10 Underrated Action Films You Have To Watch
3. The Last Action Hero (1993)
The Last Action Hero managed to make a profit in the box office but, like all of the films released in 1993 on this list, critics did not like it. The film has a unique take on the action genre and actually nods to its conventions and manipulates them throughout.
In this film, a boy named Danny lives out every child dream and enters the world of an action movie and begins helping Schwarzenegger take down a mob boss. By using the narrative device of a knowing actor (Danny) a typical mob against a cop story becomes elevated into a knowing piece of meta-cinema. The movie outlines the ridiculous nature of Hollywood action while noting how different reality is. This is apparent when the antagonist enters the real world and remarks "in this world, the bad guys can win."
On top of being fully self-aware, the film is still full of action and excitement that will keep casual viewers entertained. However, for fans of action, there will be plenty of enjoyment found in the film's meta nature.