Customer Reviews

Collateral Damage/Eraser

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great Arnold set for the fans! Eraser is a really fun flick. Collateral Damage was good, not his best but still very enjoyable. My set came with 2 blu-ray discs. 1 for each flick, not a flip disc. I gave it 4 stars for lack of features but they are really good action flicks.

Eraser had some really cool high tech ideas for its day, many of which ended up in the Perfect Dark games.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys classic action flicks or is a fan of Ahnawld.

Classic Arnold not his best but I enjoyed them both The PQ. is much better then the dvds and for the price I payed 7.99 glad to add them to my collection

or eraser, the quality is good and sound good in French.

For contrre collateral damage is of poor quality and the soundtrack is Fr Quebecers.

I have more discharge of e8.90 euros customs tax which brings the price of blu ray transport and taxes at a price much higher than what it costs.

I was pleased with the packaging,the movie was great and also the videos got here in a timely manor.very good!!!

You can't beat it with 2 of Arnolds action pack movies (Brand Spanken
New) for the price of one. Excellent Product and Super Fast Shipping Too!!

I am a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger/action movie fan. I own almost all of his movies. Without being Arnold biased, these are great movies. Very good stories with lots of action. I highly recommend. Classic!

What we have here is a crackling good thriller, ERASER... and a bit of an embarrassment called COLLATERAL DAMAGE. Sucks for Schwarzenegger that, in terms of anchoring an action film, he chose the latter as his penultimate effort. Or maybe it's my bump of what's inappropriate talking smack here. I can't help but feel that COLLATERAL DAMAGE came out too soon in the wake of September 11. Too, nothing in COLLATERAL DAMAGE lives up to the type of kickarse Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle we've come to expect over the years. Any B-movie action hero (cough*stevenseagal*cough) could've stepped into this movie and rendered it mediocre.

"Bottom line is, justice for your wife and son isn't a priority right now," the American authorities inform grieving Los Angeles firefighter Gordon Brewer, his family having just been killed by Colombian terrorists. Brewer takes matters into his own hands and gets himself to Colombia to exact his own brand of get back. Let's call it an unconventional method of putting out fires.

At this stage in his film career, our muscly Austrian was very much starting to show his age. Not that surprising that his character comes off as tired. Despite several outbursts of rage, this firefighter seldom exhibits the force of nature dynamism or full contact savvy of, say, Colonel John Matrix or even U.S. Marshal John Kruger. And because this is Schwarzenegger, we ignore the more implausible conceits of his role, the most iffy of which is his fireman's daring infiltration of Colombia, never mind that he shows appalling inexperience at this sort of skullduggery.

I wonder how much better a film this would've been if not for 9/11? A lot of scenes had to be altered or cut after that. Note that not for any moment does Schwarzenegger fire a gun. The most fun found in this movie is probably Schwarzenegger trying to speak Spanish. John Leguizamo and John Turturro come in for bit parts but one isn't nearly funny enough, the other not nearly quirky enough, to salvage the film. However, there is a surprising twist at the end that I didn't see coming. So it's got that going for it. But, ultimately, COLLATERAL DAMAGE suffers from a pedestrian screenplay, generic action sequences, a lack of Arnie's patented one-liners, and, maybe most damning of all, a past his prime man of action.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE's special features: Director Andrew Davis's audio commentary; six additional scenes (00:07:56 minutes); 2 documentaries: "Behind the Scenes" (00:14:50) is the Making Of featurette and "The Hero in a New Era" (00:08:44) examines the character of Gordon Brewer, a hero in this age of rampant terrorism; cast & crew credits for this film; the theatrical trailer; and a DVD-ROM web link.

While ERASER doesn't at all approach the sublime heights of TRUE LIES, its immediate spy thriller predecessor, it does showcase Arnie as still somewhat near the top of his game. U.S. Marshal John Kruger (Schwarzenegger), tasked to the Witness Protection Program, is what's known in cloak and dagger parlance as an "eraser." He fakes the deaths of witnesses and then relocates them with new identities. Kruger is a maverick but he never breaks more rules than when he gets assigned to protect key witness Lee Cullen (a plucky Vanessa Williams), an executive in a defense contracting company. Lee had turned up evidence exposing a sinister conspiracy within the American government which is illegally dealing in advanced weaponry, and Lee is willing to testify. This makes her a target.

I have to believe that the lengths Kruger goes to to protect his witness go above and beyond the job criteria. Else, what Kruger does has to qualify as one of the most thankless gigs ever. In keeping his lovely charge safe and unperforated, Kruger tumbles out of a Boeing 727 without a parachute, faces off with that same airplane with just his handgun, tackles crooked federal agents, runs into the Mafia and Russian arms dealers, and is betrayed from within. He unleashes a tankful of alligators at the New York City zoo and then even tosses off a one-liner when he's forced to shoot one. He really deserves that Christmas bonus. Dude doesn't even get to romance Vanessa Williams. He gets a chaste hug, is all.

ERASER is propelled by a typically indomitable Schwarzenegger, by spectacular action set pieces, and a terrific supporting cast. James Caan chews the scenery, Robert Pastorelli is hilarious as a wisecracking wiseguy, and James Coburn walks on scene for two seconds. As a side benefit, we get a peek at the underpinnings of the Witness Protection Program, except that a lot of what they show us is probably a bunch of far-fetched bullsh...aving cream. Unlike COLLATERAL DAMAGE, this one has funny bits and a mindless good-humoredness to it. It's diverting enough that I more or less forgave the unoriginal story and its share of wild inconsistencies.

Always unforgivable, though, is when the DVD offers lackluster bonus material. ERASER's includes cast & crew biographies/filmographies and the theatrical trailer.

One favorite scene of mine features a trio of Mafia wiseguys venomously eyeballing the Russian arms dealers doing business on the wiseguys' home turf:

- Tony Two Toes: "There they are... Commie bastards."
- Little Mikey: "They are not communists anymore. They're a federation of independent liberated states."
- Tony Two Toes: "Don't make me hurt you, Mikey."

Two stars out of five for COLLATERAL DAMAGE, four stars for ERASER. Averages to three stars.

While neither of these movies compare to classics such as "Total Recall" or "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," they are still solid action films.

"Eraser" features Arnold as a CIA agent who has the job of erasing witnesses backgrounds in order to protect them. When Vanessa Williams is targeted by the villians, he must protect her in order to save the country. This is a good film with some great action scenes. This also features some of Arnold's better acting.

"Collateral Damage" is another entertaining film. Arnold stars as a fireman who goes to Columbia seeking revenge. The film was originally planned for an October 2001 release. However, the theme of terrorism took a different tone after September 11, 2001. Wisely the film was postponed for a while. I found Arnold's acting to be a little off in this film, especially toward the beginning where he has to communicate grief and loss. Once he gets to Columbia, the film picks up quite a bit and is a very good action film.

The DVD set is a flipper. "Collateral Damage" has a nice collection of special features. Both films are presented in widescreen.

When I originally saw "Eraser", I felt that maybe it was time for Arnold to retire (I like it more now than I did then). He continued to star in films, but the returns at the box office were diminishing. "Collateral Damage" faired poorly at the box office, although I think that had as much to do with bad timing than a loss of interest in Arnold's films. However, in the latter, the Austrian Oak seems a little tired of the whole genre. After the success of "Terminator 3" he would run for governor. With his term coming to a close, perhaps he will return to making movies.

I loved this set..... movies are on its original format....

If you are a true Arnold fan.... you would love this set

This disc had "freezing" issues and finally stopped altogether. Unfortunately, I didn't watch it until the 30-day return deadline had expired.