Tom Cruise at his best

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2009)

Two lives intertwine on a night in L.A. where Vincent (Tom Cruise) is going through a hit list as a cruel and professional hit-man and Max (Jamie Foxx) as his unwilling cab driver. As the night progress and the tension between the two builds up, they surprisingly find some compassion towards each other regardless the situation.
Tom Cruise does his best and most convincing role to date, he's the unquestionable founding stone of the whole movie. Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinket-Smith and others do a fine job too. The script is good (it has some missteps in it but it works well in all), the production values are in order and the soundtrack is a hit-on but what really makes the movie stand out is the beautiful and realistic cinematography; L.A. is represented as a lonely and distant city but also as something very beautiful and interesting to look at.
The script isn't as solid as you'd hope: there's some easy and unimaginative steps taken here and there but as a whole, the script does work.
Collateral is a fine film with a lot of thought and feel, a perfect showcase of Michael Mann's brilliant mind and eye as a film maker. 3/4