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a fitting high for Arnold

This movie I would rank amoung the best ever, mostly thanks to the perfect combination of Cameron and Schwarzenegger. It is a fine addition to Schwarzenegger's list of outstanding movies, the others being the Terminator duo, Conan the Barbarian, Predator and Total Recall. It is also a good high after some of the stinkers he has been doing, Junior and Batman & Robin being the most notable. This movie's action is in a class of it's own. James cameron is the undisputed master of action, the sequences are slick, and even manage to be funny, he never stops to amaze me. Personally I am a huge fan of Arnold's and I loved this movie almost as much as T2.

Cameron and Arnie team up again.

With the Terminator films under their belts, director Jim Cameron and tough guy Arnold Schwarzeneggar collaborate yet again to bring us their version of big-budget Bond, American style. With this film, Cameron decides to drop the dark themed movie look for an action blockbuster with a touch of comedy. However, where the action is top notch, the attempt at humour doesn't suit either Arnie or Cameron.Overlong with a ridulous sub-plot, the writing here is grade B. What really works, though is the stuff these guys are used to doing...killing bad guys, and providing some truly amazing stunts and special effects. Good performance from Tom Arnold. Watch out for Charlton Heston as Arnold's boss.

* OUT OF FIVE

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Harry Tasker a secret agent who is fighting off a middle eastern terrorist who is planning on sending a nuke to the white house, where as Helen Tasker (Jamie Lee Curtis) finds out of her husband's job, and you will be bored by all of it. True Lies is just an all around dud that has the annoying tendency to repeat the same ground over and over again until one is just left numb over the predictable tedium in the script. The actionscenes too are a great disappointment.

one of Arnold and Jamie's best

This has got to be one of Arnold's best if not his best movie. and also that goes for Jamie too. Both did a hell of a job in it. This movie has it all action, comedy, suspense, romance and a catfight between Jamie Lee Curtis and Tia Carerra. I give it four out of four stars. Highly recommended!

Stupid Movie

I don't think this movie was a comedy one,nor action.....it was just cheap...I regret the money I paid to watch it, just cheap special effects... Arnold has disappointed me as much as he has disappointed many of his fans.:-(

The usual Arnie tripe.

[May contain minor Spoilers]Yep it's cheesy, it's unrealistic, it's got muscle bound guys with big guns leaping about with all cylinders blazing...yep you've guessed it, it's another typical Hollywood action hero movie.Although I quite like True Lies, it still has it's fair share of tacky "one liner" taglines, and as usual Arnie looks about as convincing as a Giraffe wearing dark glasses while trying to get into a polar bears only golf club. Arnie should just stick to playing tough looking cyborgs...it requires less effort if you ask me.And yes, I know, stop complaining, it's supposed to be cheesy and unrealistic...after all it's a Hollywood movie but come on, it just got plain silly when Arnie and the bad guy were fighting on top of a Harrier jet, which was hovering hundreds if not thousands of feet above the ground...I can't even imagine it, it's THAT unrealistic. I could bore you all with the technical errors within the "harrier scenes" but I won't.I should really try and relax and just keep thinking to myself "it's only a movie" but there's a fine line between acceptable unrealistic movies and just down right stupid, unfortunately...True Lie's over steps the fine line....by about 1000 feet.Apart from the minor criticism, I have to admit, some of the action sequences do look pretty damn cool. The part with the horse in the elevator is golden.It's good; believe me...just try not to take it as seriously as I did.

Jamie's last decent role

This is one of my favorite feel-good movies. I am not a particular fan of Schwartzenegger but he and Jamie give a truly likable performance together in this movie. Jamie has always been a favorite of mine ever since "A Fish called Wanda", sadly her talents have often been wasted on dross. While checking through Jamie's career I could not believe that this was the movie that she had made that was worth viewing in "Fierce Creatures" is absolutely abysmal, I wonder that she made it?? I would love to see Jamie cast in a remake of a BBC mini series called "Mother Love" If she could manage the English accent it would be a great role for her. Looking back on Arnold's career this is probably his best role too.

Hilarious, it you want to laugh go for it!

I could see this over and over and laugh my head off every time and I'm not even a big fan of either of the main actors. One of my all time favorites by far!!!

A Truly Entertaining Film

Arnold Schwarzenegger might very well be the only Republican I can stand to watch for the duration of a two plus hour film. He's funny, intellegent, well spoken and consistently churns out some of the best action movies around. Much of this success can be attributed to his partnership with Titanic director James Cameron, who's provided him with some his best material to date in the 1994 action/comedy True Lies.

