Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1993 TAG: 9306190068
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's difficult for a parody of action movies to provide the cheap thrills of the real thing, even if the real thing is an illusion. And that's the central idea here.
Young Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien) is a true fan who uses movies to escape his hard life in New York. His favorites are the Jack Slater adventures, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character. Danny's projectionist pal Nick (Robert Prosky) invites him to a personal midnight preview of "Jack Slater IV" and then gives him a magic ticket. Nick got the ticket from Harry Houdini but had never had the courage to use it.
Danny does, and the ticket works.
It sucks him right into the middle of a "Lethal Weapon"-style car chase. Danny finds himself in a glittering movie world where everyone plays a set role - hero, villain, comic sidekick, henchman, etc. Veteran fan that he is, Danny understands the rules and conventions of movieland better than its natural inhabitants: Heroes can't be seriously hurt; guns never run out of ammunition; all women are beautiful.
He even recognizes the actors, not the roles they play. When F. Murray Abraham shows up as FBI agent Practice, Danny says, "He killed Mozart." But, try as he might, he can't convince these people that they're fictional characters.
The film's main problem is obvious. How enjoyable, for example, would "Jurrasic Park" be if one of the characters turned to the audience every five minutes or so and said, "This is a fake dinosaur that the special effects people made out of foam rubber and plastic"?
For the most part, the screenwriters manage to keep the plot under control. Four people, including veteran action writer Shane Black, get credit for the script and story, and William Goldman had a hand in it too. All of them seem to have added something because the two hours plus running time is busy, busy, busy with parallel subplots, celebrities appearing as themselves and nicely turned cameo performances.
That's Joan Plowright as Danny's teacher talking about her late husband Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet." Art Carney shows up as Slater's second cousin, and Sir Ian McKellen is an effective Death.
In the leading roles, Schwarzenegger is no worse or better than he usually is, and Charles Dance steals all of his scenes as he villainous Benedict. But, are writing and acting really that important in an action movie? No. For audiences, they're secondary to the chases, shoot-outs, fights, explosions, etc.
Director John McTiernan has made two of the best action flicks, "Die Hard" and "Predator." This time out, though, he's making fun of the genre, and so the physical, kinetic side of the film is treated as slapstick. The bad guys use Acme Dynamite, and there's even one animated character. As you might expect, some of the jokes work; some don't, and they all wear thin long before the end credits roll.
Judged strictly as a piece of summer fluff, "Last Action Hero" is neither that good nor that bad, though it's so long and so violent, despite its PG-13 rating, that it's not really suitable for younger moviegoers either.
Last Action Hero: **1/2
A Columbia Pictures release playing at the Valley View Mall 6, Salem Valley 8. 122 min. Rated PG-13 for graphic comic violence, strong language.
by CNB