A throwback to the noirs of old...

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2017)

... where an average guy gets caught up in criminal activity either through bad decision making or just bad luck. This would be a case of the latter.
This thriller is about a professional hit man(Cruise) who high-jacks a taxi cab and forces the driver (Foxx) to take him around to all his "assignments" and also seems to put Foxx in a situation that could get him killed or at least be taken for an accomplice.
This is the movie which several critics thought Foxx deserved his Academy award for rather than the following year's "Ray". I thought he could be considered deserving in both years. In this Michael Mann directed flick, Foxx puts in an excellent performance, and Cruise also does a fine job as the cold, business-like hit man. It's when Foxx's character discovers that his woman, an attorney with the Justice department(Jada Pinkett Smith), is one of Cruise's targets, he takes major steps in trying to save her and put an end to his troubles with Cruise, who isn't as lucky on the L train as he was in "Risky Business".