---
title: "Last Action Hero: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/last-action-hero/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/last-action-hero"
critics_score: 48
critics_reviews: 8
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Last Action Hero (1993): what the critics said

Critics' score 48 from 8 reviews: 1 positive, 4 mixed, 3 negative.

Most critics find Last Action Hero a muddle, and the consensus settles on mixed. Where there is praise, it clusters on the idea rather than the execution: the critics enjoy the film’s jokes about Schwarzenegger’s heroic image and about action-film conventions, and several name individual gags, the Hamlet parody among them, as the best thing in it. Radio Times is the one outright admirer, calling it a smart and funny send-up and crediting McTiernan’s genre satire.

The reservations gather round the same complaint: the film mocks loud, overblown action while serving up exactly that, and the mixture of satire and spectacle never settles. Several critics find it too long and the plot hokey, and the child lead is a recurring irritant. The spread is wide. Variety is the harshest, finding it joyless and without a story, while Eye for Film, writing twenty years on, decides the flaws are survivable and the buddy-cop pairing works.

## Radio Times — John Ferguson

Rating 4/5. 

Ferguson calls it a smart, funny blockbuster that cleverly sends up Schwarzenegger’s heroic image and the action genre. He singles out director John McTiernan’s genre satire for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-431o2n/last-action-hero/)

## The New York Times

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 18 June 1993. 

The review text is unavailable, so its verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint can be verified from the accessible page.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/18/movies/review-film-last-action-hero-a-hero-within-and-without.html)

## Time Out — TCh

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The accessible page identifies this as a review but does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its praise or complaint is also unavailable because the review body is missing.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/last-action-hero)

## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane

Fi1m's normalised score 45/100 (inferred from the text). 27 June 1993. 

Lane calls the film an honorable but confused failure, too long and garish yet full of invention. He praises its playful self-awareness and singles out Charles Dance’s moment of discovering real-world violence as a standout scene.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/07/05/reality-check)

## Empire — Tom Hibbert

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Hibbert finds the film an awkward blend of action spectacle and satire, with a hokey plot and only occasional amusing moments. He singles out the film’s contradictions: it mocks action movies while indulging in their glossy, numbing explosions and weaponry.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/last-action-hero-review/)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 18 June 1993. 

Turan finds the film an awkward, ponderous mix of action and comedy that fails to realize its premise. He praises occasional humor, especially the Schwarzenegger-as-Hamlet parody, but says the film lacks fun and magic.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-18-ca-4355-story.html)

## Variety — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 14 June 1993. 

McCarthy finds the film joyless, overstuffed, and lacking a story or emotional stakes. He particularly faults its noisy, arbitrary action and says the young lead’s one-note performance makes the experience worse.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/last-action-hero-2-1200432495/)

## Eye for Film — Max Crawford

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 12 June 2013. 

Crawford finds the film flawed but ultimately enjoyable, despite its annoying child protagonist and rushed ending. He praises its grounded action, buddy-cop dynamic, and playful references to action-movie conventions.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/last-action-hero-1993-film-review-by-stuart-crawford)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/last-action-hero.md