Eraser

Summary

“You’re luggage.”

A few weeks ago, director and screenwriter Chuck Russell passed away. It was a shame to lose him. He was probably best known for his writing and direction of Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but he also directed some big studio hits including The Mask, Eraser, and the excellent remake of The Blob. Just before he passed away, Warner released a welcome 4K UHD upgrade of his 1996 blockbuster Eraser. Eraser was a huge hit at the worldwide box office with over $242 million against a nearly $100 million budget. The film was critically pretty well received, and while it is not considered to be in the same league as some of Schwarzenegger’s very best films, it is definitely worth putting in the second tier. It is a solid later effort by Arnold, and has gained fans for thirty years. Strangely enough, this film managed to pass me by as a teenager, which is completely unlike me. I was excited to check the film out on 4K.

At a house in the suburbs, mobster Johnny and his wife are about to be killed by some thugs. Johnny was planning to testify against the mob. As the mobsters dump gasoline on Johnny and his wife, a man in a ski mask arrives on the scene and begins systematically killing the thugs. He removes his mask and begins giving instructions to Johnny and his wife. He pours blood all over them and takes some photos. Next, he removes some articles of identification to leave behind. He grabs two bodies that he has repurposed from the morgue, and sets the place ablaze as they leave the scene with one of the executed thugs in a body bag. He explains to Johnny that they have just been erased. The man who saved them is US Marshal John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who works for the Witness Service Protection plan. He drives them to the agents waiting to protect them until they testify against the mafia. Arriving at work, Kruger transfers the finger prints of Johnny over to the John Doe from the morgue in the national records. Robert Deguerin (James Caan,) one of John’s mentors, meets with him to hear about his recent operation. John and Robert’s boss Beller (James Coburn) assigns John to protect a witness. Her name is Lee (Vanessa Williams) and she is a whistle blower for a large weapons manufacturer named CYREZ. She plans to expose them for the development and sale of railgun technology and she has been working with the FEDs. After Lee takes a disc of evidence from the job site, her head boss Donahue (James Cromwell) angrily accosts her inside of his office. He explains that this is bigger than she knows. He draws a gun, and shoots himself in the head. The disc that Lee hands over to evidence is a fake, and she has kept the original in case. Lee soon finds herself being hunted down by killers that have the CYREZ rail gun technology. The only person that can help her survive is the Eraser, especially considering that even some folks within the government are actively working to have her killed.

Eraser was one of the last big hits for Arnold Schwarzenegger when he seemingly could do no wrong. While his career has never floundered and the occasional Terminator film would feature him and do big business, this was Arnold at the peak of his powers. Eraser came out while Planet Hollywood was still booming in business (in 1996, Planet Hollywood had a massive IPO and ballooned to sixty locations.) The picture has gained fans for thirty years, but I caught the film for the first time recently.

In my first viewing of Eraser, I thought it was decent, but not excellent. I liked it, but did not absolutely love it. When I am satisfied but not overly excited by a film, it tends to slow down my review process, because I want to give movies their due and I sometimes will have a film grow on me. A few weeks later, I rewatched the film with my oldest son, and found that I liked it much better on the second viewing. I think my enjoyment of the film definitely improved after my son said “That was cool” after seeing the Eraser kick a bad guy out of a window.

Action films in general seem to have difficulty gaining critical appreciation, and I think it is because most writers have some sort of difficulty identifying with bodybuilders and high testosterone. Writers can be pretty sensitive and it almost seems like they have concern that enjoying popcorn entertainment would diminish their ability to be taken seriously as a journalist. When you look at a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, I think critics had difficulty evaluating his onscreen presence and charisma versus his “acting skills.” I can understand that his thick accent and gigantic build probably made it difficult to appreciate him. For the film Eraser, the reviews were actually pretty decent. As an escapist action movie, I think people enjoyed the ways in which the script explored some fun ideas. The action is inventive and definitely exciting, because Chuck Russell stages some truly fast paced and aggressive action sequences. The film also begs the viewer to really suspend their disbelief. The script itself at times seems to be working overtime to find another great one-liner for Arnold, which sometimes can come off corny. That said, when he says “You’re luggage” in a scene which I will not spoil, I was definitely there for it. I still like Commando and Predator and many other Schwarzenegger films better than Eraser, but after watching it a couple times it definitely has grown on me.

The cast of the picture is great. Arnold does his thing as John Kruger, and he definitely looks cool as hell when he is wielding two of the rail guns. James Caan could elevate any role, and he brings a smiling viciousness to his character. James Coburn is given almost nothing to do in the film, but it was still nice to see him onscreen. Vanessa Williams is a capable damsel in distress and brings warmth to the role of Lee. John Slattery has a blink-and-you-will-miss-him cameo as a FED in a small role. Chuck Russell has no trouble having his actors hit their beats, and the action sequences are very impressive. If I had to give the film a rating, I would say that it probably lands as a solid 7/10 for me, with a few standout moments that I really enjoyed.

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, Eraser looks fantastic in its UHD presentation. I watched the picture on my large projector screen and found that the level of detail was even more impressive than I had gauged while watching the film on my 60” screen downstairs a few weeks earlier. Warner has been doing some really incredible restoration work on their 4K titles recently, and this is no exception. The cinematography by Adam Greenberg does not try to pull away from the action at hand. When the film kicks into high gear with the numerous action set pieces regarding the rail guns, I enjoyed how Chuck Russell and him chose to use a green spotlight to indicate where the gun was aiming. Is it ridiculous, because light doesn’t work that way (travel through walls etc?) Yes. Is it effective? Yes. The movie looks great overall on 4K.

Audio

The new Atmos mix for Eraser kicks ass. It is a loud and aggressive mix with amazing immersion and directionality. No notes. Great work.

Supplements:

• Reinventing the Modern Action Hero – The Evolution of Arnold – Director Chuck Russell, executive producer Michael Tadross, and actor Vanessa Williams show up for this brief piece and the other. Both pieces put together are about 15 minutes long.
• ’90s Action Thriller Reimagined

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.75/5 

Audio – 5/5

Supplements – 2/5

Overall – 4/5

Overall, Eraser is an enjoyable action film with some really well choreographed set pieces and solid direction by the recently deceased Chuck Russell. The film’s script has some great ideas, even if I found some of the dialogue was a bit clunky and some of the ideas a bit far fetched. On top of a solid performance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film benefits from the casting of Vanessa Williams, James Caan, and James Coburn. The new Warner 4K UHD gives the film a really nice organic visual treatment and the Atmos soundtrack is incredibly impressive. The two new special features are brief, but enjoyable. Fans of the film will be really impressed with the job that Warner have done with this title.