History YMMV / LastActionHero

* OlderThanTheyThink:
** Believe it or not, the film's plot is taken from the ''Series/AmazingStories'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZS3EO_7cy4 Welcome to My Nightmare]]".
** A couple of the gags in the film refer to things that were recent history in the early 1990s but are largely forgotten now.
*** The daydream sequence casting Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger as Theatre/{{Hamlet}} is lampooning the 1990 film production casting fellow action star Creator/MelGibson in the lead role.
*** The brief appearance by a "black and white digitization of Creator/HumphreyBogart" as one of the assigned police partners is sending up the uproar created the previous year when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7b9tddVmc an ad for Diet Coke]] used CGI to turn Bogart, Creator/JamesCagney and Music/LouisArmstrong into posthumous pitchmen for a modern soft drink. That said, decades later projects like ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Film/TheFlash2023'' would later reignite a similar controversy over the use of CGI to recreate deceased actors (Creator/PeterCushing as [[Film/ANewHope Grand Moff Tarkin]] in the former, and Creator/GeorgeReeves and Creator/ChristopherReeve as [[Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman their]] [[Film/SupermanTheMovie respective]] [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Supermen]] and Creator/AdamWest as Series/{{Batman|1966}} in the latter).

*** The brief appearance by a "black and white digitization of Creator/HumphreyBogart" as one of the assigned police partners is sending up the uproar created the previous year when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7b9tddVmc an ad for Diet Coke]] used CGI to turn Bogart, Creator/JamesCagney and Music/LouisArmstrong into posthumous pitchmen for a modern soft drink.

*** This is perhaps only equatable to say, the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' movies. Bond's wife Tracy is gunned down in a drive-by shooting at the end of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', and this is given only the occasional nod in the subsequent entries but never even directly ''acknowledged'' in said film's [[Film/DiamondsAreForever immediate follow-up]]. Slater is, after all, stuck with the whim of the writers, and in the 'real world' there could have been a change of writers or a writer's strike and so on, or it could have been like ''Film/BatmanForever'', which was made distinctly lighter due to the slightly poor response to the tone of [[Film/BatmanReturns its predecessor]], which made money but was very, very dark.

*** Here, among the villains Benedict threatens to release is Franchise/KingKong. Come ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' and Kong is the only Film/MonsterVerse kaiju ''not'' on the loose because of Charles Dance's character.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was released, it was panned by critics and was a box office flop. But in the years since then, opinions of the film have softened somewhat. Many people now regard it as an enjoyable parody of action movies from the [[TheEighties '80s]] and [[TheNineties '90s]], and it has even managed to achieve CultClassic status.

* RealismInducedHorror: Near the beginning of the film, Danny getting robbed at knife point, since it's real life and not a movie. The only reason why the robber spares Danny is because he finds nothing worth stealing.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Producer Chris Moore, then an agent involved with the production, felt that the addition of Whiskers the cartoon cat was "Something which, from the outside looking in, looks like a decision of somebody using drugs".

** A climactic scene ends with a bomb exploding in a tar pit surrounded by dinosaur models. ''Last Action Hero'' itself wound up bombing due to the dinosaurs of ''Film/JurassicPark''. Twenty-two years later [[Film/TerminatorGenisys another Arnold Schwarzenegger film]] will bomb against another [[Film/JurassicWorld Jurassic sequel]].

* {{Woolseyism}}: Done brilliantly in the German and French versions, where he calls himself "Arnold Beckenbauer". Google it if you don't know the name; any- and everyone in Germany- wait, ''[[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup in the world]]'' does.

* AngstWhatAngst: Danny is robbed in his apartment at knife-point early in the film. His trauma seems limited to merely that scene and when he's at the police station; the second Danny leaves the station, he goes on like nothing happened.
** Given that he grew up in a sketchy part of New York City, where that kind of thing happens often, it's possible that he has grown accustomed to the environment he lived in.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cynK5jvaWvM&hd=1 Parking Lot]] from the video game.

** It's the only role where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver appear together, and it will certainly be the last. The scene that had Maria arguing with Arnold is even more uncomfortable.

** The death of Jack's second cousin due to Art Carney dying not long after this film. Especially his last words, where he says he can feel himself going.

** Thanks to "deepfake" editing technology, a man with the handle of [[https://movieweb.com/amp/t2-judgment-day-deepfake-video-sylvester-stallone Ctrl_Alt_Face edited Sylvester Stallone as the T-800 in a few scenes]] of ''Terminator 2''. The montage even starts with the scene where Danny discovers the Stallone poster inside the "Jack Slater" universe.

