Collateral (DVD 2005)

When I first started to watch this I thought it was a B movie - one of those not-quite-hit-the-spot films that all stars perform in at lease once in their career - you knw... a howler.
It took a while to gather momentum but I found myself gradually getting into it. The story builds well, if a little predictably - Tom is out of his usual character mode here and handles it maturely. I'd like to see him play some more really bad guys. Predictable end, but a good watch.
Good but not memorable.

Killing people is what Vincent (Tom Cruise) does for a living. And in Collateral, he's working overtime. An assassin on a flying visit to Los Angeles, he forces a cabbie called Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him from hit to hit. The pair play out a battle of wills and wits; the go-getting cold-blooded killer and all-talk everyman influencing each other as the bodies pile up, in this slick, stylish thriller from Heat director Michael Mann.

The beautifully-shot LA we see here is a dark, dangerous, compelling place - tinged with every hue of grey and blue, matching the prowling presence of its star. Cruise, hair flecked grey, is obviously meant to be wolfish, but his character is perhaps closest to a Great White Shark: killing is nothing personal, it's just what he does.

"FUNNY WITHOUT BEING FLIPPANT"

"You killed him!" exclaims Max over a body once the first job goes down. "No, I shot him," is Vincent's rational reply. "The bullets and the fall killed him." It's a great dark laugh - one of several in Stuart Beattie's script, which manages to be funny without being flippant, giving Vincent wicked one-liners without turning him to a cartoon. For despite (or perhaps because of) its high concept conceit (being cabbie to a killer), Collateral could easily have been just another action movie.

Here, though, there are ideas, even if the survival-of-the-fittest, do-or-die theme is eventually rather one note. It isn't the only thing that's obvious, with the amusing, exceptional first half undermined a touch when things Get Serious and race towards the expertly executed - but somewhat mechanical - Tom as The Terminator conclusion. Still, for Vincent's sharp-witted command of the cab and the echoes of The Third Man and Heat, Collateral is well worth targeting.

A hitman arrives in Los Angeles to do five hits in a night, with the unwitting help of a cab driver. Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx star in this Michael Mann noir
Director Michael Mann's career has taken him into the life of Muhammed Ali for Ali and all the way back to the mid-eighteenth century Native America for Last Of The Mohicans, yet he is always drawn back to noir, with two men duelling as if they were two aspects of one soul. To the cop/villain dialectic of De Niro and Pacino in Heat and the cop/serial killer doppelgangers of Will Graham and Hannibal Lektor in Manhunter, we can now add Tom Cruise's hitman Vincent and Jamie Foxx's cab driver Max Durocher in Collateral, the strong versus the weak.

Cabbie Max (Foxx) strikes up a bond with prosecuting attorney Annie (Pinkett Smith) after they feud over the quickest route to take. In a slow opening conversation, they quickly became far more candid than is usual between cabbie and passenger, with Max confessing his dream of running a limo company and Annie talking about her meltdown on the eve of a big case. Meanwhile, the camera drifts over the grid of LA, achieving zen while contemplating the hypnotic perpetual motion of the traffic below. It's a reminder that while Mann has an awesome, meticulous aesthetic, he can be quite boring.

Into Max's cab slides Vincent, a hitman, Tom Cruise with grey hair and peppery stubble. His suit shimmers with a silver silk thread, anticipating the coyotes that we will later see prowling the Los Angeles intersections. The look also captures in colour and texture the expression stone cold killer. At times, his iced lashes make Cruise look like Jack Frost. Vincent is also decked out with a sub-zero amoral nihilism, throwing out half-digested references to the I Ching and Darwin that remind you of Samuel L Jackson's Ezekiel-quoting killer Jules in Pulp Fiction. It's self-justifying pretension that slowly thaws under the influence of Max's decent Everyman.

I WAS DISAPOINTED WITH THIS DVD I DIDNT ENJOY IT AT ALL TOM CRUZ
IS OVER RATED I THINK PERSONALY BUT THATS MY OPINION I WONT BE WATCHING THIS DVD AGAIN

There's an eerie, otherworldly feel to the way director Michael Mann (“The Insider,” “Heat”) has portrayed the City of Angels in “Collateral.” Los Angeles at night is a whole different beast and in Mann's hands, the city itself becomes a living, breathing character. Dark and brooding, the LA depicted in “Collateral” provides the perfect backdrop to this intense action thriller.

