Collateral Damage

Schwarzenegger in very violent vigilante film.

The plot is laughably bad, and the action not much better.

The film's less knee-jerk than it could have been.

It will be remembered less for its generic content than for the real-life events that give it an eerie resonance.

A pretty decent action picture.

Grotesquely dishonest.

Just use brawn over brain in accepting the logical order of events in this film.


The subject matter is timely and relevant, but the attention to action over sincerity dulls the potency of the themes - as any shoot-'em-up Schwarzenegger movie should.

Straining every muscle not to offend, Collateral Damage counts basic coherence among its own casualties. But it's crystal clear on one point: Taking mercy on the "enemy," women and children included, is for wimps.

Schwarzenegger's Brewer remarks, 'If I don't do it, it seems no one else will,' but that's a lousy excuse for...a multi-million dollar mistake like this one. [Blu-ray]