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112 comments in total

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34 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Arnold Knew How To Make Entertaining Films, 13 May 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

A decade ago, this Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick was fairly hot stuff but I wonder if it would have the impact today since special effects are so much better and we've seen so many of these type of action stories in the past 10 years.

One of Arnold's keys to his successful career in films was simply that his movies were entertaining, and that's why people come to the theaters. High-brow critics often forget that. "Eraser" is a prime example. Entertainment alone is how this particular movie survives since common logic doesn't exist while violence and profanity are overdone. But, despite it's low-brow tastes and stupidity, it's still generally fun to watch if you can put your brain on hold for two hours. It's also fun to hear if you have a nice surround system.

This movie has one of the most outrageous action scenes I've ever seen on film, even to this day: one in which Arnold hangs from the outside of a jet airplane, finally lets go, free-falls to catch his parachute that had been ripped off, and then has to worry about the jet plane which had circled around and was going to smash him!!

The audio came into play nicely each time the super rifle that was featured in the movie was shot. Vanessa Williams plays the female lead satisfactorily and James Caan is very effective as the villain. Robert Pastorelli and James Coburn also add to the fun. A few laughs along the way help this no-brainer to become even more entertaining.

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36 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
"You're luggage", 15 June 2004
Author: Sky_Captain_Joe_Sullivan

Before T3 was released, this was the last good Ahnuld movie. Although not one of his very best, this remains an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. He plays John Kruger, who works in the Witness Protection Program, erasing the identities of the vulnerable to secure their future. His latest assignment is to protect Vanessa Williams, who has information on some heavy duty weapons. Although logic is not one of the film's strong points, I really don't mind. Since this is a Schwarzenegger vehicle, I expect certain things, i.e. high body count, great one liners, and some dark humor. Thankfully, those elements are evident. James Caan does a respectable job and Robert Pastorelli adds some comic relief.

Rating: *** (out of ****)

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33 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :-
One of my favorite Schwarzenegger movies!, 4 February 2000

Author: HunterK (hunter_kahn@hotmail.com) from Pennsylvania, USA

For the most part, I'm a Schwarzenegger fan, although I may never forgive him for his role in BATMAN AND ROBIN. ERASER is one of my favorites of his movies. I think it ranks right up there with the TERMINATOR movies and TRUE LIES. The plot, I think, is better in this movie than in most of Schwarzenegger's movies, and of course the action does not disappoint.

Dr. Lee Cullen, (Vanessa Williams) a dedicated worker for the Cyrez Corporation, learns that there is a conspiracy going on within her business. Guns that were supposed to have been being made for the military are finding themselves in the hands of terrorists. Lee does an undercover job for the FBI and barely escapes alive. U.S. Marshal John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) of the Witness Protection Program is assigned to protect Lee. Kruger will "erase" Lee's identity to keep her safe. But when he finds out that his mentor and teacher Robert Deguerin (James Caan) is also in on the conspiracy, both Lee and Kruger are in danger.

Much credit goes out to the main actors of this movie. Arnold Schwarzeneger does a fine job, although this character is the same type of character her normally plays. James Kaan is excellent in this film, as is the beautiful Vanessa Williams did an excellent job. Robert Pastorelli also does a great job playing the comic relief of this movie.

The plot is very good and it usually keeps the views interested and on the edge of his seat. There are also some great special effects that are used for the weapons in this movie. It's another great case of Arnold kicking some enemy *** and saving the day, as well as the girl. Check it out!

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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Exciting action with Arnold, 6 July 2002

Author: Bogey Man from Finland

Chuck Russel's Eraser is exploding and intense action film starring Arnold Scwarzenegger as secret government officer, who "erases" people i.e. destroys their past in order to save their future. He gets to erase an important witness (Vanessa Williams) who knows about her company's illegal activities as it sells guns to foreigners. The film is full of action and mayhem, which is great since hardboiled action films are not made too often in Hollywood anymore.

There are hardly any stops throughout the movie and the viewer should not be bored, at least I wasn't now that I watched the movie for the second time. It looks fantastic in its original widescreen format, and this is definitely among Arnold's more noteworthy performances and proves the talent of director Chuck (Scorpion King, Elm Street 3) Russell.

