Jihads and Miniskirts

I think the idea of a True Lies spin-off, or remake, or whatever, is silly, an attempt to coopt the fad for married couples who beat people up and do espionage together, and is unfeasible, given the age and prior commitments of the participants (though a Red-style reunion of Curtis and Schwarzenegger would be fairly badass). That said, I think it's worth appreciating how simultaneously hilarious and messed-up True Lies is.

First, the two main characters' marriage is fascinating. Sure it's incredibly wrong that Schwarzenegger's character sets up Jamie Lee Curtis' to pose as a hooker, no matter how sexy the result is:



On the other hand, he's acutely aware of what he's doing to her, so distraught when he upsets her that he almost walks in front of a large moving vehicle and has to be rescued by Tim Arnold. He's shy, and kind of overwhelmed by his wife's sexy side. Aside from the creeptastic one-off manipulation and the fact that he's insanely overworked, Schwarzenegger seems like an eminently decent husband.

Then, there's the actual plot of the movie, which involves a hilariously inept scheme by a bunch of jihadists to cause a great deal of trouble. The flick's a remake of a 1991 French comedy, so I can only assume James Cameron or someone else involved assumed that on the 1994 release, decided that the Crimson Jihad would feel timely in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The villains are a farce, especially a jihadi babe in revealing turquoise, that reveal precisely no understanding of the threat America would eventually face from actual and effective Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. It's not that kind of movie, of course, but it's still a bit odd to watch, that moment when they could be a joke in a sunny, sexy family action-comedy. I wonder who the Taskers would go after this time.