film noir directed by Michael Mann

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2011)

"Collateral" is a very exciting noir starring Tom Cruise with either his new chin or his new nose, and Jamie Foxx. Foxx plays an ambitious, likable cab driver, Max, who picks up a hit-man named Vincent (Cruise) as a fare. He and his taxi are taken hostage as the hit-man drives from place to place killing Federal witnesses for a drug lord named Felix (Javier Bardem).
The film is loaded with action and suspense. Cruise is perfect in the role of the hit-man. I have never really "bought" his acting. It always seems very external to me. It works well for this role because the killer is a cold man who's just doing a job.
Jamie Foxx isn't the world's greatest actor, but he holds his own as a cabdriver who refers to "the sociopath in my backseat" at one point.
I went along with everything in the film until the very end. I don't understand why Max and Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) didn't just stop the elevator between floors and sound the elevator alarm. Of course, if they had, we wouldn't have been treated to some very suspenseful moments, but I admit it bothered me.
Otherwise an excellent film.