Margie and I watched True Lies Saturday night.
Thoughts (and spoilers) lurk below …
This is one of my favorited “Ahnold” movies, and the production work by James Cameron is probably a big part of that. Everything in this film is over-the-top, but well-crafted in doing so.
Brief plot summary for those who have been under a rock since 1994 (the movie’s release year): Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a Bond-style spy whose marriage (to Jamie Lee Curtis, with a young Eliza Dushku playing their daughter) is on the rocks due to his leading a cover life as an extremely dull (and frequently out-of-town) computer software salesman. When Harry discovers his wife may be having an affair with a mysterious stranger (Bill Paxton), can he solve both his home difficulties and, with his Agency side-kick (Tom Arnold) keep a nuke-possessing Arab terrorist (Art Malik, with Tia Carrere as his front woman) from blowing up the Eastern seaboard?
Well, of course he can. He’s Ahhhhnold.
The action sequences here are superb — the introductory snowy gun battle, the lengthy fight in the bathroom of the Georgetown Mall, the pursuit on horseback through a hotel, carnage in the terrorist camp in the Keys, and plenty of Harrier (!) action. You keep expecting to hear the Bond guitar riff in the background, but Ahnold brings a brutal physicality to the role that even Connery never did.
This film falls in the middle ground between AS’s pumped-up years and his more recent, dark, more tired releases. He’s at the top of his form, his enunciation is good, his quips are the standard goofiness, and he has his laser-beam glare down to a fine science.
The terrorist subplot, including a base in the Florida Keys and a threat of ex-Soviet warheads being used to take out various US cities on behalf of “Crimson Jihad,” remains the typical action flick cardboard cut-out — though with a new frisson of post-9/11 discomfort. (Anyone else find it amusing that Art Malik, who plays the Arab terrorist here also played the mujahadeen good guy leader in The Living Daylights? But that could certainly never happen in real life …) Tia Carrere is along (scenically) for the ride largely to have someone for Jamie Lee Curtis to get into a cat fight with.
Curtis, as the frumpy housewife bored with her marriage and seeking a little adventure (and getting a lot more than she expects, when she discovers the truth about Harry) does a fine job, going from ditz to seductress (in an incredible dancing scene) to gun moll. This flick got Curtis’ horror-film career out of the doldrums, and rightfully so.
Unfortunately, the biggest squirm factor in the film centers on Curtis, since Harry, who stumbles on her nascent affair (with the world’s slimiest used car salesman — though she thinks he’s a spy), completely loses it, and neglects his terrorist-busting to apply his Agency’s resources to discovering the truth, and, ultimately, both rewarding and punishing her behavior. The interrogation scene, in particular, makes you wonder how (once she puts 2 and 2 together) Curtis could ever stay married to the man.
Eliza Dushku (Faith in Buffy) does a decent job of playing sulky and scared teenager. The impending True Lies 2 (currently scheduled for 2003, but which may slip depending on the timing of Terminator 3) supposedly focuses on her character more, which only makes sense.
Tom Arnold is an actor I’ve never minded watching, though there are a lot of folks who can’t stand him. As Harry’s wisecracking, worldly fellow agent, most people agree this is one of his finest roles.
With the exception of how women are treated (Carrere is slapped around by Malik; Curtis is betrayed by her mystery man and psychologically abused by her husband), this is a fine flick. And since even those women get their own licks in (Carrere is a successful businesswoman who’s willingly in this for the money; Curtis does not go quietly into her abuse, and shows she can give as good as she gets), it keeps the squirm factor to the minimum necessary to enjoy the rest of this fast-paced action flick. It’s a good one for munching popcorn or snuggling with the hon on the sofa.