There’s no question that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest Hollywood star in the 1990s. Others came close, but when the former bodybuilder set his sights on becoming cinema’s next leading man, he became unstoppable. Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day were essential in propelling him to the top of the industry, but then, the unthinkable happened.
1993 saw him suffer a major stumble – an ultra-expensive project that neither critics nor audiences embraced. Thirty-three years after its release, this bizarre action comedy remains as original as ever, and has definitely aged like fine wine in its portrayal of a “fiction conquers reality” concept unlike anything we’ve ever seen in cinema. What became Arnold’s biggest failure is coming to free streaming, giving fans of the Terminator another shot at what’s genuinely his most underrated movie.
In Last Action Hero, Schwarzenegger brings to life Jack Slater, a fictional action character who has gone through all kinds of larger-than-life missions in a vast film series. Danny Madigan idolizes Slater, and when he gets his hands on a magical movie ticket, he’s able to enter the movie world and join his favorite film character. The problem is that Slater’s nemesis gets his hands on Danny’s ticket and enters the real world, prompting Slater to also come into this world. Suddenly, the rules of the movies don’t apply.
In the film, Schwarzenegger also plays a fictional version of himself in the Hollywood universe where the film actually takes place. If you think this is weird, you haven’t seen anything yet. Lots of cameos and winks to pop culture make Last Action Hero an original action spoof that’s either hilarious or jaw-dropping, depending on where you stand regarding the meta experiment that critics called a “mess.”
This One Made the Terminator Feel Bad
One year after the Last Action Hero debacle, Schwarzenegger starred in True Lies, the film that reunited him with James Cameron and became one of his biggest hits. It was a smash hit, further cementing the actor’s star power, and the director’s ability to cash in.
The meta action thriller that proved too complex for audiences was left in the past as a failed experiment and was largely forgotten. Schwarzenegger talked about it during the Netflix docuseries Arnold, and expressed his heartbreak, saying, “I cannot tell you how upset I was. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It’s embarrassing. You get embarrassed when you watch the box office. I didn’t want to see anyone for a week.” Cameron himself says in the series that it was the only time he’d ever seen the actor “down.”
Last Action Hero is long overdue for a revisit, even for the sake of its surprisingly incisive glimpse into the industry. The cameos are hilarious, the visual effects are impressive, and the action sequences are well-shot. Sure, it isn’t the best film in Schwarzenegger’s career, but it is certainly one of the most original films of the 1990s, and one you can catch for free on August 1. The film is set to be added to Tubi’s vast catalog as part of next month’s update.