The best action film I've seen in a good long while.

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2006)

If you had told me a year ago I would be submitting a film review with Tom Cruise in it to the IMDb I would have thought you were crazy. I must confess to having a rather intense dislike of Tom Cruise as an actor. There is just something about the man that seems so obnoxious to me. And with his recent outspoken behaviour, I will probably continue to have that opinion of him for many years to come.
While Jamie Foxx on the other hand is a very likable, down to earth guy who I'm sure would like very much if I ever met him in person. Whoever thought of putting the two of them together must have had a very keen foresight. Michael Mann's ultra-stylish Collateral is one of the best action films I've seen in years. It's certainly on a par with Die Hard, my all time favourite.
The opening scene has an almost unrecognisable Cruise as Vincent at LAX airport in LA. Dressed in a snappy grey suit, grey hair and sunglasses (oh and stubble) he bumps into somebody who gives him a briefcase.
The scene then changes to Foxx, who plays Max, a down on his luck taxi driver. He's been stuck in the same job for 12 years, he has a distant relationship with his mother, and his dreams of starting his own limo service are being crushed every day because of the never-ending tedium of his job.
But on one particular fateful night (which happens to coincide with my birthday) it appears Max's luck is about to change. Annie (Jada-Pinket-Smith), a sexy, intelligent LA lawyer gets into his taxi. And starts talking. About their prospective lives. Their careers. Their hopes and dreams. You wouldn't think this was the setup for an action film, but this scene very clearly defines Max's character, and allows us to sympathise with him before his excursion into the cab ride from Hell.
After Annie leaves Max her business card, then Vincent comes into his life. He has five stops to make before he leaves town, and would like to hire Max's services for the evening. For a generous fee of course. Vincent's first stop seems perfectly ordinary, until a body suddenly falls onto the taxi.
What Max hasn't realised is Vincent is a hit-man, contracted to kill five people who are witnesses that could make life very difficult for his employers. With one of them already dead, Max must now drive Vincent to his assigned targets if he wants to live to see another sunrise.
I didn't mind Tom Cruise in this film, because he inhabits the role of the villain very well. His conversations with Max about life in general are rather insightful, but in terms of character development, Vincent won't learn anything. He is a cold-blooded killer through and through, and he won't let anything short of his death stop him from completing his assignment. He's like a sly fox with a temper like a steel trap ready to spring at a moments notice.
With Max trapped in this nightmarish situation, now an accessory to murder, Foxx really brings lots of dimensions to Max's character. From being afraid for his life, to his embarrassment at being berated by his mother in front of Vincent, to pretending to be Vincent at one point, Foxx gives one of the most nuanced performances of his career.
Both the action scenes and more thoughtful conversations between Vincent and Max are handled well. In fact, Collateral is a very talky film most of the time, but I found it refreshing in this day and age of mindless shootouts and bloody violence.
Michael Mann's sure-footed direction lends the film a sharp, crisp focus, not to mention a visual delight in the urban wasteland of downtown LA in the middle of the night. An added bonus is the blues numbers and jazz tunes in the film that give Collateral an extra sense of style. I like action films that are stylish, because you don't get many of them, and also like Die Hard, the way it all takes place over the course of a single night made it even more satisfying for me. The events escalate steadily and logically too, with the police and FBI gradually catching on to Vincent and Max's trail. The suspense just keeps on building until it reaches critical mass. Like the pulse-pounding, adrenaline pumping shootout in a night-club.
The ending comes to a gripping climax that takes a leaf out of Rear Window's book, when Max discovers Annie is on Vincent's hit list. I would have preferred if it had ended in that high-rise rather than a subway train, but nonetheless, Mann directs the climax well with a fine touch. It's even added a philosophical edge when Vincent muses over the implications of his own death. His dead body cuts a lonely figure as the train moves on in the end. People will come on this train, and not know who this man was, making Vincent's death a little tragic.
Fine performances from Cruise and Foxx, sharp, taut direction, catchy tunes and memorable set-pieces make Collateral one of the most satisfying action films to come out of Hollywood in a good long while. Hope we don't have to wait too long until another comes out.