Colateral

Nobody's perfect, but it's hard to go wrong with a Michael Mann-directed film, especially when it's a crime movie.

Although this isn't the quality of his 1995 "Heat," it wasn't far behind in its ability to interest and entertain the viewer while providing some slick visuals.

Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are the stars of the film, Foxx winning an Academy Award. No offense to him, but I found Cruise better. He was just outstanding in here as the immoral hit-man. Foxx was entertaining, too, as the nerd-ish cab driver who is pulled into Cruise's murdering adventures.

You'll appreciate both of these guys, and the great visuals, more on the second viewing after you are familiar with the story. The intense film is definitely worth more than one look. Check out the behind-the-scenes documentary, too. You'll be glad you are not an actor in one of Mann's films.

Collateral is a masterpiece of American cinema. Jamie Foxx is Max, a Los Angeles cab driver with dreams of his own limo company, "Island Limo". After twelve years on the job he has become quite gifted at discerning the most intimate details of his passengers' lives... just a glance at their clothes, and he knows.

His worldly insight manages to tear down the defenses of one of his passengers, a State Attorney played by Jada Pinkett Smith, who graces him with her phone number. Max hasn't even begun to revel in the pleasure of possessing the beautiful attorney's digits when he gets his next passenger, Tom Cruise as Vincent, a slick hit-man in town for a night of killing.

When a body drops out of a fourth story window and onto Max's cab, he becomes an unwilling partner on Vincent's murder spree. Director Michael Mann (The Insider, Ali) does a masterful job manipulating texture and tone throughout the movie, taking us to settings as diverse as a junkie's apartment, a penthouse, a hospital room, and a smoky jazz club, all the while making the city of angels a central character in the story.

The soundtrack is also excellent, with a mixture of popular music and ambient tracks perfectly-timed and synced to the story... tribal drumbeats during the chase scenes, haunting rock ballads at pivotal moments, and one track that reminded this viewer of the scene at the other end of Tom Cruise's career, when he drives his father's Porsche out of the garage in "Risky Business" to the accompaniment of a thumping synth track. A bizarre side-note, I know.

As the movie builds to a climax, the police are hunting for Max, believing he is the one on a killing spree, and Vincent stalks his final victim in a blacked-out high-rise office to a backdrop of the brilliant LA skyline, reflected in multiplicity by the office's dozens of glass cubicles.

Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, and Jada Pinkett Smith all rise to the occasion in Collateral, and together they transcend their previous appearances on film. Mark Ruffalo gives a good performance as the cop who knows everything is not what it seems.

There are a few minor plot points which didn't sufficiently suspend my disbelief (like when Max agrees to take Vincent the vicious hit-man to see his Mother in the hospital), but overall this is a fantastic movie.

Troy Dayton

Michael Mann's skills as storyteller, stylist, and controller of mood and psychology of characters is in one of its finest forms in Collateral, a summer blockbuster that's with equal measure of excitement and thought, dark humor and tough moments of violence and suspense. It's also one of only a handful of times in Tom Cruise's career where taking a chance dramatically with a complex character pays off. It's a 100 million dollar+ grossing movie, but its story could just as well be one set in the noirs of the 40s and 50s- a cabbie with some aspirations for his own business (and for a girl he picks up at the start of the film) gets taken over by a hit-man who's doing his rounds of murders all in one night. There's also cops on the trail, as well as FBI, but it's really more than anything about these two guys and the very stark, expected but still compelling climax. After the set-up gets underway, the film is as much character study as a typical crime thriller, and it's one of those splendid examples of style matching substance, where both contain some unconventional bits in what could have been a lesser film.

Along with a good script by Stuart Beattie, and Mann's perfectly nuanced digital night-time photography (more suitable and exacting for the mood than the recent Miami Vice), there's the acting. First, of course, are the stars with Cruise in a turn-around role as the antagonist, who spouts out little bits of Darwin and I-Ching, but for the most part is a stone-cold sociopath. Cruise, wonderfully uncharacteristic for what he usually does in his star vehicles, is more low-key, ominous, and at the end quite dangerous. Jamie Foxx, too, in his real deserved Oscar-nominated turn, is also unconventional here as a common guy who's put between a rock and a hard place. Maybe his best scene, or at least the one I would show as him being a much better actor than he sometimes gets credit for, is when he has to meet Felix (Javier Bardem) to get a new 'list' of people for Vincent. That and a few other scenes are both tense and with an undercurrent of cynical, harsh humor that helps balance out the dark nature of the events.

Collateral is also pretty re-watchable for a fan of this kind of picture, with a great score/soundtrack, great locations, and a couple of interesting ending images.

This one's exactly as the DVD sleeve description says, dedicated assassin "Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a cool, calculating contract killer at the top of his game. Max (Jamie Foxx) is a cabbie with big dreams and little to show for it. Now, Max has to transport Vincent on his next job - one night, five stops, five hits and a getaway. And after this fateful night, neither man will ever be the same again. Tonight everything is changing…" You quickly get used to the change in hair dye.

The fact that some awards givers, including members of the "Golden Globes" and "Academy Awards" organizations, considered Mr. Foxx as the year's "Best Supporting Actor" really calls their legitimacy and reputation into question. You've got to wonder if these people are even watching the movies. Foxx an above-the-title STAR of the film; for anyone napping during the running time, it's confirmed during the end credits. By the way, how could you nap during this film?

DreamWorks produces writer Stuart Beattie's plot in delirious style. "Collateral" is a visual treat, thanks to director Michael Mann plus cinematographers Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron. The James Newton Howard music is perfect. These filmmakers make Los Angeles a sprawling, empty vessel in which to pour Mr. Beattie's moody psychological character clash. The real supporting players, Jada Pinkett Smith (as Annie Farrell) and Mark Ruffalo (as Fanning) are great.

******** Collateral (8/5/04) Michael Mann ~ Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo

For the better part of his career, Tom Cruise has played the All-American good guy. Gleaming eyed and bushy tailed, Cruise has played the roll of the hero in many films and is certainly the richer for it.

Something happened along the way, though. Cruise wanted to be considered a legitimate actor, rather than merely a "movie star." Therefore, we've seen him go against type, successfully (MAGNOLIA), and not so much (THE LAST SAMURAI). It's as if Cruise is the neglected kid in the back of the classroom who knows all of the answers but is never called upon, and therefore will go to desperate ends for attention. "Oh, Oh!! Pick me!!! Pick me!!!"

For me, Cruise hit it this time. His character in COLLATERAL is a menacing study in coldness. It is a thoroughly believable depiction of an utterly ruthless hit-man. It seems, finally, Cruise is actually BAD, rather than merely acting bad. He disdains his usual tricks in favor of a simple and very real performance.

Let us not forget Jamie Foxx. His character's transformation into a hero is rendered all the more effective by how wonderfully Foxx captures his character's initial impotence and bewilderment. It's a wonderfully effective, energetic, and yet very subtle performance.

Special kudos to Michael Mann. He has a very interesting eye when it comes to capturing the city of Los Angeles on film. His vision of L.A. in this film is one of unease and uncertainty, hardly the usual glitz and glamor treatment. This work is always compelling to the eye and paced to keep the action moving ever forward. Each scene has its own logic, contributing to the overall whole. This is first rate film-making.