True Lies

John Chard 5/16/2024 3:22:23 PM 8.4

Cameron and Schwarzenegger team up again for a riot of an action movie. True Lies sees Arnold Schwarzenegger play Harry Tasker, to his wife Helen (Jaimie Lee Curtis) and daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku) he's a safe husband and father working as a computer salesman. Away from the family home he's a top spy for one of America's highest secret services. When Harry is prompted to believe that Helen is having an affair, it signals the start of a sequence of events that will out Harry and lead them both to a confrontation with a deadly terrorist. To hell with misogyny and stereotypical Arab terrorist (Art Malik so OTT he's off the chain man), Cameron's True Lies really isn't concerned for political correctness. His aim, aided by his on form cast, is to chase, caress and explode stuff whilst having a laugh at every turn. True Lies, if anyone was in doubt prior to its release, shows Cameron to be supremely gifted at action set pieces. No expense spared of course, but you still gotta utilise those Harrier Jets, helicopters and horse carrying elevators to great effect. And so it proves. Throw in a tremendously funny script that gives Tom Arnold & Bill Paxton comedy gold roles to revel in; and what you get is a Worldwide box office profit of nearly $264 million. It knows it's nonsense, but it's the good kind of nonsense that Hollywood has to offer. Ever re-watchable, True Lies is undeniably great fun. 7.5/10

CinemaSerf 4/21/2025 9:10:52 AM 8.4

A tale of double lives. “Harry” (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a government agent embroiled in tracking down some nefarious Middle Eastern terrorists whilst presenting the façade of a meek computer salesmen to his wife. Meantime, “Helen” (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a bit bored with his timidity and so is seeking a bit of clandestine fun with the enigmatic “Simon” (Bill Paxton) who claims he is also something altogether more “007”. When the jihadist “Aziz” (Art Malik) kidnaps both wife and would-be lover, it falls to “Harry” to use all of his wiles to save the world from devastation and to save his own marriage from the doldrums. Though the story isn’t so new, it’s the engaging chemistry between Arnie, JLC and Paxton that really keeps this entertaining as the adventure kicks in and we have loads of action-packed scenarios; some typically daft buffoonery; lots of death-defying and the pyrotechnics go mad as the story races along. Perhaps, as he was in “The Living Daylights” (1987), Art Malik is a bit lightweight as a not terribly menacing baddie but all in all this is an enjoyable romp through the gadget driven espionage genre with a couple of stars who are clearly enjoying themselves towards a denouement that is a little long in coming, but the substance of which might even suggest a sequel.

Gimly 6/23/2021 3:58:08 PM 8.4

I seem to like **True Lies** a significant amount less than most people do. And it's not because it isn't my type of movie either, Schwarzeneggar as a secret agent in an explosive 90s action movie is absolutely my jam. But I don't love _True Lies_, maybe I saw it too late in life (I was 25 the first time I saw the whole movie) and either I aged out of it or the movie aged out of society, but whatever the case, I just can't really understand why it's so beloved. I would never take it away from anyone, and there's absolutely stuff I like, but I can't really recommend it based on personal taste. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._