Collateral Damage (film)
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| Collateral Damage | |
 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Andrew Davis |
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| Produced by | Hawk Koch Nicholas Meyer |
| Written by | David Griffiths Ronald Roose |
| Starring | Arnold Schwarzenegger Elias Koteas Francesca Neri Cliff Curtis John Leguizamo John Turturro |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Editing by | Dave Hoenig Denis Virkler |
| Studio | Warner Bros. |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | February 8, 2002 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million |
| Gross revenue | $78,382,433 |
Collateral Damage is a 2002 American action film which tells the story of a Los Angeles firefighter, Gordy Brewer (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), who looks to avenge his son's and wife's deaths at the hands of a guerrilla commando, by traveling to Colombia and facing his family's killers.
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[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (June 2009) |
The movie begins inside a burning building. Firefighters are searching for people inside. One of them, Gordy Brewer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), sees a woman trapped on the end of a burning corridor. He jumps across a gap in the floor and rescues her.
Later, at Gordy's home, his wife is waking up and sees Gordon playing with his son Matt (Ethan Dampf), helping him build a model plane. His wife Anne (Lindsay Frost) is taking their son to the doctor for a check up, and she wants Gordy to pick them up afterwards, to which he agrees.
However, Gordy is running late. His wife and son are waiting for him in a plaza near the Colombian consulate. Claudio "the Wolf" Perrini (Cliff Curtis), disguised as a police officer, pulls up to the consulate in a motorcycle. He leaves the motorcycle in front of the entrance and starts to leave. Gordy parks near the consulate and sees the Wolf as he comes by. Gordy thinks he is a police officer, and tells him that he is just parking for a second to pick up his wife and son. The Wolf smiles and nods, then leaves. Gordy sees his family and starts across the street to them when the bomb in the motorcycle explodes. Anne and Matt are killed in the blast along with 7 other officials, and Gordy is injured when he steps into the road, stunned, and is immediately hit by a car.
Later, while recovering, he sees the news footage of the explosion. He figures out that the motorcycle cop was the terrorist and informs the FBI. They bring him in for questioning, and he learns about the Wolf. He sees a video of a taped message from the terrorist organization supporting the Wolf. The person speaking is hidden from view, and the voice on the tape distorted. The FBI tells him that the Wolf has returned to Colombia and there is nothing they can do. But Gordy will not accept this and decides to go after the Wolf himself. He learns that the terrorists were retaliating for CIA operations within Colombia, and that one of the targets of the attack was CIA agent Peter Brandt (Elias Koteas). A Congressional committee chairman blames Brandt for the attack and promises to shut down his operations in Colombia, but Brandt knows he has some time before that can happen and quickly flies there to meet up with allies from the Colombian National Police Force.
After evading many guerrillas in the jungle, Gordy finally makes it to where The Wolf is staying. He is immediately targeted by the terrorists, who want to use his "celebrity victim" status to their advantage and hold him for ransom, and by the CIA and police, who do not want him to stir up anything.
The police get to him first and he is locked up in a prison. While there, he makes contact with Canadian hustler Sean Armstrong (John Turturro). The terrorists attack the prison to try to get to Gordy and free some of their members. Gordy manages to escape and rescue Sean. Sean returns the favor by giving him a pass to the guerrilla zone and hooking him up with Felix Ramirez (John Leguizamo), who manages the drug production that finances the terrorists.
After reaching the main drug plant, Gordy destroys it with explosives. Felix is blamed and he is summarily executed before a hiding Gordy's eyes.
Then, Gordy sneaks into the Wolf's headquarters. He plants a bomb near the Wolf's room and leaves. But he spots a woman and a child walking towards the building and realizes if he lets them die he will be no better than the Wolf, so he runs towards them and shouts to warn them. The Wolf hears him and jumps out of the building just as it explodes. He and his surviving men beat up Gordy, though the woman stops the terrorists from killing him. The woman, Selena Perrini (Francesca Neri), is the Wolf's wife.
Gordy is taken prisoner. He talks to Selena, trying to get her to help him. Selena explains to Gordy why her husband is a terrorist; their daughter was among many innocents killed in an American raid that supposedly targeted guerrillas, as well as the real parents of the boy they are now raising as their son. Gordy tells her that no matter the reason, what the Wolf is doing is wrong and that she should help him stop him. Selena says Gordy and the Wolf are the same, both consumed by hate and vengeance.
Meanwhile, the early explosion at the Wolf's headquarters catches the attention of the CIA. They track down the Wolf's terrorist camp and launch an attack. During the confusion, Selena helps Gordy break out, on the condition that he takes her and her son with him to the United States. She says the Wolf has gone back to Washington for another attack.
Gordy, Selena, and her son are taken back to the State Department in Washington to help the search effort for the Wolf. Selena names Union Station as the target, and the FBI goes to investigate. Selena excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She tells her son to go with her. When he refuses, she becomes very irritated and angry. Gordy assures her that her son would be fine in the command room, and she reluctantly agrees. Gordy is suspicious. He then remembers the original terrorist video sent after the first bombing. He realizes that the person in the video makes the same gesture and said the same words that Selena made while talking to her son. He realizes that she was working with the Wolf all along, and that the real target was the State Department. He warns everyone to leave, and throws the son's toy dinosaur out of a window just as it explodes, realizing it was never checked by the metal detectors upon entry. Brandt gets killed by Selena after trying to stop her escape.
Gordy chases Selena down to the basement of the building. The Wolf is waiting for her and they ride away in the underground tunnels beneath the building. Gordy finds the tunnel control console and shuts the gates leading out of the tunnels. The Wolf and Selena have to go back to the controls to open them. Gordy breaks open some gas lines along the walls of the tunnel and waits. As they ride back, Selena shoots at Gordy. Her gun ignites the gas. Gordy jumps through a doorway just as the entire tunnel explodes. When he goes back to survey the damage, Selena and the Wolf attack him - they had survived the explosion. He throws Selena through a control panel and she is electrocuted. Enraged, the Wolf viciously beats Gordy, and pulls out a cellphone to activate a car bomb and cause further destruction. Gordy throws a fire fighter's axe at the terrorist, which hits him in his chest, killing him.
At the end, Gordy holds Selena's son as they leave the State Department with a voiceover of a newscaster explaining that Gordy will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his actions.
[edit] Release
The September 11, 2001 attacks affected the release and editing of the final film.
The film was originally scheduled to be released on October 5, 2001, but it was postponed due to its terrorism theme and eventually released on February 8, 2002. The premiere was held on February 4, 2002.
The film also was supposed to include Colombian actress Sofía Vergara in the role of an airplane hijacker; however the scene where Vergara would hijack a plane was cut from the movie.
[edit] Reception
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2009) |
[edit] External links
- Collateral Damage at the Internet Movie Database
- Collateral Damage at Rotten Tomatoes
- Collateral Damage at Metacritic
- Collateral Damage at Box Office Mojo
| Preceded by Black Hawk Down |
Box office number-one films of 2002 (USA) February 10, 2002 |
Succeeded by John Q |
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