True Lies: Straight Faced Edition

With Arnold's new project "Fubar" just dropping this weekend and being toted as a spiritual sequel to True Lies, I thought it was a perfect time to finally get around to this edit. From the heady days of 2010, this was a big early success in the fanediting community, but does it hold up?

Regardless of what you think of the original film, I'd have to say that this edit MOSTLY accomplishes the stated goal. While you wouldn't want (and couldn't do) a completely serious edit of this film, this does take out the majority of the obvious one-liners and the biggest moments that slow down the story in order to do a gag. I say "mostly" because I thought there were just a few edits that could really accomplish this better. There are several moments where the terrorists are played for goofs, and it's just really at odds with a nuclear bomb on US soil. You've got to cut them at the end bridge scene accidentally firing the rocket backwards, and for god's sake cut down the rigmarole on top of the Harrier jet. That scene is painfully long. Cut out the terrorist landing on his balls, his goofy reaction shots, and him flying away on a missile. It's easy enough to just cut out a half second from each of these and you can still show the bad guy going for his gun, then Arnold pitching him off the plane wing in a sudden dramatic move while hinting to his daughter to hang on. Add a meat-thud sound effect and that's it: terrorist defeated.

On that note, the scenes with the women screaming and flailing go on far too long here. They don't need to be panicked chickens while the guys are all icey cool. A couple screams and a bit of failing is fine, we've got it. That bridge rescue can be half as long as it is. Cut the ending scene where Bill Paxton is randomly at a spy party just to have another peeing joke. And cut yes, even more of the Tom Arnold banter, especially towards the end. On the other hand, I'm with other reviewers that the initial tango scene should've been left in, not only because it's a cool scene, but because it has thematic, serious resonance for the characters at the end.

Overall though, I think what slightly breaks the spell of this edit for me is just that it's not quite smooth enough. The community has gotten really skillful in the past decade, and what used to pass for "very smooth...except for a few cuts" now just seems like jarring errors that need to be fixed. There are several moments in this where the sound just drops out, and about half a dozen hard visual cuts where lines or scenes were removed. The overall sound mix is way too heavy on the foley effects like footsteps and zippers, and way too light on the music. It's really weird when the ruffling of a character's pant legs while walking are the same volume as his conversation!

Overall, it's debatable whether True Lies even works as a "straight" action espionage film. Maybe we just need to be okay with it being completely over-the-top and ridiculous. But I do think there's room to try the concept, maybe as an updated 2nd edition version now that the fanediting community has grown so much. In the end, I don't think this edit quite holds up, but I'd love to see a remake!

Another damn good elbarto fanedit!

A/V Quality - 10
Editing - 10
Narrative - 9
Enjoyment - 10 (original 8)

Recommended drink: Screwdriver

August 9, 2010 @ 2:16 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

July 18, 2010 @ 7:36 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

April 12, 2010 @ 4:20 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*