- Michael Mann's Collateral sounds like it should be a standard gimmicky action movie. The basic premise, namely that a hitman named Vincent (Tom Cruise) forces a taxi driver named Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around Los Angeles to kill five targets in one evening, is very much the stuff of generic shoot-kick-and-punch-fests that are entertaining enough but quickly forgotten. Jason Statham has appeared in many such movies, but his early cameo in this film is almost a winking in-joke to people expecting another Transporter movie. Collateral is an entirely different beast.
- The first sign that we're in for an interesting film arrives immediately with the introduction of Max, one of the more nuanced protagonists to headline any action drama. Max knows all the things a good cab driver should know, such as the fastest routes and travel times, but he's also a very introspective person. He stares at a photograph of a quiet island when he needs to escape and spends his spare minutes flipping through car catalogs with hopes of starting a limo company. He visits his cantankerous mother (Irma P. Hall) every night in the hospital. In fact, Max is so disarming and sincere that one imagines lawyer Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith) is hardly the first woman to give him her number. Vincent, however, is certainly the first hitman to enter Max's cab.
- Vincent is immediately impressed by Max's professionalism and offers to hire him for the entire night. Everything goes pretty well at first, that is, until the first victim drops from a penthouse window onto the front windshield of the cab. After that, the evening transforms into a hellish journey from one murder to the next, with Max never quite knowing what to expect. One surprise arrives when Vincent insists on detouring to see a talented jazz musician (Barry Shabaka Henley) perform. Another involves a visit to Max's mother. One of the film's tensest moments forces the unassertive cab driver to impersonate Vincent for the benefit of a conversational-but-homicidal heavy that Javier Bardem excels at playing. Other surprises in store for Max involve meeting a cop (Mark Ruffalo) at a nightclub and reconnecting with Annie. In short, not how Max thought he would be spending his evening.
- Although Collateral's plot is full of genuine surprises, the film is happily more than just a twist-driven roller coaster ride. Cruise effortlessly converts his usual pompous charm into a sociopath's public disguise (funny, that) while Foxx is perfect as a decent man looking to change his life. Mann's direction is always skillful, but shines especially in a terrifying nightclub setpiece. The film's digital cinematography, handled primarily by Dion Beebe, captures a grainy L.A. skyline that looms nightmarishly through every window of its cabs and office buildings. More than anything, the film's visuals and soundtrack capture the experience of staying up all night downtown, even if the average moviegoer's evening would presumably not involve multiple murders. Contrary to expectations, Collateral ends up being not only the best Michael Mann film of the millenium (so far), but as intense and riveting as any his films.
- Also featuring Bruce McGill, Peter Berg, Klea Scott, and Debi Mazar.
