Originally published Feb. 14, 2002
(Note: This was the first big action movie to open after Sept. 11, and you could tell my mindset was heavily influenced by buzzwords being tossed around on cable news and in my college classrooms. My favorite part of the review is the last line, where I say this "ends up being the last old-fashioned, mindless action movie America may see for a long time." A long time ended up being two months. That's when The Scorpion King opened.)
After the tragedies of Sept. 11, several things changed about American society. We no longer thought that terrorism was something that happened “over there.” We started paying more attention when the news showed images of people with guns in other countries. We found it easier to believe that those people with guns could be heading to America.
In addition, the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon brought two immediate comparisons. “It’s just like Pearl Harbor” and “It looked like something out of a movie,” were out of the mouths of witnesses and over the airwaves many times within hours.
Judging from that, it would seem that we Americans would change what we viewed as entertainment. Wrong. Soon after the attacks, Blockbuster Video stores across the country were reporting increased rentals of action movies like Die Hard and The Siege. Both of these films feature lots of explosions and terrorists. Americans still seemed to be craving action movies as some sort of escape from a reality that featured those actual events.
Despite this fact, Hollywood was still frightened about the future of movies that dealt with terrorists and high explosives. Producers immediately delayed the release of several big-budget movies until they could figure out what to do with them. One such movie, scheduled to open in October, was finally released last week.
Collateral Damage stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as fireman Gordon Brewer. He lives a great life in Los Angeles with his family until the day his son goes to the doctor. Brewer’s wife takes their son but needs Gordon to pick him up. He agrees but the day of the appointment he is running a little behind. He arrives across the street from their meeting place just in time to see his wife and son killed in an explosion.
Police later tell him that the bomb was set by a terrorist known as The Wolf who wanted to kill a government official from Colombia. Brewer’s family just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became collateral damage. The term refers to innocent bystanders who die for someone else’s cause.
Brewer finds out that nothing will happen to The Wolf because he escaped, so he decides to travel to Colombia and take care of things himself. From this point, the movie turns into typical Schwarzenegger stuff. He meets a number of unpleasant people. There is lots of gunfire and a lot of explosions.
During one of these explosions, Brewer ends up saving the lives of a woman and child. They turn out to be the family of The Wolf. The woman is tired of her husband’s constant killing of innocent people so she agrees to help Brewer. Soon after this, the action goes back to the United States. The audience then experiences a plot twist or two as well as an eerily familiar scene of an exploding skyscraper.
Producers were right to delay the release of Collateral Damage. Americans were more than likely not ready to see it less than one month after the attacks. They obviously are now. The movie was number one at the box office last weekend and the first number one movie for Arnold Schwarzenegger in five years.
The film has been in the news a lot the past few months simply because of its subject matter. This led many people to believe that it would pose some interesting questions about terrorism. While the movie does ask some good questions (If Brewer wants to kill because The Wolf killed, what makes Brewer different than The Wolf?) they are either skimmed over or never answered at all.
Hollywood seems to be taking a turn toward action movies with a conscience. Films such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down have been more focused on the stories behind the action, not the bullets and explosions themselves. Some thought Collateral Damage would be a more responsible movie about terrorism for our post-Sept. 11 society. It ends up being the last old-fashioned, mindless action movie America may see for a long time.
Collateral Damage is rated R for violence and some language.
(Note: This was the first big action movie to open after Sept. 11, and you could tell my mindset was heavily influenced by buzzwords being tossed around on cable news and in my college classrooms. My favorite part of the review is the last line, where I say this "ends up being the last old-fashioned, mindless action movie America may see for a long time." A long time ended up being two months. That's when The Scorpion King opened.)
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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
In addition, the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon brought two immediate comparisons. “It’s just like Pearl Harbor” and “It looked like something out of a movie,” were out of the mouths of witnesses and over the airwaves many times within hours.
Judging from that, it would seem that we Americans would change what we viewed as entertainment. Wrong. Soon after the attacks, Blockbuster Video stores across the country were reporting increased rentals of action movies like Die Hard and The Siege. Both of these films feature lots of explosions and terrorists. Americans still seemed to be craving action movies as some sort of escape from a reality that featured those actual events.
Despite this fact, Hollywood was still frightened about the future of movies that dealt with terrorists and high explosives. Producers immediately delayed the release of several big-budget movies until they could figure out what to do with them. One such movie, scheduled to open in October, was finally released last week.
Collateral Damage stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as fireman Gordon Brewer. He lives a great life in Los Angeles with his family until the day his son goes to the doctor. Brewer’s wife takes their son but needs Gordon to pick him up. He agrees but the day of the appointment he is running a little behind. He arrives across the street from their meeting place just in time to see his wife and son killed in an explosion.
Police later tell him that the bomb was set by a terrorist known as The Wolf who wanted to kill a government official from Colombia. Brewer’s family just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became collateral damage. The term refers to innocent bystanders who die for someone else’s cause.
Brewer finds out that nothing will happen to The Wolf because he escaped, so he decides to travel to Colombia and take care of things himself. From this point, the movie turns into typical Schwarzenegger stuff. He meets a number of unpleasant people. There is lots of gunfire and a lot of explosions.
During one of these explosions, Brewer ends up saving the lives of a woman and child. They turn out to be the family of The Wolf. The woman is tired of her husband’s constant killing of innocent people so she agrees to help Brewer. Soon after this, the action goes back to the United States. The audience then experiences a plot twist or two as well as an eerily familiar scene of an exploding skyscraper.
Producers were right to delay the release of Collateral Damage. Americans were more than likely not ready to see it less than one month after the attacks. They obviously are now. The movie was number one at the box office last weekend and the first number one movie for Arnold Schwarzenegger in five years.
The film has been in the news a lot the past few months simply because of its subject matter. This led many people to believe that it would pose some interesting questions about terrorism. While the movie does ask some good questions (If Brewer wants to kill because The Wolf killed, what makes Brewer different than The Wolf?) they are either skimmed over or never answered at all.
Hollywood seems to be taking a turn toward action movies with a conscience. Films such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down have been more focused on the stories behind the action, not the bullets and explosions themselves. Some thought Collateral Damage would be a more responsible movie about terrorism for our post-Sept. 11 society. It ends up being the last old-fashioned, mindless action movie America may see for a long time.
Collateral Damage is rated R for violence and some language.
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