Collateral

People rave about Tom Cruise in other projects, but I'll say his best 2 for me are Born on the Fourth of July and this one.

It isn't just about playing against type. It's about the difference between playing someone who's bad and just being bad. It's about authenticity. You see it in great actors.

I'm new to this site but I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of films in my lifetime. He's one of the few modern movie actors who have this kind of star power. He's not as authentic (or instead of authentic I should say he sometimes looks like he's efforting his performance) in all of his performances as others (like a Spencer Tracy or Henry Fonda, for example), but when he's on...He's ON.

Nobody's perfect, but it's hard to go wrong with a Michael Mann-directed film, especially when it's a crime movie.

Although this isn't the quality of his 1995 "Heat," it wasn't far behind in its ability to interest and entertain the viewer while providing some slick visuals.

Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are the stars of the film, Foxx winning an Academy Award. No offense to him, but I found Cruise better. He was just outstanding in here as the immoral hit-man. Foxx was entertaining, too, as the nerd-ish cab driver who is pulled into Cruise's murdering adventures.

You'll appreciate both of these guys, and the great visuals, more on the second viewing after you are familiar with the story. The intense film is definitely worth more than one look. Check out the behind-the-scenes documentary, too. You'll be glad you are not an actor in one of Mann's films.

Michael Mann's, "Collateral," is similar in many ways to his crime classic, "Heat." "Heat" is a much better film overall because of the way Mann handles his two leads. Pacino and De Niro play the cop versus the bad guy. That's a great character study of a protagonist and an antagonist. He sets both men on opposite sides of the law and shows how similar they are and how different they are, and one wonders if their up bringing influenced their career paths. They both look and act as if they could switch places and be great at each others jobs. Mann keeps the two titans separated for the majority of the film with only two scenes shared together. "Collateral" brings these two guys, one good and one bad, together from the get- go. This is the driving force of the film and this is a necessity, but it also brings in several plot devices, coincidences, and moments were you might find yourself baffled by some of the reckless or stupid decisions made. Some audiences members will be tested to look past those moments for the moments of suspense, thrills and symbolism.

Mann always does a great job of getting exceptional performances from multiple actors in his films and here is no different. Tom Cruise gives a nomination worthy performance. Mark Ruffalo gives the best performance of his less-than-stellar career. Javier Bardem has one scene and he hits it out of the park. Jamie Foxx is a personal favorite of Mann's, but he was miscast for this role. He was average in this role, and in order to make him look the part, they stuck some nerdy glasses on his face, and poof... he's a cab driver. Didn't quite work. He has his moments, but when he's on screen, Tom Cruise is on screen; Javier Bardem is on screen, and those two just hit their performances out of the park and he becomes a body taking up space. Cruise is excellent and surprisingly intense. Michael Mann seems to make films with great dialogue, but its the moments where he goes in close and uses extended shots of his actors eyes as they witness something powerful. Mann will set a scene in the quite or with growing background music, and let the actors emotions pour through their eyes and not a word will be said. The moment in "Collateral" comes when two coyotes run across the street. Vincent (Cruise) just gets done telling Max (Foxx) how his father died and how he would be beat him after he got drunk. This scene signifies Vincent's loneliness and the coyotes that travel in pairs hunt for other beings. Vincent is the coyote and he's looking for a partner to hunt to with. Since he has no one, he uses cab driver's. He attempts to connect with Max and profess his ideals on life, which changes Max' outlook on life. This is the changing moment of the film. This scene will lead to Max' change. He will then become the shepherd.

Even though Mann uses plot devices and relies on coincidences, its the moments of symbolism and suspense and the thrilling nature of man hunting man that spark some moments that will make you think, or put you on the edge of your seat. Mann does an incredible job of building suspense. He does a great job of developing his characters. "Collateral" offers up some humor; some great acting; a great thriller, and a great lead performance. This is a flawed film and relies on things that can throw reality out of the window, which lessens Mann's direction, but his film accomplishes what it sets out to do. It's an exceptional film that gets better upon repeat viewings.

Michael Mann's skills as storyteller, stylist, and controller of mood and psychology of characters is in one of its finest forms in Collateral, a summer blockbuster that's with equal measure of excitement and thought, dark humor and tough moments of violence and suspense. It's also one of only a handful of times in Tom Cruise's career where taking a chance dramatically with a complex character pays off. It's a 100 million dollar+ grossing movie, but its story could just as well be one set in the noirs of the 40s and 50s- a cabbie with some aspirations for his own business (and for a girl he picks up at the start of the film) gets taken over by a hit-man who's doing his rounds of murders all in one night. There's also cops on the trail, as well as FBI, but it's really more than anything about these two guys and the very stark, expected but still compelling climax. After the set-up gets underway, the film is as much character study as a typical crime thriller, and it's one of those splendid examples of style matching substance, where both contain some unconventional bits in what could have been a lesser film.

Along with a good script by Stuart Beattie, and Mann's perfectly nuanced digital night-time photography (more suitable and exacting for the mood than the recent Miami Vice), there's the acting. First, of course, are the stars with Cruise in a turn-around role as the antagonist, who spouts out little bits of Darwin and I-Ching, but for the most part is a stone-cold sociopath. Cruise, wonderfully uncharacteristic for what he usually does in his star vehicles, is more low-key, ominous, and at the end quite dangerous. Jamie Foxx, too, in his real deserved Oscar-nominated turn, is also unconventional here as a common guy who's put between a rock and a hard place. Maybe his best scene, or at least the one I would show as him being a much better actor than he sometimes gets credit for, is when he has to meet Felix (Javier Bardem) to get a new 'list' of people for Vincent. That and a few other scenes are both tense and with an undercurrent of cynical, harsh humor that helps balance out the dark nature of the events.

Collateral is also pretty re-watchable for a fan of this kind of picture, with a great score/soundtrack, great locations, and a couple of interesting ending images.

This is a collision of two lives… All collapsed in the events of one night…

The movie starts with Vincent (Tom Cruise) arriving to L.A., a guy who just looks perfect…

Some people happen to people on purpose, in order to tell them something about their lives…And they sit somewhere and share two or three lines, and they leave, and you know, your life is changed…

When Max (Jamie Foxx) first meets Vincent, it was "who cares? He was a dreamer when he said: "I just saw the woman of my dreams…I'm getting married in my mind right now." Vincent says, "I want you to disconnect so that when you guy do connect, it's like day and night." And continues… "I got five stops to make. Collect signatures, see some friends, and then I got a 6 a.m. out of LAX. Why don't you hang with me?"

It's not until the offering of the money that you see really connect…

"Collateral" projects in a much deeper way into Cruise/Vincent character… He can become very quiet, and we can look at the screen, and we will feel that Cruise is totally in command…He's a quick draw…Vincent is fast…As an assassin, he must be economical in his moves…

The film focused some of the wildness, and what lurks below the surface of L.A. Just the opening shot, when we look at that cab driving out and we see the big paintings on the walls, it was just visual sophistication…

The movie is not an action story… It's a compelling drama with realistic action that works for the story… And it is done for an emotional reason… Cruise gives a dynamic performance as the cold-blooded killer… Foxx is terrific as the honest hearted guy driving a cab for twelve years, and both come together suddenly like a spike in a railroad right here in this point where things were going to change in one night…Jamie Foxx finds himself in the presence of a real adversary in the form of this bumbling cab driver, who has never fired a handgun in his life