Collateral

February 6, 2005

Rated: R Runtime: 116 min Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Collateral is an all-night thrill ride across LA through the eyes of two different men for two very different reasons. One is a cabbie named Max (Jamie Foxx). He dreams of a better life for himself, one where he can trade in his old yellow taxi for a nice sleek new Mercedes limo with spinning rims (they’s spinnin, they’s spinnn’!), quit his job and work for himself. The other is a professional contract killer who calls himself Vincent played by a gray haired Tom Cruise (WTF?).

Collateral

The story starts out with a friendly cab ride where Max, picks up an overworked D.A. named Annie (Jada Smith) at the airport and drives her downtown. They share a little friendly conversation, he gives her a picture and she hits him with them digits (yeaaahhh). She gets out and heads up stairs to prepare for a big indictment she has the following morning, and just as she exits the cab Vincent climbs in. Max’s life is about to get very interesting. Vince tells Max he’s in Real Estate and he just needs to make 5 stops, to visit some clients and get a few papers signed, and he needs Max to drive him. He offers to pay Max $600.00 for the night and an extra $100.00 if he gets him to LAX by 6:00 AM . Max agrees reluctantly and voila, Yust like that his adventure begins.

When they get to the first stop Max pulls into an alley and waits for Vincent to do his biz and come back downï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½..BAM, a fatman falls out the sky and lands on his hood and from here on out Max’s night never gets any better. It is at this point our cabbie finds out Vincent is really a cold blooded hitman and his stops are actually marks (squealers, song birds, canaries, stool pigeons), and whether Max wants to keep driving or not this fare is far from over and Vincent is going to finish this jobï¿½ï¿½ï¿½.etc,etc,etc. If you want more go to the theatre ASAP and see it. You won’t be disappointed.

Now for the technical details, Michael Mann shows us a side of LA most people will never see and he does it with absolute brilliance. The film is shot almost 95% at night and with the help of Dion Beebe and Paul (no relation to James) Cameron’s cinematography the images are amazing. The streets of LA look almost lifelike on screen and with the occasional filtered starburst shot mixed in at precisely the right time he makes it seem like the city is almost standing still (except for the crackheads, muggers and Ho’s).

If you were a fan of Miami Vice, Heat (Awesome F’N movie) or Manhunter you know Mann’s films are always accentuated with a great score and this film stays that path. The music fits every scene almost as though it came first and the scene s were shot to fit as an after thought. You get a solid mix of music al styles for each mood in the film, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Techno and even a kickin’ tune by Paul Oakenfold along with a pretty good original score for the slow parts.

As for the acting, Cruise and Foxx are excellent in this picture and although I think Jamie Foxx is a pretty good actor in certain roles, I think Tom Cruise is the best actor in Hollywood and he didn’t disappoint with his character at all. In my opinion (no one else’s matters anyway) Tom Cruise made a major turning point in his career with this movie and I hope he keeps going. All of the big stars flip sides sooner or later to see if they can play the antagonist as well as they have the hero most of their careers and IMNHO Cruise did it better than any of them. Bruce Willis was good in The Jackal. Tom Hanks turned it up a notch in Road to perdition but Cruise leaves both of them in his dust with his portrayal of Vincent. The combination of an excellent villain, Michael Mann’s direction and a great soundtrack get this flick 5 MFG stars.

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 5 Stars, DVD, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, R, Thriller, Tom Cruise