Into the Night - Cruise Control

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2004)

COLLATERAL (2004) ***1/2 Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Javier Bardem, Irma P. Hall, Barry Shabaka Henley, Jason Statham. Filmmaker Michael Mann returns to his roots in this sleek, streamlined noir crime escapade with a decidedly feral Cruise (a stealth shark-like endeavor replete with silver choppy hair, designer stubble, gray suit and gnashing smile) as a hired assassin who arrives in LA to wipe out 5 witnesses in a high profile drug case and Foxx as the hapless, mild-mannered cabbie he thrusts his evil plan upon when he becomes the passenger from hell and a unique adventure into the night. Absorbing Mametian screenplay by Stuart Beattie keeps things cooking in this crackling good neo-buddy flick with anti-heroes in its protagonists and specifically how a job makes the man (or is it vice versa?) Mann commandeers the snappy pace from subdued reflection to sudden bursts of violence with a sure steady hand and wisely makes Los Angeles' twilight zone-from-dusk-to-dawn ethos a main character with crisp, ethereal cinematography by Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron, precise editing from Jim Miller and Paul Rubell and great after-hours locations in the City of Angels. Foxx and Cruise make a unique, funny and lethal duo at odds with each other that overcompensate from some plot holes (Cruise couldn't rent a car??) that never the less make for a breathless journey into fear.