Tom Cruise + Michael Mann= GREAT FILM! One of 2004's best!

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2004)

I entered the theater having huge expectations with Collateral. Not only does it have superstar Tom Cruise (M:I-2, Last Samurai, Minority Report) but it also has director Michael Mann (one of the BEST directors around) whose credits included Heat and Ali.
And after spending over two hours watching, I must say that Collateral is one great movie!
Tom Cruise is hit-man Vincent. Already very experienced in his underworld duties, Vincent is the hit-man who really knows what to do, what to anticipate and motivate people. Heck, Vincent even has humanity him especially when he actually helped Max (Jamie Fox) out of trouble.
True to hit-man fashion, Cruise delivered GREAT moves with his fists, kicks and guns. Having seen him use guns in John Woo's M:I-2, Cruise played with the guns very differently and realistically in this movie. Performance wise, Vincent is greatly played by Cruise with such elements of being a hit-man and a human being. I wish Cruise good luck to winning his first ever acting Oscar.
Jamie Fox plays Max, the taxi driver who works hard for his living. His bad luck started when he met Vincent and everything changed for the worst. Max is very human in the sense that he gets torn apart between aiding Vincent, interacting with his mom and even helping a young woman he met only hours ago. Jamie Fox deserves big credit for his role and I can't think of anyone else playing Max effectively.
Director Michael Mann is back to what he does best with the police/criminal/assassin genre of films. Like Heat and Manhunter, the lead characters are actually very lonely guys (Vincent Hanna and Neal M anyone?), there's also a huge shootout (Collateral's shootout is shorter but solid enough compared to Heat's bank heist), guns galore, people getting killed, lots of talk, etc.
Not only did Mann do what he does best, his film has very good editing, lively camera angles, and best of all he delivered the plot and characters to life. Thanks to Mann, Collateral is very convincing and such a story can actually happen in real life.
Conclusion: Collateral is one of 2004's BEST FILMS! Whether you go for Cruise, Mann, Fox, action, drama, suspense and all others kind of stuff, Collateral has something to entertain and inform any kind of moviegoer.
This movie is a MUST SEE! I rate it a 9 out of 10!
Now for the future of Collateral: DVD! Could hardly wait!