Customer Reviews

ERASER

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Eraser DVD

The Eraser starring Arnold The Eraser DVD

The Eraser starring Arnold Swarzzennegger and James Caan is one of my favorite movies. Arnold plays John Kruger who is specializes in "erasing" people's identities, in this case Vanessa Williams plays a FBI whistleblower that is going to testify against a very important person and Arnold must protect her from assassination.
The plot is relatively simple, in fact, you will be likely to pick up on the "secret" early on in the film. But the action is non-stop,). There are a lot of explosions, especially of vehicles blowing sky-high but hey, we have to give the special effects guys something to do, and the secret weapon's effect is also pretty cool. Vanessa Williams underplays her role as FBI whistleblower, and James Caan is just superb as the heavy. The surprise fun came from the Wise Guys, who pay some debts in the plot. They were amusing and added a bit of fun to the action.
I found the suspense pleasantly gripping, and if it wasn't the smartest film on the block, it sure was plenty of entertainment.

Recommended for Arnold fans and fans of action movies.

Gunner January, 2008

I can't imagine why this film got so many bad reviews in the media. Maybe it was because it came on the heels of "Last Action Hero" and the critics were still annoyed. Whatever the reason, pay no attention to those people; if you love Ahhhhnold (and I sure do) you will be sure to like "Eraser."

The plot is relatively simple, in fact, you will be likely to pick up on the "secret" early on in the film. But the action is non-stop, there are no gratuitous car-chases (which cause me to knock off more stars than a black hole) and there aren't even any stupid helicopter tricks ( It's been DONE. and done and done...)

There are a lot of explosions, especially of vehicles blowing sky-high but hey, we have to give the special effects guys something to do, and the secret weapon's effect is also pretty cool. Vanessa Williams underplays her role as FBI whistleblower, and James Caan is just superb as the heavy. The surprise fun came from the Wise Guys, who pay some debts in the plot. They were amusing and added a bit of fun to the action. The only dull spot was the Russian baddie, who was unconvinicingly Russian (despite the gratuitous "dasvidanya"--maybe thrown in by the director who realized this guy was about as Russian as Russian dressing. )

I found the suspense pleasantly gripping, and if it wasn't the smartest film on the block, it sure was plenty of entertainment.

Although some of the FX are rather low quality by todays standards (the alligators are just too unreal), the over-all feeling is intense. James Cromwell's brief appearance is another notch in his belt, while Arnold has some great scenes as well ("Where is this?" "Earth. Welcome!"). Vanessa Williams has definately shed the beauty queen image with her smart acting style and she looks better than ever. James Caan is easy to hate in this movie as you'll find out early on. And don't forget Robert Pastorelli! He can jump-start any movie. James Coburn adds class as the head of WitSec. The DVD does lack features that many would love to see, such as behind-the-scenes footage, commentary, etc. I have been a fan of Arnold since the first Conan movie and always look forward to his next feature, but this one was beyond my expectations. Definitely a great deal!

Others can argue over the quality of the movie. I just wanted to replace the non-anamorphic DVD with a better fit for my projector/PS3 setup. The blue-ray copy doesn't disappoint. The details are great (maybe a bit too good when it comes to the FX shots). Dark levels are good and the details definitely carry through. The movie auto starts to the menu on my PS-3. No previews or advertising is a bonus in my book. Just a press of Enter on the remote starts the movie with no fuss.

This movie was, and will be played on channels like TNT, Spike, TBS at least couple times a year. I end up watching it whenever I happen to flip channels and see it. So far, I would say I watched about 5 times.

It is by no means 5 stars, nothing profound. It does have the typical Arnold Humour/violence/special effects, which are entertaining and I liked the acting of James Caan. He is a solid actor as you all know from Godfather. That being said, I would never pay to watch this movie as you can see it many times on cable etc, but I would not have complained if I had paid money at the theater....

