In Defence Of Last Action Hero
4. It Features Arnie's Career-Best Performance (Seriously)
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger's biggest fans probably wouldn't deem him an acting great, but he has benefited from being extremely well-utilised throughout his career, with his role in the Terminator franchise obviously being his most iconic part to date.
As brilliant as he is in T2 in particular - which is hilariously sent-up here with Sylvester Stallone appearing on a standee in the Arnie role - his best and most interesting performance is actually in this movie. Not only does Schwarzenegger play a self-reflexive action parody of himself, but literally plays Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor, in act three.
The bulk of the first two acts both mock and deconstruct Arnie's popular action star persona, with him gamely playing the part straight until Danny passes through the cinema screen into his world.
From here, the tables are turned, and a weirdly depressing visage of an action hero's off-screen life is painted, where he pays a pharmacy employee to call him to give the impression he has friends, he's wracked with PTSD over his son's murder, and feels untold existential angst after learning he's the creation of a Hollywood scriptwriter.
From the silly action to the more subversive musings, Arnie nails it all completely, and even when the movie goes full-meta with Schwarzenegger and Jack Slater meeting, he never lets the mask fully slip.
He also gets extra points for willingly mocking not only his action stardom but his public persona also, with his real-life ex-wife Maria Shriver even chiding him for shamelessly plugging his Planet Hollywood restaurant at the Jack Slater IV premiere.
All things considered, it's fairly easy to understand why 1993 audiences, generally unfamiliar with metatextual movies, would balk at seeing Arnie take such a left-field role that wasn't a card-carrying comedy on the level of, say, Twins. They did, however, sleep on what's the most terrifically dynamic and multi-faceted performance of the legendary star's career. There, we said it.