There are many effects that look pretty realistic and the crocodile shoot out is one memorable scene, and maybe that is the screenwriters' comment on zoos' that don't feed their animals sufficiently as the crocodiles are VERY hungry and fierce for food! Also, there is one over the top airplane scene, that really grabs an attention. The actors are great throughout the film and James Caan doesn't make an exception. The finale is perhaps little too familiar and relies on gun fights and explosions, but still, as a whole, I found this film very pleasant experience in its own genre. It is not the greatest action film ever made in Hollywood, but it is one of the most interesting US action films of the 90's.

7/10

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16 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Rock 'em sock 'em cinema, 13 November 2004

Author: thegouch23 from Providence, RI

Eraser is a film typical of its genre. What genre, you ask? Why, the "the terrorists-are-coming-and-it's one-man-against-the-world-so-shoot-em-up, blow-em-up, and save-the-girl-and-the-day" genre, of course. Too complicated for you? Don't worry, because the movie isn't. As a matter of fact, it's readily accessible to anyone over the age of 7 - not that this movie is age-appropriate for everyone over the age of 7 (Note: This was my favorite movie when I was 10) - but rather that the concepts, and thus the plot, are simple. This isn't a movie you go see if you're seeking a two hour thinking experience.

Casting Schwarzenegger for the lead instantly gives the main character, John Kruger, a personality of his own. Though nothing is ever known of his background (even by the end credits), that doesn't matter. Dialogue is used mainly for two purposes: to explain the unfolding saga of the federal scandal in the movie, and for the ever-composed and ever-cool Schwarzenegger to calm Dr. Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), a key witness in the scandal saga. Instead, what drives the movie is the action sequences and Schwarzenegger's resourcefulness in a myriad of combat situations where he always finds himself outmanned, outgunned, and beaten to the first punch, yet always manages to gain the upper hand.

Williams does an excellent job, and in many ways, is forced to be more of an "actor," per se, than Schwarzenegger. She has to display a wide array of emotions, from sadness, to fear, to regret, to resolve, and even anger, while Schwarzenegger is only called on to mainly display the final two. James Caan is legitimately a scumbag in his role as Robert DeGuerin, and James Coburn, in a smaller role, is fatherly to Kruger as Chief Beller. Solid, unspectacular performances all around...save that of Caan, who borders on something more.

The action in this movie is incredible for its time. The rail guns are visually impressive if not scientifically plausible (but who cares about that anyway?), and Schwarzenegger's combat ingenuity gives flavor and style to the action sequences. Director Russell seems to show a bizarre fixation with bloody puncture wounds (objects protruding entirely through the skin) throughout, but does show some creativity of his own in placing Schwarzenegger in clever combat situations where he can use his mind to outsmart his many more-heavily-armed enemies. Russell also plays with the moviegoer in several situations, making it unclear whether or not Kruger is alive after several close calls. This keeps moviegoers on the edge of their seats for the nonstop thrill ride that rarely pauses to take a breath. From the first scene to the last, explosions, shooting, and violence are the norm, and it is not meant to be any other way.

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Perfectly acceptable hard-hitting fun!, 25 June 1999
Author: David Choi from New Jersey, USA

John Kruger, a.k.a. "The Eraser" (The big man himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a ferocious U.S. Federal Marshal working as a member for the Witness Protection Agency. His latest assignment is to protect the beautiful and astute Dr. Lee Cullen (Miss America's Vanessa Williams). For Miss Cullen is an employee working for a powerful engineering company specializing in high technological products for the future. This company is responsible for manufacturing powerful laser guns with destructive capabilities and mechanisms which allow these weapons to produce maximum damage. The original intent of these delicate weapons is for military purposes. What Miss Cullen does not know is that there is a conspiracy going on from within the company... Lately, Cullen has evinced an illegal, black market trading and selling of these top secret, laser ray weapons to rogue foreign terrorists... Cullen's life is in jeopardy...she has been targeted for murder...and only John Kruger can save and protect her from imminent threats...by "erasing" Cullen's old identity and implanting a new one...

Robert Deguerin (James Caan), Kruger's superior, has to make sure that everything in this operation is running smoothly and that Kruger does a decent job keeping his eye on Cullen. However, even with the guaranteed safekeeping of her own life by Kruger, Cullen must learn to defend herself from the clutches of her ruthless employer and hitherto unknown criminal mastermind organizing the whole deal alongside with renegade extremists... As well, Cullen learns to trust no one for the government itself may be embroiled in this entire catastrophe...