John Kruger (Arnold Swartzenegger)is a U.S. Marshal who protects federal witnesses and erases their old identities. Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams)an employee of the President of Cyrez Corporation, manufacturer of top secret weapons (Electro-Magnetic Rail Guns} for the military. She finds out he's selling weapons to terrorists, turns F.B.I. informant & gets a CD copy. Confronted by the President as an informant with a wiretap he threatens her but shoots himself in fear of prosecution as she escapes to the F.B.I.! Refusing witness protection she goes home, the agents are killed & they're after her! John Kruger arrives at the last minute battling and is wounded but saves her takeing her to his New York City safe house, warning he only works alone. John discovers that his boss/trainer, U.S. Marshal Robert Deguerin (James Caan) is the mastermind behind the sales of weapons to terrorists! Robert takes John hostage on a plane,drugs & frames him for murder and fights him almost crashing the plane as he escapes after sending emergency evacuation pager signal to Lee to leave the safe house and meet him at the New York Zoo. Tracing the call, they go to the zoo, battling John & Lee who escape. John discovers Lee has a backup CD but needs Cyrez's computer to read it's encryption. Faking a pizza man's heart attack they arrive as Paramedics and get in. They read the CD's weapons system delivery time and place at New York harbor docks but Lee is taken hostage! John's friend/witness has Union /Mafia friends and family that run the docks so they enlist their help for the final showdown. John phones the Ultra-Secret Agency Secretary (James Coburn) & tells him that his boss Robert,Cyrez V. P .& the Secretary of Defense are all involved in the weapons sale to terrorists and where to come to stop them. The firefight battle is on after nearly being killed by his boss they stop the shipment and the Ultra-Secret Feds arrive arresting survivors. Lee testifies before Congress but they blame it on Cyrez's dead President and may escape justice! John & Lee fake their deaths and arrange a final erasure of John's boss Robert,Cyrez V. P . & the Secretary of Defense!Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1),DVD Special Features: Production Notes, Actor Filmographies, Theatrical Trailer, Scene Access, Interactive Menus.

that's what I said to myself the first time I saw this on vhs. moving, funny, powerful, packed with enough action to saw open a can of worms. it's that powerful. saw it 3 times on tv. better and better it is every time I see it. this movie may be from the 90's but it will stay an action classic for the next 100 years. I"m serious. if you like Arnold then see Kindergarten Cop. his role as the teacher and good guy cop is hilarious and awesome. not to mention the kids are adorable, funny and very interesting with each one of their personalities. I love this movie Eraser. it's an interesting plot. keeps you hooked from start to end. and really is amazing overall. the direction and director are (is) genious. keep up the great work Arnold. I can see you making movies til you're about 88 or 98. you have a healthy body too so you will live a long long time. and hopefully a happy life with your beautiful and devoted wife Maria Shriver. I think that's how you spell her name. thanks for your time fellow movie watchers.
and I'm so glad I saw this and have it on dvd. I'll watch it again and again and still feel the thrills and action

If you like Arnold, you'll like this movie. If not, not. It's that simple.

This nonstop action-thriller follows the misadventures of John Kruger (Schwarzenegger), an 'eraser' with a secret witness-protection program who gets rid of all traces of a witness's previous identity. He reports to James Caan and he's assigned to protect Vanessa Williams as she rats out a megacorporation doing a dirty arms deal.

That's all you need to know, and it's very nearly all there is. There's some high-tech gadgetry, some not-altogether-persuasive CGI stuff, some humor, and a whole lot of hairbreadth escapes; there's also Robert Pastorelli in a terrific supporting role, and a brief appearance by a surprisingly menacing James Cromwell. But the plot in this one _is_ the action.

Perhaps the single most unconvincing portion is Caan duking it out with Schwarzenegger; in real life, Arnold would most likely have Jimmy for lunch. But Caan is terrific all the same (and if you like him, be sure to see _Rollerball_).

The whole thing is well produced and most gratifying to watch. If you like a good Arnold action-thriller, you may like this one better than _True Lies_.

Previously I owned the laserdisc version of this film, and was impressed by the quality of the image and sound of that disc. The film itself is nice entertainment, with Arnold Schwarzenegger in good shape. Visually and technically this film is very good, filled with all kind of technical gadgets. There has been paid much attention to the quality of camerawork and imaging. Also, there are some nice sfx, especially in the scene where they have to cope with a few alligators broken loose from their cages. Playing the DVD did please me much, for it's quality is a bit better than the laserdisc I mentioned before. Image quality is very sharp en steady in color reproduction, which cannot be stated for every DVD production, as I know from experience. The DVD sound is impressive, with great clarity in the whole sound image and a nice output in the lowest frequencies, when needed. If you like Schwarzenegger action-movies you probably should own this one, but since the disc is exemplatory in quality, you might want to own it anyway and add it to your action genre collection. A great disc!

I'm not going to comment on the story line or plot as that has already been well covered by other reviewers.

This one was panned by the media critics as too fantastic, unblievable. They missed the point! The whole purpose of this movie is Box Office Success, to make a whole lot of money for the studio by providing pure entertainment, give the public what they want, and expect, from an Arnie adventure flick; and in that they were successful, very successful indeed.

This film doesn't pretend to be what it is not, serious! It provides action, fantastic adventure and lots comediac fun; you don't have to believe what you see, but you will be entertained and that is the whole point. It's entertainment devorced from reality. Highly recommended. The 5 stars are for entertainment.