True Lies

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This article is about the film. For the video game, see True Lies (video game).
This article is about the film. For the album, see True Lies (album).
True Lies

Promotional poster for True Lies.
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
Eliza Dushku
Music by Brad Fiedel
Cinematography Russell Carpenter
Editing by Conrad Buff
Mark Goldblatt
Richard A. Harris
Distributed by - USA/France -
20th Century Fox
Lightstorm Entertainment
- Non-USA/France -
Universal Pictures
Release date(s) July 15, 1994
Running time 141 min.
Country United States
Language English
Arabic
French
German
Budget $110,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue $378,882,411 (worldwide)

True Lies is a 1994 action-comedy film. It was directed by James Cameron, and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston, and Art Malik. Eliza Dushku makes an early career appearance. True Lies is an extended remake of the 1991 French film La Totale!,[1] directed by Claude Zidi and starring Thierry Lhermitte and Miou-Miou.[2] The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and won a Golden Globe for Curtis' portrayal of Helen Tasker.

True Lies was the first Lightstorm Entertainment project to be distributed under Cameron's multimillion dollar production deal with 20th Century Fox, as well as the first major production for visual effects house Digital Domain, which was co-founded by Cameron. True Lies was the only feature outside The Terminator franchise directed by James Cameron to feature Arnold Schwarnegger.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Harry Tasker leads a double life, performing dangerous covert missions for Omega Sector with his support team of Albert "Gib" Gibson and Faisil while hiding this work from his wife Helen and daughter Dana under the guise of corporate travel. Harry, however, is unable to spend times with his family due to the focus to his career and maintaining his secrets, causing Helen to believe that he doesn't appreciate her and his daughter's lack of respect of him. During a mission in Switzerland, Harry encounters and becomes suspicious of antiques dealer Juno Skinner. His suspicions are correct, as Juno is helping to smuggle nuclear warheads into the United States for oil tycoon Jamal Khaled, who is financing a Palestinian terrorist faction, Crimson Jihad, led by Salim Abu Aziz. However, while tailing Aziz through the Georgetown Park shopping mall and the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Harry is late for his own birthday party, angering Helen.

The next day, Harry tries to surprise Helen at work during lunch but overhears her talking with a co-worker about a man named Simon. Harry is later heartbroken, believing his wife is having an affair with another man. Enraged, Harry uses Omega Sector's resources to track down Simon, and comes to realize that he is just a used-car salesman trying to seduce Helen by telling her he's a spy. In order to win Helen back and retaliating Simon's attempt of breaking his marriage, Harry arranges for a SWAT team to capture Helen and Simon while they are meeting. He interrogates her through a one-way mirror and voice distortion to learn that Helen never had an affair with Simon but was only craving adventure, something that Harry never provided her. Harry arranges a fake mission for Helen to undertake as an operative, and tells her to pose as a prostitute in order to plant a tracking bug on an arms dealer staying in a nearby hotel. Later, Harry and Gib briefly terrorize Simon before letting him go. Harry assumes the role of the dealer, using the darkened room to hide his face, and planning to reveal himself to her to reaffirm his love. As Helen strip-teases for Harry, Aziz's men burst into the room, and both Harry and Helen are taken prisoner.

The terrorists take them to their hideout on an island in the Florida Keys, and Aziz reveals they plan to detonate one of four nuclear warheads to cover their tracks while they flee with the other three and make their demands to United States government. During their captivities, Aziz's men drugged Harry with a verity medium in an attempt to obtain information from him, which Helen uses this as an oppotunity to learn the truth about Harry's past and what kind of man he really is. Harry soon frees himself and Helen, and they attempt to escape, but Harry appears to be caught in a large refueling truck explosion, while Helen is taken hostage by Juno. The two join the terrorist convoy as they flee the island before the first warhead explodes. Gib, in a helicopter, finds Harry using the tracking bug he had planted in Helen's purse at Harry's request, and together, they coordinate an attack with two Marine AV-8B Harrier jets on the convoy as they cross the Overseas Highway to the mainland. Helen is able to escape through the roof window of Juno's limousine during the attack, and is pulled to safety by Harry before the limousine falls over a damaged section of the bridge into the ocean. The forces regroup on the mainland in time to avoid being struck by the nuclear blast, during which Harry and Helen kiss, reaffirming their love for each other.

The forces shortly receive news that Aziz and his remaining allies have taken refuge in a Miami office skyscraper, with Aziz holding Harry's daughter Dana hostage, and demanding a television crew so that he can make demands to the government. Harry borrows one of the Harrier jets to get to the building. Faisil poses as part of the requested television crew, and is able to kill a number of the terrorists; in the confusion, Dana steals the launch key for the warheads and escapes to the roof, chased by Aziz. Harry arrives and kills the remaining terrorists in the building with the jet's guns, and then helps to save Dana while killing Aziz by launching him on an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile towards a helicopter with the last of Aziz's forces. In the following year, the Tasker family's bonds have strengthened after the event from Florida. The family are now aware of each other's secrets, Harry is happily able to spend quality times with his wife and daughter, Helen becomes Harry's partner in Omega Sector, and the couple are able to balance their professional and personal lives.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

Upon its release in 1994, the film garnered mostly positive reviews. Based on 37 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, True Lies has a 68% fresh rating and a weighted average of 6.3/10.[3] 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... 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."[4] The film relies heavily on stunts, often performed by Schwarzenegger and Curtis themselves. The film earned $146 million domestically and $232.6 million abroad,[5] making it third best-grossing movie of 1994,[6] 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.[7]

[edit] Sequel

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, but put his plans on hold once the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred in NYC, citing that "in this day and age, terrorism isn't funny."[citation needed] As of January 2009 there have been talks between Tom Arnold and Arnold Schwarzenegger to do a True Lies sequel as soon as Schwarzenegger leaves office. Jamie Lee Curtis's and Eliza Dushku's involvement is unknown.[citation needed]

[edit] Soundtrack

True Lies
Film score by Brad Fiedel and various artists
Released July 19, 1994
Label Lightstorm/Epic Soundtrax
Track list
# Title Length
1. "Sunshine Of Your Love"    
2. "Darkness Darkness"    
3. "Alone In The Dark"    
4. "Entity"    
5. "Sunshine Of Your Love (remix)"    
6. "Main Title/Harry Makes His Entrance"    
7. "Escape From The Chateau"    
8. "Harry's Sweet Home"    
9. "Harry Rides Again"    
10. "Spying On Helen"    
11. "Juno's Place"    
12. "Caught In The Act"    
13. "Shadow Lover"    
14. "Island Suite"    
15. "Causeway/Helicopter Rescue"    
16. "Nuclear Kiss"    
17. "Harry Saves The Day"    

Songs appearing in the film not included with the release of the soundtrack

[edit] References

  1. ^ IMDB.com - La Totale!
  2. ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/true-lies
  3. ^ "True Lies". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/true_lies/. Retrieved on 2008-11-16. 
  4. ^ http://www.reelviews.net/movies/t/true_lies.html
  5. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=truelies.htm
  6. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1994&p=.htm
  7. ^ http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-awards-and-nominations/jamie-lee-curtis/

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Forrest Gump		 Box office number-one films of 1994 (USA)
July 17, 1994		 Succeeded by
Forrest Gump
Preceded by
The Last Seduction		 Box office number-one films of 1994 (UK)
August 14, 1994		 Succeeded by
The Mask
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