Rent Collateral (2004)

Taxi Ride From Hell - Collateral review by CP Customer

A taut and at times terrifying thriller featuring Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise. Foxx is a taxi driver who has spent the last 12 years dream of setting up the ultimate Limo business. He becomes an unwitting pawn in a contract that Tom Cruise (playing a hard nosed man ) has been hired to carry out. Really don't want to give too much away but this is a gripping film which will have you, like it did me, on the edge of your seat.

Tom Cruise plays a baddy ! - Collateral review by RP

I must confess that Tom Cruise isn't one of my favourite actors. The roles he chooses are often too goody-goody, too good looking, too straight - yet here he plays a baddy, so that's a change for the better. He's also quite a 'wooden' actor - he always seems to play Tom Cruise [Aside: Even in the v. poor 'Valkyrie', he played Tom Cruise playing a too-good Nazi - but perhaps he picked himself for the lead role in that film because he owns the film studio...]

Michael Mann is a director whose work I like - one of his films, 'Manhunter', is a favourite of mine - and he always seems to get the best out of the actors, even getting some of the more 'wooden' ones to act, for example Russell Crowe in 'The Insider'.

And here, although Tom Cruise is still somewhat on the wooden side, the director not only gets him to act a little, but gets him to give an effective performance as a deadpan, sociopathic contract killer. I like it - seems to fit Mr Cruise quite well :)

Max (Jamie Foxx) is a cab driver. Max is a self-deluding dreamer, drifting along, with big plans but lacking the motivation to put them into action. At the start of the film an attractive woman lawyer gets into Max's cab and after some banter gives Max her card. So it's obvious that she's going to reappear at the end. The Max picks up smoothy but baddy Vincent (Tom Cruise) who hires the unsuspecting Max for the evening to drive him around while he makes five hits, one of whom (of course) just happens to be the attractive lawyer. In the process Vincent manages to motivate Max just enough so that the goodies win and the baddy (of course) perishes.

It's all a bit predictable, but the film is stylish and well directed - and I did quite like the idea of Mr Cruise being a baddy. I enjoyed it and it's above average so I'll give it 4/5 stars, but that does seem a bit on the high side...

[Aside: Look out for a brief cameo appearance by Jason Statham as the airport bagman at the very beginning]

Excellent! - Collateral review by CP Customer

Excellent film, brilliant cast. Well worth watching.

Cruise Hits All The Right Notes In This Jazz Infused Blockbuster - Collateral review by CP Customer

Take a cab ride with Max. Garrulous in good company, yet discreet, he's self-effacing, compassionate, intuitive and adaptable.

Silver-haired and silver-suited Vincent's visibly focussed, driven, sharp and articulate. Yet look more closely and you might notice something slightly different about him. Spitting out words laced with venom and acting in a fashion that only a man in total control can, he's not the average businessman that you might have initially mistaken him for.

Director Michael Mann allows us quality time with his characters in what is an intentionally unhurried and sensual opening sequence. And they're characters that writer Stuart Beattie has successfully painted in full colour.

Mann's pacing, of what is a 120-minute film, is superb. Never getting bogged down in unnecessary back-story the sense of tension, which is well maintained throughout, constantly builds with the growing momentum. It's also to the veteran director's credit that he doesn't allow any sense of Hollywood-movie-contrivance to creep in.

The cinematography is awesome too. The City of Angels, shrouded in night brought to life by vibrant neon-technicolour, looks fantastic. James Newton Howard's score is also particularly effective.

Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx both produce bravura performances. Cruise as comfortable with darkly comic scenes as with the nuances of a remorseless killer. Foxx, meanwhile, expertly emphasising Max's personal and emotional arc.

Michael Mann's films continue to be a real draw. Just like a good jazz player he improvises, plays unexpected off-notes and keeps his audience guessing.

Collateral is one of his finest.

Beware of the man in the grey suit. - Collateral review by CP Customer

Wow, from start to finish the film won`t let you look away, Tense, scary and very good. Poor Max with his fare from hell, while vincent is cool, calm & calculated. Enjoy.

OK but ........ - Collateral review by CP Customer

....... it may have been me but why do American actors mumble so much, so much so that you couldn't always tell what they were saying even when you rewound the film and listened again!

And why is the music so loud and talking so quiet. Turn the volume up, turn the volume down etc. Perhaps I'm just getting old ;-)

Hitman meets taxi driver for a hell of a ride through the night, in LA - Collateral review by Philip in Paradiso

Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) is a Los Angeles cab driver who dreams of starting his own limousine business. Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a professional hitman, who has a list of persons to assassinate that night. Vincent gets into Max's cab and tells Max that he is in Los Angeles for one night in order to complete a real-estate deal; Max agrees to drive him to several locations. The story develops from there.

This is very much an action thriller involving 2 main characters (Max and Vincent), and a number of secondary characters. The central performance is that of Tom Cruise (excellent as the driven, near-maniacal professional killer) and Jamie Foxx (equally good as the Mr Average who finds himself caught up in a chain of events he could never even have visualized in one of his worst nightmares). In spite of the type of film it is, it actually is deeper than it may look. For a start, the dialogues are excellent. To a large extent, the film pitches one man (the killer) against another (the cab driver): the way they relate to each other is interesting, nuanced and oddly plausible.

As a thriller, this is an excellent film: fast-paced, tense, full of suspense, with unexpected twists and turns. Towards the end, it turns into a sentimental drama as the story reaches its climax. There are some amazing scenes, such as the one in the night-club. Although the film is, ultimately, a case of style over substance (as pointed out by some reviewers on this website), I would still recommend it as a memorable piece of cinema.