Eraser (film)

John Kruger, a U.S. Marshal who specializes in "erasing" witnesses, is given a new assignment by his superior, Arthur Beller: Lee Cullen has alerted the FBI that Cyrez executives have financed the creation of an electromagnetic rifle, which they intend to sell on the black market. Lee downloads data from the weapon's development onto two discs. Cyrez Vice President William Donahue detects Lee's intrusion and summons her for a meeting. After discovering her alliance with the FBI, Donahue commits suicide. Lee delivers the disc but refuses Kruger's offer to go into protection. The FBI's disc is replaced with a fake on the orders of Under Secretary of Defense Daniel Harper. Lee is attacked by mercenaries sent by Cyrez CEO Eugene Morehart but is rescued by Kruger, who learns that several other witnesses are being murdered due to someone in WITSEC leaking information. The agency is now transferring all witnesses to other locations. Kruger helps his mentor Robert DeGuerin raid a cabin and rescue the latter's witness from a team of assassins. DeGuerin murders the witness when she overhears one of her captors reveal that he is the mole. DeGuerin drugs Kruger, who manages to warn Lee before losing consciousness. The call is traced to New York City and DeGuerin kills his innocent deputy Monroe with Kruger's gun. When Kruger awakens, DeGuerin tries to blackmail him into giving up Lee and even offers to cut him in on the highly lucrative deal he is apparently planning. Kruger fends them off and escapes from the plane to rescue Lee from the same mercenaries who tried to kill her before. Kruger and Lee flee through New York City Zoo. DeGuerin has Kruger and Lee branded as fugitives. The pair infiltrate Cyrez with the aid of Johnny Casteleone, a witness Kruger recently erased, and use Donahue's terminal to decrypt Lee's second disc. The disc reveals that a shipment of rifles has been stashed at the docks in Baltimore. The buyer is Russian mafia boss, Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky, who plans to resell the weapons to terrorists. The company detects the intrusion and erases the disc; DeGuerin and his men capture Lee, but Kruger escapes. Casteleone contacts his cousin Tony "Two-Toes", who controls the docks. They kill Petrofsky and everyone else. DeGuerin tries to shoot Lee, but Kruger comes to her aid and destroys the system on the crane. He then secures DeGuerin, proving his and Lee's innocence. DeGuerin, Harper, and Morehart are indicted for treason, but when it becomes clear that they will likely be acquitted in court, Kruger fakes his and Lee's deaths in an explosion. DeGuerin, Harper, and Morehart leave in a limo that suddenly stops at a railroad crossing. The driver, revealed to be Casteleone, locks the doors and exits the vehicle. Kruger calls DeGuerin with his iconic words, "You've just been erased!" at which point a freight train plows into the limo, killing all three men in it. Kruger returns to Lee, who asks what happened, to which he responds, "They caught a train", and they drive off to start a new life. ==Cast==

Development and casting Director Chuck Russell and star Arnold Schwarzenegger were originally working on another project together when Eraser was brought to their attention. Russell was excited about the possibilities the film could bring between actor and the character: "I see Arnold the way a lot of people do – as a mythic, bigger-than-life character – and that's who Kruger is. The character and the scenario are based firmly in reality, but I liked the mythic proportions of this man with a strong sense of duty, a strong sense of honor, who will literally do anything to protect a noble witness. I was excited about doing a film that had heroic proportions." Screenplay The screenplay was initially the work of Tony Puryear, who had a background in advertising and rap videos. Writers Walon Green and Michael S. Chernuchin had previously worked together on the television drama Law & Order. Extensive, uncredited rewrites were made by Russell's regular collaborator Frank Darabont, Terminator 2 screenwriter William Wisher Jr., Some instances of the "Cyrex" logo are still visible in the finished film. ==Music==

Vanessa Williams sang the theme song, "Where Do We Go from Here". ==Release==

Home media Eraser was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 29, 1996. The DVD was then released in 1997. The North American LaserDisc release of the film is notorious for being poorly manufactured, with a large number of copies exhibiting severe laser rot. ==Reception==

Box office Eraser had an opening weekend of $24.5 million in the United States during the summer season of 1996, staying ahead of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. A more positive review came from Roger Ebert, who gave the film 3 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote that there were so many plot holes that "it helps to have a short attention span", but that Eraser is nonetheless "actually good action fun, with spectacular stunts and special effects" and a spirited performance from Williams "running and jumping and fighting and shooting and kicking and screaming and being tied to chairs and smuggling computer discs and looking great." ==Other media==

Novelization A novelization of the film by Robert Tine was released in 1996. Video game The PC video game Eraser: Turnabout was released as a follow-up to the plot of the film. ==Reboot==

In September 2021, a sequel, which became a reboot of Eraser instead, was announced to be in development with Dominic Sherwood in the lead role. The film co-stars Jacky Lai, and the supporting cast includes McKinley Belcher III and Eddie Ramos. It was filmed secretly in mid-2021, for release through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. ==See also==