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Collateral (2004)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
10/21, 12/21
10/21:
It's hard not to be entertained by a Michael Mann movie which is always shot on location.
Having seen Miami Vice first with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, I was a bit apprehensive about Collateral, but
my fears were unfounded. It's a super entertaining, non-stop thriller that's in the mold of
The Terminator with Club
Fever substituting for Tech-Noir. There's even an interesting piece of trivia about Miles Davis.
Instead of a machine, Tom Cruise plays a mission-driven contract killer who's a human being but is lethal all the same.
Jamie Foxx may have been Oscar-nominated, but it's his co-star who deserves it more. The truth is: Tom Cruise is the
show and steals every single scene. I love his radical look. His gun-handling is unbelievable. The best
part is the ensuing action after he asked, "That my briefcase?" While chasing after Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith, Tom Cruise
actually fell down to the floor when his foot slipped off the office chair.
I can tell Tom Cruise put in a lot of work into his character; it's too bad that I don't know the rest of the details that made
him what he is. Make no mistake: he's a psychopath. Something did happen that night which caused him to unravel a bit
by showing some care for the cabbie driver after getting know to him a bit. Had Vincent not done that, the mission would have been
taken care of. Max has a coming-of-age experience by going through the ordeal with Vincent; he'll never be the same again.
Hence, I'll say that Vincent ironically had a positive impact on him.
With the exception of the Club Fever scene, the choice of video quality is interesting, which is what I always see in
low-grade foreign films, because Michael Mann tends to go with the best to achieve his vision. After a while, it starts to make
sense as he wants to keep the action real. In many ways, Collateral is the Miami Vice of Los Angeles. The reason
is the utilization of the Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera which is a first for big-budget pictures. It'll be
repeated for Miami Vice but with poor results.
How terrific is Mann involving a few stereotypical cops who are quickly dispatched and the movie strolls along without
them. Mark Ruffalo does a good job, regardless. Jada Pinkett Smith is fine but wears
too much makeup. I didn't realize that Javier Bardem was Felix until the ending screen credits. Reviving his role of the
Transporter for a brief moment, Jason Statham makes a cameo appearance at the airport as he and Tom Cruise exchange briefcases.
All in all, Collateral is an all-around impressive movie that's technically well-made.
10/21:
Dropping my rating of '9' to '7', Collateral is still a well-made movie but runs too long with bothersome cheap video
quality.
The wrong person was Oscar-nominated as it should've gone to Tom Cruise for making the film go. It's fascinating how
heavily Mark Ruffalo and Bruce McGill were used yet they got abruptly discarded which reminds me of what happened to Janet Leigh
and Martin Balsam in Psycho.
All in all, Collateral is a fine film.