Date Released: 02/08/2002
Rated: R (for violence and strong language/profanity)
Film Length: 116 Minutes
Produced by: David Foster, Steven Reuther, Peter McGregor Scott
Directed by: Andrew Davis
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Francesca Neri, Cliff Curtis, Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo, John Turturro, Tyler Garcia Posey, Harry J. Lennix, Miguel Sandoval
Distributor: Warner Bros.
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Tell me, what is more predictably revealing--Arnold Schwarzenegger out for blood in yet another prototypical wild action vehicle or the tag put on this film as being the distinctive link to the September 11th tragedy of last year? If you answer "yes" to both premises, you wouldn't be in the minority...that's for certain. "Collateral Damage", the latest revenge-seeking terrorist thriller starring good ol' Arnie in typical explosive mode, arrives on the heels of its delayed fall season release due to the national 9/11th atrocities. They say that timing is everything, right? Well, despite whenever Schwarzenegger's excitable "escapist entertainment" would have been unleashed on a sensitive September 11th weary world, the results are always going to be the same: Arnold conquers the world and thrives on blowing up everything in sight while audiences are as pleased as punch. That has always been the consistent formula we've come to embrace with staunch familiarity.
Why would hardcore fans bother to blink an eye about testosterone-driven movies such as "Collateral Damage" in the wake of something as so tragic as the 9/11 incident? Wouldn't that be kind of hypocritical to ask those who have appreciated this kind of cinema all along to give up the interest in seeing Arnold kick some serious terrorist butt just because of a shocking real-life event? Besides, some would even defend "Collateral Damage" as a footnote championing the cause of eliminating undesirables from disrupting the fiber of humanity. Hmmm...that's a jingoistic stretch but whatever!
Truth be told, "Collateral Damage" and other flicks of its ilk have been feeding on the revved up imagination of moviegoers for the longest time and will continue to do so regardless of the emotional scars pertaining to that infamous day in early September 2001. In other words, the filmmakers held up their product until cooler heads prevailed but soon had to relinquish to their motto "profit over pain". This was inevitable, folks--major box office dollars were at stake! And thus, only a scant few months after this country's most heinous and calculating terrorist attacks, "Collateral Damage" arrives on the scene to trivialize what amounts to be a lingering and painful issue for the nation's aching psyche.
The bloated B-movie premise to "Collateral Damage" is eerily chilling: Columbian terrorists methodically plan to bomb a Los Angeles-based skyscraper that contains both the Columbian consulate and CIA headquarters. Unfortunately, their mission is met with much success. As a result, the victims never knew what hit them. Among the unlucky souls to be caught up in this diabolical act were the beloved wife and young son of burly heroic fireman Gordy Brewer (Schwarzenegger). Gordy had the misfortune of witnessing the building's explosion therefore literally watching his family die before his very own eyes. Disillusioned and devastated, Gordy wants immediate results and retaliation is not far from his mind. A CIA operative (Elias Koteas) consoles Gordy and promises him that they'll track the bad guy responsible for this senseless destruction and loss of life. The bad guy in this case is a Columbian mastermind and terrorist known as The Wolf or "El Lobo" (Cliff Curtis, "Blow", "Three Kings").
Time starts to drag by and Gordy is understandably becoming impatient because the authorities aren't moving fast enough in pursuit of that heartless vermin The Wolf. So before you can utter "I'll be back", the determined Gordy gathers his belongings as well as a sketchy agenda for capturing The Wolf and heads to South America in the name of his dearly departed family. Once he's there, Gordy instinctively comes close to invading the terrorists' territory with seemingly unexplainable ease. Along his travels, he meets up with a few interesting characters including a supervising cocaine plantation figurehead named Felix (John Leguizamo), a transplanted Canadian mechanic (John Turturro) working for Columbian guerrillas, and a young mother-son tandem (Francesca Neri and Tyler Garcia Posey) whom Gordy actually rescues on a couple of occasions. Suffice to say, mother Selena and son Mauro probably represent the "substitute" stand-ins for Gordy's late family.
As the heat becomes more unbearable for the riff raff element to tolerate, Gordy's persistence finally pays off when he's face-to-face with the scoundrel Wolf. And what's more noble about Gordy's risky adventure in the South American atmosphere is that he stumbles across another scheme that threatens to introduce further terrorist attacks against the USA's center of democracy--the operational pulse of Washington, DC. But why should America even worry? After all, it has red, white, and blue Everyman icon Gordy Brewer out for justice to defend what's right and what's might! Forget the concept of utilizing sophisticated military presence or secret governmental operations or calling the Ghostbusters for that matter--all you need is the tenacity of a machine gun-toting musclehead out to avenge our need for cinematic sensationalism. Ah, what a relief, huh? Maybe Gordy can resolve the on-going unrest over there in the Middle East, don't you think?
Surprisingly, "Collateral Damage" comes off as not being the standard carefree fare as far as Schwarzenegger-oriented showcases go. Sure, it has the obligatory showy fight sequences, the amazing eye-popping stunts, the colorful explosions and exaggerated gunplay, and pushes the inplausible and cartoonish mayhem that is welcomed with perverse amusement. But the movie noticably is missing that off-kilter campiness and outrageous cockiness that stimulates a Schwarzenegger actioner. For instance, there's no sign of Arnold's delightfully inane catchphrases or one-liners to stimulate the otherwise stilted dialogue. This begs the question: were the movie's editors trying to protect the filmgoers from the potential inappropriateness of the film's flimsy theme for fear of violating the seriousness and sentimentality of the September 11th aftermath? If so, it takes more than holding back Schwarzenegger's trademark quirky quips and self-deprecating wisecracks to appease some of the movie masses in terms of toning it down a notch.
The screenplay by Peter and David Griffiths is relentlessly all over the map. If the film isn't reinforcing the broad generalization that all Columbians are threatening drug-crazed thugs, then it works in a more outlandish fashion by portraying Schwarzenegger as a preposterous patriotic protagonist out to single-handedly wipe away evil forces that complicate the way of American life. Normally one can dismiss Arnold's type of movies as frenetic fluff but "Collateral Damage" wants to have it both ways--be this rollicking and rousing guilty pleasure but by the same token trying to exert this sense of false sentiment and reverence.
Director Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive") stages a pacing that will have audiences appreciative of the film's exhileration factor. The plot holes, however, would have some sctratching their head with obvious curiosity. Why would the scheming Columbians tolerate the snooping American Gordy (well, an American with a thick Austrian accent anyway) and let him become such an infiltrating foil in the first place? If Gordy is such an ordinary guy put into extraordinary circumstances, where did he find the invincibility to amazingly dodge bullets and survive a deadly waterfall plunge without one mark of injury on his chisled yet mortal body? And why doesn't the film address the convenient oversights as to why there were ominous explosives in contained in these important American federal buildings in the first place? Many questions can be asked increduously about a ridiculously raucous, pandering action-thriller but why bust a blood vessel in doing so in the process?
"Collateral Damage" will appeal to action-packed audiences for various reasons and it will wisely take advantage of its caustic September 11th comparison due to the heart-rendering chaos that transpired after this movie was shot. And in all fairness, you can't really make this boisterous and callow action adventure a scapegoat for cinematic responsibility because then you'd need to point the finger at other examples that are just as guilty and exploitative. The only one that can do damage in the collateral sense are indifferent, undemanding moviegoers willing to embrace an unpalatable and choppy absurd fantasy over an overwhelming and disheartening reality.
Frank rates this film: * 1/2 stars (out of 4 stars)