Rating: Summary: Great after all this time Review: I have to say that there are a lot of people who feel that Arnold is too old to be doing these type of movies. After seeing this one, I have to say they are dead wrong. Arnold does here what he does best and that's be the hero.He delivers a great performance and at the same time he is an action hero. Loved this film and am looking forward to seeing Termintator 3 Rise of the machines when it hits theaters.
Rating: Summary: The best Schwarzenegger movie I've ever seen Review: In this movie it impressed me most how good you can see (almost feel) the emotions that a terroristic attack brings with it. The fireman (schwarzenegger) goes out to the jungle to catch the terrorist, but I think that's what everyone wants to get the terrorists like that. Luckily not everyone does actually try it (then it would be very busy in Afghanistan) but it works on your imagination.
Rating: Summary: Surprisingly a very good action movie. Review: "Collateral Damage" (2002) The released date for this film was delayed after the tragic September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. I had heard quite a bit about the movie and was generally looking forward to it because I enjoyed The 6th Day, Arnie's last effort. I didn't expect it to be a life-changing experience to free our fear from terrorists after the horrific events of 9/11, but I expected to be entertained. This movie far succeeded my expectations. It's more intelligent, more entertaining, more interesting, more original, more well-acted than I could ever expect. Of course one thing that did disappoint me was once again Arnie went completely soft and the motivations are all good-willed and stuff, he's not a cool bad[boy] anymore! However he still makes for a decent watch, also giving in a great performance as Gordon, our main man. Schwarzenegger was able to portray the tense expressions and great action stunts as well expect from him. But he also turned in what I found to be somewhat of a more subtle performance than usually, he had some great shock and dramatic acting scenes, and I think he could be really more than an action actor with big muscles, even if that's what we'll remember him as. As for the rest of the cast, they turn in pretty decent performances. Cliff Curtis once again playing the bad guy is generally threatening. Francesca Neri (last year's underused Hannibal star) does pretty good as the mum caught in the middle. John Turturro and John Leguizamo were great comic relief and entertained me a lot. But Leguizamo's drug-making scenes were totally unnecessary to the whole plot of the movie. This is yet another one of those twist-in-the-end movies (much like last year's The 6th Day, Arnie's box office hit) and it completely surprised me. The twist does have a couple of plot holes, but overall it worked. I was very pleased with the way it explained the twist, it made me understand the movie a whole lot better. Sometimes it doesn't make such perfect sense though. The action sequences in this movie are entertaining, and very well filmed. They also have a certain cleverness to them (they're not just there because they are) and each of them delivers in a big way. They are also very well directed and the director of photography catches the atmosphere and important shots. The editing is very good (the fire especially looked very real) and the music used the perfect instruments (refreshingly different sounds!) to portray the excitement. All that said, I felt the movie was a little too long at about 2 hours, and it had some unnecessary scenes (Elias Koteas wasn't really essential, and neither was the whole John Leguizamo drug back-story). However, this movie remained an entertaining, enjoyable, smart and thought-provoking dramatic actioner. MY GRADE: B+
Rating: Summary: traditional action movie Review: I saw the movie in Hong Kong. Although there was good promotion effort, the film did not attract movie goers. This let me felt disappointed. The movie itself is not action intenisfied. Arnold did not perform much outstanding action sequence. On the whole, it is still enteraining. I love this movie and I will buy DVD when released.
Rating: Summary: one of the bests Review: This is a great movie with great special effects and action. It also has an twist ending witch I would have never suspected. This movie is one of the best. I thought this movie was awesome. 100% rating from me. The movie is a must see, and two thumbs up! yours truely...
