I’ve gotten into a debate with a friend at another messageboard on Schwarzenegger’s films and he and I disagree on which of these is Arnold’s best.
He says that True Lies is the best for its mix of comedy, over the top explosions, and the Governor’s supposedly superb acting. I countered with the fact that it’s a buddy movie that co-starred Tom Arnold. Tom Arnold! And that he’s dumber than a lobotomized monkey well into his fifth cup of ale to even think that it approaches Terminator 2’s level.
I think True Lies deserve more credit than you give it. Tom Arnold is just right as that character.
I can’t decide which is fundementally better but I can say if you asked me which one I want to watch right now I would say True Lies without hesitation.
True Lies is a much more involved plot, and has excellent comedic characterisation of both Tom Arnold’s and Bill Paxton’s characters. It also has Eliza Dushku in it, which is a plus, though she’s a bit of a gangly teen at that point.
However, Terminator 2 is an excellent action SF spectacular, and was the landmark movie of its era, whereas True Lies just sort of came and went with not near as much fanfare.
Some people said to me at the time that True Lies was the James Bond movie they would like to have seen. But I’m no fan of Bond so I don’t know if that’s true, really.
In my estimation, it’s too close to call.
Terminator 2 has more edge-sitting suspense, but as a well-rounded package of action and comedy and whatnot, I’d give the props to True Lies.
I’d get the DVD, but there’s no anamorphic widescreen version yet. Supposedly a new edition will be out in a month or two, tho…
My vote goes in for True Lies. It is much more fun.
I’d go with T2. True Lies is alright, and I’d quite happily watch it again, but T2 blew me away when it came out. first film I saw twice at the cinema, and the SFX still hold up, which you cant say about many films of that era, whereas suprisingly True Lies’ looks a bit dated IMO.
slight hijack, best Schwarzenegger film is Predator, with Total Recall a close second, and the best Cameron film is Aliens.
cheers!
Neither. His best was Hercules Goes Bananas. Hands down, no contest.
Seriously, I liked True Lies a lot better, for all the reasons above. T2 hasn’t really aged as well, imo.
or Twins. 
and Camerons was Piranha II
or something.
T2 was a great movie with fast-paced action and fantastic special effects, but I still cast my vote for True Lies. Humor, action, suspense, and romance, all in one package!
Of course, it is also the movie my husband took me to see the day that we went for our first major ultrasound when I was pregnant with my oldest child. Every time I watch the movie, I remember how I felt that day–filled with joy and awe and excitement.
Kinda hard for T2 to compete with that!
Another vote for True Lies.
T2: It ended in pain, sacrifice, and lessons learned.
True Lies is cool but really suffers from having a piss-poor DVD. So that keeps me from buying it, but it is an enjoyable movie.
Still, I think T2 is better because it has better characters, bigger scope, that type of thing. As far as action movies go, I’d rate True Lies three stars and T2 four.
Toss-up between Jingle All the Way and Kindergarten Cop.
Seriously, I’d agree with paulberserker that Schwarzenegger’s best film is Predator. Between True Lies and Terminator 2, it’s a bit of a wash. T2 has cool effects that look only somewhat dated now. I don’t know if I’d say “lessons learned” about the ending, because T3 pretty much indicated that nothing that happened in T2 mattered.
True Lies has a clever idea behind it, a good cast, and good acting, but it gets bogged down in the “marriage infidelity” subplot.
In regards to “lessons learned” I was speaking of John Connor’s learning that at times one might have to sacrifice something you love for the greater good, regardless of how much pain it causes you.
True Lies.
I agree with paulberserker that T2 was more impressive when it came out. It was amazing. We’d never seen anything like it. True Lies, on the other hand, didn’t do anything revolutionary. It was simply a very well executed blockbuster hollywood action/adventure flick.
But True Lies is the one that I’d watch if it were on TV. In the final analysis, it’s just more entertaining. And Tom Arnold was really very good in it. He might be a total waste of protoplasm in every other aspect of his life, but in True Lies, he rocked.
Besides, I just love Jamie Lee Curtis, and her striptease scene is one of the funniest damn things I’ve ever seen in my life. ::clunk:: 
Here’s some trivia: I read an interview with Jamie Lee Curtis shortly after True Lies came out, and she talked about her costuming for the movie. Apparently, the little black dress she wore through most of the second half of the movie was actually several different ones–customized for the various scenes that she was in. In the striptease scene, it was cut very loose so it would just fall off. In the scenes where she had to run around, it was made of a stretchy lycra fabric so she could move more easily. Sometimes the hem was lower, sometimes higher. I thought that was very interesting. I never would have thought about that stuff. I guess that’s what they need those huge budgets for, eh? It certainly makes the job of being a costumer seem more interesting.
Terminator 2 is a Linda Hamilton film. That, alone, makes it better than True Lies. Linda Hamilton with the mop handle, Linda out in the desert. . .has there ever been a buffer leading lady? You literally believe that she could take out Arnold if she wanted to. And she would try.
The Ultimate Version, as released on DVD is a better cut. And some of the special effects were beyond great. When the T3 morphs into the floor, and kills the security guard, who gets a good poker hand on his coffee cup. . .
And then when we get to Linda taking a shot at Dyson. . .
I really don’t believe there’s a single scene in True Lies that matches anything from the time Linda grabs her weapons and takes off after Dyson. . .scene after scene of really intense human emotion and action.
Sure Arnold’s a prop. What? You thought he could ever act?
True Lies, because the kid in T2 seriously sucked rocks.
At the most I liked T2, I liked it better than I’ve ever like True Lies, but I’ve seen them both fairly recently, and enjoyed watching True Lies more.
T2 was a very good movie, but I enjoyed True Lies more.
by hroeder:
Slight knitpick: It was called T-1000 not T3
My vote goes to Terminator 2. And I agree that Predator was his best movie.
Hmm. OK, sorry in advance if I stray a bit from the premise. If yer talking Ahhnold and James Cameron collaborations:
While I will credit T2 for its ground-breaking special effects, I have to consider the first Terminator film better than either T2 or or True Lies, based on a) tight, concise story, b) most bang for budget buck, c) freshness of the plot and d) a bit less of the bombastic silliness that marred T2 (that thumbs-up bit at the end of the movie bugs the hell out of me).
If yer talking best James Cameron flick:
My personal favorite is Aliens. From that point forward, just as Speilberg succumbed to sappy sentimentality after Jaws, Cameron apparently decided he had to telegraph every plot point to the audience in the most obvious manner possible.
If yer talking best Ahhnold flick ever:
I might just have to agree on Predator. IIRC, no one thought all that much of it when it first came out, but I saw it again recently and it does hold up well.
So, where does that leave True Lies? Well, IMO, it really doesn’t work, since neither Arnold nor Jamie Lee Curtis are at all believable in their ‘family’ roles, and because, well, sorry, but I think most of the attempts at humor in the movie fall flat. At least there’s of lots of fun, distracting action.
Lastly, it may be the most derivative of all Camerons’s films. Fans of True Lies should check out La Totale, the French film (directed by Claude Zidi) on which it was based. While the original didn’t have any Harriers or nuclear explosions, it did have a number of scenes that Cameron lifted wholesale, right down to copying the dialogue and camera positioning. Also, just my opinion, but Thierry Lhermitte and Miou-Miou (yup, that’s her name) are far better at handling the comedy elements.
Thanks for providing me the chance to gas on at such length about what are essentially a bunch of popcorn flicks.