Collateral (2004)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Michael Mann

Writer (WGA):

Stuart Beattie (written by)

Release Date:

6 August 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It started like any other night

Plot:

A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim.

Plot Keywords:

Cab Driver | Hitman | Los Angeles | One Night | Killer

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 36 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Vincent
Jamie Foxx	...	Max
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Annie
Mark Ruffalo	...	Fanning
Peter Berg	...	Richard Weidner
Bruce McGill	...	Pedrosa
Irma P. Hall	...	Ida
Barry Shabaka Henley	...	Daniel
Richard T. Jones	...	Traffic Cop #1
Klea Scott	...	Fed #1
Bodhi Elfman	...	Young Professional Man
Debi Mazar	...	Young Professional Woman
Javier Bardem	...	Felix
Emilio Rivera	...	Paco
Jamie McBride	...	Traffic Cop #2

Also Known As:

Untitled Michael Mann Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #40965) | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SG | Brazil:14 | India:A | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | France:U (with warning) | Hungary:16 | Spain:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Czech Republic:15 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

When the FBI led by Pedrosa enter Club Fever, Pedrosa commands, "Clean shots; watch your background!" This echoes Vincent Hanna's line in Heat (1995) while arriving with his men at the bank: "Get clean shots. Watch your background!"

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the final taxi crash when the cop is trying to put the handcuffs on Max you hear the locking sound effect of the first handcuff going on, but the cop never gets the first handcuff on.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Vincent: You OK?
Airport Man: Yeah, I'm fine mate, don't worry about it.

Movie Connections:

References "Sister, Sister" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Ready Steady Go (Korean Style)

A Masterpiece

Collateral is a masterpiece of American cinema. Jamie Foxx is Max, a Los Angeles cab driver with dreams of his own limo company, "Island Limo". After twelve years on the job he has become quite gifted at discerning the most intimate details of his passengers' lives... just a glance at their clothes, and he knows.

His worldly insight manages to tear down the defenses of one of his passengers, a State Attorney played by Jada Pinkett Smith, who graces him with her phone number. Max hasn't even begun to revel in the pleasure of possessing the beautiful attorney's digits when he gets his next passenger, Tom Cruise as Vincent, a slick hit-man in town for a night of killing.

When a body drops out of a fourth story window and onto Max's cab, he becomes an unwilling partner on Vincent's murder spree. Director Michael Mann (The Insider, Ali) does a masterful job manipulating texture and tone throughout the movie, taking us to settings as diverse as a junkie's apartment, a penthouse, a hospital room, and a smoky jazz club, all the while making the city of angels a central character in the story.

The soundtrack is also excellent, with a mixture of popular music and ambient tracks perfectly-timed and synced to the story... tribal drumbeats during the chase scenes, haunting rock ballads at pivotal moments, and one track that reminded this viewer of the scene at the other end of Tom Cruise's career, when he drives his father's Porsche out of the garage in "Risky Business" to the accompaniment of a thumping synth track. A bizarre side-note, I know.

As the movie builds to a climax, the police are hunting for Max, believing he is the one on a killing spree, and Vincent stalks his final victim in a blacked-out high-rise office to a backdrop of the brilliant LA skyline, reflected in multiplicity by the office's dozens of glass cubicles.

Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, and Jada Pinkett Smith all rise to the occasion in Collateral, and together they transcend their previous appearances on film. Mark Ruffalo gives a good performance as the cop who knows everything is not what it seems.

There are a few minor plot points which didn't sufficiently suspend my disbelief (like when Max agrees to take Vincent the vicious hit-man to see his Mother in the hospital), but overall this is a fantastic movie.

Troy Dayton