True
Lies
(1994)
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 Hours and 24 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A-All that separates this film from brilliance, absolute genius, really, is one scene. One stupid scene that grinds everything to a screeching halt and is just, well, dumb.
First, the great stuff. "True Lies" is the story of superspy Harry Tasker. He is a great spy, the best, really. Some of the things he does in the course of this film make James Bond look inept. When it comes to espionage, Harry is at the top of his game.
But his marriage needs work.
Harry (Arnold Schwarzenegger, in case you didn't know) doesn't even know this until one day he goes to his wife's office to ask her to lunch and overhears that she is meeting another man for lunch. Harry is crushed, but determined to discover what is going on. So what happens when a man who has access to every surveillance tool in the world finds out that his wife might be cheating on him? He misuses government resources, of course. He has her phone tapped, he has her purse bugged. He has her put under constant surveillance, as well as the man she may or may not be doing the horizontal mambo with: Bill Paxton, playing the slimiest used car salesman this side of Kurt Russell. Paxton is a riot here. No one plays a dirtball with quite the glee that Paxton does. He's a great lowlife.
In fact, this whole section of the film is what distinguishes it from every other spy flick. It bases the spy business in a world that we all can relate to and recognize. These scenes are filled with delicious real world touches and practical applications of gadgets that might have been designed by the late Q. It has wit and style and irony and is nothing less than exhilarating.
Every action sequence in this movie, by the way, ranks among the best that I have ever seen.
As much as I like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (and I don't think that a better action movie ever has been or will be made) the action sequences in "True Lies" might actually best the ones in "Raiders". Yes, they are that good. The battle in a restroom is awesome, as are the horse chase that ensues and the Harrier Jet Sequence at the end (good enough to deserve being put in capital letters). The reason that they work so well, extremely well, is that they use every prop, they top themselves whenever you think that nothing more can be done, and they are nothing less than eye-popping. Wow is about all you can say to them.
But then we come to that one scene. A scene that is so lame it actually pisses me off. The strip scene. Now, granted, I have no problem with Jamie Lee Curtis removing articles of clothing. Far from it, in fact. And the scene does serve the plot a little. If you really think about it. What man wouldn't want his wife (or just a woman who looks like Jamie Lee) to perform an erotic strip tease for him? And Jamie Lee is hilarious and sexy and great in the scene (just as she is in the entire movie, actually, she is no creme puff and another excellent female character to add to Cameron's resume). But why is it here? What does Arnold hope to accomplish here? Does he mean to tell her his secret? Because, if he does, then she will just be extremely pissed at him for what he has put her through. And what the hell is he going to say to her? And how can she not tell that it's Arnold when she is in the same room as him???? I mean, Hello, It's ARNOLD!!! I'm sorry, I got carried away, but it frustrates me, and it frustrates me even more because it's in a movie that is otherwise one of my favorite action movies.
But the acting is great. Arnold, who gets a bad rep just because of that accent, is great in this movie. He is funny, he is tough and he is realistic. He shows just what a damn good actor he really is. Tom Arnold is great as his sidekick. I laugh at him every time he comes onscreen. Jamie Lee is better than she has ever been. And Bill Paxton is damn hilarious. Even the villain is pretty good, and I love the ironic and droll humor the film has at the expense of terrorism. I particularly enjoy the scene where the lead terrorist (well-played by Art Malik) is ranting against the United States and goes on so long that the batteries in the camcorder wear out. A brilliant touch. In fact, other than that one scene (and the less than stellar acting of Tia Carrere: liked you in "Wayne's World", but there is room for improvement here) I would definitely give the movie an "A+", at the very least.
That's why that single scene irks me so.