A loner's voyage

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2007)

Michael Mann has a fascination with lonely men that is somewhat intriguing. Heat similarly cast the two main characters as loners, one who is as ruthless as he is self-justifying, and the other simply views his current life as vehicle to a utopia.
Cruise is often underrated as an actor, but I believe he has a good deal of versatility and genuine acting talent. In this film, he delivers an unusually strong performance as the ruthless hit-man "Vincent." Some of the execution he carries out are filmed with enthralling dazzle (especially the nightclub scene and the jazz singer).
Jamie Foxx did a fantastic job playing the role of the innocent loner Max and the dialog between him and Vincent was terrific and well acted.
A few weak points let the film down though. First of all, the final 20 minutes of the film was extremely unimaginative and predictable. From the identity of the final target to the final grand "showdown" it seemed far fetched and reminiscent of silly Hollywood endings we expect from films with a no-name cast and director. Second, the police side of the story was not terribly interesting and a little over-performed. Nonetheless, these sorts of things didn't take all the gloss of what is otherwise a great watch which mixes marvellous characterisations and engaging action sequences.