By 1994, the secret agent in movies was a pretty rock-solid archetype, a character molded by the likes of Ian Fleming‘s genre-defining British MI6 agent James Bond, mister 007 himself. Here’s a guy that’s been around in books and movies since 1953, portrayed on the big screen (to date) by seven different actors, and is so influential, he’s shaped the look and feel of what seems like countless other film and franchises, including Tom Cruise‘s Mission: Impossible.
So it was that when director James Cameron released his latest in theaters, it was meant to be a poke at the genre with the main character the most obvious. I mean, casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as a spy is about as convincing as casting an African bull elephant as a country field mouse. Yet that was the point, taking the tropes and clichés of the Bond series and having some fun while playing it straight. This is a spy movie a little different than most. It’s True Lies.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Average computer salesman Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) seems to be living in the most generic of middle class America with his suburban home, his happy wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and his teen daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku). He comes home every night excitedly talking about his trade while life simply rolls on. But the thing we know and his family doesn’t, is that Harry isn’t what he seems. Not in the sales game as he pretends, he is in fact a super secret agent for a super secret agency called, are you ready for this? …. Omega Sector. He spends his days (and sometimes nights) hunting terrorists. Harry is living a double-life.
However, the lines blur when Harry begins to suspect that Helen might be having an affair, she thriving some adventure because Harry’s often out of the picture. The problem is, Harry is being watched by his recent targets and when a plan for igniting some passion with Helen in a hotel seems ready to work, in come the terrorists and kidnap them both. Now she’s plunged into Harry’s real world and it’s going to take the two of them to not only save the the city from a madman with a nuclear weapon, but their daughter as well.
REVIEW: True Lies is a fun flick, but it has not at all aged well, it being a relic of a time in American film history where spies versus terrorists existed in a kind of comic book state, the brutally, horrific reality of what they are on a global scale not yet so embedded as they are now. Events such as September 11, 2001 of course, pretty much stripped away the comedy of such things, or at least the irony for the players in this game. Even the Bond films went dark, abandoning the cartoony action and larger-than-life fanfare for something more grounded. Movies were forced to grow up.
And that’s what you sort of feel like while watching True Lies, a sense that this film is for a far more innocent audience. But even aside from the themes of wacky Arab terrorists, which to that point had already been played out to its thankful end, the manner in which the film treats its subplot characters, including a brief bit with Bill Paxton as a sleazy car salesman and more so Helen, who let’s just say it, is straight up abused, is often hard to watch now. Yes, Curtis won a well-deserved Golden Globe for her performance, but looking back at Helen from where we’ve progressed now is kinda cringe-inducing. Honestly, it was back then, too.
Packed around that though are some genuinely good times with Schwarzenegger effortlessly at his peak, grabbing hold of the the spy movie reigns and clearly having fun with the expected. He and Tom Arnold, who plays his partner, make a great on-screen duo when they are focused on the bad guys, leaving a trail of funny bits that help a lot in loading this with energy and laughs. A time capsule of sorts, True Lies is worth a watch if for anything just to see how much things have changed.
THAT MOMENT IN: Typically in posts like this, I spend a lot of time connecting dots, looking at character growth, plot evolution, thematic advances, and such, looking to find a sequence in a story that has the most impact on the film, even if they are small moments. True Lies has a lot going on, especially as it tries to balance its hefty secondary thread about Helen. There are some fine actions scenes as well, including an extended chase with Arnold on a horse inside a skyscraper that is as fun to watch as it is absurd, something Schwarzenegger has balanced with uncanny success his entire career. Absurdity I mean, not horses.
However, beyond that, there is nothing better, or rather more revealing about the film itself than the story’s epic opening sequence, which runs almost 15 minutes in establishing the tone and personality of what’s to follow. Much like a Bond film – which Cameron draws heavily from – it uses this opportunity to introduce the lead and plop him into a dangerous setting that inevitably gets us to things going boom followed by a daring escape. And it would be eye-rollingly bland if it weren’t for how firmly tongue-in-cheek it handles this contrivance while at the same time committing so heavily to making it work.
