Eraser rubbing out the oppostion…
By the time he made ‘Eraser’ (1996) Arnold Schwarzenegger was on a roll with almost consecutive hits (bar Last Action Hero) since Predator and had arguably peaked with Terminator 2 but continued with summer blockbusters.
Eraser saw the man mountain as U.S. marshal John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who “erases” the lives and identities of people entering the Witness Protection Program. When his latest charge (Vanessa Williams) uncovers a deal to put a new superweapon in the wrong hands, it’s a do-or-die assignment. Kruger embarks on a high-octane action spree to protect her.
It was chock full of barmy action pieces that included a parachuting Arnie vs a jet, Arnie armed to the teeth with the biggest handheld guns on screen with twirling trails of blue smoke and best of all battling with gargantuan alligators seeing them off with a classic quip.
Helming Hell…
Helming all of this was director Chuck Russell who himself was on something of a roll also. Having rebooted Nightmare on Elm Street with the third film that set the more comic tone for the future of the franchise. He then went on to shoot an underrated reboot of The Blob (well worth searching out) and then hit pay dirt with The Mask that cemented Jim Carrey’s status as a box office star but perhaps best of all introduced the world to Cameron Diaz. It was Arnold whose box office success meant he could get the personnel he wanted for his films to get what he wanted and having already bought along T2 cinematographer Adam Greenberg he saw in Russell someone with a flair for action and the director grabbed the opportunity with both hands shaking up the script which was going through frequent rewrites and upped the ante with bravura action set pieces.
With former Miss USA Vanesa Williams bringing the glamour they were joined by legendary Hollywood hard men James Coburn and perhaps most surprisingly James Caan in what was his first big budget action packed led blockbuster.
Released in the US in June 1996 (the UK didn’t get it until August) it was a summer that saw it compete and win against ‘The Rock’ (earned $134m), The Nutty Professor ($128m), and come second only to Independence Day’s $306m that would be the biggest film of that year with Eraser earning $242m off a $100m budget which was now becoming the normal cost of summer blockbusters.
Those bonus features……
It still stands up as one Arnie’s better actioners and has now been given an overhaul with an excellent 4K upgrade as well as a stack of bonus features that includes:
- Reinventing the Modern Action Hero – The Evolution of Arnold (NEW)
Discover how the legendary actor’s career shifted from the muscle-forward characters of the 80s into a sleeker, more emotionally grounded, action identity. - ‘90s Action Thriller Reimagined (NEW)
Dive deeper into the star power, early CGI, and technological innovations that defined the transition from the late-80s analog action into the emerging digital era to follow.
Eraser 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition contains the following additional features:
Film on 4K UHD and Blu-ray
SteelBook
Rigid Slipcase
A3 Theatrical Poster
Character Art Cards
Behind-the-Scenes Art Cards
Action Scene Art Cards
Both the feature documentaries are worth a look where CGI that had made films like Jurassic Park and T2 possible were now becoming the norm if, on occasion, not always as convincing as might be expected. There’s also a yak track with Russell, Vanessa Williams, and Executive Producer Michael Tadross reflecting on the making of the film 30 years later. But what it does most obviously misses is Arnold himself talking retrospectively about the film because Eraser would be the last in a long string of action hits that he had. He would follow it with comedy ‘Jingle all the way’ that had seen him successful in a different genre. But then followed Batman & Robin and things spiralled downwards from there.
But Eraser remains an enjoyable Arnie actioner that’s been overlooked in the past 30 years in favour of the star’s collaborations with James Cameron but though this remains very ‘1990’s (the plot inclusion of CD ROM tech dates it) Eraser is still well worth a look in what is a big budget Saturday night movie.
related feature : The rise and fall of Arnold Schwarzenegger ……
related feature : ‘Predator’ – director John McTiernan talks about the making of the classic film
We chat to Chuck Russell about the making of Eraser ….
Here’s the Eraser trailer….
 Arnold Schwarzenegger was on a roll with almost consecutive hits (bar Last Action Hero) since Predator...){kind=link}