Collateral Damage / Eraser
by Andrew Davis, Chuck Russell
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DVD details
Actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, James Coburn, John Leguizamo, Vanessa WilliamsDirector: Andrew Davis, Chuck Russell
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: David Griffiths
Writer: Michael S. Chernuchin
Writer: Peter Griffiths
Writer: Ronald Roose
Writer: Tony Puryear
Writer: Walon Green
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 224 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-31
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 75768
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger provides escapist heroics in two explosive hits. In Collateral Damage, he plays a firefighter tracking the terrorist bomber who killed his family. Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) guides the action that leaps from LA to Colombia to Washington, D.C. In Eraser, agent John Kruger (Schwarzenegger) protects a witness who uncovered a deal to put a super weapon in the wrong hands. If you
DVD Reviews of Collateral Damage / Eraser
DVD Review: "You're luggage."
Summary: 3 Stars
What we have here is a crackling good thriller, ERASER... and a bit of an embarrassment called COLLATERAL DAMAGE. Sucks for Schwarzenegger that, in terms of anchoring an action film, he chose the latter as his penultimate effort. Or maybe it's my bump of what's inappropriate talking smack here. I can't help but feel that COLLATERAL DAMAGE came out too soon in the wake of September 11. Too, nothing in COLLATERAL DAMAGE lives up to the type of kickarse Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle we've come to expect over the years. Any B-movie action hero (cough*stevenseagal*cough) could've stepped into this movie and rendered it mediocre.
"Bottom line is, justice for your wife and son isn't a priority right now," the American authorities inform grieving Los Angeles firefighter Gordon Brewer, his family having just been killed by Colombian terrorists. Brewer takes matters into his own hands and gets himself to Colombia to exact his own brand of get back. Let's call it an unconventional method of putting out fires.
At this stage in his film career, our muscly Austrian was very much starting to show his age. Not that surprising that his character comes off as tired. Despite several outbursts of rage, this firefighter seldom exhibits the force of nature dynamism or full contact savvy of, say, Colonel John Matrix or even U.S. Marshal John Kruger. And because this is Schwarzenegger, we ignore the more implausible conceits of his role, the most iffy of which is his fireman's daring infiltration of Colombia, never mind that he shows appalling inexperience at this sort of skullduggery.
I wonder how much better a film this would've been if not for 9/11? A lot of scenes had to be altered or cut after that. Note that not for any moment does Schwarzenegger fire a gun. The most fun found in this movie is probably Schwarzenegger trying to speak Spanish. John Leguizamo and John Turturro come in for bit parts but one isn't nearly funny enough, the other not nearly quirky enough, to salvage the film. However, there is a surprising twist at the end that I didn't see coming. So it's got that going for it. But, ultimately, COLLATERAL DAMAGE suffers from a pedestrian screenplay, generic action sequences, a lack of Arnie's patented one-liners, and, maybe most damning of all, a past his prime man of action.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE's special features: Director Andrew Davis's audio commentary; six additional scenes (00:07:56 minutes); 2 documentaries: "Behind the Scenes" (00:14:50) is the Making Of featurette and "The Hero in a New Era" (00:08:44) examines the character of Gordon Brewer, a hero in this age of rampant terrorism; cast & crew credits for this film; the theatrical trailer; and a DVD-ROM web link.
While ERASER doesn't at all approach the sublime heights of TRUE LIES, its immediate spy thriller predecessor, it does showcase Arnie as still somewhat near the top of his game. U.S. Marshal John Kruger (Schwarzenegger), tasked to the Witness Protection Program, is what's known in cloak and dagger parlance as an "eraser." He fakes the deaths of witnesses and then relocates them with new identities. Kruger is a maverick but he never breaks more rules than when he gets assigned to protect key witness Lee Cullen (a plucky Vanessa Williams), an executive in a defense contracting company. Lee had turned up evidence exposing a sinister conspiracy within the American government which is illegally dealing in advanced weaponry, and Lee is willing to testify. This makes her a target.
I have to believe that the lengths Kruger goes to to protect his witness go above and beyond the job criteria. Else, what Kruger does has to qualify as one of the most thankless gigs ever. In keeping his lovely charge safe and unperforated, Kruger tumbles out of a Boeing 727 without a parachute, faces off with that same airplane with just his handgun, tackles crooked federal agents, runs into the Mafia and Russian arms dealers, and is betrayed from within. He unleashes a tankful of alligators at the New York City zoo and then even tosses off a one-liner when he's forced to shoot one. He really deserves that Christmas bonus. Dude doesn't even get to romance Vanessa Williams. He gets a chaste hug, is all.
ERASER is propelled by a typically indomitable Schwarzenegger, by spectacular action set pieces, and a terrific supporting cast. James Caan chews the scenery, Robert Pastorelli is hilarious as a wisecracking wiseguy, and James Coburn walks on scene for two seconds. As a side benefit, we get a peek at the underpinnings of the Witness Protection Program, except that a lot of what they show us is probably a bunch of far-fetched bullsh...aving cream. Unlike COLLATERAL DAMAGE, this one has funny bits and a mindless good-humoredness to it. It's diverting enough that I more or less forgave the unoriginal story and its share of wild inconsistencies.
Always unforgivable, though, is when the DVD offers lackluster bonus material. ERASER's includes cast & crew biographies/filmographies and the theatrical trailer.
One favorite scene of mine features a trio of Mafia wiseguys venomously eyeballing the Russian arms dealers doing business on the wiseguys' home turf:
- Tony Two Toes: "There they are... Commie bastards."
- Little Mikey: "They are not communists anymore. They're a federation of independent liberated states."
- Tony Two Toes: "Don't make me hurt you, Mikey."
Two stars out of five for COLLATERAL DAMAGE, four stars for ERASER. Averages to three stars.
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