Well guys, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and this will of course by my first post of the year of 2024. So, this one will be on an action film from the 90's and it will be James Cameron action comedy thriller, True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie-Lee Curtis. Also this film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year as it was released in 1994, so a good time as any to review it!
So, with that said let's a look and see how this film fairs...
And the usual warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
So, the film's premise is based around Harry Tasker (Arnie) who is a spy for the US Government, who has kept this secret from his family that includes his wife Helen (Jamie-Lee Curtis) and his daughter, Dana (Elisa Dushku). Harry early on in the film tracks the movements of a terrorist leader, Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik) while also meeting up with an arts dealer, Juno Skinner (Tia Carrea) who is linked to them. Harry pursues Aziz through a shopping mall on horseback but Aziz eventually escapes on a motorcycle.
The following day, Harry decides to pay a visit with Helen at her work to smooth over not making his birthday party the night before (when he was chasing Aziz). However, on arriving Harry overhears Helen talk to someone called Simon on the phone, leaving Harry stunned. Harry then follows Helen, who meets with Simon (Bill Paxton) who claims to be a secret agent himself and that he needs Helen's help to which she relcutantly agrees. Harry then along with fellow agent, Albert "Gib" Gibson (Tom Arnold) follows Simon only to discover that he is in fact a used carsalesman.
Harry then turns up at Simon's car lot and poses as an interested buyer of a Corvette, which they take for a test spin and Simon soon reveals his plan to seduce women by pretending to be a spy and also makes reference to Helen being one of his interests. Harry soon after has Helen put under surveillance (much to the protest of Gib) and follow Helen, who later meets with Simon in a trailer, who asks that Helen pose as his wife for an upcoming "operation" in Paris. Simon then tries to persuade Helen into sleeping with him but she refuses and at this point, Harry and his team (all maksed) storm the trailer and capture Helen and Simon.
Helen is then interrogated by Harry and Gib (from behind a screen using a modulator to disguise their voices) as Harry asks Helen why she wanted to see Simon in the first place. Helen explains she wishes for some excitement in her life and meeting Simon was a way to get it, however as Harry presses her on confirming if she slept with Simon, Helen snaps and shouts no and tries to smash the screen with her chair. Harry then asks if Helen loves her husband and she sincerely says she does and on that, Harry decides to give Helen a little assignment to give her the adventure she needs to which she accepts.
Harry later interrogates Simon with Gib but Simon admits the truth that he is not a spy and just carsalesman who lies to seduce women and on peeing himself out of sheer terror, Harry realises he's telling the truth and let's him go. Harry then has Gib give Helen the assignment over the phone where she is to meet someone at a hotel and dress sexily for them.
On turning up the hotel, Helen enters the room where Harry sits in the shadows and uses a pre-recorded tape of a Frenchman who instructs her to take off her dress and dance sexily for him, which Helen awkwardly does. After this Helen lies on the bed, as Harry approaches to kiss her and she hits him over the head with the telephone and tries to leave but Harry stops her as he reveals himself. However at this point, Aziz's men arrive to capture them both.
On being taken to Aziz, Harry is forced to finally reveal the truth to Helen that he is a spy as he tells Aziz what type of missile Aziz has in front of him at this point as he forces Harry to cooperate and video himself taking about Aziz's nuclear warheads and their proposals to use them on American soil. Harry is then soon injected with a truth serum as we see Juno is also involved with Aziz, she says they want to know which agency he works for, Juno also tries to make Helen jealous as she pretends they had a thing together, which Harry denies. Harry then under the influence of the serum, tells Helen he has been a spy for 17 years but as the interrogator comes back in, Harry having picked his handcuffs kills him and a guard.
And from here, Harry escapes with Helen and they must find a way to stop Aziz and his men from exporting their nuclear weapons into the US...
THOUGHTS
Well, after 30 years, True Lies still remains a very enjoyable action film, which is clearly James Cameron's attempt at making a Bond movie and he succceds for the most part as the film has plenty of fun action sequences and funny moments. Its also another good action vehicle for Arnie, who is no stranger to action flicks by this point and he also get's plenty of quips and amusing dialogue as well as racking up the usual body count. The film also features a fine supporting cast of characters with Gib (Tom Arnold) Harry's teammate, providing some very funny lines and moments in the film to the sexy and alluring Juno Skinner, the corrupt arts dealer working with Aziz, to Helen, Harry's wife, who is uptight and lives under the delusion that Harry is a computer salesman.
