Great film, but nowhere near Heat

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2009)

It started just like any other night. A simple cab driver just making his rounds on another hot L.A. night when he unknowingly picks up a hit-man and against his own will, takes part in the killings of 4 people. Michael Mann is a genius when it comes to crime movies. In fact, I don't think he ever made a crime movies that wasn't enjoyable (Miami Vice wasn't great, but still enjoyable) and Michael Mann is also known for having two brilliant actors face off in his films. In Heat, we had Robert De Niro and Al Pacino face off. Nine years later, we get to watch Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise face off in this crime epic Collateral. Jamie Foxx plays Max. A cab driver working the night scene in L.A. who dreams of leaving his cab job to open his own limo business. The night starts out fine, he meets a woman, the night is peaceful and quiet. That's when Vincent (Cruise), a self proclaimed real estate agent in town to meet with five people, close a deal, and leave L.A. in the morning. He hires Max to drive him around town over the course of the whole night. Little does he know, that Vincent is actually a hired assassin sent in town to kill 5 people who have a key role in the prosecution of a criminal. When Max learns of this, Vincent forces Max to drive him around town and become an accomplice to all these killings. Over the course of this night, the two opposites attract and find a mutual bond as they both discover a newer meaning to life in the midst of this chaos. It is a terrific film. A brilliant story, brilliant acting from everyone and a grand meaning to life behind the simple story of murder and fear. Michael Mann's image is gripping. We can sense the fear with Jamie Foxx that he has for his life in the most gripping scenes. We can sense the insanity and adrenaline from Tom Cruise during the intense gunfight scenes. It is simply a great film with all these three people coming together to make a crime saga delight. But there are two flaws that take away the extra kick to get this movie from 9 to 10. One, the movie drags on. There'll be multiple scenes in a role where nothing is happening and we have to watch Foxx and Cruise talk about the simplest of things. While these scenes add to the development of the two characters and are very vital to make the movie what it is, they can also get boring and at sometimes, really dull. They are fantastic nevertheless, but they should've added something more to it, maybe a little bit more of an intense scene in between these scenes of nothingness. Not necessarily action, but heart-pumping at the very least could've been nice. And two, the train scene at the end was a little too Carlito's Way for me. While it didn't seem like a direct rip-off, you could sense that Carlito's Way was in the air while this scene happened. Other than those two elements, this movie is fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially those who love the crime films, like me. While this Michael Mann, great actor face off, crime saga film is brilliant, it's nowhere near Heat. It doesn't progress as well and it's a little dull. But still fantastic. I give it a 9 out of 10.