Eraser

• Title: Eraser
• IMDb: link

Eraser may not be one of Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s best, but it’s a solid 90s action flick casting Schwarzenegger as U.S. Marshal John Kruger going the extra length to keep his witness alive from a governmental conspiracy and a mole within WITSEC. Schwarzenegger gets his usual big action sequences, although I’m not sure I ever quite buy the actor in a role that requires both stealth and the ability to blend into a crowd.

The film is best remembered for the rail-gun technology worth killing for that are baddies use to hunt Kruger and Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams) and which Schwarzenegger finally gets his hands on in the climactic action sequence at the Baltimore docks. We also get James Caan as Kruger’s mentor turned traitor, Robert Pastorelli as another of Kruger’s protectees (used both to explain Kruger’s role with the Marshals at the beginning of the film and returning to lend a hand in the final act), and James Cromwell, Andy Romano, and Gerry Becker as part of the conspiracy.

Eraser is your typical dumb-fun action flick that starts to fall apart a bit during a silly sequence on a plane and over New York where, after completely incapacitating our hero and having all the information he needs to locate the witness, our villain allows Kruger to recover, escape the plane (in a ridiculous parachute sequence), and live to save the day.

The film has been released several times on home video including being one of the first movies ever released on DVD. The new 4K, also available in a limited edition steelbook, includes only a pair of short retrospective featurettes. An attempt to reboot the franchise was made in 2022 with the direct-to-video Eraser: Reborn.

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