History Film / LastActionHero

Scared of betrayed? Maybe don't hire a guy named BENEDICT!

** In a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo, Music/TinaTurner plays the Mayor at the climax of ''Jack Slater III''.

* AndStarring: The [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] ''Jack Slater IV'' (in ''Film/LastActionHero'') has a intro sequence with an "And Introducing" part for one of the characters. Then, when the protagonist of ''Last Action Hero'' enters the film, he gets to meet her. And keeps accidentally calling her by the name of her actress.

* FiveFiveFive: Lampshaded: "[[WritersCannotDoMath That's why we have area codes]]!" Actually, more like ComicallyMissingThePoint, even most people who are math challenged know that there would not be enough numbers to go around if every three-digit Central Office code was 555.

* TouchOfDeath: Death in ''Film/LastActionHero'' can kill with a touch (complete with a tinkly "ding!" sound effect for extra LampshadeHanging).

* AndStarring: The [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] ''Jack Slater IV'' (in ''Film/LastActionHero'') has a intro sequence with an "And Introducing" part for one of the characters. Then, when the protagonist of ''Last Action Hero'' enters the film, he gets to meet her. And keeps accidentally calling her by the name of her actress.

* DeadMansTriggerFinger: Parodied. In the middle of the shootout at his ex-wife's house, Jack Slater takes cover behind a chair in which a dead mook is sitting, rips out a power cord from a nearby light, and shocks the goon's arm with it, and the jolt makes the man twitch spasmodically, blasting three nearby goons with the SMG he was holding.

* PowerCableAttack: Slater dispatches the Ripper by using the Ripper's axe to chop a set of power lines, causing them to fall onto the wet rooftop that they're fighting on and electrify the roof.

* VotOcksent: A boy enters an Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie. Trying to convince him that this world is actually a work of fiction, Danny points out that Arnie's character, Jack Slater, has a thick Austrian accent that's quite weird for a native Angeleno. Slater replies "Egghcent? Vaht egghcent?"

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: In his monologue (see ThisIsReality below for all of it) Benedict randomly throws out Hitler as one of the villains he plans to fetch; justified somewhat in that he himself is new to traveling through movies and doesn't necessarily know some are based on real events.

-->'''Danny:''' You think you're funny, huh?

-->'''Jack:''' Hello Ms. Maddigan [offers handshake]. Arnold Braunschweiger.
* BuddyCopShow: Parodied and lampshaded in a hilarious scene with a line of cops being paired up with ethnic stereotypes culminating ridiculously with [[WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}} a female cop being paired with an animated cat detective]].

* BulletProofFashionPlate: Played with: Jack falls into a tar pit, comes out completely covered in tar, and begins to wipe himself off. The camera cuts away briefly, and when it cuts back he's completely clean. Danny remarks, "You know, tar actually sticks to some people."

* {{Catchphrase}}: "[[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger I'll]] [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} be back]]."
--> '''Jack:''' Hah! You didn't know I was going to say that, did you?\\

* ChekhovsGun: The key thrown to Danny by the burglar to free himself from the handcuffs during the robbery attempt. He keeps it and, after Practice handcuffs him in the film-within-a-film, uses it again.

* ElevatorFailure: Slater falls out of a broken elevator.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: After Slater has momentarily escaped the villains by ramping his convertible through the air and landing safely, while he and Danny have a leisurely chat about the fruits of life, we watch as the black minivan that was chasing them attempts to copy Slater's stunt, fails, and crashes in a massive fireball behind them. Neither notices.
** Also, when Jack and Danny are driving to the funeral they are conversing in his car. In the background you see cars crashing the entire time, most likely because of Jack's driving.

* GoodNightSweetPrince: Parodied. If Arnie plays Hamlet, no one's going to tell ''this'' sweet prince goodnight!

* HiddenDepths: Jack Slater. He's leading a pitiful life that even his screenwriters didn't expect.
-->'''Danny:''' Look on the good side. You have a great daughter. And your ex-wife wouldn't call if she didn't want you back.\\

** The movie itself surprisingly has its share of hidden depths. For instance, Danny's adoration of Slater is due to Jack being all he has for a father figure.

** Danny tries to make one out of John Practice's {{Catchphrase}} ("How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"), with little success.

* JustBetweenYouAndMe: "Since you're about to die anyway, I may as well tell you the entire plot."

