Amazon.co.uk Review
Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (
Thief,
Manhunter, and especially
Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in
Ali and his title-role showcase in
Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series
Robbery Homicide Division).
Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax.
--Jeff Shannon
Synopsis
Jamie Foxx plays Max, a Los Angeles cab driver who has a pretty wild night in this thriller from Michael Mann (HEAT, THE INSIDER). First, Max picks up, flirts with, and gets the number of Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), an attractive District attorney. Next, Vincent (Tom Cruise) climbs into his cab. He is a professional hit man who reserves Max for the night with a whole shopping list of victims he needs to visit. As the night moves forward and the body count rises, Max must wrestle with the question of how to do the right thing while staying alive. Gradually the two men bond in unlikely ways, as each learns survival mechanisms from the other, and it all doubles as a metaphor for morality vs. capitalism. Mark Ruffalo and Peter Berg play cops who eventually get on Max and Vincent's trail, leading to a spectacular action set piece inside a night club. Irma P. Hall (2004's THE LADYKILLERS) gets laughs as Max's hospitalized momma, and Javier Bardem (BEFORE NIGHT FALLS) is a sinister drug lord. With a capable director like Mann at the wheel, this remains a smooth, enjoyable ride while also being fast, bumpy, and full of twists and turns. The streets of urban, nighttime Los Angeles--captured via a specially modified digital camera--never looked so beautiful or desolate. As typical of the director, the film is both artistic and action-packed; operatically over-the-top while never skimping on the little details.
Watch the trailer in either Windows Media format:
![Collateral - 2 Disc Collectors Edition [DVD] [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XKK0EXAAL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Heat [Blu-ray] [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Z9aurj8mL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
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![Valkyrie [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512Z5FbkLrL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Minority Report - Single Disc Edition [2002] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519R317HMKL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Tom Cruise
![Miami Vice (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) [DVD] [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517oPtU3yOL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Colin Farrell
![Changing Lanes [DVD] [2002]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NPB3C6KAL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Ben Affleck|Samuel L. Jackson|Sydney Pollack|Toni Collette
![Heat [Blu-ray] [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Z9aurj8mL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
Blu-ray ~ Al Pacino
![Hostage [DVD] [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514JJYA3S3L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Bruce Willis
