The Life And Death Of Last Action Hero

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The Life And Death Of Last Action Hero - 18/1/2012 12:15:19 PM

Empire Admin

Posts: 26526
Joined: 29/6/2005

Post your comments on this article

Post #: 1

Wow - 18/1/2012 12:15:19 PM

Spacecowboy

Posts: 17
Joined: 1/5/2006

What a brilliant article, I was hooked throughout. I read another similar one empire did about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not as good as this one but still entertaining

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Post #: 2

Great read! - 18/1/2012 1:23:06 PM

loafroaster

Posts: 119
Joined: 10/5/2006
From: Ireland

Thanks Empire, I should be working, dammit!

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Post #: 3

Good Read... - 18/1/2012 1:29:23 PM

warren7355

Posts: 185
Joined: 31/10/2007

An excellent article and a really interesting read, more please! :-)

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Post #: 4

- 18/1/2012 1:43:39 PM

ShaunOsborne

Posts: 7
Joined: 24/11/2006

Agreed. Really interesting stuff. Remember reading a similar article about Alien3; love hearing the behind the scenes stuff from these 'troubled' productions.

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Post #: 5

Good read...good film... - 18/1/2012 2:38:36 PM

StonedJohn

Posts: 3
Joined: 7/11/2007
From: Luton

Maybe its nostalgia speaking, but I actually liked this film!!

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Post #: 6

Great article - 18/1/2012 3:11:32 PM

richallin

Posts: 3
Joined: 18/5/2011

Great article, fascinating to read. I've always loved this film as a bit of fun and a clear tongue-in-cheek parody on the big arnie/sly blockbuster action films. That, and the soundtrack is quality! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhlXO4pXVc

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Post #: 7

- 18/1/2012 3:18:15 PM

BenTramer

Posts: 880
Joined: 18/3/2009

There should be a regular article in Empire on big Hollywood flops like this. It's fascinating stuff and just highlights all the money and monstrous egos that create a plane crash movie like this one. More please.

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Post #: 8

great insight - 18/1/2012 3:18:29 PM

keanhoopy

Posts: 1
Joined: 9/1/2008

i always enjoyed that movie , i thought it was always meant as tongue in cheek and it achieved that , not arnies greatest but not his worst by a long shot .

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Post #: 9

- 18/1/2012 3:45:33 PM

evild edd

Posts: 8
Joined: 22/10/2006

Just to echo the previous comments - fantastic article! Strangely makes me want to hunt down a copy....

More articles like this please - I'm sure there are plenty of nightmare development stories out there!

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Post #: 10

RE: - 18/1/2012 3:51:47 PM

MatthewTPotterDotCom

Posts: 6
Joined: 6/3/2011

I watched this with my mum at the cinema on my birthday instead of Jurrasic Park. I enjoyed it at the time and even now I think it's an interesting movie that is still very enjoyable. Oh, and a great article, Empire. More like this and I might even start buying your magazine again.

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Post #: 11

Last Action Hero - 18/1/2012 8:03:58 PM

BatSpider

Posts: 170
Joined: 6/7/2010

I think their problem started with the naming of the move. "The Last Action Hero" would have sounded so much better. As it is, I've always liked the movie, ever since Empire gave it grief back when it first came out. Great article, more like this please!

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Post #: 12

- 18/1/2012 8:21:45 PM

RobotDevil

Posts: 100
Joined: 3/10/2005

Excellent article.
I always had the impression that Shane Black was the only screenwriter and it's good to know that the man behind Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wasn't solely responsible for this.
I don't remember ever seeing Last Action Hero all the way through but I am curious to watch it now.

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Post #: 13

Stalled - 19/1/2012 10:52:52 AM

spark1

Posts: 5860
Joined: 18/11/2006

it was risk to do a mash up would try and appeal to arnie's family and action movie audience-it doesn't work and you lose both audiences.

the problem is the film loses its way in the 3rd act- unfocused and kinda depressing.

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Post #: 14

brilliant! - 19/1/2012 12:18:25 PM

zack_ryan

Posts: 301
Joined: 30/5/2011

excellent article! like everyone here, really enjoyed reading what really happened behind the movie. more please!

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Post #: 15

Did well in Madagascar - 19/1/2012 12:49:36 PM

supajem

Posts: 2
Joined: 13/2/2007

I was in Madagascar in the 90s, and Last Action Hero ran for months at the country's only cinema. It may be because it was the only film they had, mind you.

I have no wish to see it now, but I seem to remember kinda liking it.

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Post #: 16

Great Movie - 19/1/2012 3:39:32 PM

burtbondy

Posts: 161
Joined: 16/11/2007

Once watched 3 times in a row after coming home from a night out with Dr.Zhivago.

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Post #: 17

This article was in the magazine a few months ago.. - 20/1/2012 11:43:04 AM

Cool Breeze

Posts: 1722
Joined: 9/11/2011
From: The Internet

Read ythis article in the magazine previously but its a great one.

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Post #: 18

Re Run - 20/1/2012 1:27:00 PM

spark1

Posts: 5860
Joined: 18/11/2006

funny arnie kinda got it right with 'true lies'- a mix of his ultra violence/stunts with a more family friendly comedy plot thrown in.

