Cruise at his best

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2005)

It started like any other night...For Max (Jamie Foxx) a cab driver in Los Angeles who takes his job seriously. After dropping off attractive lawyer Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) and bagging her number he then gets a new pickup. Enter Vincent (Tom Cruise with grey hair) a mysterious business type character who poses as a real estate agent. Impressed by Max's excellent navigating skills and the speed in which he gets him to his location, Vincent asks to buy Max's services for the evening taking him to a few destinations. Reluctantly Max agrees, not knowing what the night will bring.
What the night does bring is Tom Cruise as we haven't seen him before. As a ruthless ass kicking assassin, he plays the role of Vincent superbly. There isn't a huge cast, the majority of the film is the two main leads, Cruise and Foxx, who have excellent chemistry together. While there is a sub plot going on involving a detective on Vincent's tail the film really doesn't get too caught up in it, which is a good thing and a break from the norm.
There is little action in Collateral but this really doesn't affect the pace of the film at all. Mann has done a terrific job of balancing it out and making it into a stylish gritty movie. When there is action it is jaw dropping stuff, especially the way Cruise executes a scene. A big plus for me was the way the film doesn't really go into Vincent's character, leaving him mysterious and leaving your own imagination to think about what his past may have involved.
I have few gripes about this movie, I really enjoyed it and I have to say its probably the best film I have seen this year. The only noticeable flaw for me was the Hollywood style ending. Although by no means was it bad, I think it could have possibly been done differently, but then you have to cater for a majority audience.
Overall this movie left me thinking when I left the cinema, always a good thing. Its different to most of the crime thrillers we tend to get an abundance of today. The acting is superb, especially Cruise as I mentioned before, I really cant emphasise enough how kick ass he is in Collateral. In a nutshell its not too overwhelming or fancy, it has perfect pace and well worth going to see!