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Collateral
Tom's Toothy Grin is On Hiatus

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo, Jada Pinkett Smith, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall
Director: Michael Mann
Screenwriters: Stuart Beattie

Reviewed by Chris Ching

In practically all his movies, Tom Cruise plays a cocky rebel who learns a life lesson and by the final reel emerges humbled and wizened. It's a role he does extremely well, and he's created his own personal movie genre (see Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, Cocktail, The Last Samurai etc.)

The Collateral Cruise is hell and gone from any of that.

In the darkest performance of his career (and no, Interview With The Vampire doesn't count), Tom plays a hitman whose shot at redemption dried up years ago. His character of Vincent is a lost soul whose chosen occupation has drained him of almost all his humanity (take a look at Vincent's colorless hair and complexion). It's a testament to Cruise's skill as an actor that we totally accept him as a nasty son of a bitch with memories of poignant "You complete me" speeches a distant memory.

The movie begins low key as we see a cabbie named Max (Jamie Foxx) prepping for his shift carting people around Los Angeles. His first passenger is a sexy attorney played by Jada Pinkett Smith. Sparks fly and he gets her digits. For an instance, Max is on Cloud 9 - everything is going good.

Enter Vincent.

What seems like just his next fare turns into a nightmare for Max when Vincent is revealed as a hitman who has to make five "stops" before fleeing the city. Max's only option is too drive with the Angel of Death or count off as another of Vincent's victims. After Vincent's first job, the movie's pace quickens to runaway train speed hardly stopping for rest. Director Mann shoots this masterpiece in his trademark operatic cum documentary style that gives Collateral a gritty edge but still creating an LA almost as evocative as New York City in Taxi Driver.

Alongside Cruise's triumph is the stellar performance by Jamie Foxx who since Any Given Sunday has done his own job of circumventing expectations. For a guy who made it big pursing his lips and crossing his eyes as "Ugly Girl' on In Living Career, his career arc is rising like a mother. The interplay between Fox and Cruise is the anchor of this movie, and they hit all the right notes.

So does the movie.

Rating:

(4 out of 4 stars)

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