Collateral Damage film review

certificate_15

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Collateral Damage's title became eerily apt following the events of September 11th when its story of a fireman seeking revenge against a terrorist was deemed too sensitive and the film's original release was postponed. The interim months may have enabled people to recover somewhat, but unfortunately they haven't made the film any better. It's hard not to ponder that had those responsible decided to cancel the film's release entirely, it would have been one of the few good things to emerge from the tragedy.

When Arnie is being paid $30 million to star in Terminator 3, there are clearly still some who consider him a viable action hero. For his sake I hope the ink was dry on the contract before anyone saw Collateral Damage because there's nothing in this film to support that. At 54 he's in remarkable shape, but the energetic demands of the role seem beyond him as he lumbers about stiffly. The Austrian Oak's (or more topically, Lord of the Rings') shortcomings are only part of the problem. The idea that an aggrieved LA fireman could single-handedly succeed in tracking down a notorious international terrorist when the entire might of the FBI and CIA have failed is almost as ludicrous as the idea of Schwarzenegger being an LA firefighter. The corny cry of "heads up, let's do it" as he prepares to enter a burning building might almost be forgivable if it wasn't delivered with that broad accent.

Schwarzenegger plays Gordy Brewer whose wife and young boy are killed in an explosion outside the Columbian Consulate Office. When the ruthless leader of the Colombian guerrillas, El Lobo (the Wolf), takes responsibility, Brewer realises he'd talked with him seconds before the explosion as he'd arrived to meet his family. Initially content to let the government deal with things, Brewer becomes incensed when an El Lobo sympathiser dismisses the civilian casualties as "collateral damage". Rising from his hospital bed Brewer destroys the sympathiser's offices while shouting "I'll show you collateral damage". When he later learns from CIA agent Peter Brandt (Elias Koteas) that the government are not proposing to go after El Lobo (Cliff Curtis), preferring to allow the Columbian government to resolve things, he decides to take matters into his own hands.