True Lies (1994) 20th Century Fox/Action-Comedy RT: 141 minutes Rated R (a lot of action/violence and some language, sexual references) Director: James Cameron Screenplay: James Cameron Music: Brad Fiedel Cinematography: Russell Carpenter Release date: July 15, 1994 (US) Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Art Malik, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov, Charlton Heston. Box Office: $146.2M (US)/$478.8M (World)
Rating: ***
I’ll bet you didn’t know the James Cameron action-comedy True Lies is a remake. It’s true. It’s a remake of the 1991 French comedy La Totale from director Claude Zidi (My New Partner). It’s a fairly safe bet he never imagined his movie would be reconceived as a big-budget action vehicle starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’ve not seen the original French version, but the American one is pretty good.
After the failure of Last Action Hero, Schwarzenegger needed a hit. He bounced back nicely with True Lies, an entertaining action-comedy that has his character Harry Tasker living two lives. An ordinary one as a computer hardware salesman with a wife Helen (Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda) and rebellious teenage daughter Dana (Dushku, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and a secret extraordinary one as an undercover spy for a counterterrorism task force called The Omega Sector. He’s very good at what he does, but he can’t tell his family what he actually does for a living.
Harry’s real job requires a lot of him. He’s forced to prioritize his duties to his country over the needs of his family. They feel neglected, especially Helen who Harry finds out is having an affair with a guy named Simon (Paxton, Aliens), a used car salesman posing as a secret agent in order to score with women. Harry deals with the situation in a way that only somebody with access to unlimited governmental resources can. I’ll circle back to this a little later.
Harry’s latest assignment is to bring down an Islamic terrorist organization called “The Crimson Jihad” led by Salim Abu Aziz (Malik, A Passage to India). He’s suspected to be in possession of four nuclear warheads. His plan involves getting to him through Juno Skinner (Carrere, Wayne’s World 1 & 2), an antiques dealer he meets while on the job at a fancy soiree in Switzerland. Harry goes undercover as a potential buyer only for Aziz to see right through the charade. He and a couple of his men follow Harry and try to kill him. I think we can all guess how that works out for the bad guys.
This is where True Lies takes a detour. Once Harry learns of his wife’s affair, he doesn’t get mad, he gets even. He and his team snatch up Helen (along with a very frightened Simon) and take her to a secret facility where Harry (with his voice disguised) informs her that the only way out of this mess is to accept a (staged) mission. It’s either that or go to jail for a very long time. Given the code name “Doris”, she’s ordered to pose as a hooker so she can plant a bug in a French arms dealer’s hotel room. Of course, it’s no French arms dealer; it’s Harry waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.
This whole bit about Helen’s affair with Simon and the aftermath stops the movie dead. It’s not that it’s bad material; it’s pretty funny. It just doesn’t belong in this movie which, up until that point, was a rip-roaring action flick. However, I can also see why it’s included. How else could the writers get Helen involved in the main plot? Fortunately, True Lies jumps right back into action mode when Aziz’s guys burst into the room right before the big reveal and kidnap the couple. Now that Helen knows what her hubby does for a living, she’s in a position to help him take down the bad guys. Well, that’s one way to fix a marriage. Why pay a counselor when fighting terrorism is free?
It’s great seeing Ah-nuld doing what he does best in True Lies. He kicks a lot of terrorist ass! There are some great action sequences, but what else would you expect from writer-director Cameron, the guy who gave us The Terminator and Aliens, two of the greatest action movies of the 80s. He not only knows how to put together a great action film; he also knows how to make it bigger and better than anyone else. It’s no secret that True Lies cost around $120 million to make, but it’s all on display on screen. When I say that the action sequences are impressive, I really mean it. Watching Harry fly an AV-8B Harrier jet through downtown Miami trying to rescue Dana from the terrorists is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. Cameron has always excelled at awesome special effects and True Lies is no exception. Anybody who can make an explosion on the Overseas Highway (from the Florida Keys to the mainland) look that real has real talent.
Curtis is a great match for Schwarzenegger as she convincingly transforms from boring, neglected wife to active participant. This is an actress with a lot of talent. She’s come a long way since her days as the “Scream Queen” in horror movies like Halloween (1978), Prom Night and Terror Train (both 1980). Tom Arnold (Undercover Blues) is surprisingly good as Harry’s wise-cracking assistant who stays in the van while Harry completes his assignments which usually end in much mayhem and destruction like the scene where Aziz’s men make the mistake of trying to kill him in a shopping mall restroom.
Paxton is hilarious as Simon the fake spy. The scene where Harry calls him out on his charade is classic even if it’s a little crude. Malik and Carrere make great villains; you really get to despise them. Although he’s only on screen briefly, Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes) makes an impression as Harry’s eye patch wearing boss. This is one of Dushku’s first major movies and she shows excellent promise.
Overall, True Lies is a fun movie. It’s entertaining and enjoyable even when it makes that wrong turn midway through the movie. Schwarzenegger is a very funny person whether he means to be or not. That whole sequence shows off his playful side. But, like I said, it seems it belongs in a different movie. It’s good that Cameron is talented enough to eventually work it into the main story. One of my friends said that he really enjoyed that part of the story and it’s crucial to the plot. I see his point, but it was dragged out a bit too long for my taste.
My wife watched True Lies with me the other night and wanted to know if it was really necessary for Harry to humiliate Helen that way. I told her it’s only a movie meant to entertain the action crowd. It’s not making any sort of statement about male/female relations. Is that sequence really offensive? I don’t think so. The striptease dance starts out clumsy, but gets sexier as Helen starts to get into it. It’s meant to be funny, the idea of a timid woman doing something embarrassing in the name of national security. The point I’m trying to make is that it’s not intended to be offensive to anybody.
As a slamming action flick with funny moments, True Lies is mostly on target. It’s damn close to a bull’s eye. And that’s no lie.
