Last Action Hero: Steelbook Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Last Action Hero: Steelbook Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
John McTiernan, has their ever been such a dramatic rise of a director to such a massive fall in an overnight event? McTiernan was a god of action movies in the 80s and 90s, starting out his directorial career in 1985 with the Pierce Brosnan ghost story Nomads (not a bad movie at all) and then shoots straight into cult status with Predator. Then he becomes THE action movie director for the next 10 years pumping out The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard, Last Action Hero, Die Hard with a Vengeance, only to slow down in the late 90s. Although he still put out some solid movies like The 13th Warrior, The Thomas Crown Affair remake and even Basic was a solid thriller. Only then his legal troubles caught up with him and the poor guy ended up in prison due to some unfortunate choices he made and promptly became a pariah overnight.

Smack dab right in the middle of his Michael Bay’esque fame was the action/comedy Last Action Hero, marking one of the few PG-13 Arnie movies out there. It was a blend of perfect timing, great gonzo action, and a very self aware wink and nod to the audience in regards to the 1980s and 1990s action cliches that everyone just reveled in, knowing full well how ridiculous they were. McTiernan created some of the biggest and boldest action movies of that time period, and how perfect of a situation is it for him to Lampoon some of his biggest creations. Very few movies have been able to pull off that sort of parody on the action genre, with maybe Hot Fuzz being the single movie that could possibly surpass it in terms of actually rolling around like a pig in the mud in regards to all of the classic action tropes, and yet still remain respectful of the source material. Especially when it’s starring one of the 80s action gods who, along with McTiernan, defined a generation starring as the main character.

The film is a bit of a “movie within a movie” scenario, with young Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) literally worshiping action movies as a way to dull the pain of losing his father. He’s seen Arnie’s Jack Slater films dozens of times, having seen the latest one 6 times at his local run down theater. Jack Slater 4 is scheduled to come out that week and his one and only friend, the owner of said run down theater) has given little Danny the opportunity to come see the upcoming film print with him the following night at midnight. Almost not making it due to getting robbed, Danny comes in only for old man Nick (Robert Prosky) to hand him a “magic” ticket that he got as a boy. Turns out said ticket isn’t as far fetched as one would think, and suddenly Danny is thrust INTO the movie world of Jack Slater, where every movie cliché that we all joke about, happens in real life.

Danny gets wrapped up in one of Jack’s (Arnie) cases (in pure 1980s and 1990s cheese) of a mob boss hit gone wrong due to Danny’s knowledge of what’s been let known to the movie audience so far. However, things get a bit complicated when the mob hitman Benedict (Charles Dance in pure glorious hammy form) steals the ticket and transports himself back to the real world, where he realizes he can hop from screen to a world where the bad guy DOES get to win sometimes. Now it’s up to Jack and Danny to drag the reality hopping hitman back into the cinemas and get back home before the magical ticket’s powers wear off and Jack Slater is stuck being a normal human instead of an invincible action hero.

Last Action Hero is just short of perfect as a movie. It balances a wonderful tight rope of being cheeky and comedic, lampooning the ENTIRE action genre, while still making a great action movie at the same time. Arnie was on top of the world back in 1993, and he was the perfect candidate to deconstruct the entire generation of film making that he was one of the biggest creators of. Charles Dance doesn’t exactly play second fiddle though, hamming it up with glorious scene chewing gusto, and everyone playing along with the joke as if their lives depended on it. As I said above, I haven’t seen another movie lampoon the action genre THIS well since Hot Fuzz (Shoot em up is a close contender though), and it’s pure 90s action perfection mixed with a healthy dose of self aware ribbing. McTiernan blows the entire screen up in Michael Bay like fashion, gloriously making fun of his own creations (including many of Arnie’s go-to famous lines) with a huge smile on his face.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for strong action sequences




4K Video: Video:

Last Action Hero’s Blu-ray edition was a rather mediocre catalog title by Sony and that was partially due to the master, and partially due to the fact that the movie is just not that “shiny and glossy” of a production. It has lots of dim lighting, lots of grain (McTiernan used many a grainy film source) and was one of those transfers that just was “meh”. Well, Sony has gone back and given us a new 4K master for the re-release and they have really done the film justice as they usually do with catalog titles (of all the studios, Sony puts some SERIOUS effort into their catalog titles that they remaster, especially in 4K). The film eeks out every bit of HDR and extra resolution upgrades it possibly can out of the new master, bringing us brilliantly lit outdoor shots with clean grain and NO signs of haloing and DNR that was present in the Blu-ray. The dim New York City shots are a bit crushed at times, and that’s something I’ve seen present in every edition of the film I’ve ever seen, but overall the blacks appear to show much more fine detail in the them, as well as prone to less artifacting. The scene where Jack’s up on the roof with Danny and the infamous axe serial killer is night and day different to the 1080p Blu-ray, and we even can see a bit TOO much some times (the cheesy explosions look even faker in 4K UHD with the added resolution and detail). The HDR allows for deeper colors and the problematic black levels from the Blu-ray probably owe much of their depth and detail levels thanks to said use of HDR. The movie doesn’t lend itself towards a lot of “pop” and pizazz in terms of it’s colors, but they still show definite improvement over the old disc.