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Slater apparently changes music [=CDs=] during his action scenes.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Lampshaded - since the screenwriter for ''Jack Slater IV'' never bothered to give the nerdy freshman "Skeezie" an actual name, he doesn't have one. "Skeezie" is the full name he gives on a police report.

** He doesn't even know how to finish spelling it. "I-E... no, 'Y'."
* OutOfCharacterAlert: Danny warned Jack that Practice is TheMole (see NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize). After telling him of Benedict's plan, Practice says they should take the side entrance, which alerts Jack because...

** StealthPun: There's a ton of metal versions of Mozart in the soundtrack.

* TheStarscream: Benedict to Vivaldi.

*** He's either saying he'd have played it better, or that it was his best performance because it didn't happen.
*** You could infer he's praising himself, since in the real world, Arnold played the Terminator; and it was his immediately preceding picture, so up to that point, for Arnold, it was HIS best performance.

* ThisIsReality: And Benedict ''likes'' it. His JustBetweenYouAndMe speech is terrifying:
-->'''Benedict:''' Gentlemen. Since you are about to die anyway, I [[LampshadeHanging may as well]] [[JustBetweenYouAndMe tell you the entire plot]]! Think of villains, Jack. You want {{Dracula}}? Dra-cool-la? Hang on, (takes out the [[PlotCoupon ticket]]) I'll fetch him. Dracula? Huh. I can get Film/KingKong! We'll have a [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet nightmare with Freddy Krueger]], have a surprise party for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler; [[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]] can [[ImAHumanitarian do the catering]], and then we'll have a christening for Film/RosemarysBaby! All I have to do is snap my fingers and they'll be here. They're lining up to get here, and do you know why, Jack? Should I tell you why? Hmm? Because here, in this world, '''''[[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys can win!]]'''''
** Also just about weaponized by Jack at one point, showing he was getting almost as savvy as Benedict, in the chicken scene listed under MoodWhiplash. He realizes full well the dangers of a head-on collision in the real world, but also realizes the goon he's staring down ''doesn't''. He explicitly points out (after the fact) the model vehicle he had was better designed for a head-on collision and he was wearing a seatbelt ''and'' had an airbag, while the bad guy wasn't and didn't. He just underestimated HOW MUCH it was going to hurt.

* [[TrappedInTVLand Trapped in Movie Land]]: Happens to Danny for approximately half of the film.

* TurnInYourBadge: Complete with smoke coming out the ears.
-->'''Danny:''' He only took your badge because you destroyed more of the city than usual.

* TheUnpronounceable:
** Believe it or not, Arnold Schwarzenegger; Jack can't even pronounce the name of the actor who plays him, and ends up calling him "[[AccidentalMisnaming Arnold Braunschweiger]]" most of the time. Danny corrects him once, and Jack's response?

** The ticket fell on the ground outside the arthouse theatre shortly before a stampede and was presumably lost. Death never had it, it just affected his theatre long enough to get him out.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Lampshaded and inverted when John Practice turns against Jack; Danny's explanation of this trope is long enough for the bad guys to get the drop on him as well. ("You ain't no genius yourself, kid.")
-->'''Danny:''' (to Jack) I don't see ''you'' coming up with ideas.

* AssholeVictim: Being a crime family The Torelli gang would have just as much blood on their hands as Vivaldi if not more.

-->'''Benedict:''' I snap my fingers again and tomorrow you emerge from several canine recta. Or you and Toto can go back to Oz. Questions?
-->'''Jack:''' Yes. Two of them. Why am I wasting time on a putz like you when I could be doing something dangerous like rearranging my socks? ''(smokes cigar)'' And how will you snap your fingers ''after I rip off both your thumbs?''

-->'''Danny:''' ''(indicating the video clerk)'' She is too attractive to work here.
-->'''Jack:''' I agree. I think she should work with us. Undercover of course.
-->'''Danny:''' The point is, there are no unattractive women here. Where are the everyday, ordinary women? They don't exist, because this is a ''movie''.
-->'''Jack:''' No, this is [[HollywoodCalifornia California]].

-->'''Jack:''' I know I am. I'm the famous comedian, Arnold Braunschweiger.

* CouldHaveBeenMessy: Lampshaded. Jack comes off a car crash in the real world hurting but when Danny berates that he would have been killed, Jack points out that the car he took (and then played chicken with) was a model with an airbag and the other car (a '52 Checker Cab) didn't had it. Sure enough, Benedict's BattleButler was killed.

-->'''Jack:''' Sir, are you a henchman?
-->'''Benedict:''' No, I'm afraid I only go so far as lackey.

