Collateral Damage (2002) Critic Reviews

My guess is that the average firefighter, like the average American moviegoer, might sort of enjoy the movie, which is a skillfully made example of your typical Schwarzenegger action film.Read the full review

Efficient action thriller.Read the full review

Schwarzenegger's mortality for the first time suits him.Read the full review

I liked, too, some late plot reversals, sorely needed after the numbingly simple straight-ahead plunge of the first hour of the movie. Things aren't quite what they seem and the twists are neatly done.Read the full review

What we get is simply another opportunity for Schwarzenegger -- who seems to be in perpetual Terminator mode -- to flex his muscles.Read the full review

In a way, Collateral Damage is redeemed by its implausibility, because the closer it comes to reality, the more disturbing it gets. For once, viewers have reason to be grateful for having their intelligence insulted.Read the full review

The result is an ''action film'' mired in stasis. The ending piles on the potboiler mayhem, but it's telling that Schwarzenegger's climactic catchphrase is down to one measly word. This time, he's the luggage.Read the full review

He's still big and burly, but, at age 54, Schwarzenegger is starting to look a little too old to be involved in this kind of stuff. Action films are the province of younger stars.Read the full review

The film's political philosophy, as much as it has one, is of the "a plague on both your houses" variety, painting the rebels and the CIA as equally fixated on killing innocent civilians for their own nefarious ideological ends. We've seen it all before, and we'll likely see it all again.Read the full review