Last Action Hero

BUY

General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	No
Year Released	1993	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	125:36 minutes	Other Extras	Featurette-Behind The Scenes (6:21) Music Video-AC/DC "Big Gun" (4:35) Talent Files
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (57:22)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	John McTiernan
Studio Distributor	Columbia TriStar	Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger F. Murray Abraham Art Carney Charles Dance Frank McRae Tom Noonan Robert Prosky Anthony Quinn Mercedes Ruehl
RRP	$34.95	Music	Michael Kamen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s)  French (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 256 Kb/s) German (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 256 Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 256 Kb/s) Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 256 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English German French Dutch Spanish Italian Portuguese Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish	Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In a nutshell, a boy who idolizes action super-hero Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) manages to be thrown into the world of the movies. From here he becomes involved in Slater's latest movie whilst at the same time bringing his hero into the real world. This movie is choc-a-bloc full of explosions, gun fighting, car chases, and all the classic Big Arnie action stunts. This is not the kind of movie where you have to suspend your disbelief periodically. Rather, it is one that doesn't require your brain to be anywhere near your head. Just let Arnie do his thing, and you will be sure to enjoy.

    Also, be sure to catch some of the many cameo roles throughout this movie. My favourite - a couple of Terminator 2 appearances including a poster showing Sylvester Stallone as the Terminator. Very funny stuff.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture is uniformly sharp and well defined. Shadow detail is slightly below par, but acceptable. Given that a lot of this movie takes place in dim conditions, a small improvement here would have been welcome. There was no low-level noise apart from one scene where a digitally inserted Humphrey Bogart makes a brief appearance, stretching the digital technology of the day but nonetheless being very impressive. There was the slightest hint of edge enhancement which had the effect of blurring fine detail in bright distant shots, but this is only apparent on close inspection.

    The colours are very nicely rendered indeed. I felt that the colour balance was essentially perfect, with nice flesh tones and clear blues and reds.

     There were no MPEG artefacts during this movie. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of the very slightest aliasing in some scenes. There was a distinct absence of film artefacts.

    This disc is RSDL. The layer change occurs at 57:22 minutes, between Chapters 16 and 17. It is well placed and is not disruptive to the flow of the movie.

Audio

    There are a total of five audio tracks on this disc: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded. I listened to the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

    Dialogue was at times difficult to understand, especially Big Arnie's delivery of some lines due to his accent. However, the dialogue was nicely integrated and natural sounding.

    There were no problems with audio sync during the movie.

    The music by Michael Kamen was unremarkable. It never really called much attention to itself, but was effective given the nature of the movie.

    The surrounds got excellent use throughout the movie. I was interested to note that, amongst others, the movie was released theatrically with a Dolby Stereo mix. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix we have makes much use of the split-surrounds for sound effects, and sounds very contemporary. Bullets whiz past, and often sounds pan from rear to front. There is full use of the frequency range making for a thrilling audio presentation.

    The subwoofer was used superbly for explosions and general sound effects. Never did it call attention to itself. Again, well integrated into the mix.

Menu

U.S. Theatrical Trailer (3:12)

Featurette - Behind The Scenes (6:21)

Music Video - AC/CD "Big Gun" (4:35)

Talent Profiles

• Pan & Scan

• U.S. Theatrical Trailer
• Featurette - Behind The Scenes
• Music Video
• Talent Profiles

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio is excellent.

    The extras are decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall