Arnold Schwarzenegger has already found himself in several stressful situations on the big screen: he faced off against an alien hunter in ‘Predator’. In “Terminator 2” he faced the nearly invincible T-1000 (Robert Patrick). In ‘True Lies’ he had to deal with a terrorist cell as a double agent. But all this is nothing compared to the tension the action star has to endure in the Christmas comedy ‘A Promise is a Promise’!
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That’s what ‘A promise is a promise’ is about
Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is always up to his eyeballs at work. To win back his disappointed son Jamie (Jake Lloyd), he promises to fulfill all his Christmas wishes – and that’s when the chaos begins! The boy wants the much sought after action figure ‘Turbo Man’.
Coincidentally, Howard forgets his promise and gets a rude awakening a few days before Christmas Eve: the toys are mostly sold out. There are only a few units left on store shelves – and it feels like half the town is interested in owning a Turbo Man. For Howard, this is the beginning of a more than turbulent odyssey…
Endless stress – and that’s fun!
Yes, you can certainly criticize “A Promise is a Promise” for being a full-throated hymn to capitalism. But it’s certainly no exception to other popular Christmas films from the United States (“Beautiful Gifts” doesn’t have the sweet family message that is too often attributed to it).
Once you see it, “A Promise Is Promised” is a lot of fun. The playful Arnold Schwarzenegger is probably having the most stressful time he’s ever had to endure on the big screen. Director Brian Levant, a true veteran of family-friendly entertainment cinema (“Flintstones”, “A Dog Called Beethoven”, “Spy Daddy”) can completely rely on the charisma of his leading man.
But that’s not all, because in terms of staging, one breakneck series follows another. The whole thing is accordingly fast-paced and humorous as Schwarzenegger jumps from chaos to chaos, taking on a horde of Santa Clauses, taking out a reindeer, finding a bitter rival in the tenacious Myron (Sinbad) and ultimately becoming Turbo Man himself. . With this in mind: “It’s Turbo Time”!