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Collateral Damage

Movie Collateral Damage Director Andrew Davis Producer Steven Reuther Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger, Francesca Neri

By Ad-Lib Collateral Damage. A word coined for casualties of an attack who just happened to be in the way. That is the essence of the new Arnold Schwarzennegger movie Collateral Damage . What can you expect from it? A visibly older Arnie, a very tame action script and a very bad movie. One can’t help but think that all the noise made about the movie’s script post 9/11 was simply propaganda. Gordon Brewer (Arnold Schwarzenegger ) is a fireman in LA. He lives a happy and content life with his wife and son. An absolutely idyllic existence is shattered by an explosion that kills his family. He learns that a Columbian rebel group has carried out the attack to warn the American Government to get the CIA out of Columbia. In true Commando style, he sets off for Columbia. The leader of the rebels, “The Wolf” (Cliff Curtis ), learns of the fireman’s arrival and sends his teams to find him and use him as a hostage but when they do track him down, they are thwarted by the local police. Arrested, along with some of the rebels sent to capture him, he meets up with a Canadian mechanic (John Turturro ) who gives him a pass to enter rebel territory. After a breakout, Gordon enters rebel country under the guise of a replacement mechanic and meets up with a cocaine dealer and wannabe rap star Felix (John Leguizamo ). After blowing up Felix’s cocaine factory, he is able to gain access to The Wolf’s base and tries to blow up the place. However, he sees Selena (Francesca Neri ) and her son and in the process of saving them, he gets caught and The Wolf lives. Selena sets him free to repay him for saving their lives. Just then the CIA get there and Selena reveals that there is another bombing that will take place in Washington. They all return to the States and Gordon learns that he has been deceived but saves the day all the same and kills The Wolf. Collateral Damage is your typical Arnold movie, lot of action and explosions with a story just strong enough to hold the movie together. Arnold is seriously getting old. Perhaps it is time to retire. Among others, no one performance stands out. Collateral Damage does achieve what it sets out to do and that is to give you an adrenalin rush but overall it is extremely boring and a waste of time.