Collateral Damage review...IT'S GOOD!!!

[ReaperFett]

HERE (http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=11434)



This could be an Arnie revival, what with Conan and True Lies 2 upcoming

[Taylor Millard]

Well Collateral Damage actually does look cool. Although I did like 'End of Days'. THAT had some WTF moments in it. Okay maybe one but still...

[Figrin D'an]

I hope it's actually a decent film as well.... Schwarzenegger's last few films have been horrible. My friends and I almost walked out of 'End of Days,' and we're all big Arnie fans.

I am somewhat excited that the third Terminator film is being made, although, like Fett said, there is hope that the new True Lies and Conan films will be good.

I have to wonder how much longer Arnie is going to keep doing action films, though.

[darth_mcbain]

Yeah, the guy is about 55 years old (and in great shape for that age - don't get me wrong) but there has to come a time when action flicks won't work for him. Personally, I don't have much desire to Collateral Damage - I'll probably just wait for it on DVD.

[ReaperFett]

I liked Eraser. First part of End of Days had its moments. Akimbo Arnie, granny kicking his rear, Gabriel Byrne...

:)

[JonathanLB]

I'm not jumping on the "beat Arnold" bandwagon.

The 6th Day was not only a GREAT film but one of the best sci-fi films of the past few year. It was excellent. Just because audiences were too idiotic to show up for it doesn't mean anything. They hardly saw L.A. Confidential either and that film rules.

End of Days was not one of his better films, but I still gave it three stars and it was a solid movie. Byrne has some awesome lines in it and his character is great. I still think it was a good film, just not *that* good.

Collateral Damage looks totally awesome. I would love to see it open with like $30 million and then the media would be like, "Wow, looks like U.S. audiences really want to see some terrorist ass-kicking!"

I think this movie is going to be so cool. I'm going Friday to see it and The Count of Monte Cristo again, hehe. My first night out in a while so I can get some real dinner. Haven't had much to eat in four days, haven't slept at all during the night in four days either, hehe.

[Darth23]

OF course there's the other poit of view that movies like this give terrorists ideas.

Big Spectatular Blow Everything Up action movies have been a lot more popular overseas compared to the US.



Maybe some people are watching the Hollywood movies and takign notes.

[Marcus Telcontar]

30 odd other reviews...... IT'S BAD!!!

[ReaperFett]

Just looked at Rotten Tomatoes. Most of those reviews are utter BULL. I see one saying it is typical "Arnie blows stuff up" film. When anyone who knows about the film knows he doesnt go round like that at all.


Sounds like the Bandawagon jumpers got in there

[Marcus Telcontar]

Oh yeah..... when bad reviews come, they are bandwagon jumpers. When the reviews are good, the critcis are intelligent and far-seeing. Face it, this movie could well really be a tanker

[ReaperFett]

when INCORRECT reviews come in, they sure are

[Marcus Telcontar]

INCORRECT?!?!?!!?

Ebert gave it a pass, but even he had some questions about the film. And his was a positive review. Other good reiewers are laying into it and I dont think they are either band wagon jumpers or incorrect.

[JonathanLB]

Look, the critics are all on the same bandwagon. Action films = idiotic blockbusters with no plots. That is what they all think, UNLESS, of course, it is a foreign film. See: Brotherhood of the Wolf (very strong reviews), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (nearly perfect reviews).

I saw Collateral Damage, obviously, I see everything I can on opening day :)

It was not one of Arnold's best movies, but was anyone expecting it to be really? It was better than End of Days, though. Not as good as The Sixth Day, which was not as good as True Lies, which was not as good as Terminator 2 :)

Still, True Lies, T2, and Sixth Day all earned 4 stars from me. Collateral Damage gets a solid to strong 3 stars. So if anything, I would have nearly given it 3.5, but not quite. It gets a B, or well above average.

I couldn't tell whether my audience liked the film or not, it just wasn't really possible to know. I can say there were hardly any people there for a very, very busy theater in Los Angeles at a 7:00 showing on opening night.

Collater Damage is not just a "typical Arnold movie," though, I don't understand why any critic would say there is such a thing. There is no such thing as a typical Arnold movie. He does some really great sci-fi work like T2 and The Sixth Day, plus Total Recall of course, then he does some really great action films like The Running Man (saw it again on DVD a week ago) and True Lies (by a masterful director).