Rating: Summary: Arnold Is Back with This Old-Fashioned Action Film Review: Last time out, "The Sixth Day" with its disappointing commercial result, made some of us claim that Arnold's days are over. To make matters worse, his film before this underrated film was "End of Days" (ominous title indeed) which shocked loyal fans with its sadly empty content. Arnie is now cultural icon, like John Wayne, so, why avoid making a straightforward action film, which made his name of today? But now he is back, and in good shape, too. This time Arnold plays a fireman Gordy, whose wife and boy are killed in a terrorist attack, and who is intent on his own vendetta to revenge, and to my surprise, Schwarzenegger proves that he can provide an action hero figure those fans of the genre can relate to. On top of that, we have two surprising guests, namely John Turturro (regular of the Cohen Brothers) and John Leguizamo, and both of them give on the screen their stimulating power to the often too incredible story. Add to those actors, though his part is a thankless one, Elias Koteas shows his talent (which was shown also in "Crush") as a government agent with his dubious mission. But the real find here is probably Francesca Neri from Italy, who was briefly (but with impressive presense) seen in "Hannibal." Surrounded by males, it is ususally a fate of female players in actions to be overshadowed by suits and mustles, but she really stands out, with comparatively short screen time, as ... oh, I should not tell you this part. Frankly, there is a plenty of plot holes which the film cannot hide, and sometimes Schwarzenegger seems treading the same pattern as he did in the past films. (Where did Gordy learn how to rig those explosives like a professional?) The fact is, perhaps, it is getting harder than we think to make this kind of action films about a heroic guy with explosives and guns, after the phenomenal success of the 1990s' new breed of action films influenced by Hong-Kong movies. You may call "Collateral Damage" an old-fashioned action flick, and you may be right. But within that framework, which is getting narrower every year, "Collateral Damage" still works, upgraded by veteran director Andrew Davis's well-versed construction of the whole film. I thought of giving 3 stars at first, but as a fan of long-standing watching experience of this kind of orthodox action films, I just changed my mind. Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'm waiting for your next one.
Rating: Summary: Schwarzenegger IS STILL THE GREATEST ACTOR Review: My God ...where do I start....I've been waiting for a very long time for a film like this. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed The Sixth Day, End of Days, Jingle all the way....but in all those films something was missing....this film does more than that. I was amazingly pleased to see that Schwarzenegger is still VERY VERY muscular and you know what the really cool part is ?? Schwarzenegger looks very handsome in this film.....Not in my wildest dreams would I have guessed he's 54....he looks like a guy who's in his early 40's.........and dont get me started about the action.......Watching Arnie kick [behind] in this movie had me screaming..."Kick his [behind] Arnie"......its this one great star who is able to make me feel like a part of the film. I grew up watching Schwarzenegger movies and this one feels right at home. Now the next big suprise for all you NON Arnie fans....I can say without a shadow of doubt that his best acting skills in his film career is not in Terminator or True Lies...no its in Collateral Damage. I dont care about people who always put his films down...I think you're just jealous. You all know for a fact that Arnie is not oscar material...so why do you have to make it out like he's trying to win an oscar in his films...he's not....although I would give him one for this film :) I could go on and on but I will say this. I am going to watch this film 10 times on the big screen (tonight was my first)....because I know a super Arnie film when I see one...c'mon I'm not asking you guys and girls to watch it 10 times.....just once.... SCHWARZENEGGER----YOU ARE STILL THE WORLDS BIGGEST SUPERSTAR.AMEN
Rating: Summary: SCHWARZENEGGERs best Film in Years Review: This is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest films. It actually has an intricate and well thought out plot. What is really good about this film is that it makes an emotional bond with the audience. Perhaps Schwarzenegger is beginning to show his age but that works to his and the film's advantage. There is plenty of action and suspense but you start to wonder if Schwarzenegger can really pull this one off. For once there is a real sense of danger. Schwarzenegger is a man and not a superhero. The biggest shame of it all was that I had to actually find a theatre that was still showing this film. It came out and then vanished. Schwarzenegger deserved a better showing.
Rating: Summary: Good Action Movie! Review: Arnold loses his wife and son in a terrorist attack in an opening that is so close to the events of 9/11, it's scary. He then decides to take matters into his own hands and chase down the terrorist responsible for it. This takes him all the way into Columbia and into trouble. I've been starved for a good action movie ever since The Fast and The Furious. While CD doesn't really show us anything we haven't seen before, it will satisfy most action fans with its sequences and plot twists. Arnold gives a great performance as the main character. This is my favorite of his movies so far. Go see it!
Rating: Summary: Greatest action hero back! Review: From its trailer, Collateral Damage had me hooked. And while I've been deceived by movie trailers before (Thirteen Ghosts comes to mind), my premonition was dead-on on this one. Collateral Damage continues the proud tradition of the classic Arnie flick - it's more reminiscent of classics like Commando and Predator, than most (if not all) of his 90's films.
"What more?", do you ask? Well, how about more B-movieish dialog, explosions, and just general arsekicking than you can shake a rocketlauncher at?
I seriously hope that this film isn't the last in the series of 80's-style action flicks that Arnold releases. One can only hope that fairly soon we'll see another Arnie film that will be the Predator of Collateral Damage's Commando.
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