Cruise-n with a Zen hit-man

Rating: 4/10 (24 June 2012)

Originally published on Aug. 5, 2004:
There were high hopes for Tom Cruise's newest film, the Dreamworks release, "Collateral," but despite fine cinematography and a fairly literate script, the enterprise fell just a bit short, in this humble scribbler's opinion.
Fresh off his "Last Samurai" role, Cruise plays out-of-town hit-man, Vincent, in town to whack a few government drug trial witnesses. Somehow, though, he stumbles into the cab of resourceful, yet stuck-in-rut driver, Max (Jamie Fox, "Ali," "On Any Given Sunday," "In Living Color" TV series) for a trip to his first victim.
Once Max sees a body fall onto his hack and then observes Vincent come running back, however, he knows what has happened. Worse, yet, he is forced to drive the killer to his next appointed round.
What takes place over the next few hours is a cat-and-mouse game between the two, with Vincent spouting Zen homilies on taking control of one's life and seizing the day. Meanwhile, Max, who has no backbone and no reason to stand up for himself, is growing more and more confident.
Late in the film, he is even able to stand up to the murderer. He becomes a worthy adversary, and when Vincent targets a federal prosecutor (Jada Pinkett Smith, "Ali," "The Matrix Revolutions") Max met earlier, he goes into action to stop the carnage.
The scene on the LA subway is pretty silly — especially when an almost indestructible Vincent appears on the back of a speeding train, while the final battle seems straight out of "The Gunfight At the O.K. Corral," but it somehow manages to work if one does not think too much about it.
There are some nice individual scenes in this film (directed by Michael Mann, "Heat"), including Vincent wiping out two skinheads who stole Max's wallet; and a great shootout in a nightclub. The picture, though, seems vague much of time and viewers will no doubt question the whole point of the endeavor.
Is it an action/adventure, a crime thriller or a cerebral drama wrapped around a puzzling enigma, as well as a few murders? I, for one, never really figured it out.
It's not a bad film, by any means, it just needs a little more focus and direction.
Other than the leads, only the federal prosecutor has any other significant role, but these are very well-developed nevertheless.
Cruise's Vincent draws from his recent past parts in "Samurai" (flailing martial arts killer), "Magnolia" (smarmy pseudo pyschobabble) and "Jerry MacGuire (with his folksy, aw-shucks demeanor) to form a violent hit-man with amazing deadly physical skills, but with an unbelievable amount of personable charm.
As for Foxx, he does a terrific job as the bitter, frustrated cabbie who harbors the bile and resentment of a failed dream (to own his own limousine service), even deceiving his own mother for years.
Dark, brooding cinematography (Dion Beebe, "Chicago" and Paul Cameron, "Gone in Sixty Seconds"), which captures the seedier, as well as the more attractive parts of Los Angeles, adds to whatever enjoyment one may derive form this fairly depressing and almost desperate motion picture