True Lies
Rent & Buy
A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
What critics thought
True Lies landed as a crowd-pleaser with audiences but divided critics, who generally praised Cameron's stunt work and the film's cartoonish audacity while finding the plot thin and its attitudes toward Arabs, Muslims, and women genuinely troubling. Later retrospective writing has reframed it less as a straightforward action triumph than as a revealing time capsule of Hollywood's excesses and anxieties in 1994.
“laugh-out-loud moments when the violence is so cartoonish we don't take it seriously, and yet are amazed at its inventiveness and audacity”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“True Lies isn't as bad as Last Action Hero, but it's not half as hot as Speed”
Bob Fenster·The Arizona Republic
“Taken individually, the cruder and childish things about this film, its determination to use caricatured unshaven Arabs as terrorists, the pleasure it takes in continually mortifying a weasely used-car salesman (Bill Paxton) in the most personal ways, might be overlooked, but added together they leave a sour taste”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“True Lies is the strange case of a film that's alternately retrograde, forward-looking, and thoroughly of its time. For better or worse, it's a marker of how the Hollywood action blockbuster had advanced in 1994, as well as a commentary (intended or not) on the troubled state of American masculinity, marital relationships, and lingering racial attitudes”
Scott Tobias·The Guardian
Accolades
Genres
Action, Thriller
Cast & Crew
James CameronDirector
Arnold SchwarzeneggerHarry
Jamie Lee CurtisHelen
Tom ArnoldGib
Bill PaxtonSimon
Tia CarrereJuno
Art MalikAziz
Eliza DushkuDana
Grant HeslovFaisil
Charlton HestonSpencer Trilby
Marshall ManeshKhaled
James AllenColonel
Dieter RauterBoathouse Guard
Brad FiedelComposer
Russell CarpenterCinematographyTrue Lies
A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
What critics thought
True Lies landed as a crowd-pleaser with audiences but divided critics, who generally praised Cameron's stunt work and the film's cartoonish audacity while finding the plot thin and its attitudes toward Arabs, Muslims, and women genuinely troubling. Later retrospective writing has reframed it less as a straightforward action triumph than as a revealing time capsule of Hollywood's excesses and anxieties in 1994.
“laugh-out-loud moments when the violence is so cartoonish we don't take it seriously, and yet are amazed at its inventiveness and audacity”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“True Lies isn't as bad as Last Action Hero, but it's not half as hot as Speed”
Bob Fenster·The Arizona Republic
“Taken individually, the cruder and childish things about this film, its determination to use caricatured unshaven Arabs as terrorists, the pleasure it takes in continually mortifying a weasely used-car salesman (Bill Paxton) in the most personal ways, might be overlooked, but added together they leave a sour taste”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“True Lies is the strange case of a film that's alternately retrograde, forward-looking, and thoroughly of its time. For better or worse, it's a marker of how the Hollywood action blockbuster had advanced in 1994, as well as a commentary (intended or not) on the troubled state of American masculinity, marital relationships, and lingering racial attitudes”
Scott Tobias·The Guardian
Accolades
Genres
Action, Thriller
Cast & Crew
James CameronDirectorArnold SchwarzeneggerHarryJamie Lee CurtisHelenTom ArnoldGibBill PaxtonSimonTia CarrereJunoArt MalikAzizEliza DushkuDanaGrant HeslovFaisilCharlton HestonSpencer TrilbyMarshall ManeshKhaledJames AllenColonelDieter RauterBoathouse GuardBrad FiedelComposerRussell CarpenterCinematographyRent & Buy