** The flashback to the third Jack Slater movie, where the Ripper kills Jack's son. He later tries to do the same to Danny. Tom Noonan proves he can be as scary in a parody as he was in ''Film/{{Manhunter}}''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: It's the closest we'll get to a live-action [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Rainier Wolfcastle]] movie.
** "Magic ticket my ass, [=McBain=]!"
** WordOfGod claims in Twitter that anime Anime/ReCreators was created as an attempt to transfer the ideas of this film to the anime plane. Nevertheless, the final work has become more of an attempt to study the psychology of characters in the real world than just a parody of a cliche.

*** This is perhaps only equatable to say, the ''Film/JamesBond'' movies. Bond's wife Tracy is gunned down in a drive-by shooting at the end of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', and this is given only the occasional nod in the subsequent entries but never even directly ''acknowledged'' in said film's [[Film/DiamondsAreForever immediate follow-up]]. Slater is, after all, stuck with the whim of the writers, and in the 'real world' there could have been a change of writers or a writer's strike and so on, or it could have been like ''Film/BatmanForever'', which was made distinctly lighter due to the slightly poor response to the tone of [[Film/BatmanReturns its predecessor]], which made money but was very, very dark.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was released, it was panned by critics and was a box office flop. But in the years since then, opinions of the film have softened somewhat. Many people now regard it as an enjoyable parody of action movies from the 1980s and 1990s, and it has even managed to achieve CultClassic status.

** Also, ''Last Action Hero'' [[DeconstructorFleet did a lot of what]] ''Wiki/TVTropes'' [[ConversationalTroping does]] today—years before there was ''TV Tropes''. This website actually makes the movie a lot more hilarious than it was before.

* UncertainAudience: A mass LampshadeHanging of action/adventure movie tropes mixed with a comparison between RealLife and cinematic reality.
** Though it's worth noting that the film itself almost plays out like Wiki/TVTropes TheMovie, so it could be argued that the audience for it just hadn't been invented yet.
** During filming, the filmmakers couldn't decide whether they were making a kid's movie or an action film.

*** The daydream sequence casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hamlet is lampooning the 1990 film production casting fellow action star Mel Gibson in the lead role.
*** The brief appearance by a "black and white digitization of Humphrey Bogart" as one of the assigned police partners is sending up the uproar created the previous year when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7b9tddVmc an ad for Diet Coke]] used CGI to turn Bogart, James Cagney, and Louis Armstrong into posthumous pitchmen for a modern soft drink.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Believe it or not, the film's plot is taken from the ''Series/AmazingStories'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZS3EO_7cy4 Welcome to My Nightmare]]".

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames:
** Although the film itself is a pretty interesting {{Deconstruction}} of action films, the developers of the tie-in game decided to play everything very straight. Admittedly, they weren't helped by ExecutiveMeddling that prevented them from depicting Slater battling the enemies in any way other than via hand-to-hand combat -- instead of the absurdly over-the-top array of weapons originally intended -- forcing them to completely redesign the game into a more standard BeatEmUp at the last minute.
** Averted for the [[Pinball/LastActionHero pinball]], which is well-regarded for its deep rules, great music, and nonstop action.

* WeirdAlEffect: A couple of the gags in the film refer to things that were recent history in the early 1990s but are largely forgotten now.
** The daydream sequence casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hamlet is lampooning the 1990 film production casting fellow action star Mel Gibson in the lead role.
** The brief appearance by a "black and white digitization of Humphrey Bogart" as one of the assigned police partners is sending up the uproar created the previous year when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7b9tddVmc an ad for Diet Coke]] used CGI to turn Bogart, James Cagney, and Louis Armstrong into posthumous pitchmen for a modern soft drink.

* WhatAnIdiot: Invoked in the movie by The Grim Reaper, who remarks that Danny's an idiot for ''not looking for the other half of the ticket''. FacePalm.

** The flashback to the third Jack Slater movie, where the Ripper kills Jack's son. He later tries to do the same to Danny.

** There's also Michael Kamen's score with the assistance of none other than Music/{{Buckethead}}. The opening riff of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoTuQrpEuWA Jack and The Ripper]]" is badass enough that it has seen occasional use in BadToTheBone moments in other films.

** The death of Jack's second cousin due to Art Carney dying not long after this film. Especially his last words, where he says he can feeling himself going.

** WordOfGod claims in twiter that anime Anime/ReCreators was created as an attempt to transfer the ideas of this film to the anime plane. Nevertheless, the final work has become more of an attempt to study the psychology of characters in the real world than just a parody of a cliche.

* GeniusBonus: The names of the bad guys are references to classical music composers. And the soundtrack is partly made up of modified classical music. Parodied in that classical music doesn't even ''exist'' in the Slater-verse.

* SpiritualAdaptation: This is the nearest we'll ever get to a live action [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons McBain]] movie.

* RetroactiveRecognition: At the time, Creator/CharlesDance (Mr. Benedict) was most well known for serious drama films, and he had an extremely limited presence in genre films. Nowadays, after the runaway success of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and Dance's memorable role as Tywin Lannister, he's a lot more recognizable to a mainstream audience viewing this film.