by Laurie Barron

Created on: January 29, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

"It started like any other night."

Intro

For those of you familiar with Michael Mann through his work on the 1995 crime thriller "Heat", you'll know he's a director who knows how to handle top-quality actors and get the best out of them in conjunction with a tense, tightly written script.

Collateral is more of the same, with Tom Cruise adopting the role of a villain for the first time in a long time, if ever and Jamie Foxx putting in an outstanding performance.

Story

Jamie Foxx plays Max, an LA cab-driver who likes the quiet night shifts and dreams of starting a limo company under bluer skies.

After dropping off the girl of his dreams and recieving a phone-number in return, Max picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise), a business man in town for one night to close a couple of big deals.

Hiring Max's cab for the night, Vincent is ferried to the location of his first deal and leaves Max waiting below in the alley. But when a body falls onto the roof of his cab, it becomes clear to Max that Vincent might not be all he seems. Revealed as a contract-killer, Vincent draws down on Max and forces him back into the cab.

Now a hostage, Max is forced to transport Vincent from one hit to another as the emotionless assassin attempts to complete all 5 of his scheduled killings for the night.

However, when Vincent's final target turns out to be Max's dream girl and earlier fare he decides it's time to stop living in a fantasy world of desert islands and strech-limos and show Vincent exactly what an average man is capable of when in mortal danger.

There are a crap-load of assassin thrillers out there, but by cutting out any non-essential sub-plots and concentrating on a bare-bones tale of the events of a single night in LA, "Collateral", stays tensely effective and riveting throughout.

8.5/10

Action

Cruise takes down his intended targets with ruthless efficiency, putting his USP pistol to devastating use as he lays down a quick-double tap to anything stupid enough to get in his way.
Cruise's Vincent remains ice-cool through-out and the shoot-outs, although infrequent are as tense at the storyline and just as effective too.

7/10

Acting

Cruise and Foxx both throw down some interesting performances as both ruthless killer and unassuming cabbie. Foxx is now established as a great character actor.
It's also great to see Cruise taking on the role of a villain, which he does with suitable callousness.

9/10

Overall

"Collateral" is a brutally effective thriller which makes no apologies for it's bare-bones story which is at times scarily intense.

8.2/10

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