Disappointing All Around

Rating: Null/10 (2 September 2004)

*SPOILERS*
I wasn't expecting much from `Collateral,' given the film's stars but Michael Mann's ambient style - even though it can often hinder his otherwise superlative story-telling ability - has always fascinated me since his `Miami Vice' days. However, I left the theater feeling patronized and condescended to. `Collateral,' is the kind of film that Hollywood puts out seemingly to dare us to point out its flaws lack of credibility

The film is told essentially from the point of view of Max, a cab driver with the dubious dream of starting his own limousine company.

After picking up a myriad of fares, Max stops for a comely district attorney (who will figure all too coincidently in the film's story during it's third act). The two become quite friendly with as they teasingly argue over which is the best route to take her to her office. Max is even able to score her phone number when they reach her destination. (Plausibility wears thin here, as well.)
Seconds later, Vincent, a contract killer, comes to the window and asks Max if he's on duty. Max, like us, still can't believe he got the lovely D.A.'s number and doesn't immediately hear his potential fare, but, with fate stepping in, Max wakes up and calls Vincent back over.

On the road, Max and Vincent make small talk; Vincent's a business man in town to run a few errands; he hates L.A. and he wants to leave as soon as he arrives. Then he makes a 600 dollar offer Max can't refuse. All he has to do is be Vincent's chauffeur for the evening, then take him back to LAX at job's end. Vincent even gives Max half of the money up front. Max agrees and Vincent leaves to complete his first mission. Sitting peacefully, thinking about his limo business, perhaps thinking about the D.A., knowing he will be 600 dollars richer by the end of the night, Max's reverie is broken by a dead body falling on his taxi. When Vincent reappears, it doesn't take Max long figure out that his mysterious fare is responsible for the man's death.
Vincent takes Max hostage and what ensues in an all-night tour through downtown L.A. as he assassinates organized criminal after another. When Max finally frees himself from Vincent's capture, he discovers that Vincent has one more hit to make, a district attorney.
Yes, that district attorney. L.A.'s smaller than I thought.

The script for `Collateral,' could have easily been condensed into one hour but it is stretched out to an unnecessary - and quite tedious -- two.	In the intervals between plot points are filled with insipid dialog between the two main characters as they cruise through the dark streets; Vincent's words sound more like those of a wise sage than a ruthless sociopath.

The interplay between Vincent and Max is intercut with a distant pursuit of a cop, who senses a pattern in the in the otherwise random murders. But as the police close in what seems to be the film's imminent climax, it ends in a mediocre gunfight only to reveal that the movie is far from over.
When the finale does arrives it is drab and stereotypical and, simultaneously, beyond belief; Max shoots Vincent before he can kill the district attorney. The bullet grazes Vincent's cheek and while the wound is not fatal, Vincent, cyborg-like, does not flinch in the slightest pain, and the final shoot-out is where the viewer's intelligence is insulted the most.
The final showdown takes place on a moving train. Vincent and Max are facing each other at point blank range. They commence firing. After the cease-fire, Vincent is fatally hit. Max is unharmed.
The script, written by Stuart Beattie, is in desperate need of a re-write. I'm surprised Mann, who usually collaborates on the script, didn't write a draft himself, although at one time he was granted a screenplay credit. (Whether or not his input was included in the finished product is unknown.)
I have never been particularly impressed by Tom Cruise as an actor, and his performance as Vincent in `Collateral' does not incline me to revise my opinion, but in all fairness he does not have a great deal to work with character wise, nor does Jamie Foxx's Max, whose only drive seems to be do get out of the taxi business. What has he learned after this harrowing experience?
Cruise's hairstyle and wardrobe is reminiscent to that of Robert De Niro's in Mann's 1995 film, `Heat.' It makes me wonder if De Niro was ever considered for Vincent. Even so, I doubt even he would have had any more luck trying to make the character less of a caricature - in a sea of caricatures.