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TAF ATTENDS PRESS SCREENING OF "DAMAGE" IN L.A.! "Damage" delivers big suspense for an all new Arnold! Reported By: Randy Jennings Saturday, January 26, 2002 He's back! Arnold has proven his comeback with his best contribution to cinema in almost a decade. Schwarzenegger's latest action-thriller, "Collateral Damage" is without a doubt Arnold's return to high quality action films. Now hold on, I know what many of you must be thinking: Oh SURE it's good. You just HAPPEN to be from The ARNOLD FAN and you love it! What a coincidence. Hey, trust me, sure we at TAF love Arnold but this does not mean we are totally biased and have to love all his movies. If this is the case than why can I openly admit that "Batman and Robin," "Jingle All the Way" and even "The 6th Day", to name a few of the more recent films, are all in NO means great films? Weak, not because of Arnold¹s performance that I can enjoy VERY MUCH but bad due to sub-par direction or a holy awful script Batman. With that said maybe my credibility will be a little more valid based on the review you are about to read. Let's move on shall we? On Thursday, January 24 at 5:30 p.m., I arrived at the Mann Complex in Westwood, CA. One hour later the lights dimmed and an all new Schwarzenegger classic was underway. No spoiler Collateral Damage review: What we already know: A firefighter (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is plunged into the complex and dangerous world of international terrorism after he loses his wife and child in a bombing. Frustrated by the government's stalled investigation and haunted by the thought that the man responsible for murdering his family might never be brought to justice, he takes matters into his own hands and tracks the bomber to Colombia. Collateral Damage has been billed as a "political action thriller" and this is one way to label it but I could also bill it as an "all-out ballsy action reality." Andrew Davis, the director of "The Fugitive" and now "Collateral Damage" has brought an all new Schwarzenegger vehicle to us that we have never experienced before. Davis made his vision clear in the beginning of pre-production that slight character changes would be made to the script. What¹s best about Arnold's character, Gordy Brewer, is that not only does he play an "ordinary guy" but Davis makes damn sure we do not see Arnold showing his typical Superman strength. Yet when Brewer is confronted with a fight or a tight situation it is won in a way where someone very vulnerable COULD realistically be victorious in such a battle. Davis creates real suspense by taking away the hero's gun to leave you breathless and cheering by the outcome. Arnold's acting performance will make you forget you're watching a former Mr. Universe as the character of Gordy Brewer has come to be The Austrian Oak's finest acting performance to date. Arnold hits his mark and we feel his anger or his pain with every emotional scene. After the 9/11 tragedy it's especially impossible not to be drawn in and the eerie similarities of the film's plot can truly make you feel the pain of anyone who has lost someone in a terrorist attack. With the tears streaking down Brewer's face you may just want to hug the person you are sitting next to. Don't get to sad - a few seconds later we see Brewer doing his homework learning how to sneak into the Columbian war zone. While Arnold is researching we see him lift a coffee mug that proudly displays an American flag and we are reassured he will kick some but in no time at all. The entire supporting cast is a true batch of talent from some of the bigger attached names like John Leguizamo, Elias Koteas and Francesca Neri to some of the nobodies involved like the two firefighter friends of Brewer who have just a few seconds of screen time but could not be more sincere and charismatic. These two firefighters may have even upstaged John Turturro's performance due to his rather short and insignificant role. This film feels authentic by the way you really feel transported to Columbia with the PERFECT casting of actors who seem to be genuine locals. The most convincing of all these local's is the crazy wild-eyed cocaine field-dancer who must truly be "on something" while explosions are occurring all around him and yet he continues to dance and make his cocaine. This guy is a visual nightmare but it's this kind of casting authenticity along with the gritty and exotic locations that gives you your bus pass to Columbian escapism. Collateral Damage brings us so many foreign locations and rainforest-like settings that we actually feel we are making the journey with Arnold. On OUR journey to a dark region of Columbia we encounter John Leguizamo playing a prospecting drug lord. Leguizamo and Schwarzenegger have such good chemistry on screen that it¹s obvious the two of them were improvising dialogue left and right. There¹s no way that funny wrap song and following sarcasm was in the script. Expect Leguizamo to upstage Tom Arnold¹s partner performance of True Lies. Andrew Davis has brought us a dramatic thriller to be proud of. Again, this is not the same type of Arnold movie many of us are used to. For those of you who want to see Arnold return to pure action, packing the biggest guns, over-the-top action sequences and nonstop one-liners you will be very disappointed in this movie. For those of you who like to try new things and want to see Arnold in a smart movie with heart-pounding suspense and topped with realistic fighting situations - then Collateral Damage will deliver. Best of all, thanks to newly-shot action scenes, we have an ending that leaves us cheering. When was the last time you felt real good about an explosive Arnold ending? The 6th Day cheese ending? End of Days, which I happen to like, was going real smooth until the anti-climatic devil fight. One real cool devil fight could have made it huge! Batman and Robin? Take two of these and call me in the morning? No. Jingle all the Way? No. Eraser, another movie which I personally loved, had a rewrite ending from something rather promising to the happy he had to catch a train ending. Again, not an explosive stand up and cheer ending. I guess you'd have to go all the way back to True Lies but at last... Collateral Damage is here! As far as the movie's only flaws, If I had to say it would be the possible underestimation of the director to his audience in his use of unneeded flashbacks. There were about two flashbacks that occurred in the film, each one lasting about 3-5 seconds each, that made me think: Okay, I get it. I don't need that info. Hmm, and maybe a couple of CG shots could have been tightened up but when the action is happening so fast and you become so involved it's hard to notice them. As you can see here I am really stretching for negative remarks. Still, for creating suspense and overall directing duties I do kiss Davis' feet for making me want to see this movie again right now. Coming out of the theater I ran into many smiling faces and one very delighted couple who ranked the new Arnold movie very high. The gentleman gave top marks to the director because he had said he read the not-so-good script and the final outcome proves the talent behind Andrew Davis. The man's wife accompanying him also expressed her admiration for the film saying she was at the edge of her seat from the suspense. So there you have the female's point of view girls! How will you rank Arnold's latest? Let us know your thoughts on our message board! ---------- |