True Lies
4/4
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Careere, Bill Paxton, Charlton Heston, Eliza Dushku
Rated R for A Lot of Action/Violence and Some Language
"True Lies" is a story about saving a dead marriage. That's not really a good concept for a film, especially one with $115 million price tag. But while one can call "True Lies" many things (and there are many words that can be used to describe the film), "serious" is not one of them.
"True Lies" has been a family favorite ever since I can remember. It's not hard to understand why. It's strong in every department: writing, acting and directing (that's to be expected from a James Cameron picture). It also merges action and comedy with peerless success. The action scenes are tremendously exciting and the humor is consistently hysterical.
Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is a boring computer salesman. His life is so dull that his wife Helen (Curtis) tells her friend that when she can't sleep, she has Harry tell her about his day, and she's out like a lightbulb in six seconds. But Harry isn't a computer salesman. He's a secret agent working for The Omega Sector (the motto is "The Last Line of Defense"), tracking an international terrorist named Salim Abu Aziz, aka "The Sand Spider" (Malik). That leaves his wife and daughter Dana (Dushku) feeling lonely and neglected. Helen also has a secret: she's having an affair with a man named Simon (Paxton), who is also a secret agent. Harry's work and personal lives are about to collide.
The true brilliance of the film is that James Cameron merges many genres not only into one film, but sometimes into many scenes. Take, for example, one of the film's most famous sequences: the tango with Schwarzenegger and Tia Careere (who plays the obligatory femme fatale, Juno Skinner). It's funny, suspenseful and sexy at the same time. Many other scenes play the same way, without it ever being in a "wink wink nudge nudge" sort of way. Cameron and his cast are having a lot of fun mixing and matching genres, but it's never especially satirical. There's no sense that Cameron is saying, "See? Get the joke?" like some satires. The humor is germane from the plot and the characters.
Despite somewhat of a tyrannical reputation as a filmmaker (although he's supposedly very nice off set), James Cameron has the ability to get the very best performances from his cast. Arnold Schwarzenegger is often criticized for his lack of acting ability, and while he doesn't have a lot of range, he's an effective performer. Schwarzenegger is perfect for the role; he and Cameron have worked together three times ("The Terminator," its sequel, and this). Cameron knows his star's strengths, and brings them out. Quite simply, Schwarzenegger has never been better. This is a surprisingly strongly written character, and Schwarzenegger has a ball. Using often subtle facial movements and impeccable comic timing, Harry Tasker becomes a hero to root for and laugh with.
He is surrounded by a talented supporting cast. Jamie Lee Curtis is positively perfect as the mousy housewife. Boring could not be a better word to describe Helen Tasker, and that's the point. She's the world's most vanilla individual, so when Jamie Lee Curtis has interesting things happen to her, we snap up and pay attention. She also has the film's second funniest line (it comes right after she sees her husband's true face). Curtis has long proved that she's an adept comic and dramatic actress (she's done excellent work in "Halloween" and "Freaky Friday," and everything in-between), but this is her best and most rounded performance.
The supporting characters are just as good. Tia Careere is certainly sexy (even without a nude scene) and she's also talented (sadly, her career has fizzled and she's become a character actress in mostly bit parts). Tom Arnold is the perfect sidekick as play Harry's best friend Gib. And as the villain, Art Malik (who was cast in the role without an audition after James Cameron saw him in "City of Joy") finds the perfect balance between ferocity and farce.
Arguably the best performance is given by James Cameron regular Bill Paxton (they worked on five projects together, more than Cameron has worked with any other actor). Paxton plays the perfect sleazeball, making us laugh enough at him to make us truly hate him. This makes some of his scenes more hilarious than they'd otherwise be.
James Cameron is best known as a technical genius; each of his films push the boundaries of what films can do. While it's not as ground-breaking as "Titanic" or "Avatar" (it was made before either), he proves that not only does he know what he's doing, but he's an expert craftsman. Cameron has always put story and character above the special effects. That's the case here. While we "ooh" and "aah" at the film's action scenes, we are heavily invested in the story (which is a lot of fun) and the characters (who are also fun).
But never before or since has he been so funny. Sure, his films have had their share of humorous moments (the lesson in spitting in "Titanic" and the scene where John Connor tests out his new bodyguard in "Terminator 2" are two examples). Initially Cameron hired writers to adapt the story (based loosely on a French film, if you can believe that), but he didn't like most of them. So he tried his own hand at writing comedy, and the results speak for themselves. Some are action scenes that reach a new level of absurdity, while others are particularly inventive, such as where Harry berates a horse for being a bad cop.
This isn't Cameron's best film (that goes to "Titanic"), but it's the most fun.
