Pretty solid in all areas.

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2017)

This didn't strike me as anything amazing when I watched it and still doesn't, but looking back at it there's actually a lot more depth to this movie than I had originally thought. Sure, there may not be any great message or moral argument going on in it, but there are some themes that are worth exploring. There's a bit of a nihilistic theme from Vincent, that is interesting in a way and is slightly reminiscent of the bar conversation about apathy in Se7en. Collateral is hardly the first hit-man movie that we've seen, and Vincent isn't all that different from most of the hired guns that come up throughout action movies.
What sets Collateral apart is that we view such events through the lens of Max, who is a much better character than one might expect. Max is swept up in a night of violence that he is totally unprepared for, and because of this we might expect him to behave more passively and just watch in horror as Vincent goes on his rampage. But he doesn't; instead he progressively becomes more and more active in opposing Vincent. First, he is only concerned about his own survival, but as the night goes on and more complications develop he begins trying harder and harder to minimize the bloodshed and stop Vincent. On the surface, it might seem that Vincent alters Max's world view or maybe unlocks heroism inside of him, but I don't think this is the case. Max is shown to be a good and hard-working man with decently grounded beliefs prior to meeting Vincent. Max is the type of guy that would at least consider running into a burning building if he thought it could save someone. At least, I like to think so.
The whole police investigation storyline was a little bit lost on me, but I think this is mostly because I watched a lot of the movie on my iPad in the car and couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue. I wasn't huge on the ending where Max goes back and saves Annie. Yes, it was dramatically satisfying in a way, but it also felt pretty contrived and implausible. I don't know how the story would have ended otherwise, but I feel like Max would have had the nerve to call Annie and it seemed cheap that he got to swoop in and save the day instead of just calling her back.
The script did a pretty job keeping me interested, but it wasn't totally gripping. The action and hit-man style scenes were not anything special, but they weren't bad either. What stood out to me from an execution standpoint was the performance from Jaime Foxx. Tom Cruise was Tom Cruise, but Jaime Foxx did a really good job making Max a relatable character whose emotions felt human and real. I'm not sure why he was nominated for a supporting role Oscar instead of a main role, but it was a well-deserved nomination.
So I would recommend this to any given viewer. It's a little intense, but there's nothing too gruesome or dark in it. It will fulfill your wishes if you're just looking for an action movie, but if you care to look closer, you may find some themes awaiting you. Overall Rating: 7.7/10