CollateralTaxi cabs present so many possibilities for drama. Two strangers share a small, enclosed space for an indeterminant amount of time, both needing something. For the driver, it's typically money, and for the passenger, typically transportation. Assume then that a passenger coopts this agreement under threat of violence, compelling the passenger to drive him from place to place to execute his nefarious scheme. That is the basic premise for Collateral, directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie, where a cabbie named Max (Jamie Foxx) is forced to take professional hitman Vincent (Tom Cruise) on a deadly ride through the streets of Los Angeles at night.
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From his earlier films like Thief and Manhunter, Michael Mann has cultivated a reputation for delivering hard-edged neo-noir crime films that get the adrenaline pumping and exude cool; Collateral is no exception. Even better, it is a film that excels at keeping the action moving without ever feeling forced, almost without ever feeling like it's ill at ease in its oeuvre--much like it's antagonist, the suave yet reptilian Vincent. The Los Angeles of Collateral feels as much like a character in the film as Max or Vincent, as it was to some extent in Mann's preceding L.A. crime movie, Heat. This is a city that operates by night, where--as Vincent suggests--it is a kind of nation unto itself. Collateral is deft at leveraging the taxi driving aspect of the story to afford the plot an easy way of navigating these varied streets and alleys, replete with people and cultures as widely divergent as anywhere else on Earth. Max is a part of this world; a man with a dream of founding his own luxury limo company. It is implied that he formed this idea in response to working as a cabbie for the past twelve years, not the other way around as he tells people. But like many of us, Max allows his dream--his postcard of a tropical island--to help him get through the day without snapping. Vincent is a deliberate antithesis to Max. Max is warm, Vincent is cool--cold, really. Max is poor, Vincent is wealthy. Max has a conscience, and Vincent has none. The interplay between these two diametrically opposed personalities is as thrilling--moreso, I dare say--than all of the action set pieces and thrills that make up Collateral. But Collateral is patient enough to establish Max's personality through subtle ways early on. He's a bit of a neat freak...or perhaps recognizes the inherent filth that comes from being in a cab all day, wiping down his cab at length before setting out. He stops for lunch, and we recognize that he speaks Spanish fluently, which makes sense given his work and the setting. He is a part of this world, he is a part of the people that make up the background of Los Angeles, and Mann is especially effective at explaining this without the need for tiresome exposition. There is a scene early on that becomes crucial later where he transports a woman named Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith) from the airport. She's in a suit, and barking into a cell phone. Most audiences will immediately judge her as "rude", and this gets reinforced when she barks directions at Max later. But this scene is so important and effective at not just educating us on Max's values and personality, but also who Annie really is. They make a light-hearted bet about which route is faster, and Max wins, of course. They have a conversation that is both faintly flirtatious and compassionate, and he learns that she is a Department of Justice attorney who has a big case coming up, and she's afraid of blowing it. He sympathizes with her, even sharing his postcard, getting her business card (and phone number) is return. Max's altruistic gesture speaks volumes, and does more than justify how we get to the end of the film--it incorporates us into seeing Max as more than just an everyman; he is a good man. This is what makes Vincent such a marked departure. He looks like any other well-dressed businessman trying to bend the rules a little by offering to exclusively hire Max all night for six-hundred bucks as his personal driver. He uses his appearance like camouflage, and entices Max with wealth, directly and indirectly. Like many would, Max takes the bait. And once the bodies start to fall, he quickly realizes his terrible mistake.
