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.
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.