Last Action Hero

Arnold Scwarzenegger has been THE action man for the past 2 decades. Given his background in bodybuilding, he has used his physique as leverage to establish himself as a reference for all others to try and emulate. It's a pity though as no other action star has come near to his success and I doubt anyone will. Stallone may try but he doesn't have the qualities that make Arnold the big draw card he is.

The Last Action Hero was a change from his previous movies in that it mocked all action movies, including his own, and took him into the realm of action fantasy. Jack Slater (Arnold) is the biggest action hero in the eyes of young Danny (Austin O'Brien). Jack Slater 4 is about to be released and Danny is given the chance to watch a very sneak preview, courtesy of his friend and projectionist Nick (Robert Prosky).

Nick has a little secret though, he's got a magic ticket that once belonged to Houdini but that he has never used so he gives it to Danny to see if he can make any use of it. He does and he soon finds himself in the Jack Slater 4 movie. Having seen the opening scene where criminals Benedict (Charles Dance) and Tony Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) reveal their plot, Danny has all the information to help Jack Slater out. But Jack doesn't realise he's in a movie, nor does anyone else in the movie.

All things revert back to normal when Benedict gets hold of the magic ticket and makes his way into the real world. It's up to Jack and Danny to follow him out of the movie and stop him before he can cause havoc.

An excellent transfer of this 2.35:1 16x9 enhanced movie. There are alot of dark scenes that come up fairly well, with a slight lack of black level and thus shadow detail. In well lit day scenes, things are very vibrant and defined.

Color saturation is superb with rich blue and burgundy tones throughout the movie and flesh tones are even throughout. The detail in the movie is slightly lacking in some scenes with a not so sharp image; The image is sharp but not as good as some of the other reference transfers out there.

There were no mpeg artifacts to be seen and the layer change on this dual layered disc was placed in a non-obtrusive way.

An excellent soundtrack that gets a little exaggerated at times which is fine given that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously at times. Dialogue is always clear and Arnold pulls off some tricky lines with an almost perfect Arnold accent.

This new 5.1 remix is used to good effect. Surrounds are well used throughout the entire movie with directional effects being the main attraction here. Bass was used extensively throughout the movie to emphasise explosions and at times to emphasise the size of Jack Slaters gun.

Accompanying the theatrical music score is an AC/DC soundtrack that is well suited to the movie. "Big Guns" is the song and big guns is the theme of the movie.

A small selection of extras well suited to the movie itself.

• Theatrical Trailer - A 1.85 widescreen trailer presented in dolby digital 2.0. One of the better trailers I've seen.
• Behind the scenes featurette - A collection of clips from the movie with interviews of the cast and crew. Arnie is a laugh both on and off screen.
• Music Video - AC/DC BIG GUNS - A hard rock clip from that infamous band with a cameo appearance by Arnold himself doing his best guitar solo impersonation.
• Cast/Crew biographies - Standard fare that only deals with director John McTiernan and Arnold. It's up to date as of End of Days which is good to see.

This is a different movie to what all Arnie fans expected. Take it for what it is and you'll enjoy it immensly. Expect a typical big Arnie action movie with a one track plot and you'll be disappointed. Another one of those movies that you either like it or hate it.

The comedic aspect of the movie has to be appreciated to enjoy the movie more and I am a big fan of Arnies humor. I enjoy this each time I see it and the new big soundtrack improves the movies overall appeal.