True Lies
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 "You're fired."
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True Lies is a 1994 American action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It was executive produced by Lawrence Kasanoff and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov, and Charlton Heston. It is based on the 1991 French comedy film La Totale! In this film, A secret agent's life takes a shocking turn when he learns about his wife's extramarital affair. He must now not only save the world but also save his own marriage.
Plot
A spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry's mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he's a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.
Why It Rocks
- Very interesting premise about Harry Tasker who struggles to balance his life as a spy with his familial duties while stopping nuclear weapons toward the United States by terrorist.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger gave an amazing performance as Harry Tasker and Harry Rehnquist.
- In addition, there are some funny characters, such as Helen Tasker, Albert "Gib" Gibson, Salim Abu Aziz, etc.
- Fantastic soundtrack composed by Brad Fiedel.
- It is very faithful to the French comedy film La Totale!, which it has some good references. Also, it used referenced in the 2019 MCU film Captain Marvel, where Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) accidentally blows up the film's poster.
- The film had tons of great, and funny action sequences, such as the bathroom fight and motorcycle chase of Harry and Aziz, the Seven Mile Bridge attack, and even the final battle.
- Amazing cinematography.
- It gives an inspiration to a film called Mr. & Mrs. Smith, eleven years after the release, is considered to be a remake/update version of the film. In that film, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as a married couple who don't know they are both assassins.
- The film does exactly have a good pace.
- Salim Abu Aziz is a awesome villain that he threaten to detonate a nuclear warhead on America for their oppression of his country.
- Lots of funny moments such as the bathroom fight combined with the motorcycle chase of Harry and Aziz (As mentioned on WIR#4), the interrogation of Simon, the entire Harry Tasker torture scene with the truth serum, and the terrorist truck tipping over the edge of the destroyed bridge when a pelican flies and lands on the dashboard.
- The final fight scene where Harry goes on a fighter while Aziz attempts to kill his daughter while saving her is very intense, but amazing at the same time.
- You're fired.
- The ending is awesome, as Harry Tasker and Helen Tasker goes to a formal party, where they encounter Simon seducing one of the female guests and both of them dancing a passionate tango.
Bad Qualities
- While the pacing is okay, it can be pretty slow at sometimes.
- There are a few plot holes, such as terrorists are shown encasing the nuke that was detonated in several cubic yards of liquid concrete, the volume of which would have taken several weeks or months to harden given the thickness of it, thus rendering the process of submerging the bomb completely pointless.
- Harry has to dance the tango to provide the time to decode some computer files before being copied, but they could have been immediately copied while encrypted, and later decoded at leisure.
- Aziz is very upset when Harry attempts to conceal the fact that he knows what the warhead is, apparently because Aziz needs Harry's videotaped confirmation before the world will believe that he can detonate the nukes. But Aziz is well into preparations to detonate one anyway, long before the tape could have been delivered or broadcast.
- Helen has already proven that she is a smart, intelligent wife to Harry. There is no way she would be fooled by a cassette tape player when she met the man in the hotel who "likes to watch", as the tiny speaker sounds completely different than a live, human voice. Also, it was a dead giveaway when Harry dropped the tape player.
Reception
Box office
True Lies was a box-office success. Opening in 2,368 theaters in the United States and Canada, it ranked number one at the US box office in its opening weekend, grossing $25,869,770. It was the number one film in Japan for twelve straight weeks.
Critical response
True Lies received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film currently holds an 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, having a critic consensus that reads "If it doesn't reach the heights of director James Cameron's and star Arnold Schwarzenegger's previous collaborations, True Lies still packs enough action and humor into its sometimes absurd plot to entertain". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63/100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert gave this a positive review, and he gave this film a 3 our of 4 stars.
Trivia
- True Lies was the first film to be released in the US in 1994 with the new Twentieth Century Fox logo at the front, however other countries did not see the new logo - as the film was distributed by Universal Pictures in most other territories. This is attributed to the fact that the film was financed by James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment - who sold off the non-US rights.
- This is the second movie directed by James Cameron in which Arnold Schwarzenegger punches Bill Paxton (even if it is only in a fantasy). The first movie was The Terminator (1984).
- The film, along with The Abyss, was only released on DVD, and VHS versions, and the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra Blu-Ray versions are yet to be released in the future, it is likely because James Cameron and he is simply too busy with the Avatar sequels.
- In April 1997, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Arnold met with Cameron and discussed the possibility of an eventual True Lies sequel, which would also bring back Curtis in her role. At the time, Cameron was busy working on Titanic. Cameron conducted a search for a writer to work on True Lies sequel. In August 1999, Cameron and 20th Century Fox were negotiating to have Jeff Eastin write the script under Cameron's supervision. At the time, the film was being planned for a mid-2001 release, with Cameron expected to direct it. However, after the September 11th attacks, Cameron said the film would not be made following the September 11 attacks: "Terrorism is no longer something to take as lightly as we did in the first one. I just can't see it happening given the current world climate."
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