ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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__________________ True Lies [1994] Trailer


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Coming on the heels of James Cameron's huge Terminator 2:Judgment Day (91), this was a big, slick action adventure in the superspy genre, emulating James Bond but with an American secret agent (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

The movie now has an almost prescient quality to it, reflecting the greatest fear of the free world — not just airplanes being piloted into buildings, but terrorists getting their hands on the ultimate weapon and using it, the nuke.

The movie was regarded completely differently in the pre-911 mindset: a tongue-in-cheek approach, a parody of the Bond superspy adventure, and it also drew criticism for its perceived caricatures of the villains — terrorists from the middle east. Here we have super agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) foiling the bad guys with his daring-do, in the middle of addressing his marital problems.

Nowadays, we expect real-life versions of Tasker to detect and avert similar real-life threats. If one can get by those few seconds of consternation and forget real life for a couple of hours, the viewer can settle back to enjoy some thrilling escapist fare.

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Though described as a parody, director Cameron doesn't let this slide into outright silliness. It may be less a parody and more a copy of the already outrageous Bond films of the sixties and seventies. There's a convincing 'Omega Sector' branch of the U.S.government designed to combat the worst threats, terrorist or otherwise, against the nation.

The top agent is Tasker, who begins the film in a typical big-budget action sequence in another country, where he flawlessly employs his espionage skills, as well as mass killing of better-armed opponents, and knocking down Dobermans (some of this also seemed like an homage to the opening scenes of Goldfinger -1964). This secret agency is headed by an older Nick Fury-type played by Charlton Heston.

But the picture really kicks into high gear when Tasker detects possible adultery on the part of his frumpy wife (Jamie Lee Curtis), who thinks he's just a boring salesman. Both Cameron & Schwarzenegger show they can be very adept at frothy comedy — in fact, this could be Schwarzenegger's best performance. He will never win acting awards, but the scenes of him doing a slow burn and stalking his wife's potential lover-on-the-side (Bill Paxton — hilarious, as usual) are gems.

Also a comical surprise is Tom Arnold as Tasker's partner. He's on the mark in almost every scene he's in. Sometimes his inexperience shows, but generally he's a bright spot in the movie.

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Then you have Curtis doing a startling transformation from typical housewife to sleek femme fatale. This basically happens in the middle of an erotic dance number but I'll never get used to that sudden change in her. Tia Carrere is also very fine as the other femme fatale, a rather nasty one, at that.

Art Malik plays the lead terrorist, who isn't required to do much more than glower and be threatening and sinister. It's a very good cast, no doubt, including a very young Eliza Dushku (future Tru in Tru Calling) as Tasker's daughter.

But the name of the game in a Cameron film is action, and we get some great set pieces in this one. It includes dips into all-out fantasy/sci-fi with the motorcycle stunt to another rooftop and, at one point, and in another scene Tasker breaks the glass on his binoculars by sheer will power.

It escalates (again typical of Cameron's films) until we have jet fighters blowing up well-known bridges and the aforementioned nuke going off as Tasker reacquaints himself with his wife.

As I said, it's all done with a wink and a cheer, all the while gratifying us with impressive visuals. The plot is very entertaining, presenting unexpected twists mostly in relation to the subplot involving Tasker's wife. It's a bit surprising that a sequel never surfaced, perhaps with a grown-up Tasker daughter grabbing the reins of super-spying, though we seem to hear about a possible one every other year or so.

BoG's Score: 8.5 out of 10

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True Trivia: Though this was a remake of a French film called "La Totale!", about a secret agent whose wife thinks he is a telecommunications employee, it very much resembles the Marvel Comics concept of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the sixties, about a top secret law-enforcement organization, including Heston as a Nick Fury-styled agency leader who may have been a top field agent back in the sixties.

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___________True Lies (1994): Final Fight Scene


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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And by God, they STILL haven't released this incredible movie (the best action film ever) on Blu-ray!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

For the scene of the MAC submachine gun bouncing down the stairs, firing all the way, they tried all sorts of tricks to make it work, to no avail. So they went to an expert on the MAC family of weapons and asked for his help. He told them to just throw the weapon down the stairs, and it will do what they want all on it's own. They tried it, and it did just what he said it would do.

Watching Charlton Heston in the movie, you get the impression that he is the most dangerous person you could ever meet.

David.

[The Spike]

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
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

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Despite the awesome competition in this enjoyable genre, True Lies is still my favorite action/adventure.

Years ago a friend of mine said the whole subplot of Arnold's and Jamie Lee's troubled marriage somewhat spoiled the movie for him.

Other than that one departure from sanity, my friend is a very intelligent guy.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Jamie Lee Curtis performed the helicopter rescue scene herself. At her insistence, director James Cameron agreed to let her perform this scary spectacle.

According to Jamie Lee Curtis, on the TV special promoting "True Lies," it was Cameron's idea for her to do the helicopter work; she said, "Oh, yeah. And just where are you going to be while I'm dangling way up there in the air, Jim?"

And, according to her, he said, "Hanging out the door filming you with a hand-held camera." So she decided that if he was willing to do that to get the shot, she could stand to do it, too. Curtis did the helicopter stunt on her 35th birthday: November 22, 1993.