* DisappearedDad: Danny's father died sometime before the events of the movie.

* DoubleMeaning: A reference to both Mr Benedict's glass eye and the the practice in commerical aviation of catching a flight late at night / early morning.
--->'''Jack''': Gotta catch the redeye

-->'''Danny:''' Look on the good side. You have a great daughter. And your ex-wife wouldn't call if she didn't want you back.
-->'''Jack:''' Danny, do you think I would have married someone so stupid who can't tell my real voice from a taped one? I pay a cashier to call me at work, so the guys think I have a life. My ex-wife is happily remarried. She ''never'' calls. And Whitney--why can't she be a normal teenager? On prom night she stays home to field strip an AK-47! She's going to die a young maid, I know it. I'm going to buy it soon, too.
-->'''Danny:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint No way. You can't die until the grosses go down.]]

* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: In-Universe, Jack's reaction to hearing Mozart, or classical music in general, for the first time.

** Continuing the above point, Jack's son being dragged to his death by the BigBad as he falls off the rooftop in ''Jack Slater 3'' references what happens to the daughter of TheHero in ''Literature/NobodyLivesForever'' (the book the first ''Die Hard'' is based from).

* StepfordSmiler: Under Jack's cool attitude and action hero behaviour lies a broken man who is still suffering from PTSS, resulting from his son's death.

* TheStarscream: Benedict to Vivaldi.

* TheUnreveal: Danny wrote something on a notepad and tells Jack to say the word. Jack doesn't say it nor do we see what was written. But it's presumably a F-word, which Danny uses as another "movie proof". Jack refuses to say it for that reason and thinks it's childish, but Danny thinks Jack is unable to say it because the movie is PG-13 (which only allows "shit" at its strongest).

* WallOfWeapons: Jack's car's glove compartment is full to the brim with guns, to Danny's surprise. Jack also holds about a dozen spare Desert Eagles inside of his apartment's closet.

* FantasticRacism: Jack accuses Danny of this after he points out that Whiskers the cat shouldn't be a police detective because he's a cartoon.

* MetalHead: Slater's music of choice is heavy metal. Late in the film, Danny actually reacts with dismay when he witnesses Slater enjoying classical music (which does not exist in Slater's world).

-->'''Hamlet''': To be, or not to be...not to be. *lights cigar as an explosion goes off behind him*
* AllFictionIsRealSomewhere: The premise is that all movies exist in parallel fictional universes.

* SequelEscalation: Jack moans that his adventures seem to get more and more difficult to deal with. Danny tells him that the sequels ''have'' to get harder and more exciting. Jack's not amused.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In-universe. The entire second half of the film revolves around both Slater and Benedict realizing that the rules of their world don't coincide with that of the real world. Slater discovers that his gunfire won't automatically blow up a vehicle, that his hand hurts when he punches a window out, and that car crashes are much more dangerous than he thinks. Meanwhile, Benedict discovers that he can kill with impunity and no one notices.
** This also applies to Jack's world in a rather unusual way. While all the action movie tropes are firmly set in place, reality still ensues as well as possible within the confines of the said tropes. Jack's cool action hero behaviour? Only a facade to distract others from his PTSS and loneliness. His sexy ActionGirl daughter? Yes, she is an ActionGirl and enjoys it, but she misses out on basically everything else in life, so it will later come back to her with revenge. His never-seen ex-wife? She actually doesn't give two patoots about Jack, and Jack just has someone call him to ''pretend'' she's his wife so he can keep a brave face at the precinct.

* AccidentalPassenger: During a CarChaseShootOut in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie]] Danny is watching, the golden ticket is activated, making a pack of lit [[DynamiteCandle dynamite sticks]] tossed by the bandits fall from the screen. When Danny notices it, he screams and runs in panick, but is caught by the explosion and everything goes white. He wakes up into Jack Slater's car while the latter is still being pursued.

This was Schwarzenegger's first film after ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. Made to [[LighterAndSofter appeal to a bigger family audience]] than most of his films had been up to that point, the wave of hype promised that it would be, as the trailers put it, "The big ticket for '93!" However, it was released the weekend after the opening of ''Film/JurassicPark'', which turned out to be a far bigger hit than Creator/ColumbiaPictures expected, and thus it failed to live up to the hype at the box office. While it was eventually profitable, the film was widely regarded as a bomb, but it's become something of a CultClassic for its freewheeling send-ups of action movie tropes.