A wild ride!

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2005)

Life couldn't get any easier for Max (Jamie Foxx) as night after night he drives a cab and can't get his dream of owning a limo business, but his night is about to become even worse "Collateral" starts off slow with Tom Cruise's character Vincent walking with a luggage from an airport with his frosted hair, dark shades and a silver suit as a man trips over him, Vincent tells him "Are you alright?" With just his look, he means business. Also in the beginning, Max drives a workaholic lawyer named Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) for whom he tells her if he takes Annie to her firm in time, then she doesn't have to pay the fare. He wins the bet, but she exchanges her phone number while Max gives her his lucky postcard to remind her of relaxation.
After that, the thrill ride begins as Vincent goes into the cab and offers Max six-hundred dollars to take him for an all night ride in which case becomes a killing spree. In a comic relief, Vincent tells Max "This is the cleanest cab I've ever seen." Not for long.
In the film, Vincent is working for a mafia crime boss for which he must assassinate five different people (a drug dealer, a jazz player, a business man, a Chinese millionaire and a lawyer) who are witnesses from his boss's case. And throughout the night, he goes on a killing spree shocking Max for his dear life; but Vincent doesn't want any witnesses so Max becomes his hostage that entire night and doing exactly what he tells him. Especially when Max's mom is in the hospital, Vincent tries to be boy charming by buying her flowers and letting the nurses keep the change; even finding the truth that Max has been lying to her.
What's interesting about the character Vincent is that though he's a killer, he is more of an aid towards Max as he tries to get for him be more confident towards the dispatcher on the radio (his boss) who has been treating him like dirt; not to mention be more aggressive as Max pretends to be Vincent when seeing the boss that Vincent works for.
Though I've only seen one Michael Mann film (Heat), what I really like about this movie is that he shows the entire city of Los Angeles at night; the atmosphere is very realistic it is, as if we've become characters in it.
"Collateral" is a scary ride from minute one where the suspense never ends, not to mention the performances from Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise for which is kind of weird since Foxx is a comedian ("In Living Color", Booty Call) and Cruise has always played the hero (Mission: Impossible, The Last Samurai); this is a match made in heaven.