Just manages not to be style over substance

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 2004)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
Spoiler Los Angeles cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) picks up a man named Vincent (Tom Cruise),unaware he is a contract killer and that he is unwittingly driving him to his next hit.From here,he is held hostage and lead on a nightmare journey that will test his character to the limit.
When I reviewed The Last Samurai earlier this year,I commented that I wasn't awfully fond of watching Tom Cruise movies,as I thought he was 'more of a movie star than an actor.'Well,he appears to have taken this contention to heart,as he certainly wants to come across as a serious actor by the way he's conveying himself here.He gives himself a sort of Ray Liotta edge here,and you can't help thinking he would be a better actor to be playing the lead role had he the star power to do so.He doesn't totally manage to convince,though.And neither,it has to be said,does Foxx in the co-starring role.
One thing the movie has going in it's favour,though,is an absorbing visual style that is distinctly Michael Mann all the way.The camera style and the overviews of the New York skyline are most entrancing and the lengthy dialogue interludes are very Tarantino-esque.The style might convince some that perhaps Mann was the wrong choice of director for the project,but once (and if) you come to accept him,the movie manages to be more absorbing.
It can't compensate,though,for a wavey storyline and an ending that might seem a bit contrived and just an excuse to include Jada Pinkett Smith's character again.That's not to mention Cruise's death scene,which,shall we say,somewhat stretches plausibility to the limits.
For it all,though,the movie manages to be good.Just not great.***