Prior to the summer of 1993, many expected to see a box-office showdown
between Jurassic Park and Last Action Hero. Basically, the season was
billed as Arnie vs. the T-Rex, with all the other films left to pick up their
crumbs.
Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. Jurassic Park went on to make
hundreds of millions of dollars and earned a spot in the top five grossing
films of all-time. Last Action Hero, on the other hand, didn't even make it
near $100 million dollars, and it almost ruined Schwarzenegger's career.
Chief Wiggum summed it up for millions of mocking movie-goers: "Magic ticket
my ass!"
It may not be a popular position to take, but I have to admit that I actually
liked Last Action Hero. I didn't bother to see it theatrically until it had
made it to the bargain theaters, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was no
classic, but it was much more entertaining and watchable than the absurd mess
I had heard it was.
I think Last Action Hero was yet another film that confused the audience.
Previews made it hard to tell if the film was a comedy, an action film, a
spoof, or fantasy. This situation was made worse by the film itself.
Frequently movies have bad ad campaigns that make films appear very different
than they actually are. However, not only did Last Action Hero's
promotional message muddy the issue, the film itself frequently seems unclear
as to what it wants to be.
Most likely this happened because the filmmakers really wanted to have it all.
They wanted Last Action Hero to be the biggest, boldest, most exciting
action film made, but they also wanted to make a loving spoof of the genre.
As such, the film offered plenty of straight action scenes - especially toward
the end - along with liberal doses of attempted wackiness and irreverence.
In the end, they ended up with a very mixed bag. In truth, I find the concept
very compelling, and the makers of Scream used a similar self-referential
tone to great effect. The main problem with the film is that it attempts to
reach beyond the grasp of the participants. Had Last Action Hero been made
by more skilled and deft filmmakers, it could have been terrifically exciting
and funny all at the same time. The problem stems from the fact that at no
point is the film half as clever or witty as its creators seem to think it is.
Nonetheless, I find Last Action Hero to be a compelling and exciting joy-ride. It's one film that HAS to be clichéd; much of its point is to show the
hackneyed conventions of action movies, so it gets to revel in these sorts of
scenes. Because of the purposefully artificial nature of the film's universe,
it also gets to ratchet the action up a notch with ridiculously absurd
sequences; it's all part of the joke.
In the end, it's really best to take Last Action Hero as a fantasy action
film and basically ignore the attempts at humor, because these invariably fall
flat. Though many of the jokes aim to mock the genre and come from the "so
lame they're funny" style of comedy, they don't get there; the jokes are just
BAD, period. Get past that and the film can offer a fun diversion.
The DVD:
The DVD release of Last Action Hero exemplifies what's right and what's
wrong with most DVDs from Columbia Tristar (CTS). In the former category
falls the transfer of the film. As with many CTS titles, image quality is
absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Focus is crisp and sharp, colors
are accurate and bold, and I saw no signs of grain or haziness. If there were
any flaws here, I couldn't find them; it's essentially a reference-quality
picture.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack for Last Action Hero also pleases. The
sound mix equals the activity level one would expect for a big budget action
movie, and it keeps the fur flying! Rear surrounds are used actively and
effectively and the entire mix does a great job of involving the viewer in the
film. Like the picture, the sound mix is demo material.
The dark side of the CTS experience also comes through with the Last Action
Hero DVD in regard to its supplemental materials - there aren't any. At
least they didn't embarrass themselves like some companies by including a
little "special features" box that lists things like "chapter search" and "FBI
warning" as bonus materials. (Okay, I've never seen the latter listed as an
extra, but I wouldn't put it past some of these folks!)
Anyway, you get absolutely no extras with Last Action Hero - not even a
crummy trailer. Interestingly, the film has been given two sets of foreign
language subtitles: Spanish (makes sense to me) and Korean (!). That's a new
one on me!
In the end, the DVD of Last Action Hero does a great job of presenting a
much-reviled film but it doesn't do anything more than that. If you were like
most people and skipped this one because of all the negative reactions, you
may want to give it a chance and see what you think. I think it's at least
worth a rental, or a purchase if you're more adventurous. If you already like
the film, the lack of supplements is disappointing, but at least the film
itself looks and sounds fantastic; the presentation makes Last Action Hero
one of the best movie-only DVDs to date.
