D:Â Michael Mann
Dreamworks/Paramount (Michael Mann & Julie
Richardson)
USA 🇺🇸 2004
115 mins
Crime/Thriller
W: Stuart Beattie
DP:Â Dion Beebe & Paul
Cameron
Ed:Â Jim Miller & Paul
Rubell
Mus: James Newton Howard
PD: David Wasco
Tom Cruise (Vincent), Jamie
Foxx (Max Durocher), Jada Pinkett Smith (Annie Farrell), Mark Ruffalo (Ray Fanning), Peter Berg (Richard Weidner), Bruce McGill (Frank Pedrosa), Irma P. Hall (Ida
Durocher)
Tom Cruise plays cool-as-ice hitman Vincent,
who hires mild-mannered cab driver Max (Foxx) to drive him around downtown Los Angeles while he carries out a series of assassinations. A battle of wits develops between the two
when Max discovers that he's playing chauffeur for a killer, setting up a tense thriller with two actors on top form.
For the most part, Collateral is a stylish
piece of work with dazzling photography and slick editing. It's all rather unfortunate that the final 15 minutes fizzles out rather than emulating all that came before it. Despite
the poor ending, it's still an impressive thriller for the majority of the running time.
7/10