TRUE LIES
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by James Cameron Written by Cameron, based on a screenplay by Claude Zidi, Simon Michael, and Didier Kaminka. Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Art Malik, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov, and Charleton Heston MPAA Rating "R" (for language, gore, violence, and sexual references) Running Time 141 minutes
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"Women. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em."
- Arnold to Schwarzenegger
What is James Cameron up to now? His new movie, TRUE LIES, is *easily* the most entertaining film of the year. Forget SPEED, THE LION KING, and FORREST GUMP, here's a blockbuster that swats those aside like houseflys. Talk like a tag line and you'd say that TRUE LIES is "more exciting than SPEED, more charming than KING, and more humorous than GUMP." Unquote. With T2 talent Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, James Cameron has delivered the best Bond movie that Albert Broccoli never made.
So why are some critics complaining?
TRUE LIES opens in the Alps (!) with secret agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) emerging from an icy lake at the edge of a heavily guarded compound. Bathed in blue light (of course), he strips off his wetsuit only to reveal a perfectly pressed tuxedo. With a dash of cologne for good measure, Harry steps from the bushes and into the chateau. Just like that.
Inside is a party and that's no trouble with Harry. He mingles, he flirts, and speaks six different languages. He even dances the tango before the inevitable Hasty Exit. After a dizzying foot/ski/snowmobile chase right out of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, Harry hooks up with his buddies to get down to the real business of tracking a gang of middle-Eastern terrorists who may be in possession of some stolen nuclear warheads.
Sound familiar?
The Wall came down and peace came up and, now, we have bug-eyed Easterners as the token spy-movie villains. Stereotypes and all. Tom Clancy might complain, but not James Cameron. His fun starts when Agent Harry Tasker goes *home*. No, not to some slinky siren from the French Riviera, but, rather, to a quiet neighborhood outside D.C.
At home is Helen (Curtis), a legal secretary with (what she think is) a boring husband with a boring job. Together, they have one kid and one dog, but neither is enough to keep Harry home from "business trips" and "working late."
That is, until Simon (Paxton) shows up.
He's an oily used-car salesman who, get this, is masquerading as spy to seduce Mrs. Tasker! Harry finds out and, once his neck veins stop bulging, executes a wicked revenge that leads to such complications as Helen's induction into "service" and the couple's abduction by terrorists.
With enough action and plot for *three* films, TRUE LIES begs the question: when is enough enough for James Cameron? Not content to make a spy movie, he's also created a *spoof* of a spy movie. A spoof, mind you, that's funnier than anything out now. Watch Arnie butt heads with a pair of pinschers in the opening scene, if you don't believe me.
But *after* the guns and gags have run their course, the film is still only half-finished. TRUE LIES is also about jealousy and the *extreme* reactions of a husband who thinks his wife is having an affair. Cameron pulls no punches here; Harry's abusive treatment of Helen includes one of the strongest scenes you'll see this summer.
Timely stuff, which begs the question: why the misogyny? Has James Cameron crossed to the other side of the field, after the fight-back feminism of T2 and ALIENS? Has the director's personal life finally soured the "sensitive guy" who's best known for letting his heroines act tougher than his heroes?
Jamie Lee Curtis *does* get her due. Of sorts. Her empowerment comes at the end, with a cute coda that has the couple living happily every after. But the transformation is slight and nothing at all along the lines of either Linda Hamilton (T2) or Sigourney Weaver (ALIENS).
The men fare worse. Both Arnie and (Tom) Arnold are as far from PC as can be. Their collective locker-room wisdom is off-color, to say the least, but they are no less appealing than, say, any racist character in a Quintin Tarantino film. They work in *spite* of their questionable behavior.
The chemistry between Arnie and Jamie alone is worth the price of admission. Sure, Arnie is a bit stiff for suave, but what range he *does* have is put to great use, including some of the lengthiest leers in film history. Curtis is wonderful and, with her costar, makes TRUE LIES seem light years away from either HERCULES IN NEW YORK or HALLOWEEN. Their best scene is Harry's rescue of Helen from a speeding-to-its-doom limo. Watch the looks.
Tom Arnold is surprisingly solid as Harry's scene-stealing partner. He now has a career. Bill Paxton, who once said some very bad things to the Terminator, is an over-the-top, raunchy riot as Simon. Art Malik, good as the Hissable Villain, gets a great double-take near the end. And even Charleton Heston breezes through with two tart scenes as an agency head.
Only Tia Carrere sticks out like a sore thumb. She has the looks, but the not the chops, to hold her own with these pros.
Cameron's script, adapted from the little known French farce LA TOTALE, has more wit than the genre typically permits. But, then again, a James Cameron film typically *defines* the genre it's in and not vice versa. Watch how deftly the director mixes campy comedy and sexy sincerity into Helen's strip tease (don't ask). It's the best scene in the film.
Last, but by no means least, are the show-stoppers. Try a horse chasing a motorcycle onto the roof of a skyscraper. Or a public restroom shootout that's a ballet with bullets. Or a great car chase through the Florida Keys sans section of bridge. Scene after scene after stunt after stunt-- all as a fabulous $100 million dollar reminder of why James Cameron is one of the top technically accomplished filmmakers on the planet.
BOTTOM LINE: TRUE LIES is the most entertaining film of the year.
Period. Go see it a third time.
Grade: A
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