True Lies

As I always say, as a rule, mono-genre films are not as attractive as those where there is a genre hodgepodge. And that's what True Lies is about. As much as I don't like action movies, here it's perfectly combined with comedy and a dash of romance, and the result is perfect. On the technical side of things, I have to commend the great cinematography and excellent editing of all the action scenes. As for the actors, I have no words. Arnie is just good at tough guy roles and he really excelled here. Jamie Lee Curtis was very good in the role of the naive desperate wife who can turn into a dragoness, and the icing on the already quite excellent cake was the dopey and unlucky Bill Paxton. In short, if you're going to make an action movie, combine it with comedy, add a great cast and put someone like James Cameron in the director's chair and it's a smash. (07/17/2010)

I can't help it, but Arnie using his alternating 3-4 standard grimaces with more intensity than ever before does not make for good acting. The wooden muscle man walks through the Bond exhibition with the elegance of a scared high school student, and one has to think that beating up villains suits him better. James Cameron did a pretty good job, but I really don't understand why a film with such a sparse plot has a full 144 minutes, when the content would fit into 90 minutes and the jokes into 20. Some of the action sequences (especially the one with Harrier) are great, whilst the seductive dance by Jamie Lee Curtis is really sexy and certain gags are perfect (for example, the one with the battery in the camera is still quite current today). Unfortunately, I was bored for most of the film and tried to find something truly supportive in this mix of family comedy and spy action. It's definitely not a story that fizzles out, it's definitely not Arnie's awkward etude, and it’s not even the bulging bodice of Jamie Lee and Miss Carrere's killer body... It's not even Cameron's direction... so what the hell is it??? (04/03/2006)

A visually stunning gem with the typical directorial signature of a master. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers one of his best performances here, becoming a true charmer, he is he is absolutely irresistible as agent Harry Tasker. Throughout the movie, we get countless gags and see several excellent comedic scenes. The ending is one of those action sequences that are bound to make every viewer hold their breath. Another multimillion-dollar production where the money is truly visible. Everyone put their heart into it, including the King of the World, James Cameron, he truly is one of the best directors of all time. (01/27/2006)

I had the idea that True Lies was one of the more digestible films of the acting genius Arnold Schwarzenegger, or rather one of several movies that I can give 3 stars. However, when I repeated the experience years later, it quickly became clear to me that the film contains a lot of nonsense, and the humor it possesses no longer appeals to me. The French original seems to me to be two classes better. Here the American budget and Arnold's myth earn it points. Overall impression: 45%. (04/22/2013)

Sometimes there is great power in simplicity. Arnold the is simplest famous actor ever, but we eat his every fist and grin, and there’s also Jamie Lee Curtis, who looks simply divine in a bathing suit, sidekick Bill Paxton, who is intellectually simple and wryly funny, and James Cameron, who can make a simple action comedy almost as surely and imaginatively as he can make his visual spectacles. It's unnecessarily long and the ending evokes the overblown Commando from the 80s (especially in terms of body count), but it’s still great fun and one of the best representatives of Hollywood action of the 90s. 85% (10/12/2012)