What predictably follows throughout ERASER is a melange of excessive firepower, brutal fist-fighting, shoot-outs performed with celerity, tons of violent carnage, massive explosions, and nonstop excitement. Yes, ERASER is a definite high testosterone thriller with state of the art effects and a wonderful sense of humor thanks to Arnold's crafty one-liners.

As a chef who owes a "debt of gratitude" to "The Eraser," Robert Pastorelli ( Striking Distance, TV's Murphy Brown ) shines with some spotlight stealing moments also.

ERASER is fun-filled and exhilarating, with a pace that moves lightning fast. However, a paucity of character development or originality in the film's cliché story-line bring this movie down a notch or so. The scantiness of actual substance is sadly common in ERASER. The premise is wonderful, but the product could have been better. The director, cast, and production crew should have been slightly more ambitious with this film's mold...

That having been said, ERASER is a fine treat for male audiences. There's plenty of action, energy, and blood with a fair amount of thrills. Interesting adventure sequences include Arnold parachuting from a burning passenger jet and Arnold again attempting to fight against a myriad of man-eating crocodiles bare-fisted. (Though instead, he had to resort to conventional firearms as weapons.) By the end, when the battle is every man for himself, Arnold's methods of nailing and eliminating the enemy with their own medicine is pure poetic justice!

Some outrageous stunts and special effects, plus the presence of Herculean Arnold Schwarzenegger boost ERASER above complete imbecility. Still, the failure to convey any character depth or meaning into a simplistic plot may classify ERASER as an "escapist" film, but also a "mindless" action film as well. Never once, do the characters convince the audience the gravity of the situation. The performers never persuade the audience to think about the consequences of their actions. Is ERASER a thought-provoking film? Yeah right! ERASER is a standard, "kill or be killed" thriller, nothing more.

Considering Arnold's earlier blockbuster achievements which actually included three dimensional characters such as TOTAL RECALL (1990), TERMINATOR 2, JUDGMENT DAY, (1991) and TRUE LIES (1994), this film is somewhat rudimentary in characterization. For many people though, this quality may not exactly be a setback.

ERASER is a film that is always fun to sit back, watch, and enjoy the action! If you expect anything profound from this movie...try again. ERASER is a cool, better than expected action film with great special effects, two appealing leads, and a package full of car explosions and other assortments of surprises and tricks. Sure, ERASER may not be a "classic" action film, but entertaining, it definitely is. A better plot though, can prove to be very conducive for a film of this caliber...

RATING: **1/2 out of ****.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Very good. Surprisingly., 10 July 2006

Author: lz_z

As one of the later Arnold movies and a suspicious title, there are initially serious worries about how good this film will be. Fortunately it turned out to be a great movie in the end. The only nitpick would be those obviously fake CGI crocodiles used in one scene but otherwise, the movie has consistency in quality. This movie also introduced the famous rail gun which became an instant hit when videogames copied it. The rail gun in the movie itself is more like a super fast rocket launcher than a sniping weapon. The story itself, surrounds the marketing of that weapon. The acting is very good as is the screenplay and cinematography. This film isn't anything new, isn't a groundbreaker in any way but is still highly enjoyable.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Arnie's classic no-brainer shoot-'em-ups., 29 January 2008

Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Eraser starts as weapons manufacturer Cyrez executive Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams) steals some important data for the FBI to help prove that hi-tech weaponry developed for the US military is being sold to foreign terrorists. Cullen is caught on CCTV cameras stealing the information & the people behind the plan want her dead, in steps witness protection agent & US Marshal John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is a specialist is 'erasing' the lives of the people he is trying to protect & relocate. As the stakes get higher & a lot of very important & dangerous people are implicated by the information Cullen has they have to get at John to reveal where she is, but John is the best there is & intends to bring the bad guy's down & save the life of Cullen...