I would say most all of Arnold's work is 3 stars or better, and a lot of it is just excellent. He is one of the few actors where nearly everything you see of his is excellent. I don't think the same can be said of actors who are obviously more, technically, "talented." I think the same is true of Wesley Snipes, though, despite the fact that most critics hate his movies, every one of them is good. I've never seen a bad Wesley Snipes film. The Fan, Passenger 57, Blade, The Money Train, Murder at 1600, The Art of War, all earn 3.5 stars or better (Blade 4). Of course, critics just do not like action films that well. It's rare you can get a critic to admit to liking one. They feel it makes them too "normal" and too much like "the average Joe," even if the truth is that most high budget action films are really quite enjoyable and at worse deserve 2.5 stars.

The critics HATED Beverly Hills Cop 3. Funny because I've seen all three films in that trilogy at least probably 8-10 times, they are all personal favorites, and I think the 3rd is without question the best. It's funnier, it's got more action, and it's cleaner looking, slicker, everything about it bears the characteristic of superior work. The critics, and many audience members, do not agree. They think the first film is the best, when in fact I think it's quite obvious that it's the lesser of the three.

Go see Collateral Damage if you're a fan of movies, if not, then don't.

I see any 3 star film or better, though, unless it's in competition with Star Wars, then I save it for DVD ;)

[Champion of the Force]

The critics HATED Beverly Hills Cop 3. Funny because I've seen all three films in that trilogy at least probably 8-10 times, they are all personal favorites, and I think the 3rd is without question the best. It's funnier, it's got more action, and it's cleaner looking, slicker, everything about it bears the characteristic of superior work.
Ugh - I HATED the 3rd one. Funnily enough I think the 2nd one is the best, but then again I saw it first before the original. :)

[ReaperFett]

From the IMDB review summary:


Not a single reviewer fails to compare the plot of Collateral Damage to the events of Sept. 11, with many suggesting that the real terrorist deeds on that day overshadow anything the moviemakers dreamed up

So basically, they judge the film with reference to something that is unrelated

[Champion of the Force]

Ebert made an interesting point about that. He said it was unfair to judge the film based on Sept 11 because the film makers had no way of knowing what would happen when they made it.

[ReaperFett]

exactly, but unfortunately most cant seem to do that

[JonathanLB]

That is why with MY movie review site I want to give a different view from the critics and one that will be (hopefully) more popular with normal audiences, specifically the male audiences who enjoy sci-fi, action, great drama, comedy, that sort of thing.

My movie review site won't be for chicks too much, though, at least in the fact that I won't be seeing a bunch of chick flicks.

Two of my first goals:

See and review every AFI top 100 film and post the list with underlinked links to my review of each of them.

See and review all 19 James Bond movies and post the list with underlined links to my reviews.

:) That's going to take some time, but I bet in the next eight months I can come close to that...

Well the 2nd Beverly Hills Copy film is better than the first one, I think so anyway, so you're right about that. I don't think it makes you weird to believe that. It was just a funnier film... a little more style.

I loved the third though...

Ok I take back my comment about Arnold. I meant to say, "Every sci-fi and action film he has done are good to great movies," because in fact Jingle All the Way is pretty lame and Junior REALLY sucks.

Critics be damned, I liked The Last Action Hero...

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by JonathanLB
Two of my first goals:

See and review every AFI top 100 film and post the list with underlinked links to my review of each of them.

Where is your site? If you've already started it, that is.

[Darth23]

Does that mean Jon is going to watch some Black and white movies?

[JonathanLB]

I have nothing against black and white movies except that they are not visually that appealing, but they could still be quite well done films. Plus, that's all the technology they had available at the time, you just have to consider that. Obviously none of those films can compete with any modern movie visually, but then again, probably most modern movies cannot compete dramatically or stylistically with the great black and white films...

Seeing all of the AFI's top 100 would be a great way to get a taste of the very good old films so that I don't have to sort through all of the junk back then like I have to sort through all of the junk now, haha.

I wouldn't mind eventually going to AFI's 100 years, 100 laughs or whatever other lists they have. I just have to consider that an extremely long term goal...

I believe that by the end of September I *might* have been able to see all AFI top 100 films, but I may have to use NetFlix or buy some of these movies because they're not ALL easy to get films at rental stores. Many of the rental stores stock THE WORST new movies, but they can't even be bothered to carry some of the greatest films of all time. It's just really frustrating. The store nearest to me said they "really hoped they could get The Wizard of Oz soon, but we don't normally have films that old." WHAT?!?! Yet they have Jack Frost!! LOL, the worst movie ever made (the horror film, that is, not Michael Keaton's movie).

