James Cameron doesn't make small movies. TRUE LIES was another grande' dollars production, it is quite a bit more than what's seen in those dime-a-dozen action pics rolling off Hollywood's assembly line each year. What makes TRUE LIES different is what makes it better, and what makes it better is its story. James Cameron has been in the game long enough to realize that the story's the thing. It's the difference between an entertaining pic that has good effects to boot, and a dull film, which is dull regardless of the effects. He understands the value of character development.
Cameron does this with his lead character, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Certainly the action sequences are spectacular, and flawlessly executed from a filmmaking standpoint, but they mean more because we're invested in the characters.
TRUE LIES is also a stand out because of Cameron's great sense of pace. This is a long film - for an action piece, as were T-2, THE ABYSS and ALIENS. Cameron sets his films up like roller coaster rides. What makes the hurtling drop from a high point so exhilarating is the release of all the tension built up during the climb to the top. Cameron's films don't simply have moments of lull, punctuated by madness and mayhem. He uses the time between bigger action set pieces to build tension. He does so by using smaller action pieces, while at the same time developing characters and moving the story forward.
To his wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is just a mild-mannered computer salesman. But the truth is - Harry is a special agent in a branch of the country's defense network known as 'Omega Sector.' Together with his colleagues, 'Gib' (Tom Arnold, and Faisil (Grant Heslov), Harry has just lifted files from an arms dealer in Switzerland. After inspecting the files more closely, Harry and his team learn that millions of dollars have been transferred to the account of a beautiful woman, Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere), that Harry tangoed with the previous night. He pays her a visit at her Washington, DC office, but learns little. After leaving, Harry and Gib discover they're being tailed. A shoot-out in a mall, and an unusual chase through the city streets and into a hotel, is fruitless, but Harry is able to ID one of the men the next day in the office.
The man is Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik),a.k.a. the Sand Spider - a known terrorist who's faction is responsible for a number of deadly acts overseas. Apparently, they've brought their war to America. After ruining a birthday celebration, Harry decides to drop in on his wife at work and take her out to lunch - a way of making amends. However, as he approaches her cubicle, he hears her making a date with a man over the phone. Harry's stunned. His wife is having an affair. Using the resources of his agency, Harry has her office phone tapped, and puts locating devices in her purse. They tail her, and listen in on her lunch date. Harry discovers that the guy is nothing more than a con man named Simon (Bill Paxton), pretending to be a spy to impress Helen. In reality, the loser is a used car salesman. In anger, Harry pulls his crew off of surveillance on the terrorists so he can nab his wife at Simon's trailer and haul them in for questioning.
Without Helen knowing he's asking the questions, Harry learns that his wife was not having an affair. Not completely satisfied, Harry decides to send Helen on a phony assignment as a prostitute and bump and grind for him in a posh hotel suite. Just as Helen learns that Harry is the man she's dancing for, the two are nabbed and hauled off to Florida Keys by Aziz's goons.
Harry manages to escape Aziz's clutches and wreak havoc at his base of operations, but not before a nuke is activated. During the mayhem, three more nukes are taken off the island - two by van and one by chopper. Two Harrier jets are called in to stop the vans en route to the mainland, but nothing can be done about the one set to go off on the island. Harry learns from Gib that the fourth nuke made it to Florida with Aziz. He also learns that his young daughter, Dana, has been taken hostage. He saves her in a spectacular sequence, which was later on imitated in The Matrix.
Technical Details:
Photography: Russell Carpenter's disappointed, for the most part, darker scenes in the film, like the chase sequence on horseback and motorcycle, and much of the escape during the film's explosive opening, look very good but the problems with softness and lack of detail are most pronounced during brighter, naturally-lit exteriors - for example, outside the Tasker house one morning, and outside Helen Tasker's office after Harry learns of her 'affair.' The film's finale, on and around the rooftop of the building in Miami, also looks poor. The numerous balls of fire erupting during many of the action sequences, look unnatural - exhibiting an oversaturated quality.
Sound:
What is lost in image is made in the audio dept. That first big explosion, set off by Harry's cigarette case, is grounded with a kick in the gut, deep bass thump..
The forward soundstage is deep and very wide, reaching around nicely to merge with the split surrounds. Panning effects are smooth, and often appreciated. Choppers, Harriers, sprays of automatic gunfire, horse gallops, and speeding automobiles, fly across the forward stage exactly as the images would dictate. Often they hurtle back and forth over the shoulders as well. Sound effects placement is accurate - pin point when needed, and more dispersed when called for.
The split surrounds have numerous opportunities to support the action on the screen. In addition to the various over the shoulder, to forward stage effects, they are used aggressively to put out sounds of gunfire, ricochets, explosions, hustling skiers, snowmobiles, and much more. The low effects channel has much to say as well. Recall the detonation during the films first scene, the exploding snowmobile, the chopper pursuing Helen while her head's in Simon's lap (Yahoo!), the gunfight in the john, the 'flame-thrower,' the rocket launcher, the wall of fire sweeping over the water's surface as Harry swims for his life, the awesome rumble of those Harriers, and so on. The bass here is often VERY deep. It's felt as much as it's heard. The more subtle sounds are very clean. The smallest clicks, beeps, and whispers are clear, distinct, and very well placed. Dialogue is very well recorded and nicely integrated. Voices never sound distorted or compressed. Brad Fiedel's score is full range and expansive - rising up to fill the room from all positions in the surround stage. Highest marks.
Visual Effects: Just Cool, just have a look at the Climactic Bridge destruction sequence.
Enjoy!
