Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407190003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The two films do share many of the same flaws and strengths, but this year's Schwarzenegger budget-buster manages to be both better and worse than last summer's flop. The action sequences are louder and more ridiculous; the humor is sharper. The boring scenes are really flat, and the sexual material is embarrassing for all concerned.
At the beginning and at the end, ``True Lies'' is a spoof of James Bond movies. It opens with Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) stealing his way into a swanky party in a Swiss chateau and then blasting his way out, but not before he's done a quick tango with bad girl Juno (Tia Carrere).
Harry and his comic sidekick Gib (Tom Arnold, who steals the movie) are superspies for a Washington agency with a funny name. But Harry's wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), believes they're boring computer salesmen; so boring that she's thinking of a walk on the wild side. Her possible paramour is Simon (Bill Paxton), a sleazeball who's convinced her that he's a spy.
Her possible infidelity is the focus of the long middle section. It was probably handled with a light, comic touch in the original, a French film that provided the loose basis for this one. In writer-director-producer James Cameron's hands, though, the subplot takes on a nasty misogynist edge. The key scene involves some strong sexual humiliation that earns the film its R-rating and makes it completely inappropriate for young viewers.
After that, the story returns to its main theme - Arab terrorists with several nuclear devices - and the scene shifts to the Florida Keys. Individually, the big action sequences work fairly well: a long chase/shoot-out in downtown Washington, and another chase on the bridges between the Keys and then in Miami. The stuntwork and special effects there are strictly top-drawer.
The performances aren't bad, either. This is the best pure acting that Schwarzenegger has done to date. He's believable and funny both as the superhero and as the suburban dad. Jamie Lee Curtis has her moments, too, but her role is clumsily written.
In his attempts to give the material a lighter tone, Cameron has forgotten the importance of pace in this kind of escapism. (``Speed'' is still the year's best.) He also neglected to create a decent villain. The evil Aziz (Art Malik) is nothing more than a collection of Arab-bashing stereotypes rolled up into one character. Cameron would never have gotten away with such ham-fisted treatment of any other ethnic or racial group. It's unfair, lazy and dramatically unsatisfying.
That's what undoes ``True Lies.'' Despite the technical virtuosity, the conflicts aren't meant to be taken seriously. The film never really works on an emotional level, even the shallow emotional level of a summer action movie.
True Lies **
A Twentieth Century Fox release playing at the Valley View Mall 6 and Salem Valley 8. 135 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, very strong sexual content. Not for children.
by CNB