| COLLATERAL DAMAGE (2002) |
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| OH, ARNOLD! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? |
| a movie review by Luc-Rock Paquin |
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Collateral Damage was originally scheduled to be released on August 17th, 2001, but production delays and hefty competition in the action genre over the summer prompted Warner Brothers to delay the release to October 5th. Of course, September 11 changed everything. Since the movie deals with terrorism, WB pulled the trailers from theatres and waited for things to calm down... but when a $100 million movie is sitting on the shelves, the studio gets restless. especially when it features one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
So, was it too soon to release this movie? Before I saw it, I thought it was, but let's look at the plot: Firefighter Gordon Brewer (Schwarzenegger) loses his wife and son when a Colombian terrorist (Curtis) sets off a bomb in Los Angeles. When the federal government is unable to assist Brewer, he decides to take things into his own hands and goes to Colombia to avenge his family's death. So, apart from the fact that the story includes a terrorist, there aren't many similarities with the September 11 events. From that perspective, I no longer think that the timing of the release is inappropriate.
Director Andrew Davis had had more misses than hits at the box office. |
That being said, I doubt it will do well at the box office. Why? Because the story is incoherent, the dialogue is artificial and the message it conveys is highly questionable. A quick analysis of the credits explains part of this; the story was written by three newcomers (Ronald Roose, David Griffiths and Peter Griffiths) and it was directed by Andrew Davis, whose resume is sprinkled with a few critical hits (The Fugitive, A Perfect Murder), but mostly by misses (Steal Big, Steal Little, Chain Reaction, Above the Law). The fact that both The Fugitive and A Perfect Murder were remakes also makes me wonder about the way that Davis envisions stories.
Arnold Schwarzenegger holding one of his magical grenades |
One of the most frustrating aspects of Collateral Damage is that the story is full of clichés, nonsense and contradictions. Let's start with the clichés. Of course, the good guy can dodge bullets, even if they are fired from several machine guns. When he throws a grenade, it will do more damage than 10 bad-guy grenades. And let's not forget my favourite one: a run-of-the-mill surveillance camera tape can be zoomed in at incredible levels to make a positive identification of a suspect.
Then there's the nonsense. For instance, did you know that if you want to stop bad guys, you can pierce holes in natural gas lines with an axe? ...because we all know that hurling a metal axe on another piece of metal wouldn't produce any sparks that would ignite the gas, right?
Cliff Curtis as Claudio 'The Wolf' Perrini |
Finally, there are the contradictions. My favourite was when Claudio 'The Wolf' Perrini explains to Gordon Brewer that they are both willing to kill for their cause. Brewer replies that "the difference between us is that I'm only going to kill you". This comes a few minutes after a scene where Brewer's actions have resulted in the deaths of countless men. Riiiiight.
As a rule, Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Total Recall, True Lies) basically has two acting modes: the "action" acting mode, where he shows little emotion, looks really mean and spews out a lot of one-liners; and the "nice guy" mode, where he shows a bit more emotion, looks really sweet and actually has real dialogue. In Collateral Damage, Arnold is in full "action" acting mode, except for a few scenes where he deals with the loss of his wife and son. It's disappointing to see that Arnold has consistently chosen the action genre over the last few years, when he is able to do so much more in the comedy or action-comedy genre.
John Turturro is an excellent actor, but to cast him as a Canadian was a big mistake |
One of the few positive aspects I could find about the movie is that it features a couple of talented actors: John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!, Carlito's Way, Romeo + Juliet) and John Turturro (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, Quiz Show). Unfortunately, both of these actors were relegated to bit parts and the casting directors screwed it up by giving the role of a Canadian character to Turturro, who sounds as Canadian as Schwarzenegger. What's even worse is that the only reason this character is Canadian in the first place is to lead the way for some jokes later.
Another positive aspect is the editing of the film, which was done by Dov Hoenig (The Fugitive, Heat, Dark City) and Dennis Virkler (The Fugitive, The Hunt for Red October, Gorky Park). Unfortunately, film editing is something that usually goes unnoticed unless it's badly done. In this case, I only noticed the editing because the pace of the movie was enjoyable even if the movie itself was not.
Another reason not to see this movie: the poor performance of Elias Koteas (left) |
As if I haven't made my point already, I highly recommend you stay away from this stinker. If you're looking for a good movie set in Colombia, rent Clear and Present Danger or Romancing the Stone. If you're looking for a movie about terrorism, rent Air Force One or Die Hard. If you're looking to waste your money, go see Collateral Damage.
Reviewed on February 6, 2002
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Directed by
Andrew Davis
Written by
Ronald Roose
David Griffiths
Peter Griffiths
Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Elias Koteas
Francesca Neri
Cliff Curtis
John Leguizamo
John Turturro
Lindsay Frost
Jsu Garcia
Shelley Malil
Tyler Posey
Harry J. Lennix
Produced by
Lowell D. Blank
Mitchell E. Dauterive
David Foster
Howard W. Koch Jr.
Peter MacGregor-Scott
Nicholas Meyer
Steven Reuther
Teresa Tucker-Davies
Music
Graeme Revell
Cinematography
Adam Greenberg
Film Editing
Dov Hoenig
Dennis Virkler
Casting
Amanda Mackey Johnson
Cathy Sandrich
Production Design
Philip Rosenberg
Art Direction
Richard Reseigne
Set Decoration
Thomas L. Roysden
Costume Design
James W. Tyson
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