Damage Report
Arnold plays Gordy Brewer, a fireman who lives happily with his wife and young boy. One day he arrives late to meet his family outside of a government building in the LA. The building and some key Columbian officials are targeted in a bombing that sees the partial destruction of the building, many wounded, and nearly ten killed, including Gordy’s wife and son.
Unable to get the CIA to assist him in seeking justice, Gordy takes matters into his own hands. Spending the next several days and weeks, Gordy puts together a plan to attack the Columbian guerrillas in their home land. With the help of an old military friend, he arrives in the jungles of Columbia and begins to seek out Cliff Curtis’ character, Claudio Perrini, the terrorist responsible for not only the LA bombing, but several others over the years. Gordy’s vengeful path takes him back to America when he discovers a new plot that Claudio has in the works. It’s not until the final moments that he discovers Claudio isn’t working this most recent and ambitious attack alone however, which adds a lot to the thriller atmosphere of the film.
For old school Arnold fans, including myself, it’s hard not to be disappointed by the lack of classic Arnold action. Granted, Arnold’s character this time is somewhere in between that which he played in True Lies and that from Jingle All the Way, but the lack of action is noticeable. There is a lot more talk in Collateral Damage than action and if you’re expecting the opposite (which you would given the cast, story, and trailer), you’ll be disappointed. Ultimately I think Collateral Damage is worth a watch, but it’s one of several of Arnold’s weaker films that came out in the late 90s and early 00s.
On Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Collateral Damage isn’t anything outstanding, but for what the film is and the price point online, it’s fitting. The presentation quality isn’t anything to write home about, but there isn’t anything particularly bad about it either. Being a 2002 film, you would hope the source material was good and that the transfer process would yield great results, and for the most part that’s true here although there are several scenes with some noticeable grain. Otherwise contrast and vibrance are good and the picture is pretty solid.
In terms of audio, there are plenty of effects in this film, not to mention some Arnold-isms, that all sound great on the included Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. There are also quite a few language tracks to choose from should you feel the need.
And for extra features, well, there isn’t anything new nor terribly exciting here. The extras on this Blu-ray release include:
-Audio Commentary with Director Andrew Davis
-Making Of – This feature is in SD and runs about fourteen minutes. It includes several cast and crew interviews about the film, with everyone talking about how great it supposedly is — I thought this making of feature had too much of a promotional feel personally.
-The Hero In A New Era: Reflections On Collateral Damage – At almost nine minutes, in SD, this particular feature is about how the film and 9/11 were related and how 9/11 altered the film’s release date. Originally due out in October, the film was pushed out until February due to its political and terroristic nature.
-Deleted Scenes – About ten minutes of deleted scenes are included, in SD. No particular scene was all that interesting (which is probably why it was left out in the first place), but this is worth a once over.
-Trailer – The trailer for the film is also included.
Overall, this is a very average Blu-ray. The film is decent, worth a watch, but it’s not one of those great action movies you will be itching to watch again. The presentation quality isn’t bad, and thanks to the events in the film, the sonic experience is actually more impressive than the video one. Lastly, the extras are rehashed from the old DVD release and aren’t particulary interesting nor long.
With that, let’s get to the summary…