I thought you'd be taller

Rating: Null/10 (22 September 2004)

There's a smug advert for Orange mobiles doing the rounds in UK cinemas at the moment. It features an interview with a known star who is proposing his latest project to a bunch of arrogant and ignorant executives. All his initial grand concepts are reduced to a few stupid and mundane clichés by the snickering suits.
I think Mann the director gets round this problem by offering the financiers exactly the simple-minded pitches they can understand and then, when he gets the backing, goes off and does it his way. With the exceptions of 'The Insider' and 'Ali', all of his work has been based on such pulp.
This film is no exception. It has all the requisite items; it relies on ridiculous coincidences, bizarre plot twists and, as always, the police are either totally incompetent or weirdly absent.
But this is a Michael Mann film and it shows. The first Hollywood director to fully embrace the visual possibility of high definition video, his vision of Los Angeles at night allows him to colour his movie with an almost impressionistic hue. He also fills the dialogue between an excellent Jamie Foxx and a suitably (sic) menacing Tom Cruise with notions of existentialism, rather than pap conversations. And, by the way, who said this is a radical change of direction for Tom? 'Magnolia', 'Interview with a Vampire', anyone?
My only gripe is that the film really did lurch into the realms of predictable pyrotechnics in the last 15 minutes, but I'll forgive it that. This film works both as an 'art-house' film since it shows the visual capabilities of the new digital technology and as a straight forward thriller. That's a pretty difficult tightrope to walk these days.
Well, this is a Tom Cruise movie soIn one scene Jamie Foxx has to pretend he is the notorious hit-man to the Drug-lord (Javier Bardem) who had hired him, but never met. 'I thought you'd be taller.' says Javier. If only you knew.