Never Really Convinces

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2005)

It's a dazzling looking film, but Michael Mann's Collateral brings out the nitpicker in me. So many times it doesn't ring true that early on I felt alienated from it all.
The premise is intriguing  Cruise's hit-man 'buys' Jamie Foxx's LA cabbie for the night, roping him into his killing spree. Echoes of the Colin Farrell vehicle Phone Booth, as the victim can't get out of his situation and just has to sweat it out.
For it to work, however, you need to squirm with a sense of Foxx's shame, humiliation and awkwardness as the charismatic hit-man takes control. You should get a horrible feeling in your loins, the shame of feeling your maleness under threat, a stab of impotence. The thriller Breakdown with Jeff Bridges did this well.
But not here. Cruise just doesn't engender that emotion. He doesn't bring that mystery, it's like watching Leo DiCaprio on one of his prestige projects with Scorsese. You're too aware he's trying to be credible. In fairness, I can't think of the right Hollywood actor for this role. Maybe Richard Gere  he has the grey hair for starters, and his best known role involves buying someone for an entire night (Pretty Woman). This could be the dark side of that character, and Gere's done city alienation in American Gigolo. As it stands, Pierce Brosnan could have put in a better turn than Cruise in this role (not necessarily a cheap jibe  check out Pierce in The Matador, later this year, where he's said to excel as a hit-man).
Cruise's character is too garrulous  why is he chatting away to Foxx from the start? No hit-man would do that, unless you're talking Pulp Fiction. It would only work if the hit-man is basically a bit mad, unstable or unpredictable, or sadistically enjoys taunting his captive. But you don't never really sense that.
MILD SPOILER: And why does Foxx make a run for it with Cruise's case when they visit his ailing mom in hospital? Surely that's when the nervous cabbie would be on his bestest behaviour, with a hit-man in the same room? It would make sense if Foxx had basically flipped out or was having some sort of breakdown due to the pressure. Otherwise, it's hardly a rational thing to do...
This could have been a Strangers On A Train type film, and what a shame that Cruise wasn't allowed to have a slightly campy, homoerotic strand to his character  it would give his bonding with Foxx a different dimension. When they resort to the rock soundtrack near the end, it's just an OC type flick to flog the soundtrack. It's a long way from Heat.