PERFORMANCE AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the performances, they are mostly pretty good overall.
Starting with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is great in his role as Harry Tasker, a secret agent, who hides his real vocation from his family only for it to come back and bite him later as he grows jealous of Helen potentially having an affair with Simon, while also trying to stop the terrorist leader Aziz from using nukes on US soil.
And Arnie has his share of good scenes, starting with the one where Harry chases Aziz through a hotel on horseback as he tells his teammates "Hurry up and get to the hotel as my horse is getting tired!". And as Harry arrives at the hotel, he sees Aziz riding a motorbike hold a woman roughly against the lift window, so he get's in an opposing left as they ride up to the top, Harry says an older couple "Could you press the button for the top floor, please?". And as he get's out at the top of the roof, Aziz rides his bike off the roof to another hotel roof on the other side as he lands in a pool. So, as Harry tries to jump after him on his horse, the horse stops at the bottom sending Harry flying over the edge of the hotel roof. So, after the horse slowly helps him back up, Harry chastises the horse and says "What the hell is wrong with you?! I mean I had the guy and you let him go! Look at me when I talk to you! What kind of cop are you anyway??".
Then there is the scene where Harry is forced to reveal the truth that he is a spy to Helen when Aziz holds her at knifepoint and threatens to kill her unless Harry tells him what type of nuclear missile he has displayed infront of them. So, Aziz in the scene asks Harry re: the nuke "You know what this is?" and Harry says "I know what this is..." and Aziz smiles expecting the answer but Harry says "This is an expresso machine" Aziz then walks toward him annoyed and Harry continues "No, its a snowcone maker. Is it a water heater?". Aziz then grabs Helen and holds her a knifepoint and warns Harry, he will kill Helen if he doesn't tell him the truth. So, Harry sighs and says "Its a Soviet Merv 6, an entry launch vehicle" and he says in Arabic "release her and I'll co-operate" and Aziz smiles and let's her go and Helen tearfully looks at him and Harry sighs and says "What can I say? I'm a spy" and she delivers a right hook to his face.
And then there is the scene where Harry having been drugged with a truth serum, is examined by the interrogator who prepares his torture instruments. So, the interrogator says "Is there you would like to tell me before we start?" and Harry tells him "Yes, I'm going to kill you pretty soon". The interrogator amused says "I see, how exactly?" and Harry says "First, I'm going to use you as a human shield, then I'm going to kill guard other with the Paterson trocar on the table and then I was thinking about breaking your neck". So, the interrogator smiles and asks "And what makes you think you can do all that?" and Harry says "You know my handcuffs? I picked them!" and he shows his hands uncuffed and he proceeds to kill the interrogator and guard in the fashion he described.
And last of all is the scene where Harry turns up in the harrier jet to save his daughter, Dana from Aziz as she has taken the launch key from Aziz's nuclear weapon. So, in the scene, Aziz leaps onto the jet and fights Harry and the two of them struggle as Harry swings the jet around smashes it into an office block. Aziz then get's back up front with his AK-47 and aims it at Harry and shouts "Take this plane down NOW! NOW! Or I'll kill her!". So, Harry nods but then indicates to Dana to hold on as he tilts the jet to make Aziz fall off but he ends up dangling on the end of one of the missles, so Harry primes one of them and says the line "You're fired!" as he launches the missile and Aziz to his death. And after Harry lands safely with Dana, he comforts and says "Dana, its OK, its over now" and Dana looks in shock at him and Harry smiles and says "Hi punpkin!".
Jamie-Lee Curtis next up is excellent in her role as Helen, Harry's unknowing uptight wife, who believes he is a computer salesman (and a boring one at that!) but is also seeing Simon on the side for some excitement in her otherwise dull homelife.
And Jamie-Lee has some fine scenes that include the one where she has a coffee with her co-worker and complains about Harry's absence from her life due to his work. And in the scene Helen says "I mean he acts like he's curing cancer but he's a sales rep for Christ sake! One good thing though, if I wanna sleep, I just ask him about his day, six seconds and that's me out!".
