Review Detail
9.7 38 10
(Updated: September 13, 2012)
Enjoyment
10.0
July 18, 2008
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the king of action movies in the 80′s and, with a few exceptions like Kindergarten Cop and Junior, made movies I loved. All that ended after the release of True Lies (his last great movie, but flawed in its own right). After that, we got nothing but mediocre Arnie like Eraser, The 6th Day and this 1999 supernatural action outing. The less said about Collateral Damage, the better. This always seemed like a movie brimming with potential that was unfortunately let down by poor writing and lazy direction. And, at this point in Arnie’s career, he seemed more focused on getting into politics than making a decent film. Thankfully, as always, Uncanny Antman has come through for us and trimmed the fat. You don’t realize how much you hate something in a movie until it’s missing. Case in point, that annoying Albino. I didn’t even remember he was in the movie so his absence wasn’t even noticed. Then I watched the easter egg footage of the stuff that UA cut out and remembered how pointless he was. As is usually the case in UA’s edits, it’s the little details that matter. Stuff such as the devil pissing oil and healing his own wounds have been excised. These bits never really bothered me before because I never really took the time to think about them. Now that they’re gone though, the movie just seems to work better. The two biggest missteps in the film have also, thankfully, been axed. The ridiculous step mother vs. Arnie fight has been completely removed. This scene was awful beyond belief and, as UA pointed out, it didn’t make any sense. And, most importantly, Arnie’s sacrifice now means something. He no longer kills himself with mere seconds left to go. I mean, they both still had their clothes on. How could they possibly consumate the act in three seconds?! Despite UA’s modesty, he really has made this a much better film. It’s no classic by any means but it’s much, much more enjoyable now. This guy should be writing, directing and editing his own films, not fixing the mistakes of Hollywood hacks. But, then again, we need someone to make all these movies work.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the king of action movies in the 80′s and, with a few exceptions like Kindergarten Cop and Junior, made movies I loved. All that ended after the release of True Lies (his last great movie, but flawed in its own right). After that, we got nothing but mediocre Arnie like Eraser, The 6th Day and this 1999 supernatural action outing. The less said about Collateral Damage, the better. This always seemed like a movie brimming with potential that was unfortunately let down by poor writing and lazy direction. And, at this point in Arnie’s career, he seemed more focused on getting into politics than making a decent film. Thankfully, as always, Uncanny Antman has come through for us and trimmed the fat. You don’t realize how much you hate something in a movie until it’s missing. Case in point, that annoying Albino. I didn’t even remember he was in the movie so his absence wasn’t even noticed. Then I watched the easter egg footage of the stuff that UA cut out and remembered how pointless he was. As is usually the case in UA’s edits, it’s the little details that matter. Stuff such as the devil pissing oil and healing his own wounds have been excised. These bits never really bothered me before because I never really took the time to think about them. Now that they’re gone though, the movie just seems to work better. The two biggest missteps in the film have also, thankfully, been axed. The ridiculous step mother vs. Arnie fight has been completely removed. This scene was awful beyond belief and, as UA pointed out, it didn’t make any sense. And, most importantly, Arnie’s sacrifice now means something. He no longer kills himself with mere seconds left to go. I mean, they both still had their clothes on. How could they possibly consumate the act in three seconds?! Despite UA’s modesty, he really has made this a much better film. It’s no classic by any means but it’s much, much more enjoyable now. This guy should be writing, directing and editing his own films, not fixing the mistakes of Hollywood hacks. But, then again, we need someone to make all these movies work.
K