TRUE LIES
A film review by Jon Ridge
Copyright 1994 Jon Ridge
CAST: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Art Malik, Tia Carrere DIRECTOR: James Cameron SCREENPLAY: James Cameron CINEMATOGRAPHY: Russel Carpenter / VE: Digital Domain RUNNING TIME: 2:19 RELEASE -- July 15, 1994
In the midst of an unusually less-exorbitant summer than past years have seen comes TRUE LIES, the latest collaboration between two science-fiction-action minds that marks a change of pace for Director James Cameron and a return to form for his mega-superstar. Their part James Bond-esque thriller opus, part black comedy opens and closes with manic destruction, and intelligently leaves behind a hugely lame mid-plot that wouldn't seem to fit in the explosive universe of *any* gratuitously exciting spectacle such as this.
It's relatively clear what Cameron is aiming for: An average working man (Schwarzenegger) living a life of big-time violence by day and mundane family life by evening. His wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) has absolutely no idea the kinds of things he does while they're apart--running from terrorists across snowy mountainous landscapes in Switzerland, fist fighting Arabs in bathrooms. She just knows his career as Sales Rep. for a computer company is keeping him at work and away from her and their daughter way too much, too often when it counts most. This monologue (apparently derived from a French film) is fine and good; not terribly original, not terribly without farce. Unfortunately, Director/Screenwriter Cameron feels it necessary to up the stakes, supplying a potentially straight-forward action lover's dream-come-true with a moronic subtext of infidelity that starts awkwardly and ends up borderline tasteless.
It seems as though Hellen, the wife Harry Tasker has taken for granted throughout the 15 years of their marriage, has gotten rather exhausted with just being the 'good wife.' She wants to role-play, find and bring to life the adventure she's inexcusably let pass her by. The possibility is handed her by a smug wimp named Simon, who convinces Helen he is some sort of secret agent when actually he's nothing more than a lowly car salesman. Simon rips bravery off others, gives it his name and delivers the package to women totally bored with home life and (more to the point) their gutless husbands. That's his angle, and it works perfectly. Only this time Simon has picked just the wrong woman for his jwa' de' vive' (can you tell I'm not French) because Helen isn't only loyal and unchangeably devoted, she's married to the real thing--a super-spy with a pension for brutality.
Difficult as it is to put up with such debris, we keep trudging along for we know exactly what will be rewarded us in the end. However, this black comedy half of the film is worth some negative comment. Once Harry finds out what his wife is up to (what he *thinks* is going on), he appears wind-stripped like nothing any terrorist could ever culprit. His esteemed colleague Gib (played by Tom Arnold) notices and comments that affairs are a part of marriage, but being the good friend he is wants to cheer up a pal: "We're gonna catch some terrorists, beat the crap out of them. You'll feel a hell of a lot better." That's funny. What isn't so cute is Harry's explicit investigation into his wife's goings-on from that point on; tracking her, tapping her phone and ultimately--in this film's true low point-- sacking her head, locking her in a dark room and interrogating her. Helen moves from terror to tears during this out-stretched, difficult to watch sequence that builds a major wall against any sort of satisfying outcome the film might want to reach ... might have done so successfully. Luckily, the wise-cracking Tom Arnold is around to smooth the path every now and again. If not for him, what has to be some 35-minutes of degrading nonsense (including a husband's sexual fantasia watching his wife strip-tease around a bed post) would be intolerable.
TRUE LIES comes to during its back half, in which Harry has to save his wife and country from a psychotic Arab liberalist. Reportedly this film cost as much as our national debt to make, and it inebriates us during a fantastic limo rescue scene (Schwarzenegger dangling from a helicopter and pulling Curtis from an impossibly-moving car, just before it crashes to the ocean's surface) and an even more spectacular sequence, featuring Schwarzenegger at the helm of a marine harrier, that ranks with Renny Harlin's CLIFFHANGER opening as one of the very best jaw-droppers in film history.
When Schwarz landed that baby, I wanted to forget what came before it. I really did. But I couldn't. James Cameron's first (I believe) production outside the science-fiction realm--in which he's master--is a mock epic, giving trivial events monumental proportions. It's not only unnecessary to the final conclusion ... it's a little sick. I'm not sure at what point Cameron lost his way writing this thing, found it detrimental not to stoop, but despite what's wrong here is a whole lot to gaze at and laugh at. TRUE LIES is one humongous detonated bomb, with no story to back it up.
Rated R CRITICAL RATING: ** (1/2)
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