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Written by Gavin Salkeld
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Friday, 08 August 2008 |
History
TRUE LIES, again one of the more popular action movies of the 1990s, had some trouble at the BBFC (like a lot of the more popular action movies of the 1990s!). The cinema version escaped with only a single one second cut to remove a double-ear clap. However on video, due to the possibility of underage viewers in the home, more violence was removed. Director James Cameron was open about his dislike for the BBFC’s intervention, and took it upon himself to implement the cuts personally.
When it’s initial DVD release date arrived, the uncut dual-region encoded Australian DVD was accidentally released with all the footage left in, and was not taken off the market despite both the BBFC and Trading Standards knowing about it. However, the second DVD brought out was an edited version, but not the same version edited by James Cameron…
The list below is the most complete list of cuts available anywhere to date and where cut scenes differ on different versions, this has been noted.
VHS CUTS
· In the bathroom fight, the headbutt delivered by Schwarzenegger right after he pulls the terrorist’s coat down has been removed.
· When the pair fall onto the floor, the shots of Schwarzenegger clapping the bad guy’s ear, just before kicking him back, have been sliced.
· Just after Schwarzenegger pulls the hand dryer off the wall, he should hit the terrorist three times hard in the face. However, this has been reduced to just one hit in this version.
· Just after this, Schwarzenegger pulls the bad guy’s head into a urinal, and his head clangs into the porcelain. He should then force his head back into the bowl with another loud clang just before flushing it, but the second hit has been removed entirely.
· During the sequence where Schwarzenegger is test-driving Bill Paxton’s car, he has a vision of smacking him in the face as he makes comments about Arnie’s wife (Jamie Lee Curtis). When Paxton’s bloodied face falls backwards into shot, the shot should hold for about three seconds but we only get a quick glimpse lasting a few frames before cutting away to Arnie. This looks very awkward and unusual and spoils the rhythm, and joke, of the scene.
· During the scene where Schwarzenegger is held captive by the torturer and guard, his escape from their company has been cut. When Schwarzenegger throws the trocar at the guard, we don’t see the implement lodge itself in the guard’s eye, his head snap back, or his fall off-screen.
· Immediately afterwards, a few frames have been removed from the start of Schwarzenegger breaking the torturer’s neck, in order to lessen the impact of the snap.
· When Arnie rams the tyre iron in the next bad guy’s chest, the second shot of him yanking the iron upwards and cracking his ribs has been removed.
· Shortly after, Schwarzenegger begins to take out numerous random terrorists. At one point, he slides down a rope to break one terrorist’s neck. This sequence has been cut in half and footage rearranged to lessen the tension and relish for violence. Also, the profile shot of the bad guy’s head being twisted with a loud crack has been removed, and instead we hear the sound effect from a high shot as the guard falls forward onto a crate.
DVD CUTS (only applicable to second release in 2003)
· In the bathroom fight, the headbutt delivered by Schwarzenegger right after he pulls the terrorist’s coat down has been disguised by cutting away to a shot of the old man in the toilet cubicle. Unlike the video version, we hear the sound effect.
· When Arnie and the bad guy pair fall onto the floor, the shots of Schwarzenegger clapping the bad guy’s ear, just before kicking him back, have been disguised by once again cutting to a shot of the old man in the cubicle.
· Just after Schwarzenegger pulls the hand dryer off the wall, he should hit the terrorist three times hard in the face. However, all the hits have been terribly disguised by cutting away to a shot of Schwarzenegger hitting the terrorist in the neck with his arm from earlier in the fight; the terrorist flinging his coat on the floor from earlier in the fight, and a slowed-down shot of the old man wincing. This looks very bad indeed, with four frames of the terrorist’s bloody face inserted into a mass of edited footage that looks positively awful.
· Just after this, Schwarzenegger pulls the bad guy’s head into a urinal, and his head clangs into the porcelain. He should then force his head back into the bowl with another loud clang just before flushing it, but we fail to see both hits as we, again, cut away to a slowed-down shot of the old man that was used earlier in the fight.
· During the sequence where Schwarzenegger is test-driving Bill Paxton’s car, he has a vision of smacking him in the face as he makes comments about Arnie’s wife (Jamie Lee Curtis). When Paxton’s bloodied face falls backwards into shot, the shot should hold for about three seconds but we only get a quick glimpse lasting a few frames before cutting away to the zoom-in on Arnie from right before the punch. This looks totally awful, as the camera cuts back to the same shot from the footage after the punch, and is noticeable by the change of background and Arnie’s head jumping position and sudden change of expression. This looks very, very amateurish and isn’t doing poor James Cameron any favours at all.
· During the scene where Schwarzenegger is held captive by the torturer and guard, his escape from their company has been cut. When Schwarzenegger throws the trocar at the guard, we don’t see the implement make contact at all, and the camera cuts away during the whip pan. The resulting sound effect has also being entirely cut.
· Immediately afterwards, the neck break of the torturer has been removed in its entirety, and we now cut from the aforementioned whip pan to a shot of the man’s neck already broken. However, the snap of the neck still plays over this static shot which looks atrocious.
· When Arnie rams the tyre iron in the next bad guy’s chest, the second shot of him yanking the iron upwards and cracking his ribs has been removed as per the UK video. This is the only cut that doesn’t look obvious in the whole DVD.
· Shortly after, Schwarzenegger begins to take out numerous random terrorists. At one point, he slides down a rope to break one terrorist’s neck. In the DVD, the sequence does not cut away as per the video, but the profile shot of the bad guy’s head being twisted with a loud crack has been removed. The remaining footage has been slowed down to fill up the gap left by the now-cut profile shot, and looks dreadful. Just as Arnie makes contact with the bad guy’s head, we hear the sound effect of the neck snapping and cut to a profile shot of the guard falling forwards in slow motion with the sound playing, which looks laughably appalling.
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