Then there is the scene where Helen is captured and interrogated by Harry and Gib, who sit in another room behind one-way screen as Harry presses her over the nature of her relationship with Simon. In the scene Harry asks her (with his voice disguised by the mic) "What did you go with him?" and Helen tells him "I just needed something" and Harry asks "What did you need?" and Helen sighs and says "I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to do something outrageous! I mean there's so much with this life I would like to do and I haven't done ANY of it! And the sands in the hourglass in running out and I just wanted to look back and say "I did that! I was wild and outrageous and I fucking did it!". Helen then says "Frankly, I don't give a shit if you understand or not!". Harry then asks "This Simon...did you sleep with him?" and Helen says "No" and Harry presses her "Did you not have sexual relations with him?" and Helen getting annoyed says "You know if I have to keep answering every question twice, this is going to be a long night!". Harry presses her again "Answer the question!" and Helen snaps and grabs her seat and smashes it against the screen "NO! I DID NOT SLEEP WITH HIM! DID YOU HEAR ME GODDAMN IT!!".
So, after Helen calms down, Harry then asks "Mrs Tasker, I have one last question. Do you love your husband?" and after a moment Helen says sincerely "Yes, I love him and I will always love him" and Harry satisfied nods. Harry then tells Helen "There is only solution to your problem Mrs Tasker and that is you work for us. If you don't you will placed under arrest and sent to prison, your family will be destroyed and alone" and Helen sarcastically says "Gee, that's a hard decision" and Harry says "Yes or no?" and Helen says "Of course yes!". Helen then asks "What must I do?" and Harry says "You will be contacted with details of the assginment. You're contact's name will be Boris and yours will be..." and Helen asks "Natasha?" and Harry says "No. Doris". Then later drop her off in a van and speed off and Helen angrily throws her mask at them and shouts "PRICKS!!!".
Then there is the scene where Harry and Helen having been captured by Aziz's men and Aziz forces Harry to reveal his knowledge of a nuclear weapon and blow his cover. So, in the scene Harry says to Helen "What can I say? I'm a spy" and Helen punches him in the face. Helen then shouts at Harry "You bastard! You lying son of a bitch!!" and Harry slow gets up and says "Sorry, Honey" and Helen shouts "You don't call me honey! You don't EVER get to call me honey again, you pig!!".
And this is followed by the scene where Harry having been drugged by a truth serum is asked by Helen "What is that they gave you?" and Harry says "Sodium penithol, or something other true agent" and Helen asks "That makes you tell the truth?" and Harry says "Hmm mm" and Helen asks "Is it working?" and Harry says "Ask me something I would normally lie to" and Helen asks "Are we gonna die?" and Harry definitely says "Yep!". Harry elaborates "They're gonna shoot us in the head, or they're gonna torture us to death, or leave us here where the bomb goes off..." and Helen shouts "HARRY!" to shut him up. Helen then asks "How long have you been a spy, Harry?" and Harry says "17 years" and Helen takes a breath to take this in and asks him "Have you ever killed anyone?" and Harry says "Yeah but they were all bad!" and Helen looks on amazed.
WARNING: SPOILER RELATING TO THE END OF THE FILM AHEAD!!!
And last of is the final scene of the film where Harry and Helen are now both spies for the government and on assignment at a lavish party (similar to the one at the start of the film) Helen spots Simon disguised as a waiter hitting on a hot girl, doing his spy shtick. So, Harry and Helen go up to him and Harry says "We meet again, Carlos" and Simon freezes in fear and Helen puts what looks like the butt of a gun up to him and says "Honey, I'm gonna do him right here" and Harry says "Go for it" and Simon terrified, pees himself again and Helen says "Fear is NOT an option" and Simon runs away in a panic, only for Helen to reveal she was holding her lipstick and she finishes the film doing a tango with Harry.
Tom Arnold next up is very good in his role as Gib, Harry's teammate and close friend at the agency and he get's the funniest dialogue in the film without a doubt and has plenty of amusing moments.
So, the first scene I will mention of Tom's is the one where Gib sets up a spy camera in a packet of cigarettes and using a pair of shades, Harry sees from the camera that his daughter Dana steals some money from Gib's jacket. Harry then says to Gib as he runs after "She's ripping you off!" and Gib says "I knew it!" but Dana takes off on a friend's bike before he can reach her.
