It is getting to the point with the number of films I have reviewed for The Legionnaire that I am forgetting which ones have already been covered.  For instance, had you asked me before today if I already wrote about True Lies (1994), I would have said yes, of course.  There are more Arnold Schwarzenegger films than you might expect, but surely I talked about all the big ones?  If you go down the list, you would probably put the Terminator franchise at the top.  Next would be a number of other titles, like Predator (1987), Twins (1988), and Total Recall (1990).  Heck, I even looked at Jingle All the Way (1996).  One brief series that I refuse to treat are the Conan movies.  I have my reasons.  At any rate, with such a high-profile name, True Lies should have been done by this point.  I am now correcting that mistake.

As a spy working for the fictional agency Omega (an interesting name for a Catholic reviewer), Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is used to telling True Lies.  What does that mean?  Let us not get ahead of ourselves.  We open with him on assignment in Switzerland, sneaking into a fancy ball in order to download files from a computer.  On his way out, he is distracted by two things.  The first is Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere), a beautiful antiquities dealer who invites him to dance.  Following a twirl on the floor, he makes his excuses, but is detained by the second distraction, a curious guard.  Because this is an action film with a comedic element, he must shoot his way out, eventually being picked up by his friend and partner, Albert “Gib” Gibson (Tom Arnold).  Once they are back to their home outside of Washington, D.C., Gib takes Harry to the latter’s staid suburban existence, his cover for his espionage work.  Helen Tasker (Jamie Lee Curtis), his wife, barely moves as he slips into bed, believing he has returned from another conference as a computer salesman.  In the morning, it is life as dad, trying to usher everyone out the door to be on time for school and work, including his fourteen-year-old daughter Dana Tasker (Eliza Dushku).  Harry is picked up by Gib, and they enter an ordinary looking office building, which is a front for Omega, headed by Spencer Trilby (Charlton Heston).  Though Spencer is used to Harry’s theatrics while he is in the field, the eye-patched leader is not impressed with the information on terrorists they received.  What Harry does get is a summons to visit Juno’s New York office.  Posing as a fellow purveyor of art, he is given a tour of an operation full of people who look at him suspiciously.  This is because she is actually helping a terror organization known as “Crimson Jihad,” led by Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik).  Salim is furious with Juno for letting a stranger wander around their operation, and as a result they begin following Gib and Harry. Another action sequence ensues, with Harry narrowly being unable to capture or kill Salim after a chase through the city.  The pursuit also makes Harry late for the birthday party Dana and Helen planned for Harry.  The next day, Harry goes to the law office where Helen is employed to take her out to lunch and make up for not being present for the celebration.  Before he gets to her desk, though, he overhears her speaking to a mysterious person named Simon (Bill Paxton).  She agrees to meet Simon, and Harry now suspects his wife of having an affair.  Suddenly, stopping Crimson Jihad becomes secondary to following Helen.  Bugging her purse, Gib and Harry listen in on one of her rendezvous with Simon and quickly figure out that the potential rival is a fraud.  Simon is posing as a secret agent, trying to lure Helen into his world in order to sleep with her.  Gib and Harry tail Simon and learn that he is simply a used car salesman who uses the spy line in order to trick women into sleeping with him.  Hence, Harry sets up an operation where they burst in on Helen and Simon in the car man’s remote sex trailer and take them prisoner.  Helen is questioned by Gib and Harry behind a two-way mirror, and it is evident that nothing had happened between her and Simon.  She had been feeling neglected and wanted some adventure.  Harry decides to give her some, tasking her with a more real feeling assignment that requires her to play the part of a prostitute while he sits in the shadows posing as someone else.  He is about to reveal his identity when Crimson Jihad operatives kick in the door and take them away.  Helen tries to handle the situation, but she soon realizes that it is her husband that is the real spy.  They are taken to the Florida Keys where Juno has brought in a number of ancient pieces with nuclear bombs hidden in them.  In the process of making their escape, Harry is thrown into the water by an explosion, though to Helen it looks like he is dead before she is taken hostage by Juno.  Of course, he is still living, and is able to save her by helicopter in yet another action-packed sequence.  Their problems are not over, however, as Salim has taken one of the bombs to Miami where he plans to detonate it.  Worse for the Taskers, he has Dana.  Commandeering a Harrier fighter jet, Harry is able to save Dana, who had stolen the nuclear key, and kill the terrorists.  We cut to a year later, and the Harry and Helen are now working together as spies, seeing their old friend Simon before the end credits roll.

I suppose a movie called True Lies is appropriate for a film about espionage.  In reviews of similar movies, I have remarked about the difficulty of having a normal life while also being a spy.  In going with the words of the title, they say that the more truth with which you can surround an untruth, the more believable it will be.  Harry is a caring person, thus nobody, particularly not Helen, would suspect of being involved with anything like Omega.  He is a nice guy, and nice guys sell computers.  There is a certain Catholic touch to his character that I appreciate, such as the way he apologizes to the people he is inconveniencing the first time he is chasing Salim.  Catholics are taught not to harm others in any situation.  Such an attitude partially explains why we are pro-life.  Lying to your wife about your job would qualify as doing harm.  To an extent, I understand his need for skirting the truth.  The wrong people knowing his true identity could be a danger to them as the film demonstrates.  To avoid this, he must compartmentalize his life.  When Gib takes Harry home early in the movie, Harry swaps out one set of identification for another, becoming the person his family knows him to be.  The problem with such a routine is that it goes against Church teaching.  You could argue that Harry is serving the greater good, but the Church has never taught that the ends justify the means.  Consider Mark 8:36, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”  In other words, achieving greatness cannot be done at any price, at least if you value your soul.  This is true in any context, including saving the world as do Harry and Helen.

Luckily, True Lies never takes itself too seriously, which is remarkable when you consider that a nuclear bomb explodes during it.  It goes off on a remote island so nobody is hurt, but it underscores how over-the-top is this movie.  If you do watch it, try not to think too much while it is in front of your eyes.  This includes a rather inappropriate scene with Helen, though there is no nudity, thankfully.