Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released the Arnold Schwarzenegger Action/Movie Magic film 'Last Action Hero' to Blu-ray. The film has been released several times before: a Sony release in 2010, a Mill Creek standalone in 2014, and as part of a Mill Creek bundle in 2018. This release is also part of the first wave of titles to feature "Retro VHS" slipcovers which mimic the look of classic 1980s rental copies (which often had vastly superior artwork compared to today's Photoshopped messes). In this case, the artwork on the slip and the case are fairly similar but with a few key changes to title positioning and actor name, but the core artwork is the same. See the 'Special Features and Extras' section below for more on the slipcover. Also find new video and audio reviews below.

Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Last Action Hero does not hold up today's finest catalogue releases, and is not quite as good as the better managed Sony disc that released nine years ago. Black level depth and color saturation are notably subpar on the Mill Creek disc. Dense, snowy grain swarms in the opening Slater sequence, and only grows worse as the action shifts back to the dreary "real world" inside the all-but-abandoned theater. Muddy details, sloppy colors, troubled compression, and poorly resolved blacks are image hallmarks until the film drops Maddigan into the movie world, where the image finds a little more stability and clarity, albeit with a fairly flat picture. Random speckles interfere as well. Direct comparisons with the Sony disc confirm the Mill Creek disc's deficiencies, including raised blacks, less impressively deep and accurate colors, and more obvious compression artifacts. The final eight screenshots within this review offer stills from both the Mill Creek and Sony discs. The Mill Creek shot is first, followed by the corresponding shot from the Sony disc.

Note: I have neither seen nor reviewed Mill Creek's 2014 Last Action Hero release, but it's very likely that this is simply a repackage of that release's transfer.

Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rather than opt for a lossless soundtrack, Mill Creek has included a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio presentation. The nuance, dynamics, and detail that are hallmarks of most lossless tracks are missing here, but Mill Creek has at least ensured that any technical deficiencies are not significant and that the track at least makes an effort to overcome the absence of finesse through raw size and scale. The track certainly takes full advantage of every speaker at its disposal, sending music and sound effects rushing through the fronts and powering through the backs. Dialogue enjoys good placement and prioritization but can't quite deliver that level of lifelike detail lossless can. Yet even with voluminous music and robust effects, the track cannot escape that DVD era sense of limitation. It's a fun track at a base level but only because it's big, not because it's precise.

Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Finally, a purpose for slipcovers! So often the collectible outer shell features the exact same artwork, front, back, and side as the Blu-ray case inside, making them largely ornamental at best. Occasionally embossing/debossing work adds a little variety but this reviewer has always pitched them in the trash, partly for that reason and partly because doing so saves precious (albeit finite) shelf space, critical when one's collection is in the thousands. Mill Creek has taken a step to make slipcovers a little more meaningful with this line of "Retro VHS" slipcovers that offer a shrunken-down approximation of a vintage rental store copy and also feature a portion of a VHS tape extending from the side of the case, even if most VHS covers were open at the bottom.

For Last Action Hero, the slipcover features a bit of fake wear (creases, edge frays) and a genre sticker appears on the box, which is covering another sticker that is barely visible. The main sticker on the VHS tape shows the film's title, perfectly legible, and unlike the other "Retro VHS" slipcovers there's little handling wear visible on it. A "Bee Kind Rewind" sticker (the video store apparently has a "bee" theme) and what looks like a price sticker have also been slapped on. Of course these are not real stickers but rather part of the print, and there's no texture to the cassette, either. Still, it's a pretty nifty visual. The rear side is a little less neat, keeping up with the vintage look at the top but showing a few necessary tech details on the bottom that correspond to the Blu-ray. The bottom side of the VHS tape is also visible. Humorously, a handful of Blu-ray disc logos appear on the front, rear, and spine to break the illusion (though not entirely); the one on the front, situated at the top, in large print, and in red coloring, is the worst offender.

What would be really cool would be if the entire box art mimicked the VHS cover and the Blu-ray artwork underneath entirely mimicked the VHS tape, which could have easily been accomplished. That would offer more of a seamless illusion of actually pulling a VHS tape out of the package rather than it simply appear printed on part of the slipcover.

As far as on-disc extras, there are none. The main menu offers only a button to "Play Feature." The Sony disc was nearly as bare-bones. No DVD or digital copies are included, either.

Note: Photographs of several other Mill Creek 'Retro VHS' slipcovers can be found here, here, and here. Because each slipcover offers the same basic layout with only some small unique identifiers distinguishing one from another beyond cover art, photos will not be included for every release in the line. Those linked images do offer a good overview representation of what to expect form this line.

Last Action Hero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mill Creek's release of Last Action Hero cannot match the nine-year-old Sony disc for detail, color, black level depth, and compression. The picture quality here is certainly subpar, but not a disaster. The paired lossy 5.1 track might have sounded great on a DVD release 20 years ago (oh my goodness how time flies) but clearly lacks the fidelity lossless offers. No extras are included, and none of significance were on the Sony disc, either. Recommended because the film is good and the slipcover is cool, but only die-hard packaging enthusiasts should pick it up, especially if one already owns the superior Sony release.