So, in the ensuing scene, Gib driving his jeep with Harry groans about kids in general "Kids! 30 seconds of joy and 30 years of misery! At least I was never stupid enough to have any". Harry then says "But she shouldn't be stealing, I taught her better than that" and Gib reminds Harry "You aren't her parents anymore, her parents are Axel Rose and Madonna, you can't compete with that kind of bombardment!".
Then there is the scene where Harry is stunned on learning that Helen is seeing another man (i.e. Simon) and in a dazed state he goes back to Gib's jeep, who is waiting for him. So, Gib asks Harry "Hary what's up?" and Harry can barely get his words out "Helen..." and Gib asks "Helen?" and Harry again says "Helen..." and Gib says "Its something to do with Helen, I'm guessing!" and Harry finally says "Helen...is having an affair!". Gib takes a moment and then smiles and hugs Harry "Welcome to the club man! Same thing happened to me with wife number two, 'member? I have no idea nothing's going on, right? I come home one day and the house is empty, and I mean completely empty. She even took the ice cube trays out of the freezer. What kind of a sick bitch takes the ICE CUBE trays out of the FREEZER?!".
Gib then tries to cheer up Harry and says "Come on, Harry, she still loves you, she probably wants to just bang this guy for a bit..." and Harry then grabs Gib and pins him against the jeep and shouts "Stop cheering me UP!!". Gib then more serious tells Harry "What do you expect, Harry? Helen's a flesh and blood woman and you're never there, its just a matter of time". Gib then tries to cheer up Harry again and says "Tell what, let's focus on work. That's what I do when my life turns to dogshit, we're gonna find some terrorists and beat the crap out of em and it'll be great!". So, as they get in the jeep, Gib says to Harry "Women! Can't live with em, can't kill em!".
Then there is the scene where Gib calls up Helen using a disguised voice on the phone and tells her "Doris? I have your assignment" he tells her to go to a hotel and to "dress sexy". Helen then nervously asks "You don't expect me to..." and Gib says "No, he has very specific tastes, he likes to watch. When you arrive the hotel, plant the bug you have under the phone in the bedroom. If you don't complete your mission, the deal is off" and he hangs up and says to himself "I'm going to hell!".
Then there is the scene where Gib tells Harry that Dana has been kidnapped by Aziz, and says to Harry "Listen, Harry. Aziz has got a hostage, its Dana" and Harry shocked asks "My Dana?" and Gib says "Yeah but we'll get her back. We've already got a man on it". Harry however then goes over to one of the harrier jets and get's in and prepares for take off and as he starts to Gib says to the pilots "He's had hundreds of hours in the harriers there! Its like riding a bike! You never forget really!!" but then as Harry makes a messy take-off, Gib looks on in shock and says "Fuck!!!".
And last of all is the final scene where Harry and Helen are now both agents on an assginment at a lavish party, they tango with one another much to the annoyance of Gib, who provides back-up in the van outside nearby. So, Gib says at the end of the film "You know what? I'm sick of being in the van! You guys are going in the van next time. I've been in the van for 15 years, Harry!".
Tia Carrea next is also very good in her role as Juno Skinner, the sexy and seductive arts dealer, who is working with Aziz and his terrorist organisation, Crimson Jihad.
And I will mention two of her scenes that include the one where Harry and Helen are both captured by Aziz and are about to be interrogated and Juno tells Harry about why she is working with Aziz.
So, Harry asks her "So, why are you helping these raving psychotics?" and Juno says "Because they are very well funded raving psychotics and I'm getting paid alot of money. Do you think I care about their cause or yours? Not at all!" and she puts her arms around him and Harry says "You're damaged goods, lady". Juno then looks at Helen and asks "Do you tell her about us, Harry?" and Harry says "There IS no us, you psychopathic bitch!" and Juno says "Say that now!" and she kisses him full on the lips and says "Goodbye, Harry. It was fun while it lasted".