The first Michael Mann movie I saw was Manhunter, and even though it is often--and not always favorably--compared with The Silence of the Lambs (because it's a Hannibal Lecter movie), I've always been drawn to its dreamy and atmospheric take on the genre, which is all too often driven by cold, procedural plot first. What makes Collateral such a comfortable fit into Mann's body of work is that it manages to pull the magic trick of both embodying the greatest elements of the genre--action, suspense, danger--while avoiding being constrained by them at the same time. There are tried and true action movie moments and plot devices in Collateral--like the undercover cop named Ray Fanning (Mark Ruffalo), who catches the scent that not all is as it seems with the death of his informant, nor Max's suspected role as the assassin by his superiors. There is also an amazing gunfight that follows in a night club which is an action set piece worthy of being considered one of the best in the genre. But for audiences looking for even more, there are the psychological mind games Vincent plays with Max, and the unlikely understanding that Max manages to foster with his captor. Mann puts Cruise's natural charisma to its fullest in this film, which is just about the only way that a smooth operator like Vincent could get away with being so sinister simultaneously. Vincent comments about his dislike of Los Angeles by telling Max about a man who died on a subway, and rode around for hours before anyone even noticed. This is not the Los Angeles Max has been shown to be a part of, but it is the cold, hard city nonetheless--what the city means for Vincent. Both men see the city from different perspectives, and that informs their respective worldviews. Vincent also shares another story with Max--that he was abused as a child. He plays it off as a joke, but was it? The past of this enigmatic assassin is always in question, leaving us to wonder if thereis something that might (possibly) make us "sympathetic" to him? This is a common thread in Mann's films, from Manhunter to Heat and more. "Hero" and "villain" are words we use to quantify people on different sides of the law. But in keeping with these earlier movies, there's more at play than just these simple, "black and white" attitudes about life, morality, and justice. Some of this attitude deteriorates at the film's climax, which turns into a more predictable game of cat-and-mouse, but not enough to make us forget just how much drama can unfold in one cab ride, and just how much our horizons can broaden when we open our eyes to the world around us.
Recommended for: Fans of an adrenaline-fueled action film that is far deeper than most, courtesy of its fine pedigree of talent. Collateral is a great introduction to audiences looking to explore Michael Mann's movies, but even without that, it is a thrilling crime movie with a psychological dimension that gives it depth nonetheless.
The first Michael Mann movie I saw was Manhunter, and even though it is often--and not always favorably--compared with The Silence of the Lambs (because it's a Hannibal Lecter movie), I've always been drawn to its dreamy and atmospheric take on the genre, which is all too often driven by cold, procedural plot first. What makes Collateral such a comfortable fit into Mann's body of work is that it manages to pull the magic trick of both embodying the greatest elements of the genre--action, suspense, danger--while avoiding being constrained by them at the same time. There are tried and true action movie moments and plot devices in Collateral--like the undercover cop named Ray Fanning (Mark Ruffalo), who catches the scent that not all is as it seems with the death of his informant, nor Max's suspected role as the assassin by his superiors. There is also an amazing gunfight that follows in a night club which is an action set piece worthy of being considered one of the best in the genre. But for audiences looking for even more, there are the psychological mind games Vincent plays with Max, and the unlikely understanding that Max manages to foster with his captor. Mann puts Cruise's natural charisma to its fullest in this film, which is just about the only way that a smooth operator like Vincent could get away with being so sinister simultaneously. Vincent comments about his dislike of Los Angeles by telling Max about a man who died on a subway, and rode around for hours before anyone even noticed. This is not the Los Angeles Max has been shown to be a part of, but it is the cold, hard city nonetheless--what the city means for Vincent. Both men see the city from different perspectives, and that informs their respective worldviews. Vincent also shares another story with Max--that he was abused as a child. He plays it off as a joke, but was it? The past of this enigmatic assassin is always in question, leaving us to wonder if thereis something that might (possibly) make us "sympathetic" to him? This is a common thread in Mann's films, from Manhunter to Heat and more. "Hero" and "villain" are words we use to quantify people on different sides of the law. But in keeping with these earlier movies, there's more at play than just these simple, "black and white" attitudes about life, morality, and justice. Some of this attitude deteriorates at the film's climax, which turns into a more predictable game of cat-and-mouse, but not enough to make us forget just how much drama can unfold in one cab ride, and just how much our horizons can broaden when we open our eyes to the world around us.
Recommended for: Fans of an adrenaline-fueled action film that is far deeper than most, courtesy of its fine pedigree of talent. Collateral is a great introduction to audiences looking to explore Michael Mann's movies, but even without that, it is a thrilling crime movie with a psychological dimension that gives it depth nonetheless.