Character: Jack Slater / Himself
Year: 1993
Ok, last week I pointed out that, yes, although Arnold is seemingly game to poke fun at himself by appearing in movies like Twins or Kindergarten Cop, in reality, it's more the premise of the movie that is tongue-in-cheek, whereas Arnold still plays a bad-ass without many faults or flaws.
Therefore it was still tough to get a read on whether or not Arnold actually has a sense of humour about himself, or if he's all pure ego, but is still a savvy enough business man to know that these action-star fish-out-of-water movies are going to have his wallet bursting at the seams. And despite all the Ivan Reitman comedies, I still think that this, the Last Action Hero, is our best proof that although I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle, maybe, just maybe he still leans a little more towards the former than the latter.
Sure, it wasn't very well received at the time, and not a lot of people talk about it when discussions of Arnold's filmography are brought up, but I still really like this movie. Maybe it's because in 1993, I was around the same age as the young boy with whom the audience is supposed to relate, and therefore maybe I found him less annoying than most people. But mostly, I think, it's because it really is just a good, solid send up of the action movie genre.
Sure, many have tried, and even more have failed, but making fun of action movies in a smart and clever way is a pretty rare feat to accomplish. And yes, this is far from a perfect film - or satire - but I think it's a lot better than people make it out to be. It was a risky maneuver, too, because in order to work, not only does Arnold have to make fun of pretty much every movie that he's ever been in (and risk not being able to do another one ever again with a straight face), but at the same time, it kind of reminds the audience that they're the ones that have been shelling out 12 bucks a pop to enjoy all these obvious cliches and gimmicks over the years.
And maybe that's not the sort of thing you want to remind the audience.
On a side note, this is the last movie that I ever saw at a Drive-In movie theatre. Man, those were the days.
I get your point, but watching the trailer, I find it hard to imagine that Arnold isn't having fun, fooling around and poking fun at himself in a movie like this.
ReplyDeleteMy point exactly. I didn't buy it in Twins, but I totally bought it here.
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