True Lies (1994)

True Lies is a 1994 American action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It was executive produced by Lawrence Kasanoff and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov and Charlton Heston. It is based on the 1991 French comedy film La Totale!^[4] The film follows U.S. government agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger), who struggles to balance his life as a spy with his familial duties.

True Lies was the first Lightstorm Entertainment project to be distributed under Cameron's multimillion-dollar production deal with 20th Century Fox, as well as the first major production for the visual effects company Digital Domain, which was co-founded by Cameron. It was also the first film to cost $100 million.

For her performance, Curtis won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Saturn Award for Best Actress, while Cameron won the Saturn Award for Best Director. The film ultimately grossed $378 million worldwide at the box-office and was also nominated at the Academy Awards and BAFTAs in the Best Visual Effects category, and also for seven Saturn Awards.

Former US Marine Corps AV-8B pilot Harry Tasker leads a double life: to his wife Helen and his daughter Dana, he is a mild-mannered computer salesman often away on business trips; but secretly, a secret agent for a United States intelligence agency named Omega Sector. Harry, operating alongside fellow agents Albert "Gib" Gibson and Faisil, infiltrates the party of suspected arms dealer and terrorist financier Jamal Khaled in Lake Chapeau, Switzerland. Stealing Jamal's records, Harry and his team learn that American antiques dealer Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere) received a suspicious payment from Jamal. Harry visits her office undercover posing as a corporate art consultant. Workmen at Juno's business are really members of a terrorist group known as "Crimson Jihad", led by Salim Abu Aziz. Suspicious, Aziz and two of his men follow Harry and attempt to kill him. Harry slays the henchmen but loses Aziz in a pursuit. As a result, Harry misses his birthday party that his wife and daughter have prepared for him and that he had promised to attend.

Harry heads to Helen's office the next day to surprise her for lunch, but overhears her talking on the phone to a man named Simon. Fearing that Helen is having an affair, Harry uses Omega Sector resources to tap Helen's phone, learning that Simon is a used car salesman who pretends to be a covert agent to seduce women. Harry and other Omega agents, disguised as police SWAT Team, take Helen and intimidate Simon into staying away from her. Using a voice changer, Harry interrogates Helen and learns that, due to his constant absence, she is desperately seeking adventure. Harry thus arranges for Helen to participate in a staged spy mission, where she is to plant a covert listening device in the hotel suite of a mysterious figure (who is actually Harry himself). Aziz's men suddenly burst in, abduct the couple, and take them to an island in the Florida Keys, where Harry admits to Helen that he is a spy.

Aziz reveals he has smuggled stolen MIRV nuclear warheads into the country via antique statues shipped by Juno and threatens to detonate them in major U.S. cities unless the U.S. military leaves the Persian Gulf. He also plants one of the warheads on the island, intending to have it detonate after they leave to prove that he means business. Aziz orders the couple to be tortured, and Harry (under a truth serum) reveals details of his double life to Helen. They escape to watch as the three remaining warheads are loaded onto two trucks and a helicopter. Harry leaves Helen to attack Aziz's men, but Helen is captured by Juno and taken in her limo which is following the two trucks on the Overseas Highway. Harry is rescued by Omega agents and pursues the convoy, sending two Marine Harrier Jump Jets to stop it by destroying part of the Seven Mile Bridge. Helen and Juno fight for a gun in the limo and the driver is shot and killed. Hanging from a helicopter, Harry rescues Helen through the limo's sunroof while Juno is stranded in the limo, which subsequently falls off the damaged bridge and into the sea.

Upon returning safely to the mainland, the warhead left on the island detonates for the public to see. After being reconciled with Helen, Harry learns that Aziz and his men have taken control of a skyscraper under construction in downtown Miami and have kidnapped Dana, threatening to detonate their one remaining bomb. Harry commandeers one of the Harriers to rescue his daughter. Faisal poses as part of a news team requested by Aziz, providing enough distraction for Dana to steal the bomb control key and flee the room. Aziz chases Dana onto a tower crane as Harry arrives. Faisal guns down a few terrorists on one floor of the building, and Harry uses the Harrier's machine guns to kill the others on the floor below. Harry is able to coax Dana from the tower crane to the nose of the Harrier. Aziz jumps to the fuselage of the Harrier and attacks Harry. After a tense struggle, Harry eventually has Aziz ensnared on the end of one of the plane's missiles, which Harry fires at the terrorists' helicopter, killing Aziz and the remnants of his terrorist gang.

A year later, the Tasker family are happy following their ordeals, and Helen has become another Omega Sector agent. Harry and Helen embark on a new mission together at a formal party, where they encounter Simon seducing one of the female guests. Helen and Harry intimidate Simon into fleeing to avoid him jeopardizing their covers, and the film ends with the couple dancing a passionate tango. The movie ends with Gib saying that he's fed up with being in the van and he tells Harry that he and Helen are going to be in the van next time.