TRUE LIES
A film review by Roger A. Rubio
Copyright 1994 Roger A. Rubio
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, and Charlton Heston Directed by James Cameron
Wow! This movie was an amazing flick. Jaw-dropping special effects, action sequences, light-hearted humor, something for everyone. Schwarzenegger is on the come-back trail, but this movie doesn't quite do it yet. Keep it going, Arnie, you're doing good.
TRUE LIES is the story of Harry Tasker, a secret agent busy thwarting nuclear threats and saving the world from certain destruction, while convincingly lying to his wife that he's a computer sales representative for fifteen years. A little implausible, but pulled off expertly by both Cameron and Schwarzenegger. TRUE LIES is based on a French film (the name escapes me right now) of the same plot. Arnie suggested that Cameron remake it, and TRUE LIES is the result. It took seven months to shoot the entire thing, costing a reported $100 million. The result is worth watching.
Jamie Lee Curtis was not the actress I would have picked for the role of Helen Tasker, Harry's wife, but she proved me wrong. Curtis pulls off both a shy, reserved wife, and later, a sexy, desirable woman that can play all kinds of roles. Tom Arnold steals the show with all the good, snide remarks he has, and finally proves he can act. Arnie is back in full form as a gun-toting action hero, and finally acknowledges not to make fun of the genre that made him famous. Every character in this movie has character, which is a trait lacking in most action movies nowadays, and is a little refreshing.
TRUE LIES marks the first film where Digital Domain took over for the digital special effects, and they are a sight to see for their first outing. An overall good start for a fledgling special effects house. Most of the effects are hard to find, which is the way it should be. The use of the effects is outstanding, and nothing looks too hokey. You can always tell where they had to use special effects, but Cameron uses them so well you don't care.
A definite recommendation. It's definitely worth full price at the box office.
THE SNAPMAN
rsnappy@vesta.unm.edu
(Roger A. Rubio)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews