Collateral

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2007)

I heard quite a lot about this film when it was at the cinemas, and it being directed by Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans, Heat) intrigued me. Basically cab driver Max (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Jamie Foxx, the same year he won the Oscar for Ray) has lived a mundane life for 12 years in Los Angeles. He gets to know a fare really well, Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) who gives him her card to contact, and soon after he gets another fare who is connected (well, he doesn't know that). Vincent (a great grey-haired and bearded Tom Cruise) is a contact-killer, and is on a mission to kill all involved with a federal grand jury, including key witnesses. He kills all these people in brutal ways, and Max is trying everything to get away or stop him, but not interfere himself. Vincent even forces him to be him to get his information about all his targets when his computer's destroyed. Of course, it is when Max finds out Annie is taking the case, and that she is his last victim that he plucks up the courage to stop Vincent. Also starring Windtalkers' Mark Ruffalo as Fanning, Peter Berg as Richard Weidner, Bruce McGill as Pedrosa, Irma P. Hall as Ida and Patch Adams' Barry Shabaka Henley as Daniel. Filled with fantastic camera-work, editing, and a great car crash sequence, this film is one to watch! It was nominated the Oscar for Best Editing, and it won the BAFTA for Best Cinematography, and it was nominated for Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound and the David Lean Award for Direction. Tom Cruise was number 81 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, and he was number 32 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!