Collateral - 2004
Collateral is quite simply an entirely unique bit of visual and narrative storytelling, and a singular work by Michael Mann. Shot throughout with a certain digital palette, Mann has captured a completely different Los Angeles nightlife then we are used to seeing. This is only the first clue that he is interested in telling a story which is a far cry from your average hitman thriller.
In fact, if this were the production company's mandate, Mann makes wrong moves at every turn. First, he casts Tom Cruise, in perhaps the ONLY time he has been a villain onscreen (and a gray-haired one at that)! Rather than making him a charming villain we at least somewhat connect with, however, he makes him detached and utterly devoid of feeling. Opposite him, we have Jamie Foxx in his career best year. Still again, is he the brave protagonist who foils the assassin's plan? Not hardly. Certainly not in the first two acts. He's a bumbling idiot who is utterly terrified of the conundrum in which he's unwittingly found himself.
But Mann goes one step further. He mashes the two opposites together and sticks them in the confined space of a cab. I'm not nearly the first to say it, but this "thriller" is actually more of a road movie than anything else. (Check out the quotes from this on IMDb. Memorable, funny, deep at times. Again, I say, road movie). The two men cruise around LA together in the wee hours of the night, and an odd sort of symbiosis forms between them. It's not two buddies like your typical road flick, but it is certainly two men who are transformed. They begin to riff off one another, challenge each other, and become further embedded in the plot together.
Jamie Foxx's character arc is simply unreal in this film. We witness a fantastic subtle reversal, as he slowly gains confidence, and Vincent (Cruise) falters for but a moment. These characters set us up for a story told in five mini acts, one per ordered hit (Ebert first noticed this episodic chronology). And surrounding them are simply incredible scenes. The opening sequence between Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith is just a masterclass in writing. The soundtrack keeps us rolling right along. The Fever nightclub scene (with a hardly recognizable at the time Javier Bardem as the druglord Felix) is just riveting action stuff. I repeat...the way this is all captured on camera is divine. This is the moment when Foxx finally begins to feel his feet underneath him.
The film ends with two powerful scenes of knuckle whitening suspense, and as two bits of foreshadowing dialogue from earlier in the film come to a head, we're FINALLY treated to the thriller showdown we thought we were promised at the outset. The conclusion, like all that has gone before it, is deeply satisfying. This is probably my favorite Jamie Foxx role and a top 5 performance for Cruise. It well earns its 5 stars.
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