The reviews lean mixed, with as many critics finding Eraser poor as finding it decent, and only one willing to call it good. Where there is praise, it goes to the action rather than anything around it: the set-pieces are described as slickly staged, the aeroplane sequence in particular is picked out as the film’s high point, and several reviewers enjoy Schwarzenegger’s loose, comic screen presence. Robert Pastorelli’s supporting turn is also noted as a bright spot. Even the kinder notices concede the film is thin and one-dimensional, enjoyable only as over-the-top spectacle.
The reservations cluster on the script and direction. Critics call the plot formulaic and riddled with holes, the gunplay generic and the handling unremarkable, with the excitement arriving only in bursts. The spread is wide. Den of Geek, writing a dozen years later, is the lone enthusiast, rating it an unpretentious blast; Radio Times is the harshest, saying even die-hard fans are unlikely to be satisfied.