Note from me: Even though the idea that Miss Curtis was actually hanging from the helicopter is hard to believe, this seems so well documented I can't dismiss it as false.

~ When Harry tells Gib that Helen is having an affair, Gib tells a story about his second wife taking everything when she left him, even the ice cube trays from the freezer. This is a direct reference to Tom Arnold's divorce from Roseanne Barr that was happening at the same time - she was reported to have taken his ice cube trays when she left him as well. Arnold told the story to James Cameron on the set while saying: "What kind of sick bitch takes the ice cube trays out of the freezer?" Cameron thought the line was hilarious, and incorporated it into the film.

Note from me: Arnold is the best "funny sidekick" in any action movie I've ever seen.

~ The set of bra and matching panties worn by Helen Tasker during the striptease scene were Jamie Lee Curtis's own.

Curtis rehearsed the scene extensively with director James Cameron, and it was there that the fall she makes in the middle of the dance was conceived (it didn't happen spontaneously during the actual shooting, as is often claimed).

Arnold Schwarzenegger was not told of this beforehand, and this is hinted at when Harry briefly sits up in alarm, realizes that he is breaking character, and then relaxes. They did another take with the same gag, but Harry's reaction didn't look as spontaneous.

Note from me: That is a key moment in this great scene. If makes it all seem very convincing.

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger's biggest challenge for the movie was not doing all the physical stunts, but dancing a tango. He had to take dancing lessons to realistically perform the dance. He rehearsed the scene for about six months, as he wanted to make sure he was as good at the tango as Al Pacino was in Scent of a Woman (1992).

Note from me: When I first saw an episode of Dancing With the Stars I thought Carrie Ann Inaba was the sexy lady in this movie! Later I learned that the actress was Tia Carrere. But it's ironic that she and Arnold danced the tango, and he practiced for six months to get it right!

~ Tom Arnold didn't expect to get a role in the movie, and went to the audition mostly for the chance to meet director James Cameron. He did some scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Cameron immediately noticed the chemistry between the two actors.

Afterwards, Arnold jokingly said about Schwarzenegger: "He's not that big, I think I can take him", which highly amused Cameron and sealed the deal.

Initially, 20th Century Fox objected (Arnold's reputation at the time wasn't positive, mostly due to his public antics with then-wife Roseanne Barr), but when Cameron threatened to take the movie somewhere else if Arnold couldn't be cast, they relented.

When Arnold later learned about this, he was grateful to Cameron for taking a chance on him. He became a good friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cameron afterwards.

Note from me: How many Hollywood filmmakers would stand up for an actor in this manner. Wow . . . Cameron is a great guy!

~ The US Government supplied three Marine Harriers and their pilots for a fee of $100,736 ($2,410 per hour).

Note from me: If the Marines offered rides in a Harrier of one hour at that price, I'd be tempted to take them up on it!

~ James Cameron originally hired a team of writers to help him come up with the film's jokes. However, after being mostly unsatisfied with their work, Cameron let them go and decided to try his own hand at comedy. He rewrote the script from scratch and kept only two jokes from the team of writers (one of which being Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous "You're fired!" line).

Note from me: I LOVE the humor in this movie! Does this mean that James supplied the great lines delivered by Tom Arnold like my favorite . . . "Women! You can't live with 'em . . . and can't kill 'em!"

~ Tia Carrere named this as her favorite role of all time "because I got to be a villain."

Note from me: She did an amazing job.

~ When asked during an interview whether his wife was bothered by him sitting there watching Jamie Lee Curtis strip, Arnold Schwarzenegger said that she asked him about it and he assured her "Honey, I hated every hour of it!"

Note from me: That scene with Jamie Lee Curtis is sexy as hell. I envy James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger for being able to watch Miss Curtis strut her stuff!

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't supposed to drop the tape recorder. James Cameron liked it, and kept it in.

Note from me: I was the perfect moment in this perfect scene.

~ Tom Arnold said he has the same chemistry with Arnold Schwarzenegger off-screen as he does on. They became good friends during production.

Note from me: I'm glad to heart this. I'd hate to learn that their great on-screen relationship was all just acting.

~ Jamie Lee Curtis called the film "without question, the greatest experience of my professional life so far."

Note from me: The romantic element of this story is what gives it the emotional impact I love the most!

~ The appearance and traits of Spencer Trilby (Charlton Heston) is based on Nick Fury, a Marvel Comics character. Like Fury, Trilby has an eyepatch, and the same mannerisms; as well as heading a peacekeeping organization. At one point, Cameron wanted to be a comic book penciller, and does a lot of his own concept art. He even designed the entire T-800 endoskeleton.

Note from me: Cameron is a fantastic artist!

~ A sequel to True Lies (1994) was once in the works, which would've reunited the principal cast as well as been directed by James Cameron, who directed the first movie. A script was even ready for this sequel, and had the movie been made, it would've been released sometime in 2002. The sequel idea was eventually scrapped (or at least indefinitely shelved) due to script problems as well the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Cameron even said in an interview that he dropped his sequel plans because "in this day and age, terrorism just isn't funny anymore".

