Last Action Hero 1993 Mattel

After a string of major Box Office successes throughout the 80's and the first couple of years into the 90's Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity had reached major heights with his last major movie; Terminator 2: Judgment Day breaking all sorts of records and managing to impress critics and audiences the world over with its slick action and stunning CGI effects it was only a matter of time before Hollywood began scrambling for a new vehicle for Arnie to star in! It of course had to be action driven but Arnie had also recently showed off his comedy chops to great effect in the likes of Kindergarten Cop and Twins and so Last Action hero was conceived to be sort of parody of those big, dumb action movies that made household names out of  the likes of Stallone, Van Damme and of course Schwarzenegger!


LAH was produced on a rather sizable budget placing all of its faith in Arnie's popularity with his ability to both excite and entertain a broad range of movie fans (having then recently extended his profile to include family friendly fare in addition to his harder edge R-rated action flicks)to bring home some impressive Box Office takings! Unfortunately despite a very aggressive advertising campaign (including advertising in space!) and a bunch of promotional tie-ins bad word of mouth spread fast and it received a critical mauling on its release with things going from bad to worse when Jurassic Park became the mega hit that it was taking a huge bite out of LAH's takings!         


As the interest in the movie itself faded so did the enthusiasm for the tie-in toys produced by Mattel which saw average sales and eventual bargain bin residence despite being a thoroughly decent line of action figures! Here we will explore some of those figures available:  

Dynamite Jack Slater: Tough LAPD Detective Jack Slater in reality is the main character in the "Jack Slater" film series portrayed by action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, but when a young film fan is transported via a magic ticket into the movie playing before him in his local theatre the  fictional universe jack inhabits becomes Danny's reality! Something Slater finds hard to believe when Danny tries explaining to him he is just a character in a movie and everything around them is just a product of Hollywood imagination! Until of course they both follow the evil Benedict back into "our world" and Slater has to come to terms with the fact he only exists on movie screens! 

With Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity at its peak due to his successful foray into family friendly fare such as Kindergarten cop its no wonder this line is made up of more than half of the figures dedicated to his Jack Slater character including this particular figure which has a spring loaded arm which launches various small weapons such as Dynamite sticks and Dumb Bells! The figure features Jack's signature look: a leather jacket with red T-Shirt and Blue jeans combo with fabulous detailing especially on his snake skin boots and belt buckle! The likeness of Arnie is what's most important here and it is captured perfectly but unfortunately is the same one used throughout all of the Jack Slater figures making for a distinct lack of variety! Another odd choice made with these figures is the decision to have the Jack figures hands sculpted to hold a gun but isn't supplied with one which is all the more strange when you consider that Evil Eye Benedict comes with no less than three hand guns!     

Hook Launchin' Danny: Young Danny Madigan loves nothing more than spending his time at his local Theatre watching his favourite action hero beat up bad guys on the big screen! Even when sat in his English class watching Laurence Oliver perform Hamlet on film he imagines what that movie would be had it starred Arnold Schwarzenegger! "To be or not to be? Not to be!" quips Arnie as he lights up a his signature stogie sending an explosion off in the background! His dreams come true when he is magically transported into the Jack Slater universe via a magic ticket provided by the theatre owner but will it be everything Danny hoped for?

Danny is represented very well here in action figure form with a decent head sculpt that bares a nice resemblance to kid actor Austin O'Brien! He comes with A grappling Hook accessory which is nicely designed and executed but hasn't any basis in the movie itself!

Evil Eye Benedict: As portrayed by Charles Dance the evil assassin for hire Mr. Benedict is cold and calculating and equips himself with a variety of weapons including exploding glass eyeballs! When Benedict finds Danny's Magic Ticket and discovers its amazing properties he enters into our world and forms a dastardly plan to destroy Arnold Schwarzenegger and thus do what he could never do in the movie world; kill Jack Slater!  

the on screen character designs is followed closely in these figures sculpts and also have generally very good likenesses of the respective actors with Mr. Benedict being one of the most effective figures in the set despite his simple design the only thing that is off about this figure is the fake eye which should be on his left side!

The most impressive thing about this figure is the array of accessories he comes supplied with including three different styles of hand gun, Fake eyes and a brief case with a couple of decals to store it all in!

Axe Swingin' Ripper: When released from a 10 year prison sentence, thanks to Jack Slater, The Ripper seeks his revenge by kidnapping Slater's own son! Though Jack manages to defeat The Ripper in the end it is at the cost of his own child, an event which has haunted him ever since! But The Ripper only remains dead for a short time before Benedict who with the aid of Danny's Magic Ticket brings him into the "real" world to kill Jack Slater actor Arnold Schwarzenegger!   

There are some pretty dark moments in Last Action Hero amongst the OTT action and comedic elements particularly the scenes featuring Tom Noonan as "The Ripper"! The axe wielding maniac who appears fleetingly but memorably in the movie is an interesting but a surprise addition to this line as he could be viewed as a somewhat inappropriate choice for a toy line clearly aimed at children (after all the character does spend most of his screen time attempting to kill a child!) He happens to be one of the best figure in the bunch with lots of intricate detailing and a strong (if slightly toned down) resemblance to his on screen counter part minus the yellow raincoat which has instead been replaced with a top hat and cloak combo I guess to give him a sort of Jack the Ripper appearance!  

Heat Packin' Jack: Slater is primed and ready for his nemesis "The Ripper" who kidnaps poor Danny and then, according to the kid in the toy commercial, tears Jack's favourite red T-Shirt with his trusty Axe! 


One of the several Jack Slater figures produced for this line "Heat Packin'" has borrowed some elements from the Dynamite Jack  figure including the same exact head and legs sculpts however the torso and arms are unique to this figure and filly show off Schwarzenegger's incredible physique! Yet again this figure isn't supplied with anything he can actually hold and so would have fared much better had his hands been moulded into closed fists instead!  

Jack comes armed with this big all in one weapon that attaches to his back made up of various elements such as a extendable chainsaw and a missile launcher!




Last Action Hero received mediocre reviews and began a steady decline in box office takings and was ultimately deemed a failure especially when compared to other big hitters in 1993 such as Spielberg's Jurassic Park! If not taken too seriously or analysed too closely LAH can be seen as an enjoyable and occasionally smart action extravaganza with some clever in-jokes and cameos thrown in for good measure! Mattel's toy line is actually a very solid one with great movie accurate designs and fun action features and accessories despite some short comings including the odd design flaws and the lack of variety in the characters, another plus point is that these are in scale with Kenner's Terminator 2 toy line if you wanted to these as a companion piece to a genuine Arnie classic! 


The full set of figures available: 


-Dynamite Jack Slater  
-Hook Launchin' danny
-Evil Eye Benedict 
-Axe Swingin' Ripper
-Heat Packin' Jack
-Undercover Jack
-Skull Attack Jack


Vehicals:
-Slater's convertible
-Evil eyed roadster