In response: The criticisms of the film are largely on-target, especially
about the ritual humilation scene. Of course, the Arab terrorists are not
much more believable than the evil Nazis of the Indian Jones films.
Curtis does overcome some of her character's limitations with her strength--
is she on her way to becoming another tough-but-tender Cameron heroine, a la
ALIENS, TERMINATOR and THE ABYSS? But what also impressed me in her
performance (maybe not in the character, in retrospect) was her talent for
physical comedy, reminsicent of Carole Burnett at her best (though Burnett
never really translated well to the big screen).
The ending, I think, has SEQUEL written all over it. The family that lies
together spies together? Look for TRUE LIES II: THE RETURN OF JADE in
2 years and $200,000,000.
BTW, at the screening I attended in our little neck of the Plains, TRUE
LIES was sold out, but the lines going out the door were waiting for GUMP.
--Don Larsson
"It was disheartening to see how much he depended on these Tubal fantasies about
his profession, relentlessly pushing their propaganda message of cops-are-
only-human-got-to-do-their-job, turning agents of government repression into
sympathetic heroes. Nobedy thought it was peculiar anymore, no more than
the routine violations of constitutional rights these characters performed
week after week, now absorbed into the vernacular of American expectations."
(Thomas Pynchon, VINELAND)
|