Collateral
Damage, one of the films delayed by the events of
September 11, is a Ramboesque movie about Colombian terrorism.
Early in the story, Gordy Brewer (played by Arnold Schwartzenegger)
stops to pick up his son and wife at a mall in Los Angeles
that happens to house the Colombian Consulate. As he gets
out of his van, he asks and receives permission from a uniformed
police officer to park for a minute while collecting his family.
In a few seconds, as he starts to enter the mall, an explosion
occurs that kills several persons, including his wife and
child but missing the intended targets—CIA counterterrorism
agent Brandt (played by Elias Koteas), an Assistant Secretary
of State, and the Colombian consul. The source of the blast
is the police officer’s motorcycle, but he is nowhere
to be found. Indeed, he is El Lobo (played by Cliff Curtis),
the kingpin of a rebel faction that sells cocaine to gain
funds to overthrow the Colombian government. When a sympathizer
of the revolutionary group explains on television that the
blast was in retaliation for the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia,
expressing regret for the "collateral damage" to
the innocent victims who were casualties, Brewer goes to the
LA office of the sympathizer with a baseball bat in order
to inflict, in his words, "collateral damage" to
the office furniture, but he is subdued by security personnel,
arrested by the LA Police, and ultimately released. Brewer
then follows news stories, which indicate that nothing much
will be done to avenge the "collateral damage,"
so he decides to become a Rambo—to travel to Colombia
to kill El Lobo himself. After a difficult journey, he arrives
in the guise of a replacement for a Canadian named Armstrong
(played by John Turturo) who was hired to repair some equipment
at El Lobo’s headquarters. After being greeted by Felix
(played by John Leguizamo), Brewer uses his knowledge as a
firefighter to set up an explosion that will destroy the cocaine
factory and cause so much collateral damage that perhaps El
Lobo will die. However, El Lobo is elsewhere, orders his subordinates
to seize and incarcerate Brewer. Soon, El Lobo’s spouse
Selena (played by Francesca Neri) comes to care for Brewer
and liberates him in advance of a CIA raid, confessing that
she wants out of her life with El Lobo. When the CIA arrives,
she reveals that El Lobo has already left for Washington,
D.C., for his next demolition target; though she is unsure
exactly where, she has seen a picture of a building. Accordingly,
the CIA transports Brewer, Selena, and the boy she calls her
son to the capitol. Selena views pictures of various buildings
in Washington and finally identifies Union Station as the
likely target. The dramatic ending consists of a decoy target,
a doublecross, and the inevitable triumph of good over evil,
with Brewer presumably adopting in the end an Elián
Gonzales as a replacement son. Directed by Andrew Davis, Collateral
Damage delivers the message that the American government
will ultimately triumph over terrorism, especially if gutsy
heroes come forward to help. Interestingly, politicians are
portrayed as grandstanding, and the CIA is seen mired in bureaucratic
and political correctness, yet all officials are seen as conscientiously
pursuing an anti-terrorism war in their own complementary
ways. MH
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