Collateral Damage (2002)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 108m
Director: Andrew Davis
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Leguizamo, Francesca Neri, John Turturro, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis
Synopsis:
A fireman witnesses his wife and son being killed by a terrorist bomb and treks off to Colombia to exact vengeance himself on the perpetrator.
Review:
This curious almost-footnote to Schwarzenegger's career as an actor will no doubt be remembered in reference books chiefly as one of the films whose release was delayed because of the September 11th attacks (although the only point in common is that of a terrorist setting off a bomb - he is not even an islamist). As an action thriller it has the crucial drawback that it gives Arnie nothing to do except emote (which he does tolerably well): no snapping of necks (Neri does that), no automatic weapons held two at a time, and no catchphrases beyond the lame 'The difference is I am going to kill you'. The action highlights are perfunctory, foregone conclusions in which Arnie is for the most part a reactor to events. Conversely, as a political thriller along the lines of Clear and Present Danger, which it resembles closely, it falls short in miscasting Arnie as a Harrison Ford character, a man who anguishes over the violent path he must take to secure the justice denied to him by legal or political realities. Nor does the plotting cut much mustard, containing many of the implausibilities associated with the action thriller genre, and leaving its only surprise till the end; the dialogue too is among the least scintillating in years, and the most poorly delivered and recorded. In short, this is definitely a case of the journeyman director of Under Siege and The Fugitive marking time while drawing on past successes.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 108m
Director: Andrew Davis
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Leguizamo, Francesca Neri, John Turturro, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis
Synopsis:
A fireman witnesses his wife and son being killed by a terrorist bomb and treks off to Colombia to exact vengeance himself on the perpetrator.
Review:
This curious almost-footnote to Schwarzenegger's career as an actor will no doubt be remembered in reference books chiefly as one of the films whose release was delayed because of the September 11th attacks (although the only point in common is that of a terrorist setting off a bomb - he is not even an islamist). As an action thriller it has the crucial drawback that it gives Arnie nothing to do except emote (which he does tolerably well): no snapping of necks (Neri does that), no automatic weapons held two at a time, and no catchphrases beyond the lame 'The difference is I am going to kill you'. The action highlights are perfunctory, foregone conclusions in which Arnie is for the most part a reactor to events. Conversely, as a political thriller along the lines of Clear and Present Danger, which it resembles closely, it falls short in miscasting Arnie as a Harrison Ford character, a man who anguishes over the violent path he must take to secure the justice denied to him by legal or political realities. Nor does the plotting cut much mustard, containing many of the implausibilities associated with the action thriller genre, and leaving its only surprise till the end; the dialogue too is among the least scintillating in years, and the most poorly delivered and recorded. In short, this is definitely a case of the journeyman director of Under Siege and The Fugitive marking time while drawing on past successes.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 108m
Director: Andrew Davis
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Leguizamo, Francesca Neri, John Turturro, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis
Synopsis:
A fireman witnesses his wife and son being killed by a terrorist bomb and treks off to Colombia to exact vengeance himself on the perpetrator.
Review:
This curious almost-footnote to Schwarzenegger's career as an actor will no doubt be remembered in reference books chiefly as one of the films whose release was delayed because of the September 11th attacks (although the only point in common is that of a terrorist setting off a bomb - he is not even an islamist). As an action thriller it has the crucial drawback that it gives Arnie nothing to do except emote (which he does tolerably well): no snapping of necks (Neri does that), no automatic weapons held two at a time, and no catchphrases beyond the lame 'The difference is I am going to kill you'. The action highlights are perfunctory, foregone conclusions in which Arnie is for the most part a reactor to events. Conversely, as a political thriller along the lines of Clear and Present Danger, which it resembles closely, it falls short in miscasting Arnie as a Harrison Ford character, a man who anguishes over the violent path he must take to secure the justice denied to him by legal or political realities. Nor does the plotting cut much mustard, containing many of the implausibilities associated with the action thriller genre, and leaving its only surprise till the end; the dialogue too is among the least scintillating in years, and the most poorly delivered and recorded. In short, this is definitely a case of the journeyman director of Under Siege and The Fugitive marking time while drawing on past successes.