Runtime: 141 minutes
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Grant Heslov
From: 20th Century Fox
A movie available in HD on Prime... for the moment. Not that long ago this made its first appearance on Amazon Prime for free streaming viewing, as an exclusive title where it's only for those that subscribe to the service. Then it vanished before I got around to it. Just recently it returned and as on other occasions I've been burned by something disappearing before I could play the film... that is why this was a priority. The fact that this (along with The Abyss) have never been offered on Blu-ray-let alone 4K-in the United States has to be due to circumstances that would be a long convoluted story to explain. I mean, I understand it has received HD disc treatment in other countries before... it's all bizarre to me. But at least there was this chance to see something I saw more than once on VHS as a kid and that was it. About time this was finally experienced in widescreen.
By now I presume that most are familiar w/ the plot of how Arnold Squared (Schwarzenegger and Tom) are part of a special federal agency who have to stop Middle Eastern terrorists... but after Arnold S. discovers that his wife, oblivious to what his real job is, is having an affair with a used car salesman-an amazing Bill Paxton. With 2021 eyes, the aspect of so much time being spent on our lead being obsessed over his marital problems and how the end result was her stripping in front of her incognito husband-as others have noted, it certainly seemed like something from a man who has been divorced. Also, what are we to think of a man who spent the time & effort of himself and others on that case rather than continuing the investigation on Middle Eastern terrorists who might bring in nuclear arms into the United States? Heck, TOM ARNOLD played the voice of reason here!
All that said, this is a movie that is still very good to me. Nostalgia may be clouding my viewpoint but I was still greatly entertained. True Lies is certainly James Cameron's funniest movie and thankfully many of the attempts at comedy do work-I laughed often. This includes the terrorists ultimately showing their colors as incompetent buffoons; I've seen discourse about it on Letterboxd but to me that seemed like the goal rather than blatant racism and xenophobia. Anyhow, Paxton was the true highlight in that regard, although this was truly Tom Arnold's finest hour-most of what he said was delightful and like I said, he was the voice of reason & tried to keep his friend on track, even if at times he was a real smartass. Naturally, for a Cameron picture of this vintage you'd hope for quality action scenes and some obvious greenscreen aside, those are still incredibly effective almost 30 years later. There are several setpieces huge in scope and at times feature out of the ordinary moments-look at a horse chasing after a motorcycle through a Marriott hotel in the nation's capital.
Much to my delight, True Lies was not a movie which has aged horribly. Hopefully one day in the future, this and The Abyss will be much easier for people to visit or revisit in high quality. I will just presume this movie will be better than the proposed television adaptation that was to be on Disney + but was just moved to CBS... yes, this was a thing I discovered just a few hours ago. My first reaction was surprise, then I saw that McG was involved-that will be a “nah” from me.
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