And last of all is the scene where after Aziz belives he has blown up Harry with a rocket launcher (but he survived as he dived off into the water in time) Juno finds Helen hiding points a gun at her. So, Juno tells Helen "Let's go" and gives her a fake look of sympathy "My condolences to the widow" and Helen with a look of fury, delivers a powerful slap across Juno's face, who has a scratch on it and she looks at Helen's ring and points her gun at her and is about to shoot when Aziz stops her and says "We may need the hostage" and Juno says to Helen "OK, lets go Suzy homemaker!".
Bill Paxton next up is excellent in his role as Simon, the sleazy car salesman, who tries to seduce women by pretending to be a spy himself and he lures Helen into helping him so he can nail her basically.
Bill also has some funny scenes that include the one where Simon spots Harry out in his car lot looking at a Corvette model. So, in the scene Simon walks out to Harry and smiles and says of the car "It wants you too. You hear her vibrate? How about we take her for a spin?" and Harry smiles and says "Sure". So, as Simon drives the car, he tells Harry "You see, its not just a car, its your whole image. I mean this isn't some high-tech sports car, tell the truth it doesn't handle that great. What are we talking about here? Pussy right?" and Harry laughs and says "Absolutely!" and Simon laughs and pats Harry's shoulder and says "Let's face it, Harry, the vet get's em wet!". Simon then says "But its not enough, if you really wanna close that escrow, you need to have an angle!" and Harry asks "I bet you have an angle?" and Simon laughs and says "Oh! Its a killer!" and Harry asks "What is it?" and Simon laughs and says "No, sorry, trade secret!".
However when they stop for a hotdog, Simon explains his ploy to seduce women "Alright, imagine these bored suburban housewives, stuck in a rut, looking for some adventure and release, I create that for them". Harry then says "So, you're just lying your ass off the whole time, see I could never do that". Simon then says "What are you boyscout? No, just think of as an adventure, a roleplay, get's them out of their suburban grind for a few hours". Harry then asks "What about the husbands?" and Simon mockinlgy says "Dickless! I mean if they took care of business, I'd be out of business, you know what I'm saying?!" and Harry laughs half-heartedly and says "Those idiots!".
So, as they drive back, Harry is at the wheel and he asks Simon "Who are you working on now?" and Simon tells him "Oh, I got this couple on the line just now. The wife, I've got her panting like a dog!" and Harry asks "What does she do?" and Simon says "Some legal secretary or something, you know uptight and conservative but she could be so hot if she wanted to be". Harry then teases "If she could be with you, she get's to be hot yeah?" and Simon laughs and says "Oh yeah, red hot! Its just like a dying plant, needs a little water. Those uptight chicks, you get their pilot lit, they'll suck start a leafblower!". And as Simon brags on about Helen more, Harry looks increasingly angry as Simon says "She has incredible body, a pair of titties, make you wanna stand up and beg for buttermilk, ass like a 10 year old boy!" and Harry finally punches Simon, apparently killing him, but then it cuts back to reality as Harry drives back to the car lot with some expert flash driving skills. Simon then says "What do you say? Shall we start up the paperwork?" and Harry says "Let me think about it, hold it for a day will you?" and Simon smiles and says "Hey because its you..." and winks.
And last of all is the scene where after Simon has been captured, he is taken out into an acquaduct in just his vest and underwear and held at gunpoint near the edge by Harry and Gib, who are still masked.
So, Harry taunts Simon "Son of bitch, do you think you can still elude us, Carlos?!" and Simon scared says "Hey, you've got the wrong guy, my name is Simon". Simon then pleads with them "Come on, there's no reason to kill me, I haven't seen your face..." and they both take off their masks and Simon panics and looks away "I didn't see them! I didn't see em!". Simon then looks up and sees it is Harry and says "Hey, its you! Are you sitll interested in that vet at all?" but Gib intimidates him with Simon's false alias "Hey, Carlos, the game is over! You're history as a terrorist is well documented!" and Simon says "No!" and Gib says "Oh yeah! OH YEAH!!". Simon terrified now pleads with them and says "I'm not a terrorist, I'm nothing! I'm navel lint! I have to lie to women to get laid and I don't score much. I've got a little dick, its pathetic!" prompting a funny look from Harry who has him at gunpoint. Then it becomes too much for Simon, who pees himself, humuliated he says to them "Would a spy pee himself, huh?!" and Harry finally relents and says "Get the fuck out of here! Just beat it, go!" and pushes Simon away. Simon however panics and says "No, you're gonna shoot me! Hey! You can have the car for free! What do you say?!" but Harry ignores him and heads back to the jeep and Gib takes out his gun and says to Simon "Get lost dipshit!" and fires it at the ground a few times before driving of leaving Simon alone in his underwear.
