THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 62 lines
ARNIE HAS GOT his gun - again.
It's difficult to get excited about it, even if ``Eraser,'' Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to serious action, is filled with back-to-back action scenes. It's overkill.
Turn up the volume full blast and stage one over-the-top action scene after another and, in this case, all you really have is noise.
Maybe it's because ``Eraser'' comes midsummer, after other nonsensical actioners such as ``The Rock'' and ``Mission: Impossible'' have already milked our tolerance for this type of ride. In fact, the imagination of the filmmakers has been tested so sorely that two of the action scenes from ``Mission'' are repeated here - a shootout that shatters a fish tank and a supposedly tense break-in.
Despite its reported $100 million budget, ``Eraser,'' directed with no levity by Charles Russell, looks like a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie rushed out on the quick.
Ah-nold plays a U.S. marshal in charge of hiding folks who are in the Witness Protection Program. In effect, he erases them. He's assigned to protect a federal worker, played by Vanessa Williams, who says she's uncovered ``the biggest scandal since Iran-Contra.'' (If that logic follows through, will some of the characters here run for Congress in the sequel?) Williams is a strong action lead, suggesting she has acting abilities to augment her vocal talents. Her decidedly unromantic role gives her few scenes with Arnold.
James Caan, effective at suggesting mania, is the villain. James Coburn is the leader of the government program. James Cromwell suggests that his moment of surprise Oscar fame with ``Babe'' was fleeting. He talks dirty here and then disappears. Robert Pastorelli of TV's ``Murphy Brown'' show is comic relief, but he has a small part. (Arnold must have noticed that comic Tom Arnold stole ``True Lies.'')
Ultimately, the film will be judged by its special effects rather than its plot. Alligators break loose in New York's Central Park, which gives Arnold a chance to say, ``You're luggage'' after shooting one of them.
The scene, though, that gives away the ridiculous nature of the film is one in which Arnold jumps from a plane without a parachute, grabs the side and, somehow, picks up a parachute in midair. To add to the foolishness, there is a secret X-ray vision gun that blows targets across the room.
For James Bond, or perhaps Buck Rogers, this might work, but this film asks you to take it seriously. Within its genre, it is routine. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
WARNER BROS.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vanessa Williams team up to stop an
illegal shipment of X-ray vision guns in ``Eraser.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Eraser''
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, James Caan, James
Coburn, Robert Pastorelli
Director: Charles Russell
MPAA rating: R (violence, some strong language)
Mal's rating: Two stars by CNB