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Eraser (1996)
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, Vanessa L. Williams, and James Coburn. Cinematography by Adam Greenberg. Edited by Michael Tronick. Produced by Anne Kopelson and Arnold Kopelson. Written by Tony Puryear, Walton Green, and Michael S. Chernuchin. Directed by Charles Russell.
Lee Cullen has inadvertently discovered that her employer, The Cyrez Corporation, is planning to sell ultrahigh-tech weapons illegally. Lee is a patriot at heart and blows the whistle on the deal. The FBI asks her to quietly infiltrate her employer’s headquarters to see if she can acquire any evidence, but the mission goes south and her life is immediately in danger. To secure her safety the FBI assigns John Kruger, the best witness relocation specialist in the bureau, to erase all traces of her existence and build her a new identity. The arms conspiracy climbs its way up the government’s chain of command until ultimately Kruger himself is listed as a target. Together they stay a step against their would-be assassins while they try to decide who is an enemy and who they can trust.
If you dig down deep you can find upwards of half a dozen story creators, screenwriters, script doctors that have worked their magic on Eraser at one point or another. One of those who went without any official credit was director Chuck Russell’s old buddy Frank Darabont. Russell and Darabont’s relationship dates back to Darabont’s very first film experience when he worked as a production assistant on Hell Night in 1981. Russell was acting as the film’s executive producer and the two struck a chord with each other. They went on to work on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the 1988 remake of The Blob together.
In the mid-nineties Chuck Russell was working on another project that was slated to star Arnold Schwarzenegger when the script for Eraser came along. They quickly lost interest in their current project and focused entirely on this movie. Obviously Schwarzenegger was a shoe-in for the role. The movie reeks of him. Russell was also an easy choice as director based on his previous experiences with action sequences and computer aided special effects in his 1994 project The Mask. Russell keeps the tempo up for the entire movie and squeezes Schawarzenegger for every last drop of his charm. What they ended with is a testosterone driven, high impact, balls to the wall action movie that is fun and exciting to watch. Way to go, guys.
Budget: $100,000,000
Total US Gross: $101,295,562
Genre: Action
Runtime: 115 Minutes
US Release Date: 6/21/96
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards: Academy Awards: Nominated for best sound effects editing.
Tagline: He Will Eraser Your Past To Protect Your Future.
Quote: “Gentlemen, keep your eyes open and your assholes puckered.”
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