In it he plays Harry Tasker, a spy posing as a computer salesman to his wife and daughter, which is a funny concept in it of itself, let alone to have the Terminator cast in the title role. But what's so remarkable about his performance is that he does an astonishingly convincing job of passing himself off as an oafish slug. Yet even despite the domesticated way in which he presents himself to his family, it doesn't diminish his credibility as an intellegence agent, thanks in large part to his commanding presence which is never too far from the surface.

The action gets off to a rousing start with a white knuckled opening sequence that's sure to leave you breathless. After a short break to develop the characters and the situation we're thrown back in the fray with a chase through the city streets of DC, leading from malls to parks and eventually winding up on the roof of the Mariott. It's really quite spectacular.

Of course, they can't maintain this frenetic pace for long, so James Cameron makes the smooth transition into comedy with the introduction of Bill Paxton as a mystery man named Simon. You see, Simon's trying to bait Harry's wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), into an affair. Little does he know that this "bored housewife" is married to a spy who after overhearing her talk about him to a coworker puts the full wait of the CIA (or whatever agency it is that he works for) behind investigating their relationship. Sure it's "a misappropriation of government resources," as Tom Arnold chimes in, but when a movie's this much fun you don't question it's plausibility.

The laughs keep coming for about an hour when the seamless transition is made back into action. The story somehow manages to shift into a plot involving Arab terrorists without disrupting the flow of the movie. The terrorists threaten to blow up one major US city each week until we withdraw our troops from the Persian Gulf. Its seems a reasonable request given the fact that we're not doing much good over there, but I won't get into that here.

The terrorists are as sterotypical as ever which Cameron tries to counteract by adding a few token minorities, who serve no real purpose but are nice window dressing for 20th Century Fox. I suppose we've been spoiled by David O. Russell's groundbreaker Three Kings, which for the first time in a long time shed the Arab community in a primarily positive light. But I can't very well hold this against a Schwarzenegger film which has no other purpose than to entertain, and it does.

Kudos to Tom Arnold as the wisecracking sidekick to Arnold's action hero role, and Jamie Lee Curtis who has never been more believeable than she is here as a frumpy housewife. But the performance that resonates most with me was from Bill Paxton, showing an inclination towards comedy in one of his best roles to date. As for Arnie, he does a nice job chewing on the scenery, delivering what lines he's given, but his performance is so rooted in his screen persona that I can't imagine anyone else being able to pull it off.

This is the type of movie I wish James Cameron would revert back to. One with modest ambitions, not overwrought with sentimentality (or arrogance) like Titanic, but a whole hearted summer blockbuster that knows what it is and delivers.

Best Movie

I think that this movie is the best one of all! It includes: Action, Romance, Comedy and Adventure. It's like watching 10 movies in one. I also think that the story is very cool and James Cameron did a very good job Directing it! Best movie guys!

Fantastic !!!

Arnold plays a special service agent battling bad guys while his wife thinks he's only a boring computer sales man.Great action adventure romantic comedy has solid performances & great stunts.The way the bad guy dies at the end is cool.Rating:**** (out of five)

This film is great!

True Lies is one of Arnie's greatest! I have seen this film over 50 times and I still don't get bored of it! Not only does Arnie have some great comical lines, but Jamie Lee Curtis shows off her curves in a scene never to be forgotten! If you haven't seen this film then get it now! You wont regret it! It will be the best DVD/VHS you've ever bought!

Great Movie

This movie totally rocked! I love the tango at the beginning that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tia Carrere danced to. Anyone who wants to learn the Tango should buy this video. It has great moves. Beside the awesome dance screens, the movie covers it all. Humor, action, and romance. NO one have mentioned about Tia Carrere in this movie. But she is in it. And she was great, even though she was one of the bad guys. I wish she had kicked Jamie Lee Curtis' booty. Overall, everyone should own or at least see this movie once. Totally worth the money.

Cameron does it again...

