(Rated R, 115 mins.) With all the hype of its original release held back in wake of 9/11, the story of a firefighter who vows revenge on the terrorists that blow up his wife and child in a downtown building, is now hitting the screen. Except the terrorists are Colombian not Arabs. Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) directs Arnold Schwarzenegger who takes the law into his own hands when the CIA won’t help him get to the bad guys. Unlike most action films, this one is not energetic enough despite a long setup of exposition that should pay off in act two. John Turturro has a brief but movie stealing scene as a cellmate in a Colombian prison that momentarily elevates Arnold’s role. While Arnold’s screen presence once made him a god not an actor, and he’s in need of a recent hit, this eerie movie in a time where a nation is not healed, is not the way to do it. Sure, he kicks butt on the bad guys which is something we’d like to do to Bin Laden, but all the biceps and “I’ll be back” one liners don’t work like they used to in a country forever changed. This is one battle even Ah-nuld can’t win.
