- Let's face it: James Cameron's True Lies is basically a combination of two types of male fantasy. The first is being a secret agent. Everyone likes to imagine that they have much cooler jobs than they actually do. What if I shot people and blew things up instead of sitting at a desk all day? The film itself even fantasizes about being part of the James Bond series when its hero, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), shows up wearing a familiar scuba gear/tuxedo combo. To be fair, being a spy could also be a female fantasy, although I have trouble coming up with a fictional female action spy who hasn't been played by Angelina Jolie. Maybe that will change as the years go on.
- The second, and unfortunately far more suspect, fantasy involves punishing a cheating spouse. When Harry suspects that his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) has been seeing the indescribably smarmy impostor Simon (Bill Paxton), he unleashes an elaborate set of revenge plans upon her. With the help of his overly chatty partner, Albert (Tom Arnold), Harry leads a SWAT team to Simon's trailer, kidnaps him and Helen, interrogates Helen in the most humiliating manner possible, coerces her into pole dancing for him, and eventually even places her life in danger. That last bit is admittedly an accident, but still. This one really feels like more of an exclusively male fantasy, and a particularly disturbed male at that.
- So, bizarre obsessions aside, is True Lies any good? Well, let's just say it's okay. The action sequences are generally quite watchable and the special effects are very impressive for its time. The bridge demolition scene, in particular, is one of these stunts that must have involved so much dynamite that it couldn't help but be great fun to watch. A chase scene on a horse is also entertaining, even if it culminates on the top of a surely non-existent DC-area skyscraper (a third type of fantasy?). Unfortunately, the film suffers both from being about half an hour too long and from some very questionable casting. While Curtis and the brief apparition of Charlton Heston add a considerable amount of class to these proceedings, even their screen presences are insufficient to cover up the miasma of the Arnold/Paxton/Schwarzenegger combo. If this were a film version of The Three Stooges or even Hercules and the Two Stooges, I'd be less upset. In a movie that's supposed to be clever and fun, it's a few stooges too many.
- I almost forgot that Tia Carrere was in this film...as a relic hunter! Also, Eliza Dushku and Art Malik as daughter and terrorist, respectively.
- I'll say it: Bill Paxton pees himself twice in this film.