Art Malik is also pretty good in his role as the main villain, Aziz, the leader of the terrorist group, Crimson Jihad, who Harry chases throughout the movie.
Malik has a few notable scenes himself that include the first one where Aziz is talking to Juno Skinner at the art gallery and he poses as a workman while Harry is there posing as a prospective buyer with the surname of Renquist. So, Aziz goes into Juno's office after the meeting and asks her "Miss Skinner, may I have a word with you please?" and he shuts the door and slaps her roughly in the face and admonishes her "Stupid undisciplined bitch!" and Juno says "Its a good thing you're paying me alot of money!". Aziz warns her "You know they surveillancing us and yet you are laughing and flirting like a whore with this Renquist" and Juno says "He checked out OK..." but he slaps her again and says "I do NOT tolerate mistakes!". Juno then asks "What is it you would like me to do?" and Aziz tells her "Find out what this Renquist knows".
Then there is the scene where Aziz having captured Harry and Helen, has one of his nuclear missiles brough out for Harry to see and identify. So, Aziz says to Harry "You know what this is?" and Harry says "I know what this is...its an expresso machine" and Aziz doesn't look amused and Harry continues "No, its a snowcone maker! and Aziz approaches him and Harry asks "Is it a water heater". Aziz the grabs Helen and holds a knife to her and says "This man has been brought here to verify that Crimson Jihad is a nuclear power" and Helen tearfully says "How can he do that?! He's just a salesman for Christ's sake!". Aziz then holds the knife to her throat and says "You're wrong about him and the last thing you will see is your blood spray across his face!" and Harry relents and tells Aziz what it is.
And last of all is the scene where Aziz and his men arrive on US soil and do a broadcast from an office block while holding Dana captive. So, as the TV crew are brought up, he addresses them and says "We are all prepared to die! All it will take is the turn of a key" and the reporter asks "Which key?" and Aziz points and says "That key!" but its not there and Aziz shouts at his men "Who's taken the key?!" and we see Dana has it and runs off as Aziz chases after her up to the rooftops. And as Harry arrives in the harrier jet, Aziz and him fight on the jet itself and Aziz grabs his AK-47 and shouts at him "Take this plane down NOW or I'll kill her!! Take it DOWN!!" only for Harry tilt the plane, knocking off Aziz onto the end of one of the jet's missles, which Harry fires off taking Aziz with it as it explodes with his own men's helicopter.
Charlton Heston also makes a brief appearance in the film as Spencer Trilby, Harry and Gib's superior, who strangely enough wears an eyepatch over one of his eyes. Heston does well enough with his short role although he is totally underwritten in the film, so he can only do what he can with what James Cameron has given him to work with here.
And I will mention one of his two scenes being his first one where Trilby admonishes Harry for his botched mission at the start of the film. So, Trilby says "Well Harry, you really screwed pooch last night didn't you?" and Gib says "Well there are different totalities of screwing pooch" and Faisil pitches in and says "Yes its a scale from a perfect mission on one end to a total pooch screw on the other". Trilby then asks Faisil "You're new on Harry's team aren't you?" and Faisil says "Yes" and Trilby asks him "Then how does any of the slack I cut him translate to you?". And as Faisil shows the data they have, Trilby says "So, far this isn't blowing up my skirt gentlemen. You better get them quickly or the president could be waking up with a nuclear weapon in his trunk!".
And last of all Grant Heslov is pretty good also in his role as Faisal, the other member of Harry's team, who is the youngest of the three men.
