James Cameron Ruins His Action Thriller Classic Thanks To AI

Sadly, the latest 4K version amounts to a minor calamity. The AI approach to tuning the aesthetics up, rather than improving the film, took things a little too far—especially by oversharpening, over-contrasting, and generally stripping the picture of its more organic veneer. As a result, the aesthetic of James Cameron’s True Lies forfeits its charm, replacing it with painfully processed images that fail to resonate or provide the film’s original allure. 

For those unfamiliar, the movie stars the irreplaceable Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a secret agent poorly disguising himself as a mild-mannered computer salesman. Jamie Lee Curtis, ever the show-stopper, portrays Helen, his unsuspecting wife. It’s a fun, engaging tale of espionage, family secrets, and action-packed thrills that earned a worldwide audience upon its release. 

That said, the newly released 4K adaptation, a collaboration between Lightstorm and Park Road Post, has utterly compromised the authenticity of James Cameron’s True Lies. As The Digital Bits details, the process pursued by the two post-production companies entailed constructing a new 4K Digital Intermediate by employing recent 4K scans of the original camera negative. Park Road boasts and utilizes its own proprietary deep-learning algorithm, which it used to “optimize” the footage. This, unfortunately, led to a significant reduction in the photochemical grain, alongside a staggering, weird enhancement of fine detail. Regardless of the good intentions, the process led to obvious hiccups, such as an uneven and unwelcome softness to the image and a noticeably processed appearance. All of which diverges hugely from the mid-1990s vintage feel of James Cameron’s True Lies.

However, it isn’t like the film is unrecognizable. Thankfully, it retains some of its original aesthetic. Though much subdued, the color palette is not entirely ruined and remains accurate; said palette is noticeably vibrant in significant scenes, such as Helen’s hilarious, botched strip-tease seduction scene. The shadow detailing is also mentionably robust, benefiting from highlights and dramatic prominence. Ultimately, however, the application of AI to remaster the movie has created a quasi-Frankesntein of sorts, one that, although (very) sharp and clear, utterly lacks the natural, grainy texture associated with movies shot on film. It’s an alienating, unnerving experience, even glancing at stills from the remastered footage of James Cameron’s True Lies. 

A visionary and highly successful filmmaker, James Cameron has tremendously influenced cinema through his innovative storytelling and hallmark use of emerging technology. He began his career in the late 1970s after being inspired by a maiden viewing of Star Wars and gained international recognition with 1984’s The Terminator. 

The latter film redefined the sci-fi genre and preceded his continual push of cinematic boundaries, manifested in blockbusters like Aliens and the deep-sea epic The Abyss. Notably, Cameron’s 1997 release, Titanic, demonstrated his knack for blending human drama with technical prowess; it became the highest-grossing film of the era. His exploration of CGI and 3-D technology in Avtar in 2009 earned him further prestige and once again revolutionized filmmaking. 

All of which is why the AI-botched 4K remastering of James Cameron’s True Lies is such a…true letdown.