Action Movies
The all-time greatest action movies
True Lies
True Lies is a 1994 action movie directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Tom Arnold. Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere and Art Malik also feature, and Eliza Dushku makes an early appearance as Schwarzenegger's daughter.
This action-adventure movie is largely tongue-in-cheek. Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) and his friend Albert Gibson (Arnold) are spies. Harry is married to Helen (Curtis), who thinks he's a simple salesman. Bored with her life and her apparently dull husband, she is ensnared by Simon (Paxton) who is also not what he seems. Harry's solution then entangles them both in international intrigue, smuggling, terrorism and nuclear weaponry. Many loud explosions ensue.
The movie relies heavily on stunts, often performed by Schwarzenegger and Curtis themselves. It's largely remembered for the three action set pieces that come in the climax of the film. One involves Marine bombers blowing up the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys, another is Helen being scooped up by helicopter out of a falling car, and the last is an extended action sequence of Harry piloting a Harrier jet through the city of Miami.
The movie is an extended remake of the 1991 French film La Totale, directed by Claude Zidi and starring Thierry Lhermite and Miou-Miou.
Recent online news reports quoted actress Eliza Dushku as saying there will be a sequel, True Lies 2, reuniting the original cast and writer/director James Cameron. No confirmation or other comments have been reported from any studio or individual, particularly Schwarzenegger, for whom it would be an unexpected return to acting. Schwarzenegger was elected the 38th Governor of California on October 7, 2003, thereby ending his film career.
Although the movie received a mostly positive outcome, some critics have accused this movie of being misogynistic with the hero using his agency's resources to stalk and frighten his wife whom he suspects is having an affair. Others have criticised the film for depicting Arabs as terrorists (though the roles of terrorists in the movie are played by actors of various mideast origins, including an Armenian and a Jew.) Others still have praised it as one of Schwarzenegger's best movies. The movie earned $146 million and $232.6 million abroad, making it third best-grossing movie of 1994, and also a comeback for Arnold following the disastrous Last Action Hero of the previous summer.
True Lies has also been spoofed in a 1996 comedy Spy Hard, starring Leslie Nielsen.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).