Tom Cruise sports grey hair (you get used to it quickly and it isn't nearly as distracting as it appears to be in the trailer) and only briefly flashes his trademark smile as he takes on the role of Vincent, a contract killer who needs to knock off five people in the course of one evening. Jamie Foxx co-stars as Max, an LA cabbie who's biding his time until he can open his own limo service. Max likes his customers, keeps a clean cab, and is a geniunely nice guy. Driving taxis for 12 years, Max believes he's seen it all. But when Vincent steps into his cab, all semblance of normalcy quickly fades away. Max soon finds himself involved in a nightmare from which can't awake. As Vincent begins his night of killing, Max is taken along as an unwilling accomplice.

The story's set over the course of one night, and as the evening progresses, the relationship between the 'collateral' and the killer evolves into something strange and twisted. Vincent constantly threatens Max, yet when Max's life is in danger, Vincent saves him without any hesitation. There's a unexpected connection between the two men, both of whom are just trying to do their jobs the only way they know how.

A large portion of “Collateral” takes place inside the taxi. Jamie Foxx is seated behind the wheel with Tom Cruise in the backseat, leading to shots of Foxx looking into the rearview mirror to gauge Cruise's mood and reactions. Mann creates a dangerous, intimate environment inside the cab, effectively changing up the camera angles to show just Cruise in the backseat with a range of emotions playing over his face, or focusing in on Foxx as he tries to maintain his composure. The tight confines of the cab contribute to the escalating dramatic tension that speeds along rapidly as the movie builds toward its climax.

The fast-paced action sequences are interspersed with scenes focusing on the emotional tension and psychological drama playing out between the cold-blooded killer and the innocent driver. In one scene, driver and killer speed away from the police only to slow to a crawl as they watch with fascination two coyotes crossing the city's streets. Moments like that are inserted throughout the film, easing the tension down a notch or two and allowing the audience a chance to sit back and catch its collective breath.

“Collateral” compares favorably to Michael Mann's best work. It also marks Jamie Foxx's best performance to date (though rumor has it his performance in “Ray” may be Oscar-worthy). Tom Cruise shows he's capable of ditching his nice-guy persona when necessary. Cruise makes a believable bad guy, surprisingly menacing and completely convincing as a hard-hearted killer. Supporting players include Mark Ruffalo as a cop who questions his superiors, Javier Bardem as the movie's biggest bad guy, Jada Pinkett Smith as a prosecuting attorney, and Peter Berg as Ruffalo's partner. Everyone in this cast shares the credit for helping to create one of 2004's most compelling thrillers.

My Wife is studying Script Writing at Uni and had previously heard of this film but had never seen it. It was interesting to see how Tom Cruise would play the bad guy! We instantly sympathise with "Max" the good guy who innocently gets caught up in all Vincent's (Tom Cruise) crimes and we feel a part of his predicament all through the story. There are some violent scenes but they are essential to the plot and not excessively unpleasant. The plot/story is (so my "Good lady" tells me) "technically sound" so could be useful for study purposes. For the rest of us it is an enjoyable action thriller.

Interesting concept for a film, hitman taken around the city to kill his five 'hits' in a taxi. Tom Cruise playing a bad man this time, but not all bad, Jamie Foxx plays the taxi driver who, after the first hit realises what his passenger is doing. Also a part in it for Jada Pinkett-Smith (Will Smith's wife) who certainly helps the action along with a fine display of her acting ability. Some of the shoot-em-up scenes are unbelievable, if Tom Cruise lived in the Wild West, forget Wyatt Earp, he would have cleaned up no problem. All in all, if you like Tom Cruise and lots of shooting, then this is a film for you. Just one more thing, where do Hollywood find all these very short actors and actresses? Dear Tom is only about 5ft tall isn't he?

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 no results. On this fateful night, five stops, five hits and a getaway. Thrown together, their lives in collision – neither man will ever be the same again. Tonight everything is changing…

Director Michael Mann’s fleet, dynamic handling of action has never been better, in this intense, first-rate thriller that the Los Angeles Times calls “Perfection”.

The firearms skills from Tom Cruise in this film are awesome. Rumour has it that ex-SAS soldier Andy McNab of Bravo Two Zero fame coached Tom in his shooting skills and what a fine job he did! The incident in the alleyway where Tom draws a pistol from the hip and shoots 2 men who are trying to rob him was amazing and was his re-loading during a shoot-out inside a nightclub. You must see this film if only for the amazing shooting scenes in it and the speed of Tom's re-load in that nightclub. Superb fast-paced action film!

In this film Mr. Cruise displays what can only be described as some real Top Gun acting !
What an incredible movie, a must see for all true fans of the art !
10/10 & 5 Stars !

