The Damage Is Already Done, Ahnuld

merica's position in the complex network of global interdependency is one fraught with responsibility, gravity, and consequence. The moral implications of the war against terror are many and subtle. Any movie to emerge in the new sociopolitical climate must handle these issues with the utmost skill.

But for Christ's sake, Collateral Damage, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is not that film. Does this surprise anyone? Problem is, it falls flat just doing what it's meant to do: Kicking ass and taking names.

Pushed back after Sept. 11, Collateral Damage's coincidence is just that: terrorists strike and it's a fireman that strikes back. It's Columbian freedom fighter terrorists, and it's a massive Austrian (or German, or something) who is very skilled in the art of death-making, and that's all you really need to know.

Schwarzenegger's Gordy makes the career move from fighting fire to evil a mere couple of hours after he watches his wife and son killed in a bombing. Who has time for mourning and grief when there's more blood to spilled? Arnie may be a cultural icon, but sooner or later he needs to hang up those ass-kicking boots.

It's a pity he doesn't even get to use them much here. The film spends large amounts of time trying to make the terrorist ringleader (convincingly portrayed by Cliff Curtis) into something of a tragic figure. The Wolf, as he's called, is actually paralleled to Gordy, having lost his wife to American soldiers. And so there are several moments in which the Wolf stands there and moralizes to Gordy; even though Schwarzenegger's acting capacities are reduced here to staring and nodding, the scenes still don't fly.

Collateral Damage, for what it is, needs to worry less about being politically correct and worry more about if enough body parts are flying. If the movie-going public wanted to see terrorism treated with humility and respect, they would turn on CNN. In trying to force a sense of moral relativism into what is Ah-nuld brainlessness at its worst, the film's good intentions do exactly the opposite, and trivialize what is now more than ever an explosive issue--one that certainly can't be solved by firemen with AK-47's.