Collateral: Best Movie of 2004!

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2004)

More than anything, this film is stylish--from camera shots to sound, to costuming and acting, it's a movie with a brain, and maybe even a heartbeat. The actors hit their marks--Foxx as a man who wants more than a job as a cab driver, Vincent as cool-headed cleaner--and with a winning subplot following the sleuthing attempts of an L.A. detective, the film goes up a notch in wisdom. Most if not all the elements come together, and it makes for a satisfying experience, on the dramatic and aesthetic scales.
The beautifully-shot LA is a dark, dangerous, compelling place - tinged with every hue of grey and blue, matching the prowling presence of its star. Cruise, hair flecked grey, is obviously meant to be wolfish, but his character is perhaps closest to a Great White Shark: killing is nothing personal, it's just what he does.
Max has lived a mundane life as a cab driver for twelve years. The faces have come and gone from his rear-view mirror: people and places he's long since forgotten--until tonight. Vincent is a contract killer. When an offshore narco-trafficking cartel learns that they're about to be indicted by a federal grand jury, they mount an operation to identify and kill the key witness, and the last stage is tonight. It is on this very night that Vincent has arrived--and five bodies are supposed to fall. Circumstances cause Vincent to hijack Max' taxicab, and Max becomes collateral--an expendable person who's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the night, Vincent forces Max to drive him to each assigned destination. And as the L.A.P.D. and F.B.I. race to intercept them, Max and Vincent's survival become dependent on each other, in ways neither would have imagined.
Overall: 10/10