Judging by the number of reviewers for this film it certainly managed to capture the attention of movie watchers. I rate it as a mini-masterpiece of the hit man genre despite some of the weaknesses raised by other reviewers, which I am inclined to agree with now, but had'nt noticed, until they were pointed out.
There are four thousand taxi drivers in LA and Max (Jamie Foxx) is one of them. He's a decent,helpful kinda guy, with a dream of owning his own 'limo' company one day, but as the years pass by, all he has is a picture postcard of a desert Island stuck behind his sun screen. As night closes in and wild dogs roam the streets, Max picks up an out of town business man named Vincent (Tom Cruise) who offers him $600, for making five visits to clients around LA. He hesitates to begin with; then accepts the generous offer, but when a body from heaven crashes onto his cab,its a fare that will shock him out of his apathy, and the viewer too.
The astral body is one of a list of five informers that Vincent has been contracted to eliminate with clinical violence; a trade mark bullet between the eyes. When Max realizes who he's dealing with he finds he has no choice but to but to go along with this dedicated professional and totally focussed hit man, brilliantly played by Cruise.
Vincent is a misanthrope who through his ruthlessness and psychological probing tests Max vulnerability to its limits, even taking him to see his mother in hospital and getting him to buy her a bunch of flowers, 'She does'nt like flowers' complains Max, 'She carried you in her womb for nine months', was Vincent's response.
The scintillating night lights of LA are beautifully observed as the tension inside the taxi heightens each time Vincent erases a victim from his Laptop.
When Max has finally had enough of Vincent's,'go with the flow, improvise, yin yan, evolutionary Darwin' philosophy, and calls him a 'bad arse sociopath'the end for both of them seems just around the corner, but not quite.... believe it or not theirs a light romantic twist subtly woven into this thriller, that works perfectly, bringing it back down to earth.
Accepting the minor faults (no film ever made is perfect) , this is a marvellous example of the filmic art at its best.

I BOUGHT THIS DVD FOR MY HUSBAND, & ALTHOUGH I HAVENT WATCHED IT HE HAS. HE SAYS IT IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE, & HAD BEEN WANTING A COPY OF IT FOR QUITE AWHILE

I decided to buy this film as it had been recommended to me by a friend and im gald it was as i thought it was excellent!!

I think that this is a very good film. The interplay between Cruise's character and Jamie Foxx's character is sublime. I am not a particular fan of Cruise, and I had never seen Mr Foxx in anything so I wasn't exactly expecting much when I first saw this movie. But I was in for a pleasant suprise.

Essentially Foxx is a savvy taxi cab driver. A little man with big dreams stuck in the city rat race. He picks up Cruise as a fare and he is hired for the night; Cruise wants him to drive him round town where he intends to make five stops. After the first stop over it is instantly apparant that things are not what they seem at all. Both men are immediately pitted against each other but are forced to work together in order to get through the night.

The pace, characterization and dialogue in this film is spot on. It's not the best film ever made. But all the actors envolved put in decent performances that help pull off a good watchable movie.

I was a fan of Michael Mann's film the Insider and so thought I would watch to see if it matched up to his previous masterpieces. I was expecting a great film with a gripping and mindblowing plot but I was wrong. I will credit the film with its effective use of ariel panning and editing which makes a more stylised viewing, and Jamie Foxx's excellent as usual performances. However the rest was just average and I'll explain why..
Here you are with a potentially good plot- a man gets into a cab and change's the driver's life potentially, however there are so many prepostorous twists and turns that it makes you find it hard to get into the film. As many other viewers have pointed out, Foxx's character has so many opportunities to escape from Vincent; i.e in the club scene where he and the cop get out miles before vincent does but he magically appears and shoots him. I just don't understand why these elements had to be added as they just undermine the basis of the plot.

I felt way more let down by the storyline than anything else as everything was just too extreme- vincent was made to seem like the invincible terminator when actually he was supposed to be portrayed in the film as an ordinary but dark man just trying to get his job done. Tom Cruise was just not convincing enough in this role.

In the past 2 months I have watched The Constant Gardner, Crash and Capote, and Michael Mann's Collateral is just an average thriller and nowhere near compares to the gripping, emotional viewing of the above.

Saw this film in the cinmema when it came out, liked it alot so decided to buy it on DVD as soon as the price came down a bit, hence ebay! Great movie, looks fantastic, very stilish and slick, great lighting the whole way through it. I'm not a massive Cruise fan, but i do enjoy his devlier of humour, especially the man , the window and the parked taxi scene! Jamie Foxx, good actor too, so all the ingredients are there for a good film and it delivers. Not a bad re-watchable value.