Much has been made of Collateral Damage being shelved for five months after the September 11 fiasco. Collateral Damage is about a terrorist attack on a U.S. major building or two a subject not considered to be saleable to the American public in recent times.
But now it's here, and it's over there, and it's what it always was, a predictable B grade Schwarzenegger movie.
In this one Arnie has his family killed by the terrorist early in the film and then hightails it to Columbia where he does battle with the terrorist army cartel who were responsible for killing his son and wife.
Collateral Damage is interesting though because of the character of the terrorist called The Wolf who is played by Cliff Curtis. He surprisingly gets to state his case clearly, to define his ideological reasons for hating the U.S., which would have been unthinkable not many years ago. Things have changed.
The Wolf certainly isn't innocent, he blows up children and gets his funding from the drug trade, but he's not painted completely blackly. That might present some problems when we're supposed to really hate the baddie.
But of course Arnie does what Arnie does and proceeds to orchestrate numerous murders and explosions. He plays a remarkably talented 54 year old Fireman.
But he's dour and relentless. There's none of the self mocking humour that has made Schwarzenegger the star that he's been for decades.
And what of the U.S. government? At one stage they subdue Arnold's character with a very nasty looking stun gun which fires out darts and then immobilizes its victim with electricity. I hope they don't really exist. They probably do.
The other notable factor in Collateral Damage was the female star Francesca Neri, who really was stunning. The two Johns, Leguizamo and Turturro also turn in notable performances as does Elias Koteas as agent Brandt. Just loved that hard laugh when he learnt that the fireman had made it into deepest Columbia.
2 John Flys Out Of Five
But now it's here, and it's over there, and it's what it always was, a predictable B grade Schwarzenegger movie.
In this one Arnie has his family killed by the terrorist early in the film and then hightails it to Columbia where he does battle with the terrorist army cartel who were responsible for killing his son and wife.
Collateral Damage is interesting though because of the character of the terrorist called The Wolf who is played by Cliff Curtis. He surprisingly gets to state his case clearly, to define his ideological reasons for hating the U.S., which would have been unthinkable not many years ago. Things have changed.
The Wolf certainly isn't innocent, he blows up children and gets his funding from the drug trade, but he's not painted completely blackly. That might present some problems when we're supposed to really hate the baddie.
But of course Arnie does what Arnie does and proceeds to orchestrate numerous murders and explosions. He plays a remarkably talented 54 year old Fireman.
But he's dour and relentless. There's none of the self mocking humour that has made Schwarzenegger the star that he's been for decades.
And what of the U.S. government? At one stage they subdue Arnold's character with a very nasty looking stun gun which fires out darts and then immobilizes its victim with electricity. I hope they don't really exist. They probably do.
The other notable factor in Collateral Damage was the female star Francesca Neri, who really was stunning. The two Johns, Leguizamo and Turturro also turn in notable performances as does Elias Koteas as agent Brandt. Just loved that hard laugh when he learnt that the fireman had made it into deepest Columbia.
2 John Flys Out Of Five