Collateral (2004)

Originally Reviewed

Wednesday May 25, 2005

 
I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise or Jamie Foxx; in fact I can count the movies of both these actors that I have seen on one hand. So for not being a big fan I went into Collateral with little hope. The first 10-15 minutes my fears came true, I found the film to be rather dull and uneventful, but deciding to give it a little more time I proceeded on. By the time Vincent (Tom Cruise) and Jamie Foxx (Max) interacted with each other the film really took off and was non-stop edge of your seat action till the very end!

The basic premise of the story is very simple. Jamie Fox (Max), a taxi driver who picks up Tom Cruise (Vincent) who turns out to be a hit man. Max becomes a prisoner in Vincent's killing spree, as he forces Max to drive him around town killing witnesses who could put a local crime boss in prison.

 

Collateral is one of the better crime thrillers I've seen in some time, aside from the first twenty minutes I was glued to the screen, due to the speedy progression of the story and non-stop action. With that said, I do have some complaints. I feel the film actually relied on intense violence to cover up the fact it lacked an in-depth story and a well written script. For example, the repetitious cursing became very old, and is typically a blatant example of a writer who has nothing to contribute anything intelligent to the story, so curse words are automatically inserted so the film has some dialogue and the characters can "express themselves".  Aside from that the acting was very good, Cruise played a psychopath exceptionally well (which probably isn't too hard for him), and Foxx was a worthy co-star.

8/10