Return to the Main Page
What it’s about:
Max (Brian Foxx) has been a temp cab driver for 12 years. Working the late shift one night, a well dressed gray haired man who looks a lot like Tom Cruise (because it is) named Vincent offers him $500 to take him to 5 different locations for the night.
Seems like a fair enough deal, until he soon realizes that this guy is no normal guy in a suit; he’s a hitman out to seal the deal on 5 hits!
It sure looks like Max is in for a bad night, doesn’t it?
Review
It seems that every time Michael Mann has a new movie coming out, I’m excited. It doesn’t always mean that I’m going to like it. For the most part, I do. When I first got word of a Michael Mann film with Cruise and Foxx, I didn’t know what to think. I thought the premise was pretty cool, and then I saw the poster and loved how subdued it was. It was just a side photo of Tom Cruise in his gray suit with a silenced pistol in his lap, with the title in small letters at the top. For some reason, this poster said to me, “This is a drama. This is a slower movie that will only work if the script and the actors are top-notch.”
Luckily, this delivered on both fronts and THEN some.
The first 10 minutes are pure platinum. It’s just a normal day for Max, doing his rounds. What’s amazing is the cinematography. I would never have thought you could do so much with the interior of a car! There’s little dialogue at first, and then in comes Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), who makes a bet with Max on which route getting to work is the best. This seems like a very mundane scenario – and it is – but it’s a vital introduction to the kind of personality Max is, his ambitions and his dreams. Annie and Max hit it off within that 20 minute cab ride, and the tone of the movie is set.
Soon after Max drops her off, Vincent enters the cab, and the real fun begins. I think that Tom Cruise is a capable actor, and he plays it low-key here, giving very little of that toothy grin, and I don’t recall any moments where he’s yelling or pleading like Jerry Maguire. And he’s badass with that little pistol of his!
I haven’t seen Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday, but I’m told that he held his own with Al Pacino, and is a capable actor. If he is half as good in that one as he is in Collateral, then he must have kicked ass. I was afraid I was going to see a Martin Lawrence-styled performance that lacks any form of realism and humor. I was afraid that Foxx was going to make this movie stupid. I was wrong, and I’m thankful for that.
Jamie Foxx was in character the entire time, and he was a very likeable, average Joe that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He tries to find a way out of his predicament, but being the uneventful and unconfrontational kind of person that he is, he doesn’t really know how to handle what Vincent throws at him.
During the night they get to know each other, and we get to understand each of their perspectives on life, death, and God. What’s great is that the metaphysical chitter-chatter is kept at a minimum, and isn’t the main focus of the plot. It’s done more in passing, just a small mentionable which is backing up the main point of the subject at hand, which in turn makes you want to think more about why they said what they did. A lesser director would relish in their philosophy just to drive the point home, and it would come off as corny and ham-fisted.
I haven’t even mentioned one of the coolest damn scenes in the movie. In the Jazz bar. That’s all I’ll say. The monologue in the Jazz bar in reference to Miles Davis had me glued to the screen and hanging on every word. When the word ‘cooool…’ is spoken, that’s exactly the word that popped into my head. Talk about a fucking awesome story! Hoodoggy!
Mark Ruffalo has a minor role as a police officer working that same night, and he does a good enough job with what he had to do. And that's all I have to say about that.
I have read complaints about the third act falling into a more conventional action-type movie, and gets more ridiculous as the conclusion roles along. I partially agree with these complaints, the biggest complaint being a 'cell phone that doesn't work' bit. Gimme a break, man! And yes, things do start to get a little more far-fetched than is needed in the final act, but it’s not so bad that it kept me from thoroughly enjoying it all the way to the end credits.
If you want to see a mature, deliberately paced and character driven drama that is likely to blow your emotional socks off, then I suggest Collateral as the prescription for your fever! You can hardly go wrong with this one!
To top things off, Jada Pinkett Smith didn’t annoy me!
I can't wait to see what Foxx does with Ray! Bring it on!!
Grade: A
Reviewed: 8/15/04
