Review of Collateral (2004) by Aaron T — 22 Aug 2011

A very interesting neo-noir type thriller. In one corner we have Jamie Foxx as a normal every-man Taxi cab driver named Max Durocher, and in the other corner we have Tom Cruise playing a hitman named Vincent, who forces Foxx to drive him to his targets during the night. That is all I'm going to say about that.

I am not the biggest fan of either of these two actors. The only reason I was interested in seeing this is because Michael Mann was behind the wheel, and the guy makes some damn good films. However I was very, very surprised. Cruise brings a style and personality I have not seen from him, and Jamie Foxx was great, earning him an Academy Award Nomination. The two did not seem right for roles, but both grew on me very quickly.

Right off the bat you'll notice that this movie is a bit different than usual films of this genre: Character Development. Mann and Screenwriters Stuart Beattie and Frank Darabont want you to get to know these two main characters, they want you to feel something, so that when the credits roll, what you just watched actually meant something and had something to say. Too many times in the action/thriller genre, you have a protagonist given a gun and then told "Heres a gun, some fucked up dude(or dudes) is/are about to make your life a living hell, run around and shoot things. Oh, and make it real exciting" And then we are left with just an action mess with no real meaning. (Obviously I am stretching that a bit :P).

There were two small gripes I had with this movie though. The first minor was was the way it ended. Don't get me wrong, I love what Jamie Foxx did when he confronted Cruise towards the end(Whooo!) But it just basically ended on a chase sequence. It wasn't necessarily bad, but to me it was a bit underwhelming. Also, and I may be alone on this, but I thought Mark Ruffalo as an LAPD Detective and that whole deal was unnecessary. I like Ruffalo, but we never got to really know anything about his character, so we were basically left with " Oh cops are on the trail" and it really didn't go anywhere. I would of loved instead some more time with Cruise and Foxx, but hey, that's just my opinion ;).

Did I like Collateral? Most Definitely. Is this my favorite Mann film? Nope, that would be "Heat". I missed this awhile back but I am glad I got around to seeing it because it was, like I said before, a damn good movie. Its intense, exhilarating, and at times meaningful. If you were like me and missed this bad boy, I definitely recommend you check it out.