For the first movie in my “Does It Still Hold Up?” series, the wheel landed on Last Action Hero, and honestly, I think it was a perfect movie to start with.
Released in 1993, Last Action Hero stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, an over-the-top action hero from a fictional movie franchise. Danny Madigan is a young movie fan who absolutely loves the Jack Slater movies. Nick, the owner and projectionist of the old theater Danny visits, gives him a magical golden ticket that Harry Houdini had given to Nick when he was a child. During an early screening of Jack Slater IV, the ticket transports Danny directly into the movie.
Right from the beginning, this movie felt like a complete blast from the past.
One of my favorite things about watching it again was the old movie theater. There is something about Danny’s excitement over seeing a new Jack Slater movie that reminded me of how special going to the movies used to feel. The old theater, the projection room, the giant screen, the posters, and even Danny’s love for movies gave the film a level of nostalgia that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy as much as I did.
Once Danny enters Jack Slater IV, that’s when the movie really starts having fun.
Everything about Jack’s world is exaggerated. Cars explode, Jack survives ridiculous situations, there are endless one-liners, and almost everyone seems like they walked directly out of an action movie. There is even an animated cat named Whiskers working as a police detective.
Danny immediately realizes how ridiculous everything is because he has spent his life watching these kinds of movies. Jack, on the other hand, has no idea he’s a fictional character and thinks Danny is completely crazy every time he tries to explain it to him.
The relationship between Danny and Jack was probably my favorite part of the movie.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was perfect for this role because the movie allows him to make fun of the exact type of action hero that made him famous. Jack Slater is basically every unstoppable ’80s and ‘90s action hero turned up to another level. He’s unbelievably tough, always has another weapon, survives everything, and somehow always has the perfect one-liner ready.
That’s one of the biggest reasons I think Last Action Hero still holds up today.
The movie was making fun of action movies while those movies were still at the height of their popularity. Watching it more than 30 years later almost gives the joke another layer because now the type of movies it was parodying has become nostalgic itself.
And the nostalgia was probably my favorite part of the entire rewatch.
The cars, clothes, practical stunts, explosions, movie posters, old theater, and overall early-’90s atmosphere made it feel like stepping into another era of movies. There was just something fun about seeing that style of filmmaking again.
The movie references were another huge part of that.
One of my favorites is when Danny tries to prove to Jack that Arnold Schwarzenegger exists by showing him Terminator 2. Except in Jack’s world, Sylvester Stallone is the star of Terminator 2 instead.
It’s such a simple joke, but it works perfectly.
Later, the movie takes the idea even further when the magic ticket allows Death from Ingmar Bergman’s classic The Seventh Seal to walk out of the movie screen and into the real world. Ian McKellen plays Death, and seeing an older movie like The Seventh Seal incorporated into this giant Arnold Schwarzenegger action comedy was something I really appreciated.
That’s another reason this movie was such a fun nostalgic watch. It doesn’t just make fun of action movies. It celebrates movies in general.
The story becomes even more interesting once Benedict gets possession of the golden ticket.
Benedict starts the movie as the intelligent and dangerous right-hand man of crime boss Tony Vivaldi. When he discovers that the ticket can take him into the real world, he realizes something that makes him even more dangerous: in the real world, the bad guys can actually win.
Jack and Danny follow him out of the movie, and suddenly everything changes.
Jack quickly discovers that the rules protecting him inside an action movie don’t exist anymore. He can actually be hurt, everyday objects don’t conveniently explode, and being the hero no longer guarantees that he’s going to survive.
Then Jack discovers something even worse.
Arnold Schwarzenegger exists.
Jack is forced to confront the fact that he is a fictional character being played by an actor and that all of the terrible events he remembers from his life were written for the entertainment of an audience.
That gives the movie much more heart than I remembered.
Jack isn’t simply upset because he discovers he isn’t real. To him, everything he has experienced was real. His pain was real. His memories were real. Even the death of his son was real to him. Finding out that those tragedies exist because somebody decided they would make a good movie gives Jack a surprisingly emotional moment underneath all the comedy.
Charles Dance was also fantastic as Benedict.
Once Benedict understands how the real world works, he plans to kill Arnold Schwarzenegger because he believes that killing the actor would mean there could never be another Jack Slater movie.
He also realizes the golden ticket could allow him to bring other movie villains into the real world.
To help carry out his plan, Benedict brings the Ripper into reality. The Ripper was the axe-wielding villain from Jack Slater III who killed Jack’s son, which makes their confrontation much more personal than simply fighting another bad guy.
The showdown at the Jack Slater IV premiere is completely ridiculous in the best possible way. You have fictional characters running around the real world, Jack Slater trying to save Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Danny caught in the middle of everything.
Eventually Benedict shoots Jack, and this time the injury is serious because they’re still in the real world.
Danny realizes the only way to save Jack is to get him back inside Jack Slater IV, where the rules of an action movie can protect him again.
That’s also where Death from The Seventh Seal becomes important. Death explains that Jack isn’t on his list because Jack is fictional and points Danny toward finding the other half of the golden ticket.
Danny finds it and gets Jack back into his movie world, where his serious injury becomes the kind of minor wound an action hero can simply walk away from.
I really liked the ending because Jack returns to his world knowing the truth.
He now understands that he is a fictional character, but instead of allowing that knowledge to destroy him, he accepts his world for what it is.
There is something strangely uplifting about that.
Watching Last Action Hero today, I also think the movie was ahead of its time in some ways. Movies constantly use self-aware humor and make jokes about franchises, actors, clichés, and fictional universes now. Last Action Hero was already playing around with those ideas in 1993.
It isn’t perfect.
The movie runs a little over two hours, and there are definitely sections that could have been shorter. At times it also feels like the movie can’t decide whether it wants to be an action movie, a comedy, a fantasy adventure, or a parody.
But honestly, that is also part of what makes it charming.
The movie throws almost everything at you and just has fun with it.
More than anything, watching Last Action Hero again reminded me of how different movies from this era felt. The huge practical explosions, ridiculous villains, Arnold one-liners, old theaters, celebrity cameos, movie references, and completely over-the-top action gave me a huge dose of nostalgia.
It really was a blast from the past.
So, does Last Action Hero still hold up?
Yes.
Some of the pacing shows its age and not every joke works, but the main idea is still creative, Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly having fun making fun of his own action-star image, Charles Dance is an excellent villain, and there is surprisingly a lot of heart underneath all the explosions and comedy.
More than 30 years later, Last Action Hero isn’t just making fun of old action movies anymore.
It has become one itself.
And that’s part of what made revisiting it so much fun.
Final Verdict: Last Action Hero still holds up. It’s ridiculous, funny, surprisingly clever, and an amazing nostalgic trip back to the action movies of the early ’90s.
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