True Lies
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- For the video game, see True Lies (video game).
| True Lies | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for True Lies. |
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| Directed by | James Cameron |
| Produced by | James Cameron Stephanie Austin |
| Written by | Claude Zidi Simon Michaël Didier Kaminka James Cameron |
| Starring | Arnold Schwarzenegger Jamie Lee Curtis Tom Arnold Bill Paxton Art Malik Tia Carrere |
| Distributed by | - USA/France - 20th Century Fox - Non-USA/France - Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1994 (USA) August 12, 1994 (UK) |
| Running time | 144 min. |
| Language | English/Arabic/German |
| Budget | $100,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
True Lies is a 1994 action movie/comedy remake of the 1991 french film La Totale!, directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston and Art Malik. Eliza Dushku makes an early career appearance.
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[edit] Plot Summary
The movie begins, James Bond-style, as secret agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) infiltrates the alpine chateau of an international arms smuggler. Harry's mission is to track down nuclear warheads stolen from Kazakhstan. He is aided by his fellow Omega Sector agents, Albert "Gib" Gibson (Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov), who communicate with him from a computerized van. Inside the chateau, Tasker meets Juno Skinner (Carrere), an antiquities dealer, and the two dance the tango (over the song "Por Una Cabeza" - William Schimmel's version [1]) while Harry arranges an explosive escape.
In a twist for an action hero, Tasker has an ordinary home life. His wife, Helen (Curtis), is unaware that her husband is a spy and believes he is a computer salesman. Helen thinks Harry is boring, and their daughter Dana (Dushku), doesn't respect her father.
Working undercover, Harry and Gib contact Juno Skinner at her Washington D.C. office. It turns out Skinner is using antiquities to smuggle the warheads into the United States on behalf of a radical Islamic terrorist faction. The faction's leader, Aziz (Malik), follows Harry and Gib when he believes they are asking too many questions.
An extended action sequence begins as Harry allows the faction members to tail him into a shopping center. He leads them into a restroom, which is destroyed in the subsequent melee. Aziz flees the battle on a stolen motorcycle, followed by Harry on a police horse. The chase leads into a hotel, where Aziz rides the motorcycle into an elevator. The pursuit continues on the hotel roof, and Aziz escapes by jumping into a swimming pool on the roof of a neighboring building.
Because of this action, Harry is late getting home and misses his own birthday party. To make amends, he visits Helen at her office the next day. He overhears Helen talking with a co-worker about her affair with Simon (Paxton). The subplot that follows (for the next third of the film) involves Harry's use of his agency's surveillance methods to learn more about Helen's liaison with Simon. At first, Harry believes Simon is an enemy agent, but soon discovers that Simon is a used car salesman who pretends to be a spy in order to seduce women. Harry and his team follow Helen to Simon's house, which they raid using SWAT tactics. Helen is taken prisoner and interrogated by Harry and Gib. Under interrogation, Helen admits that she never slept with Simon, but that she craves adventure that she believes her husband can never provide.
Harry gives Helen an assignment he thinks will appeal to her need for excitement. He enlists her in a mock spy operation which leads her to a hotel suite where she performs a striptease for Harry, who hides his face in shadow. Just as Helen discovers Harry through his disguise, the terrorists return. Harry and Helen are taken prisoner.
At the terrorists' hideout, a small island in the Florida Keys, Aziz reveals that his faction has four of the stolen warheads and intends to detonate them. One is armed and set to blow up the island. Harry weakly apologizes to Helen just as she gives him a solid punch to the face that sends him to the ground. The two are eventually tied up as Skinner shows up, embarrassing Harry in the process by manipulating Helen into believing they may have had an affair (which they didn't). Helen only finds out more about Harry's secret past when Harry is injected with truth serum from a sadistic doctor he eventually kills. Harry and Helen manage to escape just as the terrorists flee the hideout with the other warheads. However, the two separate in all the gunplay and Harry escapes into the water just as Aziz launches a missile from a rocket launcher, setting off an explosion and thinking he has eliminated Harry. Helen is taken hostage by Skinner.
Once reunited with Gib, Harry coordinates an attack on the terrorist convoy, which is driving up the Overseas Highway connecting the Florida Keys. A limo escorting Skinner and Helen are in tow up the bridge. When her guard is down, Helen attacks Skinner and wrestles her gun away from her, but not before killing the driver and causing the limo to spiral out of control as it veers up the bridge. Harry eventually manages to rescue Helen just as the limo descends into the water through a destroyed portion of the bridge (presumably sending Skinner to her death in the process). Two of the stolen warheads are destroyed, while the bomb back at the hideout is allowed to explode relatively harmlessly.
