# Why the hate for "Last Action Hero"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336 "2010-08-05T21:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/41 "2010-08-07T05:05:55Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > [@Superhal](#): > > > > You think it was a comedy? I thought it was very sad. As someone mentioned earlier, it marked the end of an era. > > I keep asking – what era? I agree with your earlier post that it’s absurd to say that this was the last of its genre. But I think what makes it significant is that it marked a turning point in Arnie’s career, in that it was the beginning of the end of his reign as a box office champ. In 1993 he was coming off a string of big hits - Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, T2. Then all of a sudden he has this huge flop. Sure he had a few more hits, most notably True Lies, but his career never quite recovered and from that point on it seemed like he had more misses - like Batman and Robin, Junior and The Sixth Day - than successes. So you could say that it marked the end of an era in that it signified the great action stars of the 80s were losing their Midas touch. I should also mention that 1993 was the year of Stallone’s last big hit, Cliffhanger. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/42 "2010-08-07T05:17:16Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Well it did come at the tail end of the Schwarzenegger-Willis-Stallone golden age. Yeah those guys made plenty of movies after that, **but none of them really lived up to their previous work.** Obviously, you’ve never heard of a little art house flick called [**True Lies**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111503/)? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/43 "2010-08-07T05:21:03Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > the era of 80s action flicks No, the end of the era of action flicks that were carried by one dynamic, larger-than-life, acting-challenged (?) movie stars. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/44 "2010-08-07T05:32:05Z")
and action films have never been as good since ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/45 "2010-08-07T05:41:34Z")
[I’d](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372183/) [argue](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/) [that point](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381061/). ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/46 "2010-08-07T05:48:58Z")
[those movies will be forgotten in 25 years but the 80s classics live forever](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088944/) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/47 "2010-08-07T06:13:24Z")
By you, maybe. There were some excellent action movies in the 80’s - _Terminator, Aliens, Die Hard,_ the \*Indiana Jones \*films. \*They’ll \*be remembered forever, but cheese like _Commando_? Nobody who wasn’t 10 when it came out still cares about it. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/48 "2010-08-07T06:18:12Z")
I wasn’t even born when Commando came out and I still love it. Commando is the best example of 80s action movies. killing people with no plot getting in the way The Terminator is a better movie I think but not in the same genre as Commando ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/49 "2010-08-07T06:39:13Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Commando is the best example of 80s action movies. killing people with no plot getting in the way If you’re into that sort of thing… ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/50 "2010-08-07T07:49:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > An example of the ways in which the distributors/producers lost dollars by saving pennies: > In Spain it is customary to “assign” voice actors, so that for example the same guy dubbed Groucho Marx in all his movies; the dubbed voice may or may not be similar to the original but it is consistant. Schwarzenegger had hit the jackpot of voiceover actors: Constantino Romero, whose voice is pretty much a guarantee that the character will be considered atractive, someone to imitate, a leader… (there has been at least one PhD thesis on the effect of CR’s voice on box office results) Yeah, that LAH failed at the (_gasp_) Spanish market had disastrous, disastrous consequences, of course. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/51 "2010-08-07T09:59:36Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I have no idea. I don’t know why everyone goes straight to that film as an example of a terrible action film or a terrible Schwarzenegger film. I thought it was great! Another vote for “good movie”. I thought it was entertaining and fun. I think people pile on movies like that because it’s hip. Someone says it’s uncool, so everyone sheeples happily in behind. I’ve noticed that a lot with movies that people rag on. They have lots of hip things to say “this movie was Oh so wrong in OH so many ways” but they can’t articulate what those ways might be that make it “so wrong”. I mean, it’s Schwarzenegger, what do you expect? It’s going to be “action hero camp”. And…??? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/52 "2010-08-07T10:24:42Z")
Because you don’t get camp by acting campy, you get camp by acting straight. It’s a matter of balance. To make the kind of movie they were aiming for, you have to make an affectionate parody of the genre while at the same time making a good genre movie. If it works, you get\* Galaxy Quest\*, still the best film of its kind. If it doesn’t, you get LAH. I think the main problem with the film (beside the kid) was the fact that it seemd contemptful of the movies it was parodying and of the action genre in general. IMHO, it seemed to be implying that its viewers were idiots for enjoying them. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/53 "2010-08-07T13:21:08Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I think peoplemiss the entire point of the second half: that’s when the movie really goes into deconstruction overdrive. It’s less outright funny, but the slow boil of tension and the utter absurdity of the whole situation are insanely hilarious. This is a movie where we > > See the villain kill a guy, and then call out, “I’ve just shot a man!” to the public and wait for the police. And people tell him to shut up so they can get to sleep! (After we’ve seen the insanely quick movie-police and gotten used to convenient insanity. Movie Death shows up, and we find he’s the same as regular Death. Arnold completely mocks himself and has a blast doing it. But they didn’t sustain those first fantastic scenes in New York very well. I wanted to see an army of movie villains brought out to play! I did _not_ want more “magic ticket” scenes and “oh crap what will we do to tie up the plot?” It felt a little like the movie lost its nerve at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/54 "2010-08-07T13:23:58Z")
It also features a severe lack of imagnination. The bad guy has a magic ticket he can use to bring forth any movie villain in history, and he gets… some bald guy with an axe. Why not Godzilla? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/55 "2010-08-07T13:32:18Z")
I thought the mistake (well, aside from casting an obnoxious kid instead of, say, me) was going dark in the last half. On reflection, a better approach might have been something similar to a _Star Trek:TNG_ episode called “The Royale”, in which three characters find themselves trapped in a simulation based on a badly-written novel and the solution is not to fight the situation, but to simply run with it, using its own goofy logic against itself. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/56 "2010-08-07T14:01:38Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > By you, maybe. > > There were some excellent action movies in the 80’s - _Terminator, Aliens, Die Hard,_ the \*Indiana Jones \*films. \*They’ll \*be remembered forever, but cheese like _Commando_? Nobody who wasn’t 10 when it came out still cares about it. Word. And I say that despite being a huge Arnie fan. IMO, though, the _real_ '80s action fromage was most dutifully cranked out by one Mr. Sylvester Stallone. (Still gonna right there in line on opening day with everyone else to see **The Expendables** , though.) ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/57 "2010-08-07T14:03:32Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Commando is the best example of 80s action movies. killing people with no plot getting in the way Riiiight. Because plot’s _always_ a bad thing. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/58 "2010-08-07T15:01:08Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I wasn’t even born when Commando came out and I still love it. > > Commando is the best example of 80s action movies. killing people with no plot getting in the way > > The Terminator is a better movie I think but not in the same genre as Commando Word. Now let off some steeeem PSXer. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/59 "2010-08-07T15:45:53Z")
there is no room for plot in the action-packed explosion films of the 80s ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336/60 "2010-08-07T16:09:24Z")
Let me guess: You’re in your twenties? Thought so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-last-action-hero/549336.md?page=4)