Eraser (DVD) > Reviews > Erased

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Very ordinary
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Slick, well made fun
Disadvantages:	It's so very  .  .  .  .  . 80's !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Your enjoyment of Eraser may well depend on which version you are watching. There's the uncut U.S version (rated R) and the hideously censored U.K version which has been cut by nearly three & a half minutes to gain a 15 certificate. Needless to say if you have the technology (ie a multi-region DVD player) then the R1 is the one to go for.
"Ah-nuld" plays U.S Marshall John Kruger assigned to protect federal witness Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams) from her evil arms-dealing employers (Lead by a sneering James Caan) before she testifies against them. Plotwise that's about it except to say that along the way they get involved in some outrageous action scenes that range from the spectacular (Arnie diving out of a plane AFTER his parachute) to the downright silly (Arnie wrestles alligators in Central Park) but director Charles Russell keeps things moving at a brisk pace and tackles the on-screen mayhem with suitable enthusiasm and flair.
The central performances are fine - Arnie can sleepwalk his way through this sort of thing by now, Williams is surprisingly capable (for a singer!) and Caan, with a careers worth of sneering villians behind spends his screen time chewing up the scenery with relish. With its threadbare plot, countless explosions & stunts and a very high body count this is 80's action film-making at its most streamlined. What this movie lacks is a fresh spin on things to drag it kicking and screaming into the nineties. As it is though, this amounts to little more than a hugely enjoyable re-run of "Commando"