Tom Cruise as a bad guy? Hell yeah!

Rating: 8/10 (16 August 2004)

**Warning: Spoilers ahead**
This movie surprised me. I mean it REALLY surprised me. I didn't know what to expect from this movie. Collateral shows Tom Cruise in what I believe is his first `bad guy' role and Jamie Foxx in one of his few non-comedy roles. But with its tight writing and direction, and great performances by all actors involved, Collateral is without a doubt one of the best movies of this summer, and the surprise sleeper hit of the year.

The story of Collateral revolves around an assassin named Vincent (played by Cruise) who commandeers a taxi operated by Max (played by Foxx). Vincent forces Max at gunpoint to assist him in assassinating five individuals on his hit list. However, this seemingly simple premise belies an incredibly strong story. If you want non-stop balls-to-walls action, and/or have no patience for movies that `have a lot of talking' then look somewhere else. While there are several scenes of gunplay, the core of this movie deals with the interaction between Vincent and Max.
It is true that, like in most movies, Collateral's most interesting character is the villain. Cruise's portrayal of the character is amazing. As Vincent, Cruise delivers his lines with such ease and confidence, that it's more than worthy of Oscar consideration. Vincent is a person who his incredibly calm considering the profession that he's in. He is also extremely resourceful, as shown when he pretends to be a lawyer telling off Max's boss when he (the boss) wants to take any damages done to the taxi out of Max's paycheck. Vincent also always has something sarcastic (and often funny) say to Max when he begins to criticize what Vincent has done. After Vincent kills of the first person on his list, Max asks why he would kill his victim after only just meeting him. To that, Vincent replies, `What? I should only kill people after I get to know them?'. Vincent then asks Max whether he heard about Rwanda. He goes on to tell Max thousands of people died yet `Did you join Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, or something? No. I off one fat Angelino and you throw a hissy fit.'
Max himself is also an interesting character, and is surprisingly well-played by Jamie Foxx. He tells people who get in his cab about his intentions to own a limo service and drive around famous people, yet at the same time he projects a sense that this is more of a dream than a real plan, and you feel sorry for him. His character is also one that continuously changes throughout the movie. After the first killing, Max gets scared and has no idea how to deal with Vincent. But as soon as he sees an opening, Max jumps on the opportunity to destroy Vincent's suitcase with his work inside. And when Max has to confront a powerful drug lord while posing as Vincent, he has to force himself to become as cool and collected as Vincent himself.
An interesting thing to note about this movie is, just like Michael Man's other movie Heat, Collateral likes to use a lot of the wide shots of the background. In Heat this was used to good effect to give that movie a more `epic' experience. In Collateral, this wide shot technique is used to give the viewer to stronger `feel' for the city of Los Angeles, as a bustling, busy, and warm (in terms of temperature) metropolis.
If Cruise and Foxx continue to make performances like that in Collateral, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they get an academy award. Hell it's entirely possible for them to get nominated for their roles in this movie. With so many special effect blockbusters out there this summer, Collateral bucks the trend by providing a movie that focuses on strong characters and dialogue, and a few unexpected twists, rather than relying on huge explosions. Collateral is one of the MUST SEE movies of this summer, so don't deprive yourself by not checking it out.
I give Collateral a rock-solid 8 out of 10!