it was, but I think the negative reaction to it is that it lacked the edge of Arnold's other signature films like T1, T2, Total Recall and Predator. It also lacked substance, and the tone was a bit off.
The only truly bad movies of Arnold's career are Conan II, Junior and End of Days. The rest are good to very good.
Arnold called it 'the beginning of the end of his movie career' so I think his aversion to it is his sadness at having made all his best films, but he made a good comeback after it with True Lies and Erasure.