Excellent thriller. Cruise, Foxx and Mann are at the top of their game.

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2004)

This was a really entertaining movie. Cruise excels at creating a
frightening, intimidating killer, probably his first clear-cut villainous
role since `Taps'. Jamie Foxx, in an interview I saw before seeing
this film last night, talked about how he was asked to `take it down
a notch' so to speak, in order to play a simple, humble cab driver,
and seeing the film proves he did that just well. (As a side note, I
saw the trailer for `Ray' in front of `The Manchurian Candidate',
which I went to after `Collateral', and just from the trailer, Foxx's
performance looks like it might be an Oscar contender.) Michael
Mann's direction rises to its usual adroit level, and this was his
best thriller since `Heat', full of close-up shots of characters and
lingering shots that cause the heart to pump. Stuart Beattie's
script wisely creates that thriller that, not content with mere empty
action, gets under the skin of its characters, using their lives and
their weaknesses to create a rapport with the audience, evoking
both sympathy and tension.
This was a great film. I recommend it.