-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
65% Gross Racist Dad Joke, 35% Spy Shit, 5% PaxtonTrue Lies: Cameron's Worst Film
- Thread starter Bobby Roberts
- Start date
- Status
RustyNails
Member
Do you also love the racist stereotypes?
I always saw this movie from an Arnold perspective, not a James Cameron one.
Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando, The Running Man, Total Recall, Terminator 2... the guy was simply on fire, knocking out legendary movie after legendary movie.
And then comes Last Action Hero, and it's like he's done with being Arnold, and now he's playing a parody of Arnold. Okaayyy. Maybe this is just a one-off. Arnold's played around with stuff like Kindergarten Cop before (which was also great), so it's fine, it's fine.
Then True Lies comes out, and I really wanted to like it. I can't say I really even thought of it as a comedy. Now that you mention it, comedy + James Cameron does seem like a bad idea. It was just a movie that had some parts that I liked, and some parts that I tried to forget. I should mention that even as a kid I found the Jamie Lee Curtis parts super creepy and uncomfortable, and was a little weirded out by how all the guys I went with thought it was awesome.
And then a couple months after True Lies, Arnold came out with Junior.
I remember the marketing for Eraser saying it was a return to form for Arnold, but Eraser was weak, and it was followed soon after by Batman & Robin.
So that's my view on True Lies, as what felt like the beginning of the end of classic Arnold.
Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando, The Running Man, Total Recall, Terminator 2... the guy was simply on fire, knocking out legendary movie after legendary movie.
And then comes Last Action Hero, and it's like he's done with being Arnold, and now he's playing a parody of Arnold. Okaayyy. Maybe this is just a one-off. Arnold's played around with stuff like Kindergarten Cop before (which was also great), so it's fine, it's fine.
Then True Lies comes out, and I really wanted to like it. I can't say I really even thought of it as a comedy. Now that you mention it, comedy + James Cameron does seem like a bad idea. It was just a movie that had some parts that I liked, and some parts that I tried to forget. I should mention that even as a kid I found the Jamie Lee Curtis parts super creepy and uncomfortable, and was a little weirded out by how all the guys I went with thought it was awesome.
And then a couple months after True Lies, Arnold came out with Junior.
I remember the marketing for Eraser saying it was a return to form for Arnold, but Eraser was weak, and it was followed soon after by Batman & Robin.
So that's my view on True Lies, as what felt like the beginning of the end of classic Arnold.
Love this movie for what it is: 90's Arnie comedy. Obviously heavy comedy with great action a fantastic corn dog lines. Tom Arnold kills it in this movie.
And this. I think any group as terrorists in this situation would have brought similar criticism.
And this. I think any group as terrorists in this situation would have brought similar criticism.
LyleLanley
Banned
Lol, this thread is great.
ryutaro's mama
Member
Yeah, it wasn't the beginning of the end. IT WAS THE END. It was the last solid Arnold outing. Starting with Eraser, shit went downhill QUICK.
finowns
Member
I doubt majority of people could tell you who directed it. It remains a popular film and reappears on the movie channels every couple years.
deffo
MisterFalcon
Member
The idea that the most hardcore jihadi group in the world would use a nuclear bomb for a demonstration on a remote deserted island first if they had them seems pretty silly now.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Sure, I guess he's obviously a "bad guy" from going from never being there for the family to going into absolutely insane jealousy mode and comical misappropriation of national defense resources.
But there's a dramatic shift from wacky antics to being legitimately bad because of those scenes, but the film's tone never shifts a away from treating it like wacky antics. Particularly when the touching music starts playing when his wife breaks down from the bullying to say she loves him, before they immediately threaten her into prostitution.
And this is after the film they've already strongly set up the theme of her wanting a more exciting life, thus he is sort of giving her what she wants, which is continued to the end when she becomes a full time spy. That would be a positive thing without the part where they outright threaten her into doing it, even if she didn't want to.
It's a guilty pleasure of mine, in that it is constantly piling on more cheese and absurdity until the film's completely ridiculous finale. And then they make out in front of a nuclear explosion. I think your analysis is pretty spot-on, though. The movie has many horrible messages if people don't understand that this is lowest-common-denominator crap.
I'm offended that the slim white guy was portrayed as a perv.
This thread is going places.
HyperZone<3
Member
a person's views and critical faculties can evolve over time. Lots of 80's/90's anime has aged poorly for me for this reason even as I can appreciate its technical virtuosity. I don't really enjoy Wicked City as I once did, for example.
haven't seen True Lies in an awfully long time. But I do remember well how great Tome Arnold and Bill Paxton were in it. Perhaps it is best kept as a memory.
haven't seen True Lies in an awfully long time. But I do remember well how great Tome Arnold and Bill Paxton were in it. Perhaps it is best kept as a memory.
CortexVortex
Banned
The thread title should read 100% awesome instead. Watched it a few years back and it still holds up fine as long as you don't expect a smart movie and just mindless fun.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
True lies? That is an odd way to spell avatar.
