My Review of "True Lies (1994)"

True Lies was somewhat popular when it first arrived in theatres in 1994. Back then, it took a lot of coaxing from my family and friends to get me to watch it. I'm glad that they did because this become a guilty pleasure that come back to over and over again.

The movie starts out in some European country. Our hero Harry is a secret agent trying to figure out some sort of arms deal going down. In his pursuit to find these secrets he comes across some colorful characters. Really this first portion is to show you how much of a badass he is at his work.

Unfortunately for Harry, things don't go so well for this mission and they have to abandon the situation. He and his plucky team of misfits escape in a ball of fire with so much action and explosions you know it's a 90's movie.

This movie takes a huge left turn when you realize this movie isn't totally about the arms deal mission. Harry also has a regular family at home. He has a beautiful wife, Helen and a delinquent daughter, Dana. Harry has been so busy at work that he has ignored his family. Now there seems to be a rift between his wife and himself and his daughter is constantly getting into trouble.

When Harry suddenly discovers this, he puts it upon himself to not only figure out this arms dealer situation but also save his marriage. This movie is a culmination of how everything eventually falls into the cauldron of his doing and he has to figure out how to get out of it.

All of this is done is a very comedic manner. I love all the characters in this movie because they all have such diverse personalities. They're all over the to but very fun to watch. There isn't a huge sense of growth with the characters but in a way we want them to stay the way they are in the movie.

Some people might not appreciate the cheesy one liners and jokes sprinkled throughout the movie but I think it's part of it's 90s charm. This movie is very much a product of its time and the personalities are part of the era.

Not to be outdone, the action sequences are very 90s as well. They're all over the top and bombastic. Each scene subsequently tries to overdo it's last scene and they do it with great fun. I was always anticipating on how grand the next action sequence was going to be and they don't disappoint in this department either.

I know that this movie has had a lot of remakes and sort of copycats out there but none quite have the perfect balance that this movie has. There's a great balance of story, action, relationship building and comedy throughout this movie. I see Marvel movies try to do this a lot. They have this formula in some of their earlier movies but they aren't always able to grasp the balance.

I was able to watch this movie on the 4k remastered version. This movie looks way better than the DVD copy that I used to have and the sound is fantastic. If you have a great home theatre you really have to watch this new version. There are audio cues all around you that I never noticed before.

Overall, I loved this movie and had so much fun watching it. There were a few scenes that I totally forgot about. Watching it again all these years later I was surprised how well it passed the test of time. I think anyone today can still appreciate and have fun with this movie. It is definitely a movie that I will be watching over again and something that I will recommend to others. I have to give this movie an 8 out of 10.