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This revenge is far from sweet
[Times photo: Warner Bros.]
Francesca Neri, left, Tyler Posey Garcia and Arnold Schwarzenegger are imperiled in Collateral Damage. |
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 7, 2002
In Collateral Damage, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a heroic firefighter who loses his wife and child in a terrorist attack. The filmmakers delayed its release after Sept. 11, but it's still a violence-drenched bomb.
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In a perfect world, a middle ground would exist between the advocates of scorched-earth intervention after Sept. 11 and those who blame the attacks on U.S. foreign policy.
Don't look to Collateral Damage, the latest festival of firepower from fading action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, to provide that moderation.
Not that we expected as much from the star of The Terminator et al, and Andrew Davis, director of The Fugitive and a couple of Steven Seagal flicks. But when Warner Bros. postponed the release from October to February, there might have been hope of a retooling in light of current events.
Naahh. Collateral Damage is sheer revenge fantasy, starring Ah-nuld the Mighty as a Los Angeles firefighter whose wife and young son are killed in an explosion caused by a Colombian terrorist.
The action drama is poised to exploit the new thirst for vengeance. War is hell, but it can be heaven at the box office.
Schwarzenegger's character, Gordy Brewer, is a hero from the first frame: He's seen battling blazes and rescuing a disabled woman in dazzling style from a major fire. Next up are warm and fuzzy scenes of domestic tranquility, at home with Brewer, his pretty wife (Lindsay Frost) and their button-cute little boy (Ethan Dampf).
As fast as you can say "motivation," the brave firefighter's family is gone, and he's on a one-man mission to right the wrong. He sets off to invade Colombia and track down Claudio, a.k.a. El Lobo (Cliff Curtis), the cocaine-exporting guerrilla leader responsible for the bomb that killed them.
Brandt (Elias Koteas), a creepy CIA agent with questionable directives for his underlings in Colombia, initially succeeds in discouraging Brewer from striking back on his own. Later, though, the veteran spook, wrapped up in his own dastardly plans, declares, "Justice for your wife and child is not a priority."
So Gordy heads out in search of El Lobo. Never mind that anyone can see the hulking blond Brewer from a mile away. He takes his chances, riding dusty, crowded buses, wandering around colorful courtyards, navigating jungle terrain, surviving an accidental ride in river rapids and, finally, sneaking into the lair of the enemy.
Along the way, he encounters a politically slippery engine mechanic from Canada (John Turturro, underused in what amounts to a cameo), a loopy coke manufacturer with a Metallica T-shirt and delusions of rap-star grandeur (John Leguizamo) and a young mother (Francesca Neri) and her son.
It wouldn't be a Schwarzenegger movie without a final, bloody, explosive showdown, and it won't be revealing any secrets to say that there is an end-game confrontation in Collateral Damage and that myriad innocent lives hang in the balance.
For parents tempted to bring the kiddies along for this one, a quick tally of the violence: Davis, Schwarzenegger and their colleagues deliver one chewed-off ear, one axe in a chest, one death by electrocution, one snake down a throat and countless bullets in foreheads, chests and other body parts. Call it a celebration of life.
Collateral Damage
- Grade: C-
- Director: Andrew Davis
- Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Francesca Neri, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, John Turturro
- Screenplay: David Griffiths and Peter Griffiths
- Rating: R; graphic violence, scenes of mass carnage
- Running time: 115 min.
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