bnorthup
02-10-2002, 04:00 PM
Collateral Damage (R)
At the Gaslight
Two Stars
Arnold’s got an ax to grind
By Brent Northup
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Major action star (insert male name that rhymes with Eastwood or Bronson here) plays a character whose wife and child are shot in the opening scene and who spends the rest of the film hunting down the killer. In the end, the bad guy dies and the good guy lives.
“Collateral Damage” is a formula vengeance film starring 55-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger pretending to be a 35-year-old action hero. (Suggesting that 55-year-old men are over the hill is tender “too close to home” territory, but never mind that.) Arnold plays an L.A. firefighter whose wife and daughter are accidentally killed by a terrorist bombing that targeted US officials. The villain is “Wolf,” a Columbian druglord.
With only a backpack, Arnie heads south.
Now the first thing that struck me as odd was that Arnold seldom fires a gun. Everybody else shoots holes in everything, but Arnold rarely has a weapon. I doubt this is a pacificist statement. Rather, it sets up the ending when our firefighter is cornered by Wolf. And, once again, there’s no gun for Arnold.
But wait! There’s a firefighter’s ax nearby. And Arnold can throw that thing better than the winner of last week’s logging Olympics on cable TV. Ouch. Somebody get Wolf a Band-Aid.
Yet another interesting feature of this film is that even though Arnold spends 75 percent of the film in Columbia Wolf-hunting, the showdown takes place right back on the streets of America where we started. I guess the studio couldn’t forego the final chase – with a motorcycle with saddlebags full of explosives racing at high speed through underground tunnels beneath state department buildings.
Could someone tell me why we just spent an hour in a jungle if it’s all gonna be decided in the caves of modern America? Never mind.
I did enjoy the character played by Francesca Neri. She plays Wolf’s wife, nurturing mother of a sensitive little boy. She has such caring eyes and such a big heart that Arnold wants to help. (Pssst….not smart Arnie.)
“Collateral Damage” is interesting because it is a film made before September 11 – but released afterwards – which honors a firefighter. It’s tempting to wonder if this was made to capitalize on 9/11, but it clearly was nearly done before that tragedy. But the movie does stand to profit from the timing, no doubt about that – even though the heroics don’t focus on firefighting at all.
Schwarzenegger is in the territory of the aging superstar which presents certain casting problems for Hollywood. Rather than allow the aging stars to play older characters and realistically deal with their aging, the studios prefer to rehash old action formulas, pretending that the heroes are still young and invulnerable. Sean Connery had the good sense to refuse such assignments. Other "advancing" stars should follow Connery’s example and “act their age.”
END
At the Gaslight
Two Stars
Arnold’s got an ax to grind
By Brent Northup
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Major action star (insert male name that rhymes with Eastwood or Bronson here) plays a character whose wife and child are shot in the opening scene and who spends the rest of the film hunting down the killer. In the end, the bad guy dies and the good guy lives.
“Collateral Damage” is a formula vengeance film starring 55-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger pretending to be a 35-year-old action hero. (Suggesting that 55-year-old men are over the hill is tender “too close to home” territory, but never mind that.) Arnold plays an L.A. firefighter whose wife and daughter are accidentally killed by a terrorist bombing that targeted US officials. The villain is “Wolf,” a Columbian druglord.
With only a backpack, Arnie heads south.
Now the first thing that struck me as odd was that Arnold seldom fires a gun. Everybody else shoots holes in everything, but Arnold rarely has a weapon. I doubt this is a pacificist statement. Rather, it sets up the ending when our firefighter is cornered by Wolf. And, once again, there’s no gun for Arnold.
But wait! There’s a firefighter’s ax nearby. And Arnold can throw that thing better than the winner of last week’s logging Olympics on cable TV. Ouch. Somebody get Wolf a Band-Aid.
Yet another interesting feature of this film is that even though Arnold spends 75 percent of the film in Columbia Wolf-hunting, the showdown takes place right back on the streets of America where we started. I guess the studio couldn’t forego the final chase – with a motorcycle with saddlebags full of explosives racing at high speed through underground tunnels beneath state department buildings.
Could someone tell me why we just spent an hour in a jungle if it’s all gonna be decided in the caves of modern America? Never mind.
I did enjoy the character played by Francesca Neri. She plays Wolf’s wife, nurturing mother of a sensitive little boy. She has such caring eyes and such a big heart that Arnold wants to help. (Pssst….not smart Arnie.)
“Collateral Damage” is interesting because it is a film made before September 11 – but released afterwards – which honors a firefighter. It’s tempting to wonder if this was made to capitalize on 9/11, but it clearly was nearly done before that tragedy. But the movie does stand to profit from the timing, no doubt about that – even though the heroics don’t focus on firefighting at all.
Schwarzenegger is in the territory of the aging superstar which presents certain casting problems for Hollywood. Rather than allow the aging stars to play older characters and realistically deal with their aging, the studios prefer to rehash old action formulas, pretending that the heroes are still young and invulnerable. Sean Connery had the good sense to refuse such assignments. Other "advancing" stars should follow Connery’s example and “act their age.”
END