True Lies

misubisu 1/18/2026 8:44:53AM 8.4

**Score: 10/10 — A Timeless, Flawless Blueprint for the Perfect mix of Action, Comedy and Drama** Watching *True Lies* after twenty-five years is a revelation—a testament to its immaculate craftsmanship. It hasn't aged; it has been **preserved in cinematic amber as a perfect, high-octane joyride.** This film is James Cameron operating at the peak of his populist powers, blending espionage thriller, marital comedy, and globe-trotting spectacle into a single, wildly entertaining package that remains **as good today as it was on day one.** **The Perfect Mix:** The alchemy is precise and undeniable. * **Action:** Cameron directs set-pieces with symphonic brilliance. From the breathtaking, practical-effects-driven Harrier jet dogfight over Miami to the climactic horseback chase, the action is both colossal and impeccably clear, a masterclass in blockbuster choreography that modern CGI often struggles to match for sheer visceral thrill. * **Comedy:** The film is legitimately, consistently hilarious. The genius is how the humour springs directly from the premise—a bored housewife (Jamie Lee Curtis, in a career-best comedic performance) thrust into her spy husband's insane world. The "striptease" scene is a perfect cocktail of awkwardness, tension, and liberation. * **Arnold's One-Liners:** Schwarzenegger delivers his iconic persona with brilliant self-awareness. Lines like **"You're fired"** and **"I married Rambo"** are delivered with a twinkle that makes him the ultimate, impossibly cool action hero. He’s a superhero, but also a believably smitten and panicked husband. **Heart Amidst the Fireworks:** This is where the film earns its perfect score. Beyond the explosions, it’s a surprisingly sweet story about rediscovering passion and partnership. The scenes of Arnold watching his wife transform, or the tender resolution of their fractured trust, are played with genuine warmth. It’s a film that can **make you tear up** with its emotional honesty just moments after making you gasp at a mid-air hijacking. **The Perfect Ensemble:** Every single role is cast to perfection. Tom Arnold is the ideal, motor-mouthed sidekick. Bill Paxton’s "Simon" is a sleazy, unforgettable weasel. The late, great Charlton Heston adds gravitas in a brief turn. And Eliza Dushku steals every scene she’s in as the sarcastic teen. They form a constellation of characters who are all memorable, funny, and vital to the machine. **The Verdict:** *True Lies* is **one of James Cameron's most entertaining movies** because it is his most complete. It is the textbook definition of a crowd-pleaser: smart enough for adults, thrilling enough for action fans, funny enough for everyone, and all wrapped around a heart of gold. It is a flawless, endlessly rewatchable monument to 90s blockbuster filmmaking. A genuine, undeniable **10/10** masterpiece. Welcome back to the party.

John Chard 5/16/2024 3:22:23PM 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 9:10:52AM 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.