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Careere, Bill Paxton, Charlton Heston, Eliza Dushku
Rated R for A Lot of Action/Violence and Some Language
"True Lies" is a story about saving a dead marriage. That's not really a good concept for a film, especially one with $115 million price tag. But while one can call "True Lies" many things (and there are many words that can be used to describe the film), "serious" is not one of them.
"True Lies" has been a family favorite ever since I can remember. It's not hard to understand why. It's strong in every department: writing, acting and directing (that's to be expected from a James Cameron picture). It also merges action and comedy with peerless success. The action scenes are tremendously exciting and the humor is consistently hysterical.
Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is a boring computer salesman. His life is so dull that his wife Helen (Curtis) tells her friend that when she can't sleep, she has Harry tell her about his day, and she's out like a lightbulb in six seconds. But Harry isn't a computer salesman. He's a secret agent working for The Omega Sector (the motto is "The Last Line of Defense"), tracking an international terrorist named Salim Abu Aziz, aka "The Sand Spider" (Malik). That leaves his wife and daughter Dana (Dushku) feeling lonely and neglected. Helen also has a secret: she's having an affair with a man named Simon (Paxton), who is also a secret agent. Harry's work and personal lives are about to collide.
The true brilliance of the film is that James Cameron merges many genres not only into one film, but sometimes into many scenes. Take, for example, one of the film's most famous sequences: the tango with Schwarzenegger and Tia Careere (who plays the obligatory femme fatale, Juno Skinner). It's funny, suspenseful and sexy at the same time. Many other scenes play the same way, without it ever being in a "wink wink nudge nudge" sort of way. Cameron and his cast are having a lot of fun mixing and matching genres, but it's never especially satirical. There's no sense that Cameron is saying, "See? Get the joke?" like some satires. The humor is germane from the plot and the characters.
Despite somewhat of a tyrannical reputation as a filmmaker (although he's supposedly very nice off set), James Cameron has the ability to get the very best performances from his cast. Arnold Schwarzenegger is often criticized for his lack of acting ability, and while he doesn't have a lot of range, he's an effective performer. Schwarzenegger is perfect for the role; he and Cameron have worked together three times ("The Terminator," its sequel, and this). Cameron knows his star's strengths, and brings them out. Quite simply, Schwarzenegger has never been better. This is a surprisingly strongly written character, and Schwarzenegger has a ball. Using often subtle facial movements and impeccable comic timing, Harry Tasker becomes a hero to root for and laugh with.
He is surrounded by a talented supporting cast. Jamie Lee Curtis is positively perfect as the mousy housewife. Boring could not be a better word to describe Helen Tasker, and that's the point. She's the world's most vanilla individual, so when Jamie Lee Curtis has interesting things happen to her, we snap up and pay attention. She also has the film's second funniest line (it comes right after she sees her husband's true face). Curtis has long proved that she's an adept comic and dramatic actress (she's done excellent work in "Halloween" and "Freaky Friday," and everything in-between), but this is her best and most rounded performance.
The supporting characters are just as good. Tia Careere is certainly sexy (even without a nude scene) and she's also talented (sadly, her career has fizzled and she's become a character actress in mostly bit parts). Tom Arnold is the perfect sidekick as play Harry's best friend Gib. And as the villain, Art Malik (who was cast in the role without an audition after James Cameron saw him in "City of Joy") finds the perfect balance between ferocity and farce.
Arguably the best performance is given by James Cameron regular Bill Paxton (they worked on five projects together, more than Cameron has worked with any other actor). Paxton plays the perfect sleazeball, making us laugh enough at him to make us truly hate him. This makes some of his scenes more hilarious than they'd otherwise be.
James Cameron is best known as a technical genius; each of his films push the boundaries of what films can do. While it's not as ground-breaking as "Titanic" or "Avatar" (it was made before either), he proves that not only does he know what he's doing, but he's an expert craftsman. Cameron has always put story and character above the special effects. That's the case here. While we "ooh" and "aah" at the film's action scenes, we are heavily invested in the story (which is a lot of fun) and the characters (who are also fun).
But never before or since has he been so funny. Sure, his films have had their share of humorous moments (the lesson in spitting in "Titanic" and the scene where John Connor tests out his new bodyguard in "Terminator 2" are two examples). Initially Cameron hired writers to adapt the story (based loosely on a French film, if you can believe that), but he didn't like most of them. So he tried his own hand at writing comedy, and the results speak for themselves. Some are action scenes that reach a new level of absurdity, while others are particularly inventive, such as where Harry berates a horse for being a bad cop.
This isn't Cameron's best film (that goes to "Titanic"), but it's the most fun.
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