Collateral Damage (2002)

After his family is killed by a terrorist act, a firefighter goes in search of the one responsible.

Director:

Andrew Davis

Writers:

Ronald Roose (story), David Griffiths (story),

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Francesca Neri, Elias Koteas

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Gordy Brewer
Francesca Neri	...	Selena Perrini
Elias Koteas	...	Peter Brandt
Cliff Curtis	...	Claudio Perrini
John Leguizamo	...	Felix Ramirez
John Turturro	...	Sean Armstrong
Jsu Garcia	...	Roman
Tyler Posey	...	Mauro (as Tyler Garcia Posey)
Michael Milhoan	...	Jack
Rick Worthy	...	Ronnie
Raymond Cruz	...	Junior
Lindsay Frost	...	Anne Brewer
Ethan Dampf	...	Matt Brewer
Jorge Zepeda	...	Rocha
Miguel Sandoval	...	Joe Phipps

Storyline

Firefighter Gordon Brewer is plunged into the complex and dangerous world of international terrorism after he loses his wife and child in a bombing credited to Claudio "The Wolf" Perrini. Frustrated with the official investigation and haunted by the thought that the man responsible for murdering his family might never be brought to justice, Brewer takes matters into his own hands and tracks his quarry ultimately to Colombia.

---

Plot Keywords:

colombia | terrorism | explosion | massacre | woman's neck broken | 

---

Taglines:

What Would You Do If You Lost Everything?

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [uk] Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Daño colateral

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$85,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$766,543 (France) (5 July 2002)

Gross:

$766,543 (France) (5 July 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Bel Air Entertainment, David Foster Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Well-known Vietnam War veteran and radical anti-war activist Stan Goff briefly worked as a technical military adviser on the film. He later said it was one of the worst experiences of his life and that the finished product was "yet another guns and fire-balls, macho death-cult, fascist film-myth."

---

Goofs

When the bomb explodes at the beginning of the film, Gordy is at the top of the stairs leading to the area where his wife and son are sitting. After the explosion, Gordy steps into traffic on the street, heading toward his wife and son, and is struck by a vehicle. He had no reason to step into the street; he was parked on the same side of the street as the bomb.

---

Quotes

[as Armstrong notices Guerillas]
Sean Armstrong: Don't even look at those guys unless you can kill 'em.

---

Connections

References The Terminator (1984)

---

Soundtracks

"Chegando Devagar"
Written and Performed by DJ Jamaika
Courtesy of Warner Music Brazil Ltd
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Surprising, in more ways than one

I chose to rent this movie for a simple reason: I was in the mood for something nice and stupid - a no-brainer action flick starring Arnie would perfectly fit that mood. What I got was something else.

The story: Firefighter loses family in terrorist attack, goes on revenge mission to Columbia to find and kill terrorist. Sounds pretty dumb to me - and, let's face it, a lot of aspects of the movie are incredibly dumb. (Mostly those parts of the movie concerned with Arnie getting to Columbia, travelling through Columbia and getting into the rebel camp)

But, and here's the catch, some are not. What starts out a simple movie with linear plot evolves slowly. After the rage comes a period of reflection. There are twists and turns in the plot, and the first half is full of time-filling minutes spent getting to know yet-another-comedic sidekick, who will disappear entirely from the movie within minutes (couldn't they have stuck with one sidekick? Or not bothered at all?), but then, as the plot turns around, the audience is suddenly faced with an interesting moment (which is later ruined by cheesy dialogue). Well, this being an action movie, the smart bits can last only so long, and then it all goes to pieces in a desperate attempt to have a traditional climactic good vs bad battle. So the end is a big let-down.

Still, the movie IS entertaining (apart from a few minutes of boredom and confusion in the Columbia part) and, surprisingly, well-acted. Arnie is no character actor, and the mess he made of End of Days was embarrassing. Sixth Day brought some more flexing of acting muscles, and I actually liked his performance in that movie. Collateral Damage takes all he learnt and puts it to the test. He will never manage a Bruce-Willis alike 6th Sense / Unbreakable career turnaround, but he acted his role well, and was convincing. Mostly, at least. The support cast, filled with aforementioned comedic sidekicks, a CIA agent, a FBI agent and the terrorist and a Columbian woman - all do their jobs well. I kept wondering where I'd seen Cliff Curtis before, until I looked it up on IMDB - he was the charismatic leader of the Iraqi resistance in Three Kings. Here, he manages to dominate the screen just as well and once again is a show-stealer. Definitely the most memorable character of the movie.

So, we have good acting, good entertainment, stupid action, a stupid end and some reasonably intelligent bit somewhere along the way. The body count is high, but surprisingly, Arnold does not actually kill many people (you can count his victims on the fingers of one hand). There is a gruesome scene involving a snake, which is basically pointless, but that did not reduce my enjoyment of the movie. All in all, a good movie to watch. Not brilliant, but not as bad as some people may think either.