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Post #: 19

This is weird but... - 20/1/2012 8:17:16 PM

ARmy2510

Posts: 107
Joined: 21/4/2008

I like this movie O_o

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Post #: 20

I may have been about 14 when it came out... - 21/1/2012 1:55:23 PM

IainPurdie

Posts: 12
Joined: 4/2/2008

...but I still remember enjoying it *and* I can still recall a tremendous amount of the film. I even bought it (on VHS). I am now tempted to watch it again. Taken at face value, I think it's a pretty good film and - at the risk of being pilloried - better than Jurassic Park!

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Post #: 21

Don't care... - 21/1/2012 9:34:57 PM

Zaphod121

Posts: 9968
Joined: 20/1/2006
From: Not sure yet.

I freaking love this flick, always have.

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Post #: 22

- 21/1/2012 11:21:24 PM

bollibolshevik

Posts: 1
Joined: 7/12/2011

I remember watching this film when I was about 8 or 9 and loving it but I haven't watched it since, despite seeing basically every Arnie film ever made and shamelessly enjoying them all (including 'Jingle All The Way'. Yes, I know). This article really does give an insight into the background behind it and has made me want to watch the film again - a small consolation to all involved in the movie making process I guess!

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Post #: 23

- 22/1/2012 6:55:28 PM

theeverlasting

Posts: 25
Joined: 30/9/2010
From: Wakefield

I liked this movie when I first saw it and still do as do most people I know who have seen it. It's just a fun entertaining turn your brain off film. It's a good laugh at times, people take it too seriously it seems but it's interesting to read this article about the making of it.

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Post #: 24

Hollywood should be begging John McTiernan to direct on... - 25/1/2012 4:28:30 PM

Cameron1975Williams

Posts: 203
Joined: 5/12/2005
From: Cardiff

...crappy Superhero movies. I guarantee it would be one of the best ones.

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Post #: 25

A MASSIVE CLUSTERFUCK OF MISFORTUNE [But Better Then Yo... - 26/1/2012 3:54:40 AM

Duane Barry

Posts: 24
Joined: 15/10/2007

I HATED it at the time but bought the DVD [second Hand from a bargain bucket] & I really enjoyed it. I hoped the widescreen aspect would lift the movie & it really does. I think a lot of ppl may have been put off seing it at the cinema by reviews so their first viewing may have been a pan & scan video tape like myself which wouldnt help in the enjoyment stakes as the video framing looked bland.

The things I hated then are now the things I love - Charles Dances fake eyeballs seemed rediculous at the time but now anyone can do that with novelty lenses so it's not as ott as it once seemed. I baulked at the magic ticket but now I get it. What seemed like cliches now come across as sincere nods to 80's cop flicks like 48 hours & the like.

It was mabey too close to the 80's for audiences to look back fondly. Films back then were not the big eye candy CGI drivel we are hooked on now, today I think we expect disapointment - we expected more from a blockbuster back then because it relied on story and the story in this seemed flimsey. Compared to todays films it did alright - today a good explosion makes me happy - my standard is very low now. Expectation was high as it was Arnies first film since T2 (I think) so it was basically a massive clusterfuck of misfortune :). I say give it a chance - you could buy it for less then a mars bar...

[The only thing that is REALLY wrong with it is that Tom Noonans psycho was under used - he should have been the main villian of the movie not Charles Dance]

< Message edited by Duane Barry -- 26/1/2012 4:11:32 AM >

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Post #: 26

- 26/1/2012 10:32:46 AM

Spacecowboy

Posts: 17
Joined: 1/5/2006

I agree with the below comments - I actually like this film. It has that most important ingredient: FUN! A simple concept that the last two Transformers films could not manage.

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Post #: 27

Do this... - 26/1/2012 7:27:43 PM

Pelle

Posts: 81
Joined: 19/5/2008

You know what 90's movie I think Empire should write about? Batman Returns!

One of the best movies by Tim Burton, one of the best comic-book adaptations ever and one of the best Batman-movies there is. And this summer when both Dark Knight and Catwoman are back in the big screen it would be appropriate if Empire could look back to the last time when these two rocked the world.

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Post #: 28

By the way... - 26/1/2012 7:30:08 PM

Pelle

Posts: 81
Joined: 19/5/2008

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Batman Returns!

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Post #: 29

Another One Of Those Films That Got Away... - 27/1/2012 9:17:21 PM

chris kilby

Posts: 1189
Joined: 31/3/2010

There is (or was) a really great film in there trying to get out. But it clearly didn't know what it wanted to be - action or comedy; postmodern or spoof; PG or R - and got pulled in too many different directions at once. Too many producers, too many re-writes, just too many cooks.

The film is all over the place - Ian McKellan as Death from Bergman's The Seventh Seal? Really!?! But it does throw up (in every sense) some great stuff too. C'mon, Arnie as Hamlet is still funny - "Polonius. You killed my fadda. BIG MISTAKE." Then there's the amusingly self-deprecating stuff with Arnie's exasperated then-missus' embarrassment at the humvee and the endless restaurant plugs. And the frankly bizarre meta-moment when Slater tells the "real" Arnie: "You haff brought me nothing but pain!" What was that all about?

How I'd loved to have seen the original script of this filmed - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang meets The Purple Rose of Cairo, perhaps? I'd still like to see a Director's Cut of this some day. The similarly compromised/rushed Judge Dredd and The Avengers too. Fat chance, but you never know. Who'd have thought we'd ever get to see the Richard Donner Cut of Superman II?

And I'd bet my right nut they offered the Charles Dance part to Alan Rickman first!

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Post #: 30