Writers:
David Griffiths and Peter Griffiths
Based
On A Story By: Ronald Roose, David Griffiths, and Peter Griffiths
Director:
Andrew Davis
Feature
length: 109 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Andrew Davis, Documentaries,
Additional Scenes, Cast and Director Film Highlights, and Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
After
the tragedy of September 11, 2001, Warner Brothers Pictures pushed the
theatrical release date for “Collateral Damage” to the winter of 2002.
Unfortunately I am not sure if this film or any other film that depicts people
suffering from an act of terrorism whether it be something more grounded to the
Earth like “Collateral Damage” or the comic book like antics of the “Die
Hard” films will ever play the same for Americans because now we know that the
dangers we hear, read, and see taking place in other countries and in films and
TV programs can happen here. This is not to say that “Collateral Damage” is
not a good film because it is actually one of Schwarzennegger’s best films and
a responsible action suspense thriller too.
Schwarzenegger
plays a fireman who loses his wife and child in a terrorist attack upon a
Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. Unable to find justice in the shadow
of red tape laced American foreign policy, he takes matters into his own hands
and seeks avenge his family upon the man who is responsible.
Schwarzenegger
actually does a great job in this role showing more frustration and tenderness
onscreen than I think he has ever shown before. My favorite scene is where he
loses his patience and temper early on reaps havoc on a newspaper office where
the Editor, who sympathizes with the terrorist, had callously referred to the
deaths of his family on camera as “Collateral Damage.” Watching
Schwarzenegger acting in the family scenes seems much more natural than in other
films he has appeared in as well. The action is well choreographed by Director
Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) and there are a number of good supporting roles that
include Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo, and John Turturro. Both Leguizamo and
Turturro offer a bit of comic relief in the film without spoiling the tone of
the film. Cliff Curtis delivers a great villainous role by adding some depth to
his character and Francesca Neri also gives a good and credible performance.
Warner
Home Video’s DVD edition presents “Collateral Damage” in a matted (1.85:1)
theatrical release aspect ratio enhanced for widescreen televisions. The image
quality is very clear throughout with hardly any noticeable compression grain if
any at all. An aggressive and well-mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is included along with a French (Dubbed In Quebec) Language Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions and
French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded as options.
Director
Andrew Davis gives an articulate and screen specific feature length audio
commentary track that is supported by two documentaries that are included in the
extra features section of this DVD. The first documentary is a
“Behind-The-Scenes” look at the making of the film with a combination of the
expected videotaped images taken during the film’s production with on set
interviews as well as post 9/11 retrospective videotaped interviews with Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Andrew Davis. The “Behind-The-Scenes” documentary has
running time of approximately 15-minutes. The other documentary entitled “The
Hero In The New Era” examines the role of the “Hero” as it id reflected in
“Collateral Damage” and among the day-to-day heroes who largely go unsung
whether it be firemen or police or maybe something else. This documentary is
presented in a widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio with digitally videotaped
interviews with Schwarzenegger and Davis and has an approximate length of nearly
9-minutes.
There
are additional and alternate (1.85:1) scenes presented with a good quality
picture though not as good as the feature film’s presentation and the
additional and alternate scenes are exhibited with English Stereo Sound. The
scenes are presented as one reel with an approximate running time of 8-minutes.
The theatrical trailer for “Collateral Damage” is also presented with a
widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio and English Dolby ProLogic Surround Sound.
It is a good trailer, but I think a few scenes give away a little too
much of the action that occurs in the film. Select cast and filmmaker credits
wrap up the extra features included on this DVD.
DVD-ROM
users with Windows 95 or higher will have access to web events, the website,
chat rooms, and more. The menus are standard interactive still frames with some
background music from the film’s score and all are easy to navigate.
“Collateral Damage” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 from
Warner Home Video and is definitely worth a look.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.