Executive Briefcase – Movie Review: COLLATERAL DAMAGE
A Warner Brothers film. Directed by Andrew Davis. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Francesca Neri, John Leguizamo and John Turturro
Ah-nuld is back from the political stump, that is. After much gnashing of teeth over a potential gubernatorial run, Ah-nuld returns to theaters in a terrorist-thriller that centers on a Los Angeles firefighter (Schwarzenegger) who witnesses the bombing death of his wife and small child. Equipped with a GPS tracking system and a canteen of water, our hero wades through the insurmountable odds of a guerrilla-infested Columbian jungle to seek his revenge. Facing Gov. Gray Davis can’t be tougher than this. Okay, we don’t go to Schwarzenegger movies for intellectual stimulation. But we do want our inimitable, syntax-challenged hunk to sling some accented one-liners (“I’ll be back,” “Hasta la vista, baby,” etc.) while kicking bad-guy butt. We don’t even demand his flicks make sense,you can’t explain a villain who unloads hundreds of automatic rounds at point-blank range and fails to even graze the big guy,so long as the action has some flair and wit. There’s only one thing an Ah-nuld action flick must not do: Bore the audience! Ummm, guess what? In “Collateral Damage,” Ah-nuld has finally become the cyborg he portrayed in the “Terminator” films. He walks and stalks with no time for talk. Having Harrison Ford in straight man mode for “The Fugitive” worked fine for Director Andrew Davis. When he has Ah-nuld do it, it’s not the bad guys who suffer, but the audience. Maybe a bid for the governor’s seat isn’t such a bad idea for Ah-nuld after all.
ONE BRIEFCASE
, Daniel D. Williams
