Title:Collateral Damage By: Andrew Davis Released by: Warner Bros. Released on: Rating (out of 10): 5 Date: 03/09/2002
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo, John Turturro
Not the Return to Form that Arnold Needed
Gordon Brewer (Arnold) is a popular, respected firefighter. He's also the father to a murdered son, the husband to a murdered wife, and he will have his vengeance. That vengeance will come when Gordon tracks down and kills the powerful terrorist, the Wolf (one of Hollywood's favorite terrorists, Cliff Curtis). The only problem is that the Wolf is hidden deep in Colombia, in a base surrounded by soldiers. While Gordon makes his journey through the jungle, CIA Agent Peter Brandt (Elias Koteas) is going to use him to locate The Wolf. It seems the lowly firefighter is far better at tracking down terrorist organizations than the U.S. Government.
I feel really bad for Arnold. The big guy hasn't had a hit since 1996's Eraser, and even that's pushing the definition of "hit." Batman and Robin single-handedly destroyed the Batman franchise; End of Days was a disaster and a half; and while I enjoyed The Sixth Day, I know I'm in the minority. Arnold needed to get back to his mini-gun blazing glory days, and it appeared from the trailers that Collateral Damage might be the movie to take him there. Sadly, this was not to be. Rather than brainless and fun, the film manages to be nothing more than simply brainless. Think of Collateral Damage as a slightly more unbelievable version of Commando. I'll just let that thought sink in for a moment.
Now, you're probably thinking I'm crazy, complaining that an Arnold movie is unbelievable. Under normal circumstances you'd be correct in thinking this. Normally, an Arnold movie consists of the big man standing in the open while countless enemies prove incapable of shooting him with large, rapid-fire weapons. Normally, Arnold's thick accent fails to factor into the story in any way because his character is either super-human or inhuman. Normally all these things are true, but here that's not the case. For starters, while a normal Arnold movie stretches credibility, we're able to forgive this because we're having a rip-roaring good time (Predator being a prime example). Unfortunately, Collateral Damage is filled with long stretches of nothingness, during which the audience is free to ponder how truly silly everything that has transpired really is.
The second factor working against the film is Arnold's lack of artillery. I know Arnold's suffered a crisis of conscience in this post September 11th world, and he's loathe to put his hands on weapons of mass murder again, but Arnold taking on large armies by either running away or picking up an axe doesn't make for great entertainment. Let me give you an example: Arnold is confronted by a baddie on a bike at the end of a long hallway. The baddie is going to drive at Arnold and unload her gun at the big guy (she will, of course, fail to hit, despite the fact that Arnold takes up most of the hallway). Arnold will retaliate not by picking up the handy pistol some two feet away, attached to a dead security officer's belt, but by picking up an axe which is a little further away and glaring at the quickly approaching villain. Makes sense to me.
The third factor is Arnold's physique and skin tone. In most of his films, I don't question why Arnold's character has a thick German accent. After all, everything else about his character is unbelievable, so why shouldn't this be? The problem here is that Arnold is trying to make his way through Colombia incognito. Why is it that almost no one associated with the Wolf notices a pale, hulking German guy marching through the country, headed directly for their headquarters? I can only guess that none of them are capable of seeing particularly well since not only can they not tell that Arnold's a little out of place, but when they finally recognize him none of their shots hurt one hair on his head. If you're capable of ignoring such massive leaps of logic and having a grand old time watching Arnold trudge through jungle for about two hours, more power to you.
There are, of course, a thousand other little complaints that plagued the film, but none are so glaring as the three mentioned above. Arnold's acting is the same as always, except that he does a much better job showing grief in this film than he did in End of Days. The supporting cast members are all immediately forgettable, with the possible exception of John Leguizamo, who is too irritating to immediately forget. The special effects, scenery, and soundtrack are all adequate. However, more importantly, Andrew Davis's (Chain Reaction) direction is less than exceptional. I'd probably have rated the film a little lower if it weren't for the fact that I now compare all Arnold movies to End of Days. I'd recommend Collateral Damage to those of you who are capable of turning your brain completely off for a full two hours, and give the film two and a half out of five stars.
