Eraser

By VARIETY STAFF

Warner. Director Charles Russell; Producer Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson; Screenplay Tony Puryear, Walon Green; Camera Adam Greenberg; Editor Michael Tronick; Music Alan Silvestri; Art Director Bill Kenney
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger
James Caan
Vanessa Williams
James Coburn
Robert Pastorelli
James Cromwell
 

Eraser is mid-level Arnold, a hardware-heavy, high-body-count actioner that tries to compensate for a B-movie script with advanced artillery and high-tech mayhem.

Script by newcomer Tony Puryear and vet Walon Green [from a screen story by them and Michael S. Chernuchin] centers upon Schwarzenegger's John Kruger, a government 'eraser' expert at making witnesses disappear for their own safety. His new case isn't so easy: the witness in question, Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), has the goods on some turncoats in the defense field who plan to sell a load of top-secret super-guns.

From the beginning, characters are introduced just to serve as cannon fodder - in particular, Cullen's ex-b.f. and a reporter friend. After Kruger stashes Cullen safely in New York's Chinatown, it becomes apparent that she isn't safe after all, indicating a mole in the system and causing a confrontation between the steadfast Kruger and his boss and mentor, Deguerin (James Caan).

Looking leaner than usual, Schwarzenegger strides through the proceedings with his customary unhesitating purposefulness. Williams is similarly all business as the besieged young patriot willing to go the limit to expose government evildoers, while Caan schemes and threatens with evident glee.

Most of the gunplay is pretty standard-issue. Special effects are mostly solid without being awe-inspiring or gargantuan.

1996: Nomination: Best Sound Effects Editing

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1996. Running time: 115 MIN.