Collateral Damage Review

Directed By: Andrew Davis
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Turturro, John Leguizamo, Elias Koteas and Francesca Neri.

Synopsis: When a fireman's family are killed before his eyes due to a Colombian terrorist, they are written off as collateral damage by the feds. Fuelled by revenge, he ventures off alone to Colombia to find the killer.

To say this is a movie that is bad due to the events of September 11 is just foolish. This was a bad movie without any historical events having taken place.

Arnold's kind of action film is dead, has been for some time and the box-office of his last three endeavours should drive this home to Hollywood more than anything else. Hell, there isn't even a car chase or real Arnie traditional witticisms here to keep an old school fan happy. So what is Arnie to do? Travel to the safety of the sequel...up-coming Arnie flicks...True Lies 2 and Terminator 3...tell me you are not lining up to see them and I cheerfully point at you and say 'Liar!'.

The only kind of award Collateral Damage could ever find itself winning is for worst composite shot ever...a sequence where Arnie must dive into a raging river is so badly constructed, and Arnie is so obviously in studio during the sequence that one wonders why the makers even bothered putting it into the film.

Arnold was once the king of action flicks and Sylvester Stallone was his main competition with a lesser extent, men like Jean Claude Van Damme. But that was the 80's and early 90's. Times, action and heroes have changed. Jet Li, Jackie Chan and oddly enough, Keanu Reeves are the new wave and if Arnie wants to stay in the business, his mind set of pure muscle must change. Remember Harrison Ford with the label 'the thinking man's action hero'. We don't have a replacement for that yet...and Arnie isn't the man to do it. Who is? The studios seem to think Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are contenders...they are not. Maybe Colin Farrell...sorry getting side-tracked there.

Andrew Davis once gave us The Fugitive (see, that Harrison Ford remark ties in slightly). A great little flick that had a story and some suspense along with caring about the characters. It seems as if he slept right through the making of this film and the only reason I am flinging a single star out of five at this flick is for casting John Leguizamo as a wanna-be rapper who farms cocaine and John Turturro as a Canadian pervert. Being a Canuck I always get a kick out of the Hollywood version of us, and this is a classic one.

I hate to bash this film, but it is sub-par at best. I hate to bash Arnie but this way of making action flicks is dead. Arnie will be re-teamed with (James) Cameron, so there is hope...I hate to see the decline of a man's career...better to quit while your ahead and if these two sequels don't put Arnie on top then he must be stopped at all costs before he acts again.

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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul

DVD Information: Special Features: Commentary by Arnold Schwarzenegger Commentary by Director Andrew Davis The Hero In A New Era (Exclusive Interviews of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Director and Producers) Behind-The-Scenes HBO's First Look Additional Scenes Theatrical Trailer Cast/Crew Film Highlights Web-Enabled!

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