Just how do you follow a film as ground-breaking and terrific as "Terminator 2: Judgement Day"? Well, if you're James Cameron then you come up with an action comedy staring the unlikely combination of The Governor and Jamie Lee Curtis. Before developing an unhealthy interest in sunken ships and drowning Leonardo DiCaprio, anyway. This may be Cameron's sole attempt at a blockbusting, mass appeal film that is quite overt in its aims. Like other all-action films such as "Desperado", "True Lies" doesn't do anything original or deep but a simple, well-paced story that can neatly be split into two different films (reflecting the turbulent past of the screenplay).The Austrian Oak plays suave secret agent extraordinaire Harry Tasker, a highly experienced spy and expert in counter-terrorism. In fact, Harry is such a good spy that not even his wife Helen (Curtis) or his daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku) know of his occupation. They both think Harry is a computer salesman. When Harry gets on the trail of Islamic extremists led by Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik), it becomes even harder for Harry to separate his family life from his working life. Especially when he's distracted by the possibility that his wife may be having an affair, something Harry will use all the means at his disposal to investigate...Coming across as a strange mix of "Die Hard" and "Meet The Parents", "True Lies" is actually far more than the initial premise suggests. It is a highly entertaining picture providing you switch your brain off first. All the action movie clichés are there, from the stereotypical portrayal of spy work hidden in removal company vans to the baddie (Arab AND British, brilliant!) and the wonderfully unfunny pun Arnie reserves for suitably OTT death scenes. Yep, "True Lies" is about as original as a boy-band but when it concentrates on the job in hand, it does the job very well. The mix of genres is a little disorientating but once you get used to the idea, it works very well. True, the comedy is largely left to well-timed glances and brief flashes of slapstick (Curtis' slip during the infamous "striptease" sequence is one such example) but because the whole picture is such fun, you don't really notice.Both Curtis and Schwarzenegger are very good, the Governor displaying his comic instinct he'd shown us in stuff like "Twins". Cameron also knows how to deliver top-quality action sequences as well (he also gave us "Aliens", remember) and the climax on the Florida Keys bridge is one of the best out there, especially considering Curtis did the stunts herself. It might be derided as cinema for the lowest common denominator but let me tell you a true story. While watching the film tonight, my Scottish flatmate (whose favourite movies usually begin with the words "Based On A True Story") came in half way through and I was expecting to have to change the channel. Not so - she laughed at the right points, she winced as the baddies were dispatched and she gasped at the high-flying antics of Arnie and co. This is a much under-rated picture which isn't given anything like the respect it deserves. And let's face it, it's miles better than bloody "Titanic"...

The only movie I have ever watched twice--back to back.

This movie is great! Special effects, scenery, comedy, ACTION, plot, it has it all. Arnold is the greatest and Tom Arnold proves he doesn't need his ex(Rosanne).

Was not too good to be true.

Good action film that kept you wanting to see more. There were no slow periods where your mind tends to wander. The story line was fresh even with the usual good guys vs. bad guys and, of course, the good guys winning. It was also great to see a leading lady portrayed as intelligent and fearless as the leading man - definitely his equal as shown in the ending.

The best Scharzenegger/Cameron movie

True Lies is the third James Cameron/Arnold Scharzenegger colaboration, and is by far the best. All of James Cameron's movies before True Lies (The Abyss, Terminator 1 and 2) weren't action movies. They often had to do with things that could really happen and were very dark and gloomy. Finally, True Lies came along, which was James Cameron's first movie to be created soely for action and humor purposes. So with True Lies, you just sit down and enjoy the ride instead of having to think.

The plot is simple: Harry Tasker, played by Arnold S., is a secrety agent for the Omega Sector, a secret anti terrorist organization. But his wife, played by jamie Lee Curtis, thinks he's a computer sales man. Soon enough, Harry ends up traking down terrorists with nuclear weapons. Also, there are a few subplots, one in which Harry thinks his wife is cheating on him with a used car salesman (played brilliantly by Bill Paxton) Anyway, the action gets fast and furious when Harry's wife finds out that he's a secret agent.

The acting is great in this movie, as are the action scenes (which include a bathroom fight which leads to a huge chase, a scence where jets fire upon terrorist trucks who are on the bride from the Florida to the Florida Keys, and much more) The action scenes I just mentioned are just SOME of them. There are a lot better ones that you have to see for yourself. So the point here is that action fans will enjoy.

ALL IN ALL: See this movie. A fan of any genre will like this movie (action, romance, comedy). Just pop some corn, dim the lights, put the disc in your DVD player, sit down, and enjoy the ride.

Good news: 2.35 aspect ratio. Bad news: Poor dvd remastering

As for the movie, I love it! I think it's one of Arnold's most entertaining films. Another plus about this dvd release is the use of 2.35 aspect ratio. Now for the bad news, the people at Fox pictures apparently didn't care enough about this release to clean the film before they burned it to dvd, which is obvious while watching it. It has those annoying dust specs, that you many times see while watching movies in the theaters. I literally own two hundred dvds and I've never seen such an enormous amounts of these specs that it actually distracted me from the movie, but that is truly the case here.