Note from me: America was changed by the 9/11 attacked. This was just one way in many others.

~ The striptease scene drew some criticism for its perceived misogynistic content. Director James Cameron later said that Jamie Lee Curtis had heavy input in how the scene was played out. The original idea was for Helen to go completely nude, but in the dark so that only her silhouette would be seen.

It was actually Curtis's own suggestion to do it in full light while keeping her underwear on. She demonstrated it to Cameron beforehand, who remarked that he was reminded there what is so cool about his job. He also noted that most of the criticism of the scene came from men, while most of the female reviewers praised it as an empowering and even liberating scene for Helen.

Note from me: A very old friend of mine said the thought the movie was ruined by the subplot between Helen and Harry. He disliked the fact that the couple was have marrital problems. I told him that it gave them tremendous dept and drama.

Four years later he told me his wife was divorcing him because he was distant, uncommunicative, and sexual disappointing. I suspect that his opinion of this movie has changed because of his personal experiences.

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger said that this was the "film I was meant for."

Note from me: I couldn't agree more. Arnold was brilliant — and if I hear anyone say otherwise I'll use me CIA contacts to have them liquidated.

~ Simon (Bill Paxton) and Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) are mirror images of each other. Simon is a salesman pretending to be a spy and Harry is a spy pretending to be a salesman.

Note from me: Bill Paxton's comic character is a brilliant addition to this movie.

~ After Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), James Cameron initially wanted to make "Spider-Man: The Movie" from an R-rated script that he had written earlier, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Octopus.

However, he thought that the film would be technically challenging at that point, and Carolco Pictures wanted to do the movie on a much smaller budget than Cameron had envisioned. He and Schwarzenegger then made this movie instead.

The collapse of Carolco (and the ensuing rights issues) as well as other commitments caused Cameron to abandon the project, which was heavily re-written as Spider-Man (2002) and directed by Sam Raimi. Cameron and DiCaprio would later work on Titanic (1997).

Note from me: Between America's terrorist attacks and the Corona virus, Hollywood as been devastated . . .

~ James Cameron thought of the film as a "love story" first and foremost.

Note from me: I agree completely! The love story is what gives this movie it's heart and soul!

~ James Cameron had known Jamie Lee Curtis since she had been directed by his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow in Blue Steel (1990), and always wanted to work with her.

However, his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger initially did not see her as Helen, his on-screen wife. Not wanting to hurt Cameron's feelings, Schwarzenegger relayed the message through his agent, and Cameron respected his wish. He auditioned many actresses to find a replacement, but after watching Curtis in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), he knew he would not find one.

So Cameron went to Schwarzenegger and asked if he trusted him. When Schwarzenegger confirmed, Cameron said "it's going to be Jamie." Schwarzenegger begrudgingly agreed, and, to his credit, showed no negative feelings towards Curtis during the first days on set. In fact, he became so impressed with her performance that he later shared top billing with her.

Note from me: I think this demonstrates what a fine man both Arnold and James are.

~ This was one of the last first-run films to have a 70mm release. James Cameron personally paid for 16 70mm prints of the film to be struck.

Note from me: Well, damn. This is extremely annoying!

Cameron goes to great lengths to make the theatrical presentations as sharp as possible — and yet here we are, 26 years later, with nothing but the crappy a low-quality DVD of this great movie, instead of a high-quality Blu-ray!

And this next trivial item is plum insulting!

~ As of 2020, this film, along with The Abyss (1989) are the only theatrical feature films by James Cameron that have not been released on a high definition home video format. Basically any other major feature film has been released on Blu-ray, with some already released on Ultra HD Blu-ray.

The delay stems from the fact that all film transfers must be approved by Cameron and he is simply too busy with the Avatar sequels.

Note from me: Bullshit! Give me damn break, James! How long does it take to "approve" the release of a Blu-ray version?

It wouldn't have to be perfect to be better than the disappointing DVD I'm watching right now! I actually threw out my old DVD and waited for a Blu-ray for several years.

But I recently bought a new DVD when I finally realized it was THIS sorry excuse or NOTHING!

Last but not least, the IMDB trivia item below is actually from one of my favorite comedies, Who Was That Lady (1960).

~ Certain elements of the plot for this great comedy resemble True Lies in which Jamie Lee Curtis becomes involved with government agents without knowing her husband is really a spy!

In this movie, Janet Leigh becomes involved with government agents while thinking her husband (Tony Curtis) works for the FBI . . . even though he actually doesn't!

And by a strange coincidence, Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis!

Note from me: For the record, guys, I'm the one who submitted this trivia item to IMDB a few years ago, and it was approved.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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Well . . . I suppose she could have burned down the house. With him in it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]

[Bud Brewster]

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Oops, I goofed! I amended my comment. Thanks

I changed it to this.
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~ The US Government supplied three Marine Harriers and their pilots for a fee of $100,736 ($2,410 per hour).

Note from me: If the Marines offered rides in a Harrier of one hour at that price, I'd be tempted to take them up on it! !
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)