In one of the bravest parodies in some time, Shane Black unflinchingly holds an ironic looking glass up to the box office hit machine that made him rich: the action film. It perhaps came a bit early for public consciousness to be ready for it, and so wound up showcasing (in hindsight) more of Black's prescience than his market savvy.
In an out and out clever spoof of not only the action film industry but of the slavering fans of action, Schwarzenegger is brilliant casting. The fact that he never quite seems to get the tongue-in-cheek aspect of the whole endeavor makes it all the funnier. (The daydream sequence of Hamlet as an action flick is hysterical!) Director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Hunt For Red October) strikes a nice balance between the tension of the plot and the relaxed atmosphere of the spoof. If you saw it before and just didn't get the thrill ride you were expecting, that's probably because you were the butt of the big inside joke that was this film. Try it again.
In an out and out clever spoof of not only the action film industry but of the slavering fans of action, Schwarzenegger is brilliant casting. The fact that he never quite seems to get the tongue-in-cheek aspect of the whole endeavor makes it all the funnier. (The daydream sequence of Hamlet as an action flick is hysterical!) Director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Hunt For Red October) strikes a nice balance between the tension of the plot and the relaxed atmosphere of the spoof. If you saw it before and just didn't get the thrill ride you were expecting, that's probably because you were the butt of the big inside joke that was this film. Try it again.