M.W.
Member
This. It's incredible
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
They still are great in it. Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are both pretty great in it too.
There's a lot of great things about the movie. It's just the script has some problematic elements and the movie is really overstuffed.
SomewhatGroovy
Banned
Stereotyping race is racism
Stereotyping ethnicities is prejudice.
Suggesting all Chinese kids are smart is not the same as saying all Asian kids are smart.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
I assumed it was a joke that I didn't get. Maybe I was overthinking it?
Scrooge McDuck
Member
The extra 5% conveys Paxton's role as being little yet elevating the movie to more than what it deserves.
*overthinking it*
Doesn't mean anything.
Harry Stewart
Member
Top 10 of all time action movie. The fact that it works as well as it does as a comedy is icing on the cake IMO.
Haven't seen this in years. My memories are the harrier sequence was amazing, the humour mostly off, the action mostly on, and that Paxton was great as ever and only he and Curtis seemed to have right touch to make anything truly funny.
Guess a watch now wouldn't change that much going by your points OP.
Guess a watch now wouldn't change that much going by your points OP.
unpopularblargh
Member
High five!
Should probably just be Hollywood's official motto tbh
We need to revisit any classic movie of the past and judge it by today cultural standards.
Alx
Member
I haven't seen the movie in some time, but I never thought about it as racist. Sure the terrorists are from arab countries, which isn't actually far-fetched. Theyre not keffieh-wearing, incompetent goofs though. As a matter of fact they're very effective at what they do.
The strip-tease scene is indeed twisted and sick, but that's actually the point. Maybe Cameron's version isn't effective enough at giving its message, but in the original French script it's quite obvious that the main character is losing it, and abuses his position as a secret agent (his boss warns him several times that it happened to the best, and that "there's no retirement here"). Perhaps Jamie Lee Curtis is too sexy in the scene to make the point more obvious to the viewer, but she is indeed being raped (and reacts by slamming a phone on the head of her attacker, then kick him twice).
The strip-tease scene is indeed twisted and sick, but that's actually the point. Maybe Cameron's version isn't effective enough at giving its message, but in the original French script it's quite obvious that the main character is losing it, and abuses his position as a secret agent (his boss warns him several times that it happened to the best, and that "there's no retirement here"). Perhaps Jamie Lee Curtis is too sexy in the scene to make the point more obvious to the viewer, but she is indeed being raped (and reacts by slamming a phone on the head of her attacker, then kick him twice).
Z..
Member
MDSLKTR
Member
Not much more to add to this thread
The Salt Life
Banned
You can pop that film on today and I would be in a trance and watch it from start to finish. One of my favorite Arnold films. Him and Tom Arnold bounced off each other amazingly. I miss those days if great action films
TBiddy
Member
I can't remember much from the movie, asides from the oneliners ("You're Fired" is a classic, after all), but I'm really curious about the above quote. Do you, when you watch a movie, mentally prepare yourself like that? Or are you using hyperbole?
supermarioworldE
Banned
The Temple of Doom comparisons are completely on point with True Lies. It's handling of race and gender are pretty bad, but it's also such an enjoyably over the top action film. It really is Cameron's attempt at making an Arnold movie instead of a Cameron movie, if that makes any sense. The humour is great, the one liners are classic, and the action still holds up really well to this day. It's flawed in the depictions and directions it takes, but I can't deny how well crafted it is as a cheesy, cartoon-like Arnold film.
And yes, Bill Paxton (R.I.P.) definitely gave the best performance.
"You get their pilot lit, they can suck start a leaf blower!"
And yes, Bill Paxton (R.I.P.) definitely gave the best performance.
"You get their pilot lit, they can suck start a leaf blower!"
Spladam
Member
GAF, do not ruin my fond memories of this mindless action comedy. Paxton was awesome in this, and Tom Arnold and Schwarzenegger had a great dynamic in it. This is back when every existential threat to the U.S. was middle eastern terrorist hiding behind a bush, taking the place of a Russian communist from the cold war era. I'll take it as it is, ridiculous and epic.
Inceptional
Member
Maybe but the fact that True Lies hasn't even received a proper DVD release, let alone a blu-ray release, shows that even Cameron himself might agree with OP.
The Salt Life
Banned
You don't have to be a die hard James Cameron fan, I didn't even know James Cameron directed this film until this thread. Hell it makes me realize I wish James Cameron didn't spend 10 years between films when he can just be directing great action films in half the time.
This was the epitome of action comedy in the 90's and possibly Arnold at his pinnacle and it delivered in every way. My family saw this in the theater 3 times simply off the strength of the chemistry of Tom and Arnold alone, they were the best comedic duo. It was only later on in life did I learn to appreciate Paxton.
manueldelalas
Time Traveler
Fantastic scene, great movie.
cj_iwakura
Member
Came for Scullibundo's thoughts, left disappointed.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Movie is worth it just for the Bill Paxton scenes alone.
SapphiCine
Member
Sculli ain't got time for people bringing their political agendas into Cameron films.
- Status