"Hey homie...Is that my briefcase?"

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2006)

The best of thrillers so far in the beginning of this 21st century. Both leads Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx put in all their moxie into these roles and the result are velvet-smooth performances. Director Michael Mann elected to use high-definition for this because hi-def picks up the lights in the L.A. cityscape at night and provides a crisp, contrasting image (which it does the polar opposite to with daytime photography). The dialogue is taut and loose, and NEVER boring. Even when Vincent (Cruise) points out to Max (Foxx) that "driving a cab for 12 years isn't temporary" when Max explains his dream to him about opening up his own limousine service, he illustrates that point to where the audience would agree and would be unable to fully hate him.
The premise is simple, although not realistic. But because it sounds/seems so outrageous, I could actually see someone in Vincent's position resorting to this technique temporarily, though. Vincent is a hired gun who needs to dispatch 5 material witnesses to a federal drug trial in one night. One out of the five works for the U.S. Attourney General's office (Jada Pinkett-Smith). Foxx is a cab driver who has her for his fare just before meeting up with Cruise, and is unaware that she's on his hit-list. Cruise uses public transportation as a ruse to complete his mission rather than having to worry about getaway car-descriptions, license plate numbers, etc. After the first hit, Max wants out (Vincent has bribed him already to help him "close some deals") even though he has no choice but to play ball for his life. He uses his charisma to get them to point A to points B, C, D, and so on. After Foxx impulsively hucks over Cruise's briefcase full of files/ data/money, Cruise has Foxx take them to a seedy nightclub in East L.A. to retrieve what was lost through a computer chip. Felix (played by an unrecognizable Javier Bardeem and dons a gray suit and white shirt just like Cruise does) is furious, and has Foxx (whom he thinks is Vincent) followed by his goons. It's a chase from that point on and Cruise never seems to lose it until towards the end by reassuring himself as he screams to Foxx that he does this kind of thing for a living.
This would of received a higher rating from me had they allowed Tom Cruise's character to live. Seriously. Like he gets away with it, and Max starts his limo company and there's a moral in their amorality. There is a lot of philosophy to it in regards to dreams and ambition, and points of view about death and murder. So an ending like that would be, to me, quite fitting. But it was still well-done, and you know that Jamie Foxx's character walks away from this at the end with just a little more purpose and urgency in his ambition.
I can even see him playing Morgan Freeman's "Shawshank Redemption" quote over in his head: "Get busy living, or get busy dying..."