True Lies (1994)

Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron (based on the film La Totale!)

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold

Music: Brad Fiedel

Time: 141 minutes

Bottom-line: Bit of humour, loads of action, and amazing stuff from Jamie Lee Curtis

James Cameron’s True Lies – along with Titanic – is, in several ways, different from his other films. Taking a break after directing four science fiction films, Cameron directs the story of a spy leading a double life. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Tom Arnold in the lead roles, with Art Malik, Bill Paxton and Tia Carrere in the supporting roles. 

Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is a family man with a wife, Helen (Curtis) and daughter, Dana. They think he is an ordinary computer salesman, but he is actually a spy for a counter-terrorism organisation called Omega Sector. Harry and his partner, Albert (Arnold) discover the existence of a terrorist group called “Crimson Jihad”, led by Salim Aziz (Malik). As Harry trails the terrorists, he also ends up distancing himself from his family. Soon enough, he finds out that Helen is having an affair with Simon (Paxton), a car salesman pretending to be a spy. When Helen confesses that she needed to spice her life up a little bit, Harry decides to give her the experience of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Harry’s setup turns into an actual mission when Aziz and his men kidnap both Harry and Helen.

 

Schwarzenegger as Harry, and Curtis as Helen

While Schwarzenegger is far from being a good actor, he is one guy who has the perfect physique to play a terminator, or better, a secret agent. That is one thing that makes some of the action in the film, believable. Gunfights, a chase on horseback, killing terrorists from a fighter plane and using brute force to beat up bad guys, Harry Tasker can do it all. What Schwarzenegger cannot do, is to play a normal character – like the family man he is supposed to be. Jamie Lee Curtis, on the other hand, has outdone herself in acting. Playing a wife to her husband, posing as a wife for Simon, acting as a prostitute, being a woman of action when the situation demands it, she has done everything. Her performance was the best part of the film. Bill Paxton’s conic supporting role was quite effective.

 

Malik as Aziz

Most of the action in the film is spectacular to see, thanks to the visual effects, which is mostly the reason people watch Cameron films. The explosions, the weaponry, the insane stunts are responsible for the action, while Tom Arnold’s and Bill Paxton’s characters, along with the dialogue, provide the humour content. The storyline of the movie, as such, is not that impressive – then again, none of Cameron’s stories are – but there are several scenes of interest: the one where Harry and Albert interrogate Helen, and later, Simon, the one where Helen acts like a hooker, and the action-packed climax (an inspiration to a certain shootout in Breaking Bad, perhaps?).

 

Paxton as Simon

Yes, the film stretches a lot, the acting – Curtis apart – is below average, but given that it is a Cameron film, it lives up to his reputation of skilled use of special effects, loads of action, and surprisingly, decent humour too. It’s not a great film, but it’s fun.

My Rating: 3/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 72%