Collateral (2004)

Collateral features an amazing turn by megastar Tom Cruise in a negative shade. This is a great work by Michael Mann whose decision to shoot at night(this is an all-nighter movie) gives the film an atmosphere that is exceptional and unique. Shot on the streets of Los Angeles Cruise plays a contract killer who hires a taxi and goes about offing people systematically. Jamie Foxx plays the taxi driver and his banter with Cruise form the majority of the running time. The dialogues are good- snappy as well as thought provoking as and when the need arises, the pacing is excellent and direction, as expected from a master filmmaker is top notch. If you are used to seeing Cruise in positive heroic roles Collateral will give you a pleasant surprise.

I know this movie has been out forever but I just rewatched it again and can't atay quiet. The plot is riddled with holes. Just dumb. Horrible movie

Tom Cruise fans surely will love this movie. But all others that arent particularly fan of Tom Cruise, be wary, because the story of this movie is not very credible: cabdriver gets hijacked by a serial killer and is forced to drive him towards the locations of 5 designated killings. Sounds thrilling. But it unfortunately lacks story credibility. Just to pick one example that makes this "thriller" deflate because of it's lack of credibility: the hijacked car driver and the serial killer get pulled over by the cops, because the windscreen of the cab is smashed. The cabdriver says nothing to the cops about being hijacked, not even a hint. He doesnt warn the cops, doesnt make a run for it. That scene nags a bit. And there are numerous examples like this. A thriller HAS TO BE CREDIBLE to achieve maximum suspense.I like Tom Cruise. I like the other actors in it too, but they have to utter wannabe cool dialogues embedded in an uncredible story. Maybe if you are a kid, say 12 years old, you wont be bothered by this, but if you are older and somewhat more critical then I should suggest you lower your expactations.Michael Mann as a director has made many great gangster movies. "Manhunter" is a classic. "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp is great. "Thief" is the debut of Michael Mann and this movie is truly COOL. On Tarantino's favorite list. "Thief" has got balls. Men are real men in "Thief". In "Collateral" men are talking about their father who didnt give them the love they needed, and they talk about jazz. I mean really, is that supposed to be cool? Michael Mann made many better gangster movies than "Collateral", which is all about posing to be cool. It is wannabe cool. And to a degree it succeeds in being cool, because of the effort put into it by the director and the actors. But the story just isnt credible enough to become a classic gangsters movie. Michael Mann truly made his life's achievement with the classic thriller "Heat" starring Al Pacino and Robert de Niro. Wach "Heat" instead of "Collateral" and you will have a guaranteed credible story, with mindblowing performances.I must admit though that I have watched "Collateral" many times, but suddenly I got irritated about the uncredible story. So probably a lot of people who enjoy gangster thrillers will love this flick. I only wanna warn those who expect more then just another gangsta movie wannabe...

This didn't strike me as anything amazing when I watched it and still doesn't, but looking back at it there's actually a lot more depth to this movie than I had originally thought. Sure, there may not be any great message or moral argument going on in it, but there are some themes that are worth exploring. There's a bit of a nihilistic theme from Vincent, that is interesting in a way and is slightly reminiscent of the bar conversation about apathy in Se7en. Collateral is hardly the first hit-man movie that we've seen, and Vincent isn't all that different from most of the hired guns that come up throughout action movies. What sets Collateral apart is that we view such events through the lens of Max, who is a much better character than one might expect. Max is swept up in a night of violence that he is totally unprepared for, and because of this we might expect him to behave more passively and just watch in horror as Vincent goes on his rampage. But he doesn't; instead he progressively becomes more and more active in opposing Vincent. First, he is only concerned about his own survival, but as the night goes on and more complications develop he begins trying harder and harder to minimize the bloodshed and stop Vincent. On the surface, it might seem that Vincent alters Max's world view or maybe unlocks heroism inside of him, but I don't think this is the case. Max is shown to be a good and hard-working man with decently grounded beliefs prior to meeting Vincent. Max is the type of guy that would at least consider running into a burning building if he thought it could save someone. At least, I like to think so.The whole police investigation storyline was a little bit lost on me, but I think this is mostly because I watched a lot of the movie on my iPad in the car and couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue. I wasn't huge on the ending where Max goes back and saves Annie. Yes, it was dramatically satisfying in a way, but it also felt pretty contrived and implausible. I don't know how the story would have ended otherwise, but I feel like Max would have had the nerve to call Annie and it seemed cheap that he got to swoop in and save the day instead of just calling her back.The script did a pretty job keeping me interested, but it wasn't totally gripping. The action and hit-man style scenes were not anything special, but they weren't bad either. What stood out to me from an execution standpoint was the performance from Jaime Foxx. Tom Cruise was Tom Cruise, but Jaime Foxx did a really good job making Max a relatable character whose emotions felt human and real. I'm not sure why he was nominated for a supporting role Oscar instead of a main role, but it was a well-deserved nomination.So I would recommend this to any given viewer. It's a little intense, but there's nothing too gruesome or dark in it. It will fulfill your wishes if you're just looking for an action movie, but if you care to look closer, you may find some themes awaiting you. Overall Rating: 7.7/10