Audio:

So as not to be outdone by the video, Sony has given us quite the gaggle of audio options to choose from. Besides all of the foreign language options we get to choose from, the film gives us the 5.1 upmix in DTS-HD MA (identical to the Blu-ray), the theatrical 2.0 mix in DTS-HD MA, AND a brand new Dolby Atmos track as well. While I’m not a fan of constantly upgrading and tweaking older mixes that were originally stereo or mono, the film’s 5.1 mix was always quite impressive to hear, and the new Atmos mix just amplifies that 5.1 mix to be fuller and more robust (but luckily the lossless 5.1 and 2.0 tracks are there for purists). The track is comically brash and bold, just like it’s plot, and pounds away at the audience with gleeful energy. Gunfire, explosions, loud metal music all blast from every direction, and even though the dialog is still perfectly intelligible, just sounds like a freight train. The center channel focuses all of it up front, but those surrounds get some HEAVY usage as bullets smash into Slater’s ride, or the explosion at his apartment rumbles your seat underneath you. Solid mix, with some mild overhead usage that just open up the sound stage a bit, making the 5.1 mix sound obsolete, but yet not night and day different.






Extras:

• NEWLY RESTORED IN 4K FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE, WITH HDR10
• NEW DOLBY ATMOS TRACK + the original theatrical SDDS mix presented as 5.1 + original theatrical stereo audio
• Audio Commentary with Director John McTiernan
• Deleted & Alternate Scenes
• Alternate Ending
• "Big Gun" Music Video by AC/DC
• Original Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• Theatrical Teaser

Final Score: ​

Last Action Hero is that feel good action comedy from the 90s that is over the top, but done so with respect, allowing it to age well (unlike many of the 90s action comedies that came before and after it). It may not be the best of McTiernan’s career, but the 1993 comedy extravaganza had everybody who WAS somebody in it, and gleefully having fun with the gag as well. The 4K UHD disc is a distinct upgrade over the mediocre Blu-ray disc, and being that this is one of my favorite Arnie movies, gets a definite thumbs upgrade from me.

This edition that we got to review was the steelbook edition of the film, but the movie was also released in a "standard" edition as well on the same date. The steelbook is great for collectors due to the poster used for the cover art, but otherwise houses identical discs, so whether you get this one, or the standard 4K UHD release, you should be getting the same thing sans the steelbook packaging.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Tom Noonan, Robert Prosky, Austin O'Brien, Ian McKellan
Directed by: John McTiernan
Written by: Shane Black, David Arnott
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Spanish (both Castilian and Latin) DD 5.1, Thai DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Thai
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 130 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 18th, 2021

Recommendation: Great Watch

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. This is a great one.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I rewatched this at some point over the last few months. Hadn't seen it since the initial LaserDisc release. My rewatch confirmed my original thoughts. I just don't get this movie. I love an over-the-top cheesy bad humor action movie as much as the next guy, but this one never did it for me. I'll pass on this reissue, and continue to ponder its popularity.

Let me know when "If Looks Could Kill" gets a UHD transfer.

If Looks Could Kill (1991) ⭐ 5.8 | Action, Comedy

1h 28m | PG-13

www.imdb.com

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I don't think I ever saw this or at least I don't remember seeing it. Will catch it again..

 

[RyanDSM]

I rewatched this at some point over the last few months. Hadn't seen it since the initial LaserDisc release. My rewatch confirmed my original thoughts. I just don't get this movie. I love an over-the-top cheesy bad humor action movie as much as the next guy, but this one never did it for me. I'll pass on this reissue, and continue to ponder its popularity.

You know I will probably pick it up and can come over to watch it since I have some kind of movie attainment derangement syndrome.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

You know I will probably pick it up and can come over to watch it since I have some kind of movie attainment derangement syndrome.

You can bring it but I won’t play it. We can watch the glorious SD DVD release of If Looks Could Kill, though.