Editing True Lies (section)

===Critical reception===
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 57 reviews, and an average score of 6.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "If it doesn't reach the heights of director James Cameron's and star Arnold Schwarzenegger's previous collaborations, ''True Lies'' still packs enough action and humor into its sometimes absurd plot to entertain".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/true_lies/ |title=''True Lies'' (1994) |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]] |access-date=April 22, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127042507/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/true_lies/ |archive-date=November 27, 2017}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a [[weighted average]] score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=''True Lies'' Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/true-lies |work=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |access-date=February 21, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102130034/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/true-lies |archive-date=January 2, 2018}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://m.cinemascore.com |title=CinemaScore |work=cinemascore.com |access-date=2021-06-29 |archive-date=2019-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210223808/https://m.cinemascore.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film three stars out of four, writing, "It's stuff like that we go to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies for, and ''True Lies'' has a lot of it: laugh-out-loud moments when the violence is so cartoonish we don't take it seriously, and yet are amazed at its inventiveness and audacity." He wrote that he found the plot "perfunctory", but praised the film's stunts and special effects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=July 15, 1994 |title=True Lies movie review & film summary (1994) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/true-lies-1994 |access-date=September 25, 2021 |website=RogerEbert.com}}</ref>

The film received criticism for its portrayal of [[Ethnic groups in the Middle East|Middle Easterners]] and its treatment of female characters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Treadwell |first=Carol |date=August 29, 1994 |title=It's Not True That 'Lies' Helps Women |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-29-ca-32550-story.html |access-date=July 25, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> John Simon of the ''[[National Review]]'' criticized the plot line of the hero character (Schwarzenegger) using his agency's resources to stalk and frighten his wife as cruel and misogynistic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=John |author-link=John Simon (critic) |date=August 29, 1994 |title=True Lies. - movie review |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n16_v46/ai_15779214 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050412153440/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n16_v46/ai_15779214 |archive-date=April 12, 2005 |access-date= |website=[[National Review]]}}</ref> In a negative review, [[Kenneth Turan]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote:

{{cquote|Taken individually, the cruder and childish things about this film, its determination to use caricatured unshaven Arabs as terrorists, the pleasure it takes in continually mortifying a weasely used-car salesman (Bill Paxton) in the most personal ways, might be overlooked, but added together they leave a sour taste.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-14-ca-15258-story.html |title="True Lies" is able to effectively kid itself" |last=Turan |first=Kenneth |date=July 14, 1994 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=26 June 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815095041/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-07-14/entertainment/ca-15258_1_true-lies |archive-date=15 August 2016}}</ref>
}}

Some [[Arabs]] and [[Muslims]] perceived the film as conveying strong [[anti-Arab]] or [[Islamophobia|anti-Muslim]] prejudice,<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 22, 1994 |title=Muslims Protest Schwarzenegger's 'True Lies' |work=[[New York Daily News]] |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1994/07/22/muslims-protest-schwarzeneggers-true-lies/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208082536/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-07-22/news/9407220489_1_arabs-true-lies-hooper |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |via=[[Orlando Sentinel]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 16, 1994 |title=Arab-Americans Protest 'True Lies' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/16/movies/arab-americans-protest-true-lies.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419182530/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/16/movies/arab-americans-protest-true-lies.html |archive-date=April 19, 2017}}</ref> with some Arab-American advocacy groups calling for its banning in Arab countries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19940926&id=C5EpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ieoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5005,6916395&hl=en |title="Muslim leader wants 'True Lies' banned" Monday, September 26, 1994. ''The Gainesville Sun,'' page 3. |access-date=December 4, 2015 |archive-date=December 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209005544/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19940926&id=C5EpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ieoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5005,6916395&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Hajari |first1=Nisid |last2=Broeske |first2=Pat H. |last3=Thompson |first3=Anne |date=August 5, 1994 |title=Racism and sexism in ''True Lies''? |url=https://ew.com/article/1994/08/05/racism-and-sexism-true-lies/ |access-date=July 24, 2022 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |language=en}}</ref>

In a 2022 retrospective review, Polish writer Jacek Szafranowicz called the film "a masterpiece of cinematic fun", noting that the collaboration between the director and its main star "deserves a golden medal".<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 February 2022 |title=Prawdziwe kłamstwa |url=https://www.ponapisach.pl/2022/02/prawdziwe-klamstwa.html |website=Po Napisach |language=pl}}</ref> Commenting on the state of [[Blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbuster]] films, Scott Tobias of ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' wrote, "''True Lies'' is the strange case of a film that's alternately retrograde, forward-looking, and thoroughly of its time. For better or worse, it's a marker of how the Hollywood action blockbuster had advanced in 1994, as well as a commentary (intended or not) on the troubled state of American masculinity, marital relationships, and lingering racial attitudes."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tobias |first=Scott |date=July 20, 2022 |title=The case of the disappearing blockbuster: James Cameron's 'True Lies' |url=https://thereveal.substack.com/p/the-case-of-the-disappearing-blockbuster |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720151254/https://thereveal.substack.com/p/the-case-of-the-disappearing-blockbuster |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |access-date=July 24, 2022 |website=The Reveal}}</ref>