Eraser

Review

Eraser

BY
NADEEM A. KHAN

The Players:
Eraser/John Kruger: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Lee Cullen: Vanessa Williams
Robert Deguerin: James Caan
Beller: James Coburn
Johnny C: Robert Pastorelli
Directed by Charles Russell.
Written by Tony Puryear and Walon Green.
Running time: 115 minutes.
Rated R (for violent action throughout and some language).

New wine in an old bottle? Thereabouts. And not particularly pleasant tasting material.

Jack Kruger--Mr. Schwarzenegger, is a grim (anything else would be impossible for Mr. S) U.S. marshall who earns his weekly envelope, "erasing" people's identities--with the benedictions of the Witness Protection Agency, of course. He'll also make you a new credit card and throw in a AAA membership. And should the evil blokes come snooping around your front yard, he'll "erase" them too.

Jack's latest assignment, Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams) is employed by Cyrez, a wretched weapons manufacturing facility whose brass is putting out hot stuff to the commies. Lee, you see, has been hornswogled by the FBI into snitching evidence of the company's evil ways, which she does--on an easy to carry computer disc. The boss nabs her in the act and fearing dire repercussions, turns the .357 on himself. Which leaves Lee without a vocation and in a frightful mess since the dregs of society have intimated they hope to muscle the disc out of her at an early date. Thankfully, Cullen has the "Eraser" to fish her out of the mulligatawny.

The d.o.s, naturally, have plenty in terms of high flung contacts, personnel, and firepower--including the x-ray vision electromagnetic pulse shooting variety that Lee knows about. Soon, a wicked bunch that is knocking on her door is intercepted adroitly and in the nick of time by "The Eraser"--who has this knack of bobbing up right in the midst of a contingency. After a lavish, mind-numbing exposition of said resources, the bad guys bow out to Arnold, who is in fine fettle (wouldn't you be if stunt people swapped places while you caressed the $20 mill. pay stub in the corner).

Arnold reveals just how mighty, or maybe simply how absent-minded he is. During the pow-wow, a fairly long metal spike is driven through his right hand. Moments later, when the dust settles, he gets the paw bandaged and after a fairly verbal--by his standards--pep talk to a downcast Lee, he pats her heartily with the same hand. Even I winced.

Soon, Jack Kruger totters upon discovering that his mentor and colleague, Robert Degeurin (James Caan) is plugged in with the evil forces (a la "Mission:Impossible") and has flagitious designs on Miss. Cullen. Worse, he does so on board a Boeing 727. With a philosphical shrug that there could be worse places to stumble upon such a discovery, he blows the joint. Literally.
We've seen the previews of Arnold clinging onto the plane, feet away from becoming a rather unusual statistic and we've even been explained how it was accomplished. When viewed as a whole, the stunt is not quite so fantastic. The lighting during the entire episode is a bit artificial and doesn't mimic daylight--which it should, realistically. Now, if Arnold had taken home a little less of the greenback and left more for the special effects crew to play with....

Unconvincing special effects aside, no explanation is offered for the plane's eventual safe landing when Mr. S had emptied a few rounds into the cockpit and annulled the pilots. Also, the sun's shining brightly as Arnold plummets to earth. He fills in the following moments shaking off the grime and jiving with a couple of friendly kids and--it's night!

Such flaws aren't easy to overlook and neither are Arnold's balmy one-liners:

Vanessa (whilst staving unpleasant bounders single-handedly): You are late!
Arnold: Traffic.

Later he rips one through an alligator's skull and drones,"You're luggage!"

The scene in the NY zoo is valid stuff until Kruger smashes an aquarium and brings, yet again, Cruise's you-know-what to mind.

Robert Pastorelli (Johnny C.) has his moments playing a straight bartender-- a side-effect of Jack's "erasing", in a gay bar who later delivers pizza, froths and falls, gets jumpstarted, while Lee and Jack break into Cyrez to run the disc which couldn't be played from elsewhere--all this is less complex than it sounds. If you've emerged on-par with "Mission:Imposible", "Eraser's" synthetics twists should pose little problem.

James Caan submits a substantial, Gene Hackmanesque performance as Arnold's annoyed guru, who's eager to expose and trample on his pupil's insides. He had a chance in the plane, but good naturedly let Jack slip away on the pretext that the lad knew Lee Cullen's whereabouts. Being Robert's chief in the Witness Protection Agency, wouldn't it have been simpler to nip into the computer room and whip out the deal on Lee, instead of trying to force it out of Jack? We all know Jack ain't the type to squeal.

Now, had Robert cut to the chase, there would have been no reason for the staggering hour long finale on the docks from where the illegal weapons are being shipped. Arnold scrubs off the thousand man army that Caan has at his behest and is aided in the enterprise by Pastorelli's immediate Family--who have joined the fray upon learning that the docks are being utilized by non-union labor--they don't like that at all.

"Eraser" has the usual ingredients to carry it through early fall. Obviously big names save the skit, but I wonder if the whole affair would have been more interesting with an entirely new face--someone instead of Mr. S, who would have vitalized certain scenes that make the movie impossible to distinguish from "Commando", "True Lies", and "Last Action Hero". Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pleasant actor who, if nothing, is a poignant reminder that the American Dream is alive and well. He has the charisma to draw the hoardes, but with a steady decline in the quality of the yarns he is putting out, I am not quite sure his cinematic future is on steady ground. Good thing he has a decent nest egg.

Reviewed 6/022/1996