I am currently looking for an older dvd release of this movie that maintains the same ratio, but doesn't have the dust specs. It may sound like I'm being too picky, but trust me when I say that they grow annoying and a person shouldn't have put up with them after paying for a brand new dvd. I give the movie a rating of 5 stars, but lower my rating because of Fox Movies poor workmanship.

By the way, the visual problems aren't limited to annoying dust specs. In addition I noticed a scene in this film where this white blob (about the diameter of two of my thumbs together) appear on the screen next to Arnold Schwarzenegger's head during the film for about one half second. I'm 90% confident that these errors are present throughout the film, but became annoyed enough not to watch the movie all the way through. I'm considering writing a complaint to Fox Movies, and I suggest that all you fans of the genre do the same.

You are ALL missing the point of this movie!!

I've read a number of the comments for this film, and they are all the same: "great action, standard fare, echoes of Bond, etc., etc.). Did everyone miss the fact that this movie is a SPOOF?! It is a humorous tribute to Bond and others. Every single thing about this movie was over the top, and it is for a reason. IT IS A COMEDY!Watch it again, keeping this in mind. It is one of the funnier films in recent memory.

One of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen

I hope that I am not the only one who feels very sorry for the leading actress and who feels very uncomfortable when this movie runs. I did have high hopes expecting to see a breathtaking action flick (something like "Die Hard" or at least "Black Eagle", which is by the way a good movie), but it all ends up in this review.The main female character is humiliated in such perverted, though very "slight" and "charming", ways that I cannot understand how this movie can have any positive comments from female audience. A few sexual talks are disgusting, though again "served" so carefully. If it is not enough, the American crew stuffs everything hated (by the American society, I guess) into this flick and tries really hard to show how good and cool the real American heroes are. The rocket has Russian labels upon it (oh, yes, we are bad guys of course, and we sell weaponry to the terrorists, sure ass). The terrorists are from Asia (of course Asia is full of mindless terrorists and "dirty Arabs"). The main male character is a super-macho who goes through thick and thin just to save the blessed America from the evil forces of the East. How witty and how patriotic! Well, enjoy this fest if you can.The scene in the toilet (the energetic brawl) was not bad concerning choreography and it hooked my attention but everything else was the pits. I suggest they the filmmakers wanted to impress the viewer with the final jet/helicopter scene. I don't know much about helicopters and jets but the scene looked absolutely unnatural to me. And when the American hero solidly put a train of bullets into the skyscraper (well, he missed, so what?), which should mean unnecessary deaths of simple citizens... Oh, I forget, he is saving his family, which is of the highest value in the modern society. Kill off the other families but save your own! It's a wild world after all.Such movies are a disgrace to human race. Women, if you are sane and at least consider yourself human beings, give this flick the rating it really deserves. People from the East, if you respect your own culture, do the same. Sane people on IMDb, treat this kind of cinema-making the way it should be treated.How great "Predator" and "Terminator" once were (to me, still are) and how embarrassing and soulless this is. People step on each other in this one, spit onto each other's feelings, play with each other, act like jerks, and say horrible things. And all this is wrapped up in a bright cover.The antipode of this movie is "Stalker". And I am quite sure that people who enjoy "True Lies" will never like "Stalker". Am I wrong? Prove it, I'll be waiting.Perhaps the men who make such movies are indeed mixing "truth" and "lie". "True Lies" is an American phenomenon of the modern times I guess. But I still think that common American women and men are reasonable persons and can draw the line between "the good", "the bad", and "the ugly". I will remember this movie, while it spoiled one evening of mine, when I sat in front of my TV expecting a cool action flick and got a wreck instead.And if that's not enough, there is one tiny phrase that can be given as an awkward tag-line: "I married Rambo." A similar saying was pronounced by the female character. When a movie makes allusions to another movie in such pathetic verbal ways, it is often a very bad sign. If in "Terminator" some cop would have said "We need Robocop to fight it!" I would have never given "Terminator" even 7 out of 10 on IMDb scale. Because the original atmosphere would have been ruined forever.It reminds me of such ugly and soulless "IMDb top 250" movies like "Clockwork Orange", "Old Boy", and "Fight Club".Hollywood abomination. 1 out of 10 (I cannot put a better mark, sorry). Thanks for attention.