Entertaining But as an L.A. Noir Flick One Essential Ingredient Is Missing

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2004)

Director Michael Mann successfully pulls off an entertaining noir flick set in Los Angeles that gives co-star Tom Cruise his most appealing and sympathetic role since "Eyes Wide Shut." Cruise is Vincent (a Man With No Last name), a contract killer who has worked for years in what he euphemistically calls "the private sector."
Jamie Foxx is cab driver Max, a fellow with big dreams of starting his upscale limo outfit. He takes a pretty woman to her office and they exchange banter - the promise of a relationship is boosted by her giving the cabbie her card. She's an assistant U.S. attorney pulling an all-nighter on a big criminal case. That's all we learn but it's enough to have most viewers pretty sure of what the last scene will offer.
Next Max picks up Vincent. No, Vincent picks up Max and offers him a wad of cash to be his exclusive all-noir chauffeur while he runs errands. Max reluctantly accepts and they head to Vincent's first stop. Enter a dead guy who crashes thunderingly onto Max's cab (but does remarkably little damage).
Max now learns that he's the local guide and ground facilitator for a hit man. As he takes Max from one murderous assignment to the next, a relationship of sorts develops but there's no Stockholm Syndrome here. Max remains true to the values inculcated in him by his beloved mom.
Speaking of Max's mom, there's a diversion to a hospital, demanded by Vincent, so Max won't miss his daily visit to his recovering mother, Ida. Ida, in a short but delightful scene, is played by the wonderful Irma P. Hall. My pleasure was somewhat darkened by wondering if she could only play a bed bound character as I know she hasn't really recovered from her near-fatal Chicago car accident of over a year ago.
Only one cop, Fanning, well played by Mark Ruffalo, begins to piece together the multiple night-time deaths and he realizes the F.B.I., interested in these victims, hasn't made certain proper connections (just why the F.B.I. is concerned with organized crime figures in L.A. when they ought to be investigating USA Patriot Act offenses is never revealed).
The action speeds up as Max increasingly finds a new courage that kindles a drive (pun intended) to thwart Vincent's assignments, especially his last one (now YOU know who the intended last victim is, right?). We're treated to short bursts of Vincent's sociopathic take on life, love, philosophy, economics - he covers all the bases.
Cruise and Foxx make a good acting team but their plasticized portrayals are more the result of the director's derivative vision rather than their own shortcomings. The L.A. of "Collateral" is too pristinely clean at night. Even the club where Vincent launches inspired, multi-weaponed mayhem seems like an okay place to take a first date. What's absolutely missing in this movie is that most essential L.A. noir ingredient - grittiness. It's there in full measure in both "L.A. Confidential" and "Mulholland Drive." Instead "Collateral" is essentially a star vehicle for two fine actors but the story suffers from the constant view of them and not the painfully sharp, dark, sinister corners of a roiling, brooding L.A. that can make a noir film grip an audience.
Not surprisingly, instead of the melodrama produced by fine acting and good dialog, stunt driving and crashes are indispensable to the director's vision.
Near the end Vincent lets loose some real emotion with a plaintive cry to Max, "I do this for a living." That's been apparent since the film's first moments so, perhaps, director Mann has Vincent uttering a too common American complaint: dissatisfaction with a career path that can't be abandoned. Yes, even contract killers may wish they owned a KFC franchise instead of a Glock.
While fun to watch, ultimately there are too many improbabilities in Vincent's night in Lalaland. "Minority Report" seems, in retrospect, more real (but that film as well as this one insures that Cruise can continue to pay his bills).
Fun but a good opportunity for a really gripping film missed.
7/10