Co-executive produced & directed by Chuck Russell as Charles Russell this was an attempt by Schwarzenegger to get back to his roots after the disaster that is Junior (1994) which he made two years prior, while Eraser isn't up to the standard of say a Total Recall (1990) or a Terminator 2: Judgemnt Day (1991) in my opinion it's a damned sight better than either a Kindergarten Cop (1990) or a True Lies (1994). Anyway, the script by Tony Puryear & Walon Green apparently went through lots of rewrites from many different writers & so the final shooting script was referred to it 'looking like a rainbow' & also according to the IMDb Terminator 2: Judgment Day co-writer William Wisher Jr. did multiple rewrites during production as well so it's maybe somewhat of a surprise that Eraser is as good as it is. There's nothing deep or meaningful here in Eraser, it is what it is, an unashamedly violent big budget action flick. The character's are decent but I didn't like the idea of Schwarzenegger killing so many FBI agents who were just following orders, OK they were orders from corrupt officials but they were only doing their job & it just didn't sit well with me that Schwarzenegger was killing everyone in sight regardless of overriding factors. I mean he was supposed to be the all American hero of the piece wasn't he? Away from the moralistic side of things Eraser has plenty to enjoy if your an action junkie, there's explosions, gun fights, huge cool looking hi-tech futuristic weaponry, fights & some good set-pieces including one taken straight from the James Bond film Moonraker (1981) where Schwarzenegger gets thrown out of a plane without a parachute & he has to skydive after one to a great sequence in a New York zoo involving several Crocodiles.

Director Russell does a good job & he directs with pace & a fair amount of energy. The action scenes are suitably big budget & suitably over the top although as usual for this type of film there are scenes which really push the boundaries of plausibility with Schwarzenegger falling out of a plane without a parachute & surviving by landing on a car, sustaining injuries yet seemingly getting over them very quickly & a scene which shows him hanging onto the side of a flying plane using just his fingertips. I thought the story revolving around the weapons could have been better & doesn't have much of an impact, for instance it's never revealed who exactly is buying them or for what purpose & surely one gun is pretty much like any other? I don't really see why having a technologically more advanced gun is going to make a huge difference, as I said surely a gun is just a gun? There is plenty of violence here & a body count to almost rival World War II, those who don't like strong graphic violence should give Eraser a miss.

With a supposed budget of about $100,000,000 this had a lot of money spent on it, I don't think it was a huge box-office success & while it definitely didn't flop it was probably a disappointment for Warner Bros. According to the IMDb lots of scenes were written, lit & prepared to be filmed but never were & that drove the budget up. If that is true I cannot for the life of me figure out why they weren't shot, there's just no reason for it. The acting is alright, Scharzenegger is his usual self while James Cann makes for a good villain & it's nice to see James Coburn in there as well.

Eraser is is a great big budget action film the sort that Schwarzenegger could make in his sleep, I personally really liked it despite a slightly weak story & think it's one of Arnie's action packed best.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Schwarzenegger's baaaaaaack!, 18 July 2002

Author: MovieAddict2009 from UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

ERASER mixes great action sequences, with good acting, and stunts.(Not to mention GREAT explosions and weapons)I don't feel like writing out the plot on this one. I'll just tell you that it's great. It's not Arnold's best, but it's in his top ten. James Caan was perfect as the villian, and I'm glad they didn't mess up the movie with romance between Schwarzenegger and Vanessa Williams(I think that's her name, excuse me if I'm wrong). Alot of action films turn corny when they do that. There are armed bad guys firing at the hero, and he has time for a kiss(I'm NOT talking about Bond, those are meant to be like that). Anyway, Schwarznegger's back, and with like I said, great action, stunts(unfortunately some bad graphics in the plane scene) and other classic Arnold stuff, Eraser delivers. It's action, people, stop picking things apart! 3.5/5-moviecritic2003

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Very Entertaining Action Film!, 5 February 2009

Author: Gunn from Minnesota

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I beg to differ with those who berate this film. It's one of Arnold's best and so what if the acting isn't Oscar quality, the film delivers non-stop action, like a boulder rolling down a mountain it never lets up. So what if there are believability problems in the script. If we didn't use a little imagination there'd be no James Bond, no Star Wars, no Batman, no ET, no Lord of the Rings, no Transformers, etc. If you want believability watch Grapes of Wrath. So what if it's not possible to dive out of Jet plane to chase down a parachute. So what if the villain doesn't kill the hero the easy way. So what if Arnold demands a cheesy line in every one of his movies; "You're luggage!" to an alligator he just killed, is a small price to pay for a high energy, roller coaster ride of a movie. This movie is great in high definition with surround sound. Geez, why are people so damned critical! Don't look for flaws, didn't you come to the theater to have a fun time?

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