True Lies (1994)

"Fast, flashy, furious and funny. True Lies is a terrific film.  People Magazine
"...over the top with outlandish and extravagant special effects scenes...  Roger Ebert

Editor's Note Secret agent Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a busy man; when he's not saving the world from terrorists, he's under cover as a boring computer salesman, juggling the everyday needs of his wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), and his daughter. While Harry and his partner, Gib (Tom Arnold), work to stop a gang of international terrorists from getting their hands on missing nuclear weapons, Helen, feeling neglected, begins a covert affair with a sleazy used car salesman pretending to be a spy. When Harry finds out, he decides to give Helen a lesson in spy games, which backfires when the couple is kidnapped and stuck in the middle of an international terrorist crisis. Director James Cameron topped his previous spectaculars with this action-comedy extravaganza (the most expensive film ever made before TITANIC), featuring amazing stunts and special effects. Actual Harrier jets were hired from the U.S Air Force for their sequence, while production dangled from a skyscraper over the streets of Miami for the amazing climax. TRUE LIES is based on a 1991 French spy comedy entitled LA TOTALE! (Translation: THE JACKPOT).

	Arnold Schwarzenegger
	Bill Paxton
	Jamie Lee Curtis
	Tom Arnold
	James Cameron - Director
	James Cameron - Producer
	S. Austin - Producer
	James Cameron - Screenplay
	Didier Kaminka - Screenplay
	Simon Michael - Writer/Story

"To Cameron, moviemaking isn't just a business, it's an adventure. 'I like to keep challenging myself,' he says, 'so I try different things. And a lot of the things I like to try are expensive. I will say what I say about every budget: the price of a ticket is $7.50, and you're getting a lot of movie for it. End of story." ----Richard Corliss, TIME, July 18, 1994

New York Times
"...Cameron's latest, giddiest roller-coaster ride....TRUE LIES brings out the gentler, funnier side of [Schwarzenegger and Curtis]....Sensational..." 07/15/1994 p.C1

USA Today
"...TRUE LIES explodes onscreen like a Molotov cocktail that's been shaken and stirred..." -- 3 out of 4 stars 07/15/1994 p.1D

Entertainment Weekly
"...An elaborately scaled comic suspense thriller....A likably disposable pop cocktail..." -- Rating: B pp.30-2

Chicago Sun-Times
"...The director, James Cameron, is a master of action, and when he's doing his thing, no one does it better....On the basis of stunts, special effects and pure action, it delivers sensationally..." 07/15/1994 p.35

Washington Post 0 of 10
Nuclear terrorists take on the nuclear family and live just long enough to rue the day in True Lies, a slick, sick espionage thriller featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the James Bond of the '90s. It's really the same old Arn-man, except that he defends traditional American values like misogyny and xenophobia while dressed in a tux. In addition, the lovable lummox speaks six languages fluently (English doesn't seem to be one of them) and scopes fabulous femmes fatales, though all the while remaining faithful to his mousy missis (Jamie Lee Curtis) back in the Washington 'burbs. Deceptively labeled a domestic epic by writer-director James Cameron, the $100 million movie is, in fact, a weird hybrid of action juggernaut, buddy cop caper and reactionary soft-core pornography. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll exult in the blood of your enemies. But most of all, you'll marvel at Curtis's bountiful bazooms. - Rita Kempley

Chicago Sun-Times 0 of 10
It's stuff like [elaborate action sequences that] we go to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies for, and True Lies has a lot of it: Laugh-out-loud moments when the violence is so cartoonish we don't take it seriously, and yet are amazed at its inventiveness and audacity. Schwarzenegger has found himself in a lot of unlikely situations in his action-packed career, and True Lies seems determined to raise the ante - to go over the top with outlandish and extravagant special effects scenes... [Jamie Lee] Curtis earns some laughs... The physical humor is effective, and she's charmingly sexy and klutzy... The director, James Cameron, is a master of action (he worked with Schwarzenegger on Terminator 2), and when he's doing his thing, no one does it better... Cameron is credited with the screenplay (which is "based on" a French screenplay by three others), and keeps a nice undertone of humor going... One nice surprise is Tom Arnold, who has a major role - the equal of Curtis' - and fills it nicely. He has an everyman quality about him, and an ability to deliver an irreverent aside, which make him a good foil for Schwarzenegger. And when he gives advice on divorce and marriage, which he does frequently, he sounds as if he speaks from experience. True Lies doesn't rank as high as Terminator 2 and Total Recall among Schwarzenegger's action epics for a couple of reasons: The unconvincing interlude where the hero suspects adultery, and the perfunctory nature of the plot. Both earlier titles had tighter, more absorbing stories. But on the basis of stunts, special effects and pure action, it delivers sensationally. - Roger Ebert