15 Most Underrated Movies Of The 90s

4. Last Action Hero

Last Action Hero
Columbia Pictures

Considering how in love with itself Hollywood usually is (look at how well movies about the industry tend to do come awards season), it’s odd how little John McTiernan’s Last Action Hero seems to be loved.

Weirdly, the original version of the film was meant to parody the action films of the likes of Shane Black, with a loaded commentary on the futility of violence, but then the studio decided they didn’t want that and instead hired Black himself to rewrite it. So it became Shane Black riffing on Shane Black films.

That aside, the celebration of action films is hugely enjoyable, surprisingly clever and delightfully nostalgic. Arnold Schwarzenegger is brilliant, Charles Dance is incredible and it’s basically an archetypal Black movie, which is no bad thing.

The fact that it sits on just 34% on Rotten Tomatoes is a travesty.

[SG]

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