James Cameronis not only one of the most successful filmmakers of all-time, but also a major Hollywood innovator who revolutionized visual effects and created the template for what is considered to be a modern blockbuster. Even though Cameron pushed the boundaries of what was possible with the science fiction genre, True Lies was a spy film that predated the ’90s resurgence of the genre when James Bond returned in Goldeneye a year later, and Tom Cruise starred in Mission: Impossible a year after that. Even though Cameron had already forged a relationship with Arnold Schwarzeneggerthrough their work on The Terminator and its sequel, True Lies asked the Austrian action star to step outside of his comfort zone and play a flawed family man. The result was a film that offered all the action and spectacle that a summer blockbuster necessitated, but also included a surplus of heart.
Schwarzenegger’s plays Harry Tasker in True Lies, an international secret agent who has to mask his identity by pretending to be a lowly computer hardware salesman to everyone, even his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and their daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku). It’s amidst his pursuit of an international terrorist organization that True Lies merges its espionage storyline with the family comedy, as Harry’s attempts to rekindle his marriage go disastrously awry. True Lies is a rarity because it is genuinely suspenseful, even if much of the humor feels fairly tongue-in-cheek. It’s also a feat of technical wizardry that has aged well because how it utilizes filmmaking components that aren’t entirely reliant on visual effects.
‘True Lies’ Was a Self-Aware Espionage Thriller
Cameron is often not given nearly enough credit for his skills as a writer, as True Lies is very clever in how it creates tension between Harry and Helen. Harry has to make his life seem as boring and uneventful as possible in order to avoid attracting suspicion, which only makes Helen believe that he isn’t being emotionally engaged with her; it wouldn’t make sense for someone in a fairly mundane line of work to be involved in so many international trips, especially when he doesn’t really explain to her what his work entails. Helen understands that Harry has been withholding, which she perceives as disinterest. Although the ‘90s were an era in which cheating was stigmatized in films, Helen’s willingness to have an affair with the shady car salesman Simon (Bill Paxton) is a genuinely heartbreaking moment for Harry when he realizes that he hasn’t been there for his family.
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Even though Cameron had given Schwarzenegger his most famous role with the T-1000 in The Terminator, True Lies featured a more challenging performance because he had to show vulnerability. Few movie stars in the history of Hollywood have had as much charisma as Schwarzenegger, but Harry is a character who is flawed as both a husband and a spy, as he often assumes that he has to bottle his emotions and prevent others from helping him. The beauty of the film is that Harry unlocks his potential to be a better hero by working alongside Helen, and that they become closer as a couple as a result of saving the world together. Cameron has frequently put empowered female characters at the center of his films, and True Lies was one of his many blockbusters that prominently included themes of maternity. Helen isn’t weakened in any way by the fact that she is a mother, as it’s her love for their daughter Dana that gives her even more strength and courage to do the right thing.
‘True Lies’ Is Pure ‘90s Escapism
The chemistry between Schwarzenegger and Curtis is remarkable, but True Lies has a stacked cast filled with great actors, ensuring that each of the most minor characters has something memorable to do. Paxton is genuinely hilarious as a complete scumbag, showing once again why he was such a great collaborator with Cameron. Tom Arnold also provides a lot of humor to the film with his role as Harry’s partner, but he has a critical role in the story itself, and is not solely utilized for comic relief. Art Malik, who had previously played the main villain in the Bond film The Living Daylights, is also perfect as the antagonist Salim Abu Aziz — there’s often a tendency to give bad guys some sort of tragic backstory, but True Lies simply presents a villain who is evil for the sake of it.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Even though Cameron has not ended his reign as the “King of Blockbusters,” as the recent success of Avatar: Fire and Ash indicates, True Lies feels like a film that couldn’t be made today. It was based on an obscure French comedy, but was presented to audiences as an original story that wasn’t part of an established franchise. The movie was carried by the weight of its leads in Curtis and Schwarzenegger, and few could sell a film of this size purely on their involvement. There’s also the fact that True Lies felt a bit more innocent in its depiction of terrorism and urban devastation, and has been colored in a completely different context in the aftermath of 9/11. Although there has been no shortage of fans that have begged Cameron to consider making a sequel, True Lies may be a product of the ‘90s that will never be replicated.
