Collateral Damage
Oh my. What’s a major motion picture studio to do when their new big buck action-adventure mirrors real life tragic events? Put it on the shelf and hope for better times down the road. Five months after it was shelved, “Collateral Damage” arrives in theaters, and unlike a fine wine, time has not been good to the terrorist thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger plays Gordy Brewer, a Los Angeles fireman whose wife and son are killed in a terrorist bombing. When the government drops the ball, Brewer takes matters into his own hands. After researching his target, a notorious Colombian terrorist named The Wolf (Cliff Curtis), Brewer makes his way to Colombia.
“Collateral Damage” is tailor made for Schwarzenegger, whose cache of revenge thrillers include “Commando,” “The Sixth Day,” “Raw Deal,” and “The Running Man.” As a revenge thriller, “Collateral Damage” is no worse or no better, but it never reaches the visceral voltage of Schwarzenegger’s best films like “True Lies” and “Terminator 2.”
“Collateral Damage” suffers from a rice paper thin script, obvious plotting, and dialogue that seems silly and outdated. Most of the performances are as big as the explosions, turning characters into caricatures forced to exist in a cartoon world of make-believe violence. No one acts in “Collateral Damage,” they overact, hoping to steal back the spotlight from flying bullets and debris.
Schwarzenegger has always been larger than life, but in the right role with the right director he can appear down to Earth. Director Andrew Davis lacks the subtlety needed to ground “Collateral Damage.” Davis is a fine action director (“The Fugitive,” “Under Siege”), but he needs a strong script, which he doesn’t have here. There are more surprises in an Eddie Murphy late night newspaper run than in “Collateral Damage.”
The script by David Griffiths and Peter Griffiths takes the familiar and rehashes it into a barely palatable second serving of cold clichés and close calls. After watching Harrison Ford avoid capture by taking a high dive down a dam in “The Fugitive,” do we really need to see Schwarzenegger do the same down a waterfall in Colombia? Haven’t we been down this waterfall (road) before?
While “Collateral Damage” is never boring, it’s never gripping either. You watch out of obligation, not because you’re enthralled by the action and characters. Most people in the audience will reach the finish line long before the characters do. At least they can enjoy the beautiful jungle scenery, where most of the film takes place.
After Brewer sees his wife and son killed by a terrorist bomb aimed at the Colombian Consulate, he waits patiently as the feds, led up by Agent Brandt (Elias Koteas), try to bring The Wolf to justice. When the feds put the case on the back burner, Brewer takes it upon himself to see that justice is served. The more he learns about his prey, the more he is determined to hunt him down and silence him forever.
Brewer’s trip is filled with all sorts unusual encounters and close calls, including run ins with a Canadian mechanic (John Turturro), and an edgy cocaine farmer (John Leguizamo, true to form). In Colombia, Brewer also feels compelled to help the local women and children escape the grip of the notorious Wolf, who is busy planning another American terrorist attack.
Schwarzenegger stands tall as the brave fireman, and even though there’s conviction in his eyes, it’s hard to take anything that comes out of his mouth seriously. I wasn’t expecting great acting, but there’s little in Schwarzenegger’s performance that suggests more than just showing up, hitting his mark and reciting his lines.
Elias Koteas tries to shade his FBI agent with ambiguity, but he doesn’t have much to work with, while it’s embarrassing to watch good actors like Turturro and Leguizamo suffer through minor roles. Cliff Curtis, a New Zealand actor, snarls and roars as the deadly Wolf, but his diatribes lack the real emotional baggage of someone fighting a real war.
Indeed, everything about “Collateral Damage” seems insignificant in the current climate. It’s difficult to accept this as entertainment, and not because it’s disrespectful. It’s just ordinary, and after real life has proven that terrorism is indeed horrific, the images being passed off on the big screen seem out of touch.
If it weren’t so perfunctory, “Collateral Damage” might have been an honest diversion. The total lack of surprises (even major revelations seem artificial) draw out the obvious. At 110 minutes, the film seems long. “Collateral Damage” won’t be the end of the terrorist revenge thriller genre, but it won’t help the cause either.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE CONTROL
Schwarzenegger doesn’t have muscle to pull off terrorist thriller
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
John Larsen Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Francesca Neri, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, John Turturro. Directed by Andrew Davis.
LARSEN RATING: $2.00
