The initial irony about "Collateral Damage" is that it almost became that itself - an "innocent victim" of the small Hollywood fallout after 9/11/2001, delayed for months because its plot happened to involve violent revolutionaries and bombs at a time when thousands lost their lives due to a tragedy of terrorists and bombs. Had the film been released at its intended date, it could've held more meaning and may have even been "forgiven" for being rather dull and unmemorable, due to leading man Schwarzenegger's ever-increasingly-fading action star status.
The film, textbook Arnold Schwarzenegger, has one major flaw: Arnie's getting old. He has noticeably less hair, and his trademark accent doesn't seem as pronounced as it used to be. His "invincible/robotic action hero" style also seems lacking, and he isn't even given any cool "sarcastic action hero catch phrases"! The last problem (arguably the worst, especially seeing how "I'll be back..." is still a major part of his reputation today) is made even worse since nobody has any such lines; even the sole comic relief character, an employee at a drug camp with dreams of being a rapper, is killed off but a few minutes after introduction. A potentially shocking swerve is handled fairly well until it becomes immediately obvious during its setup. There's a relatively impressive explosion/climactic battle sequence, but other than that, there's not much to like in this film.
There is one interesting thing about the film, that being that, made before 9/11 but released after, it is not a total propaganda piece. Arnold hardly oozes patriotism, and the script is even fair enough to present the truth that, though the Columbian rebels may indeed be a villainous lot who conduct heartless acts of terror, that their reason for fighting and their actions can be traced back to similar actions against their own countrymen by the U.S. government. The film-makers even let an intelligence agent who is seen commanding the slaughter of a rebel camp get killed.
Had the film been released as coincidentally intended almost immediately after 9/11 (and really, the fact that it was "too controversial" at the time is rather ludicrous, since the explosion from the beginning and the explosion averted at the end are nowhere near on level with the events of 9/11, unless the controversy referred to was the admission of the U.S. causing the trouble in Columbia), it would've no doubt gained at least a low level of appreciation just because Arnie kills some terrorists. Now that the media has overdone patriotism everywhere else, however, even that part of its concept seems too weak and gimmicky to be taken seriously.
The film, textbook Arnold Schwarzenegger, has one major flaw: Arnie's getting old. He has noticeably less hair, and his trademark accent doesn't seem as pronounced as it used to be. His "invincible/robotic action hero" style also seems lacking, and he isn't even given any cool "sarcastic action hero catch phrases"! The last problem (arguably the worst, especially seeing how "I'll be back..." is still a major part of his reputation today) is made even worse since nobody has any such lines; even the sole comic relief character, an employee at a drug camp with dreams of being a rapper, is killed off but a few minutes after introduction. A potentially shocking swerve is handled fairly well until it becomes immediately obvious during its setup. There's a relatively impressive explosion/climactic battle sequence, but other than that, there's not much to like in this film.
There is one interesting thing about the film, that being that, made before 9/11 but released after, it is not a total propaganda piece. Arnold hardly oozes patriotism, and the script is even fair enough to present the truth that, though the Columbian rebels may indeed be a villainous lot who conduct heartless acts of terror, that their reason for fighting and their actions can be traced back to similar actions against their own countrymen by the U.S. government. The film-makers even let an intelligence agent who is seen commanding the slaughter of a rebel camp get killed.
Had the film been released as coincidentally intended almost immediately after 9/11 (and really, the fact that it was "too controversial" at the time is rather ludicrous, since the explosion from the beginning and the explosion averted at the end are nowhere near on level with the events of 9/11, unless the controversy referred to was the admission of the U.S. causing the trouble in Columbia), it would've no doubt gained at least a low level of appreciation just because Arnie kills some terrorists. Now that the media has overdone patriotism everywhere else, however, even that part of its concept seems too weak and gimmicky to be taken seriously.