Dutchy, the site is not up yet. I think you probably know of my current movie review site at JLBMedia.com (/whatever it is). The new one, though, is being developed for more money and will have just this really small flash intro. No annoying "required flash film" at the intro, but it will be like a 5-8 second intro where the letters appear (in some way, not sure what my designer will do yet but we have to talk). The site itself should look a lot sleeker too -- I'm not paying for it until it does. It has to be sharp and graphically superior, equal to a professional site in look, not amateurish. The site should launch February 20 or just after if all goes as planned (and how often does that happen? haha).

There will be a newsletter of 55,000 subscribers at the beginning of the site (costing me another $1,000 to acquire).

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think that is the main reason a lot of critics hate, I heard Joel Siegel said that this movie should never had been released because of that reason. I think that is a little silly a wonder how they will react to Sum All fears when something even worst happens a nuclear bomb explodes outside the Super Bowl near Baltimore, now I can imagine what they will say about that, (it opens May 31 by the way) Well the numbers came out and Colleratal Damage was #1 making 15 million or so, Big Fat Liar came in second with 11 million, RollerBall did terrible making 9 million (first flop of the year)

[JonathanLB]

I wouldn't call $9 million a flop any more than I'd call Arnold's $15 million a flop. Both films were pushed out into this barren wasteland of theatrical release dates, lol, so you can't expect much from them.

$9 million is actually GOOD considering what I've heard about that film -- "shockingly awful." LOL.

[Jedi Master Carr]

To me it is a flop considering it cost so much to make, it will be lucky to make 30 million I bet, and I think it cost excess of 70 million so I doubt it will make any sort of profit.

[CMJ]

Well I saw this today as part of a double feature. I got to see 2 films for 5 bucks(plus free popcorn and a coke) and I couldn't turn that down even if neither was a film I cared about seeing.

Anyways, I found CD to be pretty average for it's genre. Does this mean it was bad? Nah...not at all. It had some good qualities(I think Arnie is turning into a better actor as he gets older...this was one of his best performances), but I've seen this kinda film before done better. Nonetheless it wasn't bad..just standard fare. It's worth a viewing if it's your kind of movie I'd say, but not much more.

[JonathanLB]

Well average implies two stars, and for me a two star movie is pretty bad, or at least, I don't pay to see a two star film. I thought CD wasn't that good either, I mean it wasn't as good as The Sixth Day, sure wasn't as good as any of his earlier films like The Running Man, True Lies, T2, etc. No way, hehe. But still, I gave it three stars (or about a B rating) because I felt it was still worth seeing and entertaining...

But yeah, there are so many movies like this that have been done better.

[Charley]

[David Spade] I liked Collateral Damage the first time I saw it...when it was called COMMANDO![/David Spade]

[JMK]

Uhh...Alyssa Milano wasn't in CD. What a glaring oversight David Spade! :lol

I still haven't seen the 6th day or CD, and I claim to be a huge Arnie fan. :\

[JonathanLB]

JMK, you should see Impostor -- because that's what you are! ;)

lol, j/k

[Jedieb]

Do you mean End of Days JMK? I didn't think much of EOD. Not one of Arnie's finest moments. As for CD, I'll wait 'till it comes on cable. The next Arnie movie that'll get me in theaters will be a True Lies or Terminator sequel.

[JonathanLB]

I gave End of Days three stars, but it was on the low end of three stars and it was definitely one of the lesser films that Arnold has made. I cannot think of too many movies he did worse than that actually, except like Junior I think... I'd have to give it more thought, lol, oh yeah and Jingle All the Way.

[JMK]

I did see End of Days, and I wasn't that thrilled with it either. I thought it showed a side of Arnie that we had never seen before, I thought that it was too much of that side. :p

[Jedieb]

Now I remember, 6th day was Arnie's cloning flick. That didn't make any noise at the B.O. either. It's a shame he's so hit and miss these days. :(

[Admiral Lebron]

We rented it tonight. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lotta great twist plots and good action to. I give it 2.5 Stars.

[Gurney Devries]

Collateral Damage bored me to tears. I didn't finish watching it. :\

Surprisingly, I thought The 6th Day wasn't all too bad. Terribly, terribly predictable, but some interesting concepts presented throughout.

[Admiral Lebron]

The 6th day intrigiued me.

[Charley]

Collateral damage sucked the interest out of me like light into a black hole. I can't emphasize how crappy it was.

Also, the South Vietnamese police will be there to shoot you in the face for dredging up this ancient thread, Lebron. Give or take 5 minutes.

[Admiral Lebron]

South Vietnamese Police eh? Good thing I live in... Canada eh?