And I will mention two of Grant's scenes with the first being the one where Harry, Gib and Faisal brief Spencer on their findings on Harry's mission at the start of the film. So, in the scene, Faisil tries to downplay the failure of Harry's pursuit of Aziz and on Trilby's assertion that Harry "screwed the pooch" on the mission. So, Faisil says "Its a scale really, with a perfect mission on one end a total pooch screw on the other". Trilby then grills Faisil and says how does any slack relate to him even if he is new to Harry's team. And after this, Harry sets up another meeting with Juno Skinner, whom he tangos with at the start of the film and Gib and Faisil tease Harry over this and Gib asks Faisil "Care to tango?" and Gib says "Oh yes I would!" and they dance together as Harry says to them "Assholes".
And later on in the scene where Harry, Gib and Faisal finally dig up info on Aziz, Faisil tells Trilby "They call him the Sand Spider" and Trilby asks "Why do they call him that?" and Aziz says "Probably because it sounds scary".
DIRECTOR
Finally moving onto the director, James Cameron does an excellent job here as he confidently handles the film's impressive action sequences and the film itself was the first one to cost 100 million dollars in budget and it certainly shows itself onscreen here. Cameron actually adapted the film from a French spy film, La Totale, which features a very similar premise and he provides for the most part, a funny well written script (although some people might disagree!) which is way better written that Titanic for sure! In fact for me personally, this was Cameron's last really enjoyable film (well in my humble opinion that is) as I was really not keen on Titanic or Avatar, which followed later.
MUSIC
As for the music score, it was by Brad Fiedel, who composed the scores for the first two Terminator films and his score here is excellent and sounds quite different from what we've expected from him in the past as it has a lot more orchestration here than just synthesizers although Fiedel did work on a lot of films in his career until the late 90s when he retired. The score also features plenty of good tracks and moments particularly the theme, which is really good and also the tracks for where Helen and Simon are captured and Harry rescues Dana from Aziz in the harrier jet. So, overall this a very good score and well worth a listen.
FLAWS
As for flaws...yes, I would be lying if I said it didn't have any. ;-)
For starters, I think we can all agree that the scene where Helen is interrogated by Harry is definitely quite unpleasant and a form of torture in its self as Harry cruelly tries to extract the truth from her about the nature of relationship with Simon. To her credit however, Jamie-Lee Curtis plays the scene brilliantly and shows her acting chops very well in it but its a scene that has gotten alot of deserved flack for how Helen's character is treated here.
Another issue is to do with the subplot of Simon and Helen, which is kind of tedious after a while as it takes up at least half an hour of the movie and it does drag the pace down a bit although I do appreciate Bill Paxton has some amusing dialogue in these scenes. However, I can't help but feel that Cameron did drag this subplot out a bit more than he actually should have before getting back to the main action. Further to this, it has to be said that Simon's character is quite offensive also, as he refers to some of the women he has lined up as "skanks" and not just good looking ones, proving more than anything he is a chauvanistic d***.
There are also some ridiculous moments in the film for sure (it is an action movie of course!) such as where Aziz makes that ridiculous motorcycle jump from one hotel roof to another adjacent hotel roof at least several hundred metres apart! Yet in the scene, Aziz perfectly manages to land his bike in the pool without any problems whatsoever! And what's even more stupid is that Harry thinks he can make the same jump on horseback, which is just absolute horse crap in itself! Thankfully the horse is smart enough not to commit suicide as it stops short of the roof although Harry is flung off the horse and hangs on just by the reins and no more. So, Harry is a total arse fo sure if he thought he had ANY chance of realistically making that jump on a horse!
Another slight issue I had was with Harry saying to Helen that they were going to die during his truth drug scene when in the following scene, he tells the interrogator he intends to kill them pretty soon instead. If he was under the truth drug at that point, he could have said to Helen on her question "Are we going to die?" "No, we aren't, I'll kill them and we'll get out of here". However, I guess they just didn't want to raise that as a possibility at that point although I think the interrogator was out the room at this point although the guard might not have been. :-/
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, True Lies remains a very entertaining action film even after 30 years on from its release and features some fun performances from its cast with Arnie, Jamie-Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold all providing fine performances. James Cameron's direction is also very solid and his action sequences are great and provide some good suspense even if the pacing drops a bit during the Helen and Simon subplot and yes he did get some well deserved flack for his interrogation scene with Helen. Despite this though, its still a lot of fun and well worth a look again and I will look forward to when the 4K Blu-ray release comes out later this year.
So, I will rate True Lies:
8.5 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.
Till then bye for now!
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