True Lies: Straight Faced Edition

March 24, 2010 @ 7:54 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

August 13, 2011 @ 1:58 am

It is difficult for me to rate this edit. Objectively I have to give it a high rating because it did mostly succeed at its intended goals. Much of the comedy was successfully stripped from it. The edit is also very professionally done with good video, audio, & an awesome menu. I did not detect any technical flaws.

The only objective criticism I can make is that there are a few places where the cutting probably went a little too far at the cost of a little bit of story. Nothing too major. The biggest is probably the cutting of the opening dance scene, which causes an issue both with Tia’s character and ruins the emotional impact of the end dance scene.

Other good news is that the run-time is now much better for this kind of movie.

Overall: 8/10

Now on to the bad news. Subjectively I am not a big fan of this edit. I have always felt that True Lies was a very misunderstood movie. The movie was intended to be a comedy, but it is a very unorthodox comedy that is handled subtly and wrapped up in big budget action shots. People expected a James Cameron action movie and were disappointed when they instead got this weird pseudo spoof. Personally I love this movie in its original form and disagree with the goals of this edit, but that is just my opinion. For those who did not like the original and just want more of an action movie, you will probably be very pleased with Elbarto’s version of the film.

February 13, 2011 @ 8:55 pm

I’ll start by saying the last time I saw True Lies I was the same age as Eliza Dushku when she made that movie. So it’s been a while. I watched this version and I didn’t miss anything that was cut, except for the Tom Arnold hiding behind a light pole part, which is dumb. I had to go back and read the cut list to see what was missing only to find myself saying, "Holy crap!" and "Oh yeah!", for each one. Excellent job. There was only a couple spots (that I noticed) where the scene change seemed quick, but that’s nitpicky.

There’s a couple things I’d like to have still seen get axed. Yeah, the dogs thing mentioned before, but also Tom Arnold swerving all over the place on the icy road and his one liner at the end, “You’re fired.” the guy just kidnapped his daughter. I’d be way too upset to think of a one liner, even then it’s completely lame. His jet take off bit was nice too, but I would have gone further to make it look even more spontaneous.

I agree with other people, that whole last scene is weak compared to the rest of the film, but is there a way to ax it and keep the story intact? It would be tough to do.
I loved the whole thing. The movie, and the special features, totally above and beyond.

Excellent excellent work. 9/10.

March 3, 2010 @ 6:43 am

Really enjoyed this one. It flows very smoothly and is much more enjoyable than the retail version. I agree with the comments that the second half isn’t as good, but nothing could change that. I was ready to give this an 8/10, but decided on a 9/10 because the DVD presentation is simply wonderful. Nice menus and really great special features – I wish more fanedits would have deleted scene montages. And an extra special shout out to Blueyoda for his contribution to the edit, which I thought was brilliant in both idea and execution.

February 26, 2010 @ 10:21 pm

Well it seems I left this one a little too long for commenting, everybody seems to have said about all there is to say. All that’s left really is to add my thought’s, great well made edit, much better than the original.
And actually worth watching again, which I would never have done with the original.
Great work Elbarto 9/10.