Highly exciting heat of the night thriller

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2005)

Michael Mann is a director of characters with depth, dialog of meaning and brilliance - great movies like Heat and The Insider shows both of these elements. Heat telling the story of two basically very alike men, on each side of the law - cop vs crook, Pacino vs De Niro. In his latest thriller he offers a relationship between a pro, dangerous, smooth talking assassin and a pro, man of dreams LA cab driver, Cruise vs. Foxx.
COLLATERAL is, to be said; one of the best movies of 2004. It kicks off and the movie has started it's rush down the highway before we literally remember the title fading onto the screen. And that's the way of the movie, and that's the way of the whole genre in ways - it's a nonstop tale with nonstop action happening. Whether there's not being fired bullets or anything, may be just talking - the storyline is so intense and already dramatic that there can't be placed any relaxing moments between the pure action. Tom Cruise entering the scene early off wearing a expensive gray suit, featuring a white shirt and black shades, and for the first time Cruise having his hair in a gray color way - making him look awfully much older than in his previous films. Jamie Foxx acts superbly as the cab driver really not getting anywhere with his life, planning everything but not realizing them, though being a marvelous taxi driver he gets stuck in this nightmare in the heat of the night.
And Michael Mann has done a fantastic job there; capturing the intensity and excitement of the whole night scene. Using brilliant camera use flashing the colors switching elegant and suspiciously from black, gray, brown, violet and blue - this giving the movie a very dark mood in a director top-notch way. As COLLATERAL introduces us to a very unlucky night scene, the whole City Of Angels falls into a creepy hole only offering the clubs, cops, traffic and crime.
Max is a Los Angeles cab driver, having big dreams about a limo-company, through it seems never to really be a reality. Being just another working night, he's just dropped off a charming female as a smooth talking man named Vincent enters his cab. Having five stops to make, to meet some friends - it all seems to go well until it's soon revealed that Vincent is a assassin, and that the five stops are all targets to be killed...
The whole idea isn't that original, but is a very good thrill and off course with Michael Mann driving the taxi it's tensed and very exciting. It's just as entertaining as Speed, and as the movie takes leap back and forth as things happens, the movie is a extremely tight tale. Tom Cruise doing his Vincent in a rock hard, greatly way showing sides of himself that's seen before, but not in this intense load. Jamie Foxx also acts in a absolutely great way, and with this swooping together COLLATERAL is a nonstop action/thriller offering what you expect and a bit more! Scene for elegance and mood to be noted; as two wolfs walk over the street in front of Max's cab.