Collateral (2004)

Collateral

A film review by Joel B. Kirk

SYNOPSIS:

An assassin hijacks a cab (and its driver) one evening in order to

make a round of 5 kills. In that evening, the two have a colliding of

personality and psychological bouts, debating what is wrong and right.

MY TAKE:

Not to be confused with the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, "Collateral

Damage" this superior film by Michael Mann(television's Miami Vice,

Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Ali) is an interesting story of dueling

personalities as Tom Cruise's (Mission: Impossible, Minority Report)

Vincent rationalizes his killings in order to get Jamie Foxx's(Any

Given Sunday, Ali) "normal guy" Max to drive him around.

Where Vincent is arrogant, Max is humble.

Where Vincent believes that he has all his bases covered throughout

this evening in which the film takes place, Max learns he has to adapt

if he is to stay alive-and at the same time, keep his morality intact.

Tom Cruise doesn't really impress me as much unless he is given good

material to work with (i.e. Minority Report, and to an extent Mission:

Impossible) playing something other than his usual cocky/superstar

characters.

Jamie Foxx, who showed he could hold himself with the superstars in

the aforementioned "Any Given Sunday," and "Ali" (also directed by

Michael Mann) is the innocent voice of reason. We laugh at his

shortcomings, but could relate to him if we were ever in his

situation.

Jada Pinkett Smith (Ali, The Nutty Professor, Menace II Society,

Jason's Lyric) who also came from Michael Mann's "Ali," shows up as a

lawyer who holds a conversation with Max…before the evening takes a

violent turn.

We never really find out about Vincent, only by what he relates to

Max, and how is character relates to each of the hits. Hints of a

troubled childhood, of a man gone wrong, is what we get from his

character.

Vincent seems to be doomed, whereas Max-as a man who wants to go

through life with the least amount of drama-comes off as a man that

will eventually attain his goals (which is to own his private

limousine service, something he has been working on in the 12 years he

has driven as a cabbie).

The film is shot in a shaky, hand-held documentary style (effective

when bringing out Vincent's scary/psychotic nature in the concluding

scenes)...

There are cameos by Mark Ruffalo(You Can Count on Me) as Detective

Fanning, director/actor Peter Berg(The Great White Hype, Cop Land),

Jason Statham (Snatch, The Italian Job, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking

Barrels ), Bruce McGill(The Insider, Rosewood)….and even Debi Mazar!

What is interesting about this film, is that given the star power, it

is left open to how these characters will turn out, and/or what the

fate of these characters will be…

Still, there are some nitpicks: Mark Ruffalo's Detective Fanning seems

to disappear without not satisfying closure; I expected to know what

happened to his character.

Furthermore, what was the point of Jason Statham "bumping" into

Cruise's Vincent? What of Peter Berg's character? Or even Bruce

McGill's Officer Pedrosa?

Aside from nitpicks, the movie ends on a strong, satisfying note,

ringing true the saying, "Good triumphs over evil."

MY RATING:

***1/2 out of *****

DIRECTOR:

Michael Mann

WRITER:

Stuart Beattie

CAST:

Tom Cruise-Vincent

Jamie Foxx-Max

Jada Pinkett Smith-Annie

Mark Ruffalo-Fanning

Peter Berg-Richard Weidner

Bruce McGill-Pedrosa

Irma P. Hall-Ida

Richard T. Jones-Traffic Cop #1

Debbie Mazar-Young Professional Woman

Javier Bardem-Felix

Jason Stetham-Airport Man

RUNNING TIME:

120 minutes

DISTRIBUTOR:

DreamWorks/Paramount, 2004

EMAIL:

joelkirk@sbcglobal.net

Copyright 2004 Joel B. Kirk

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1308581
X-RT-TitleID: 1134449
X-RT-AuthorID: 9404
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/5