It starts in Switzerland, where Tasker emerges from underwater at a lavish estate in the dark of night. Keeping to the shadows, he peels off his scuba equipment, revealing – wait for it – he’s already dressed in a tuxedo (perfectly pressed of course). He even brought along a splash of cologne because hey, spies are classy. Well way from him, parked in a panel van on a hill overlooking the home are Gib (Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov), Tasker’s support team with eyes on the situation. They give him the go ahead to make his move.
Tasker infiltrates the palatial house where an elegant black-tie party is underway. Why he’s here, we don’t know yet, though eventually find out he’s come to hack some computer and download a thing for a thing about a thing because of a thing. I didn’t pay attention. And it doesn’t matter. This is a moment less about the why than the what. And the what is all Arnold. Or rather Harry.
Once inside, the movie immediately recognizes that a presence as big as Schwarzenegger isn’t going to go unnoticed, which is something I imagine, if you’re a spy, is sort of a thing you kinda want to avoid. The less you’re noticed the better you are at your job. Not so with Harry Tasker. This is a spy who boldly walks into a room and makes himself seen, and because he’s so knowledgeable of the guest list, makes them feel like they should already know him, too. That’s clever. And funny. This bit with Harry making his way across the cavernous hall is good stuff.
Things go sour for Harry once he’s got what he came for (after scaling the outside wall without scuffing his tux), and soon enough, patrols and security are on the hunt, which has Gib and Faisil desperate to get their man out, though Harry doesn’t see the need to run just yet. He knows if he bolts right then, he’ll be seen. So, while guards push through the crowds looking for their target, Tasker hides in plain sight, among the partygoers.
This is where he meets an attractive young woman named Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere), an antiquities dealer and guest of the man hosting the party, something Gib learns by tapping on his keyboard and relaying to Tasker via a secret earpiece (and a woman with some place later in the story). And while Gib can’t see the benefit of talking up a girl at such a time, Harry knows what he’s doing and uses her to um, . . . dance the tango.
This is usually the part in the movie where the action kicks in, and indeed, it will in a just bit, but True Lies isn’t just content with playing out the expected, it needs to firmly cauterize the audience’s belief that Harry is invulnerable, a man so adept at what he does, and so outrageously confident of that skill, he has time to woo a young lady while being hunted by dogs and armed goons. Even if only for a dance.
It’s clever because Cameron (and the screenwriters) understand that we already know everything is going to okay since this is just the opening set-piece. We’re only really half-invested at this point because ‘yeah, yeah, the super secret agent is good at his job, now let’s get on with the story’ is part and parcel to moments like this in other spy movies. To have Tasker suddenly sidestep the expected run and gun sequence that eventually needs to come into play and instead take a minute to waltz with a woman quickly gets our attention and cements the notion that hey, maybe this isn’t going to be playing by the rules. And indeed, it doesn’t.
Everything about this opening sequence is more on target than just about anything else in the film, and truly, if it had only been about this heist, would have been just as fun. Maybe more so. Cameron and company run down a checklist of spy movie tropes in these 15 minutes, giving each a calibrated spin in earning plenty of well-executed laughs, each led by a Schwarzenegger form-fitted for the part.
From Tasker’s underwater entrance to his escape in the trees with dogs chasing and men on skies pursuing, we more than hop on board this crazy train. We gladly want more. And a lot of that is due to the timing, Schwarzenegger and Cameron in perfect sync for what Harry needs to be, and it is with a sudden tango on the dance floor that seals that partnership. And so good is this image, Cameron brings it back later in a key moment at the end, bookending the film with a terrific sense of satisfaction.
HEADING FOR THE CREDITS: True Lies is not as good as it once was, even as it holds its place as a snapshot of 90s cinema. The story is hopelessly outdated as are many key moments that punctuate the heavier beats of the movie. Still, there are several equally strong spikes in this that earn it a watch, with Schwarzenegger’s megawatt charm one thing and Curtis’ sensationally committed performance another. Take it for a spin on the dance floor.