Not That Bad ... But Not for Mann

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2005)

The nature of criteria Michael Mann uses to choose scripts for his projects in general seems to be just as enigmatic as the essence of things which might have taken Jamie Foxx's character 12 years to be pulled together on this particular occasion. After "Heat", one of the finest and most influential features of the 90s, he came up with "The Insider" and "Ali". Both these movies probably fail to reach the same level of grace and emotional profundity as their predecessor but still are based on sensible scripts and deliver meaningful messages.
But now we bump into "Collateral" - not that bad a movie in a way, but one with shortcomings that can hardly be fully redeemed by its strengths. And as we plunge into it we have to embark upon this roller-coaster ride - from indisputable "ups" of Mann's directing to unavoidable "downs" of this time overtly poorly developed screenplay. The only thing that works out steadily throughout the movie are performances. Michael Mann always surprises his audience with what he can extract from his cast. "Collateral" also happens to possess several unforgettable portraits - Javier Bardem as a crime baron for one. But it's naturally Cruise and Foxx who do the main job. Cruise, whose character is almost totally deprived of any emotional dimension or development save a strong bias to declaiming quasi-existentialist passages and seriously reconsidered since being a sports agent attitude to jazz, manages to emanate menace as perfect as his icy looks even in general shots from behind. Foxx is also quite adequate as an ordinary man under extraordinary pressure - to tell the truth, not a huge surprise after "Any Given Sunday".
Unfortunately, all the rest doesn't seem to be maintained at the same level. And the least satisfactory scene comes at the end of the movie. It's not just that in terms of its setup and resolution this scene is practically a duplicate of the final shoot-out from some fairly recent flick with two major stars involved, it also contains blunders like, for instance, firing an entire clip at close range and hitting nothing but air - probably one more divine intervention? or another incarnation of agent Smith, maybe?
So, despite this movie can certainly be considered a pretty solid action entertainment marked with a touch of neo-noir and some experiments in cinematography, it's still very far from a kind of revelation that could be, should be and, as a matter of fact, has been expected from Michael Mann. Who can only be encouraged to resume applying his indubitable proficiency to ideas and scripts that actually deserve it. Otherwise, one day you are old and what? Did not happen?