A well-acted and stylish suspense film overlooked in many ways.

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2005)

Michael Mann has another hit here, once again adding to his short but distinguished film making arsenal. The same goes for Tom Cruise who once again gets snubbed and overshadowed by Jamie Foxx, who did earn some well deserved marks as well.
"Collateral" revolves around an ambitious and insightful everyday taxi driver (Foxx) who's life is held at bay my a professional killer (Cruise) in order to help Cruise complete his missions. The movie contains nothing but pure acting, directing, screen writing and most of all, intensity, making this an enjoyable and worthwhile movie. The most interesting part of the film is seeing the strange relationship between Cruise's character and Foxx's, as they parade about LA in the middle of the night "taking care of business." Cruise's character is a professional assassin that doesn't think twice about whacking anybody regardless of personality, but yet is still bound my everyday and outdated morals. Which explains his respect for Foxx's character, who displays a deep regard for life and the people around him, constructing a well balanced plot filled with irony. In fact, Cruise lets Foxx get away with snide remarks and disobedience which he has ended lives for less, and protects him from outside dangers yet Foxx's life is technically dispensable.
Foxx's performance is amazing (earning him ANOTHER nomination for an Oscar) as he finds the right niche to play this stressed out cab-by, but still manages to remain in control of everything. Unfortunately for Tom Cruise, he's too good looking or too Blockbuster I guess to get any sort of satisfaction any run The Academy (again.) He even went to great lengths of dyeing his hair gray, to hide his image that often graces the cover of GQ. His acting was dead on, with no signs of over-acting which is more than often displayed in over-powering villain roles.
This is a great film, which contains some great dialog and a pretty original plot. The acting is superb, with Jada Pinkett-Smith filling in the holes with her limited but quality spots. For some reason, Cruise and the film itself were hardly recognized. I highly recommend this film, and it deserves at least a rental. Even if you are still mad at Cruise for Vanilla Sky.