L'Effaceur

Just solid, brainless action fun, with a funny parachute scene. I wasn't bored and I didn't expect more. Yeah, and those cute crocodiles :) (28/09/2003)

Summer 1996. I’m a teenager and I want to go see an honest to goodness action movie. Dad’s paying, I’m choosing. Eraser with Arnie is playing at the Lucerna (and I know that my dear parent would rather go to that). There’s something by some guy called Bay playing at the Světozor, but it’s with Connery and Cage. Hmm, what’s the better investment? If I’d known back then that “some guy called Bay" was the very same Bay who made Bad Boys, I wouldn’t have hesitated a moment. But then I was in two minds. Very much so. In the end I decide on The Rock. It was longer. You get almost 140 minutes of action for the same money. Neither of us regrets the choice to this day. About six months later I nearly killed my dad when he rented this complete load of codswallop that takes itself far too seriously on VHS against my specific instructions not to do so. Back then the grapevine was saying that it wasn’t even worth the 40 crowns rental fee. And they were right. The day after we had to rent The Rock to get rid of the foul aftertaste, there was nothing else we could do. Nothing. (09/10/2008)

A destructive Arnold shooting down airplanes and beating up crocodiles makes for unforgettable scenes, now ingrained into my memory. Plus, we get to see and hear monstrous one-liners from James Caan who thoroughly enjoys his role in this. (28/03/2006)

With the passage of time this film has become a pure routine “made in Hollywood” affair. The weapons are incredibly cool and the action scenes are top-notch (also for the money), but in terms of storyline, it's bad. With this action flick, Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to reach the peak of action once again, but whether he succeeded is a debatable matter. Compared to his later films, however, it is still above average. James Caan enjoys the villain role to the fullest and Vanessa Williams is quite likable. It's hard to say to what extent The Eraser can be called a proper action movie. There is certainly plenty of action, but that alone is not enough for a good film, and unfortunately, that is the biggest problem with the whole concept: there is practically nothing else. Boring... (05/05/2006)