What Took Me So Long: Something about the title "Last Action Hero" scared me away from it. Whatever it was, that title sounded too high-minded for it.
Why I Saw It: (Club 50) I've always thought Arnold does a good job with comedy, especially when used to contrast the action. It's no coincidence that True Lies, Kindergarten Cop, and Terminator 2 are my favorite of his movies since they give him a chance to do some of both. I appreciate the self-awareness of the entire movie and the numerous attempts to turn the action genre on its head. At its best, this movie could been a Mel Brooks movie after Charlie Kaufman did touch-up on the script.
Why I Wish I Hadn't: Sadly, it was painfully self-aware. For meta-humor to work, the punchline can't be that it is meta. You have to be able to do something with it. Too much of the movie is spent explaining the mechanics of dramatic irony and reminding us that we're watching a PG-13 movie, so Arnold can't say what the kid put on a piece of paper. It also felt a little disingenuous that it went harder after the franchises like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon than anything Arnold was in, like Commando or Predator.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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