In the finale, Harry goes to the rescue of his daughter, who was kidnapped (offscreen) by the terrorists. This leads to a climactic battle with Aziz and his men at the top of a skyscraper, with Harry piloting a Harrier jet through the city of Miami. Nervously standing on the jet in mid air, a panicky Aziz threatens to shoot Dana as she clings to the front of the jet with her father. Harry signals Dana with a nod as she understands, just as he tips the jet sideways, causing Aziz's jacket to be caught on one of the jet's missiles. "You're fired." Harry says to Aziz just as he launches the projectile through a building and into a helicopter piloted by Aziz's men into a fireball.
The movie concludes "One Year Later..." with the Taskers back at home, though Helen and Dana are now aware of Harry's secret profession. Indeed, Helen has become Harry's partner, as they go off on a mission together. The film ends as the couple dance a tango.
British actor Art Malik who played central villain Salim Abu Aziz was offered the part without having to audition. It turns out that James Cameron was a fan of Malik's past work and told the actor that his entire career had been an audition.
[edit] Reviews and reaction
Upon its release in 1994, the film garnered mostly positive reviews.
James Berardinelli from Reelviews gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, saying "I have yet to decide whether True Lies is a better comedy or action film. It contains heavy elements of both, and plays them equally well. Unlike such failed attempts as Hudson Hawk and Last Action Hero, however, True Lies is a big, grandiose movie that has an immense amount of fun while never taking itself too seriously." and "Speed (which was released in the same year) and True Lies deliver a summer one-two punch that will leave viewers squirming with excitement and gasping for breath."
The movie relies heavily on stunts, often performed by Schwarzenegger and Curtis themselves. It's largely remembered for action set pieces such as a Marine AV-8B Harrier blowing up the Seven Mile Bridge, and Helen being scooped up by helicopter out of a falling car.
The movie is an extended remake of the 1991 French film La Totale, directed by Claude Zidi and starring Thierry Lhermitte and Miou-Miou.
The movie earned $146 million and $232.6 million abroad, making it third best-grossing movie of 1994, and also a comeback for Schwarzenegger following the disastrous Last Action Hero of the previous summer. For her performance, Jamie Lee Curtis received a 1994 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy.
[edit] Sequels
Online news reports in 2002 quoted actress Eliza Dushku as saying there was going to be a sequel reuniting the original cast and writer/director James Cameron. Director James Cameron originally planned on making a sequel sometime in 2002 (according to MovieHole.net) - but put his plans on hold once the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred in NYC, claiming that "in this day and age, terrorism isn't funny." However, in 2005 both Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron told MovieHole.net that there were plans underway for a sequel once again - and that it would be Schwarzenegger's first starring role following his political career as the Governor of California.[citation needed] Cameron said it ultimately depended on whether Arnold was re-elected as to when the film would be made.[citation needed] Since he was re-elected in 2006, it's highly improbable that a sequel would ever be made.
[edit] Trivia
- In The Kid & I, Tom Arnold plays an alter-ego of himself that makes a film that is inspired by True Lies.
- True Lies has also been spoofed in the 1996 comedy Spy Hard, starring Leslie Nielsen.
- This was the first movie ever to have the computer-generated/animated 20th Century Fox logo bumper, where the "camera" moves down and around the logo while "searchlights" flash into the "lens" as the extended CinemaScope fanfare plays in the background.
- The song 'Por Una Cabeza', featured in the tango scenes at the beginning and end of the movie, can also be heard in the Nazi party scene early in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993) and also Scent Of A Woman (1993).
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech in the 2004 Republican National Convention made reference to the movie True Lies, mocking the Democratic Party.
- Harry Tasker's removal of the frogman suit to reveal a tuxedo is lifted directly from the opening scene of "Goldfinger".
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Arnold Schwarzenegger | Harry Tasker |
| Jamie Lee Curtis | Helen Tasker |
| Tom Arnold | Albert Gibson |
| Tia Carrere | Juno Skinner |
| Art Malik | Salim Abu Aziz |
| Bill Paxton | Simon |
| Eliza Dushku | Dana Tasker |
[edit] Non-Movie Quotes
In the 2004 Republican National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in "True Lies," said this quote making reference to the movie: "One of my movies was 'True Lies.' And that's what the Democrats should've called their convention."
