True Lies

Made a dozen years ago, the comic–though not any more cliched than many characters here–Arab terrorists are no longer that amusing to American audiences. Few of us consider the possibility of smuggled nuclear weapons as farfetched as we did in 1994.

Still, I rank the James Cameron/Arnold Schwarzenegger action comedy blockbuster True Lies as one of the best of the genre, up there with both Pirates of the Caribbean movies and possibly the first Men in Black, and certainly neither of them has produced anything nearly as good since. Also, the Jamie Lee Curtis striptease.. well, I can’t verbalize my reaction better than a Wayne Campbell “Schwing!”

Tom Arnold, as Arnie’s sidekick, has the best role of his career trying to hang on as the future Governator rides everything from a horse and a classic ‘Vette to a Harrier jet as they try to stop Art Malik’s crew from detonating the warheads. Tia Carrere, who earned Schwings of her own in Wayne’s World 2, is not quite ruthlessly seductive enough to get away with her filthy loot, going down in a classic back of the limo cat fight against Curtis. Even Eliza Dushku has a choice part, one of her first high profile gigs, as Arnie and Jamie Lee’s teen daughter who takes the key action to stop the terrorists before being rescued by her dad. While she’s hanging by one hand from a construction crane 22 stories over Miami and she has to let go and fall a couple of feet onto the Harrier.

definitely recommended