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Collateral 2004 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Michael Mann
R, 116 min. (violence, language) |
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Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall
Producers: Michael Mann, Julie Richardson
Screenplay: Stuart Beattie
Cinematography: Dion Beebe, Paul Cameron
Distributor: Dreamworks Pictures
Released: 8.06.04 (Wide) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
Collateral attracts viewers because of the opportunity to see Tom Cruise act against type; he plays a ruthless, conscienceless
contract killer who uses whatever superficial assets he may have to complete the job. But, although Cruise is efficiently
evil, the film's unique central relationship steals the show. Jamie Foxx is Cruise's counterpart; he's the antithesis of
everything the assassin is made of. The insightful aspects of the film are strange for a routine action film premise. Directed
by Michael Mann (Ali, The Insider),
Collateral seeks to find balance between two men who see themselves, the world, and fate from disparate universes.
It seems that both Mann and the viewer on a similar journey to an answer that invariably is the same at the beginning as it
is at the end - the men remain staunchly on opposite sides of the proverbial fence despite their ordeal.
Set against the wee hours of Los Angeles' downtown district, Max (Foxx) begins his shift as a cab driver on a high note
when he connects with a federal prosecutor, Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), who admits she vomits before any big case she's
working on. Along comes Vincent (Cruise), a stylish business man who offers Max $600 for a night's worth of chauffeuring.
But when a body lands on top of Max's cab during the first scheduled stop, Vincent's objective is revealed - he has five
marks to dispose of before a dawn flight out of the city. At first horrified, Max slowly emerges from a shell of inaction
and rigidity to eventually confront the killer in his backseat.
Most of the film is concentrated on the tentative relationship between Max and Vincent, which becomes a contrast of both
worldview and humanity. Vincent has no soul, ironic since he enjoys jazz (which leads to a moving scene later in the film),
a man whose troubled childhood prepared a mind that Nietzche would endorse; he sees the universe as pointless and cruel,
and therefore, as specks of dust, murder doesn't seem wrong through a prism of existential apathy. Max, on the other hand,
is a man with dreams of owning a fancy limousine service on a remote island, only to cling to the now 12-year "part-time" job
as a taxi driver. He's decent, honorable, and trustworthy. He believes in people despite their faults. He's met his match
in Vincent. They take turns throughout the turbulent night taunting each other's faults - Max confronts Vincent's calculated
inhumanity, while Vincent chastises Max's inability to seize the day and make something of his dreams. Vincent's seeds
of advice reap a transformation of Max into a man that refuses to let the world define him anymore, which may be Vincent's
only worthwhile contribution in his empty existence. In a way, it's almost a cry for help; Vincent subconsciously yearns
for an end to his life and instills the means to accomplish it in his words of inspiration to Max.
Mann directs with a flair that he has instinctively made his own. The choice of camera angles, whether closeups or wide
angle distance shots overhead, imbue his film with a distinct dichotomy between detached observance and intimate
interaction. He films his characters with a reverence for the material at hand; note the numerous closely followed head
shots behind the actors. He fashions his scenes with style without loss of substance, which is a crucial distinction between
style over substance. With his steady infusion of creative shots and tautly paced rythyms, the absorbing style
glosses over some of the screenplay's lesser, more predictable elements. As a result, the viewer instinctively hones in on the
increasingly tense relationship between Max and Vincent, adding to the spiral effect, which culminates in a suspenseful
showdown between the two.
There are peripheral characters, notably Mark Ruffalo as a cop investigating Vincent's murder spree and Irma P. Hall (The Ladykillers)
as Max's ailing mother who makes an impression on Vincent. But they are only window dressing for a play that takes place
between two main figures. Cruise and Foxx are more than up to the task, distilling the kind of resolve that each of their
roles require. Cruise has given one of his better efforts (certainly his best since his brilliant work in Magnolia), while
Foxx is emerging as a potential leading man in Hollywood after a career in television comedy. They have been well chosen
by the filmmakers because they play off each other with real world sensibility.
Mann and his actors have elevated a film beyond the confines of its ordinary script, allowing Collateral to evolve into a different
type of film than what may have been intended. What emerges is better anyway, and those that appreciate the human element
inside the workings of an action film will find much to admire here. It's a film that plays with conventions and one of the few
that excels in doing so.
© 2004 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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