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List Price: $12.98 | | Label: Dreamworks Video
Salesrank: 1695
Released: December 14, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.96 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in Ali and his title-role showcase in Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series Robbery Homicide Division). Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax. --Jeff Shannon
Collateral (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
LA Plays Itself 
2008-08-31 - Tom Cruise got a lot of favorable press at the time of this film's release for playing an unredeemed and unredeemable killer. He is good, to be sure. You won't quickly forget his steely, relentless hitman. He's like demon from an icy hell. Still, while not exactly a one-note performance, he takes a back seat to Jamie Foxx (literally AND figuratively) in this taut thriller. Foxx, of course, has the advantage of portraying a Mensch, not a psychopath. You feel for him every moment he is in the clutches of Cruise's madman. And just when you think he might get out, he always gets sucked back in. It is as nightmarish a scenario as any horror film.
Even the predictable elements (like the fact that Jada Pinckett Smith's character will somehow wind up getting embroiled in the mayhem) are fraught with twists and turns. Her involvement ups the ante for Foxx's taxi driver hero Max. He has already proven himself more resourceful and resilient than viewers might have guessed at first. By the end of the film, Max proves himself more than the killer's equal, matching him manoeuvre for manoeuvre.
At the film's beginning, Max is revealed as a cab driver who knows Los Angeles like the proverbial back of his hand. He can tell you exactly how long it will take to get from one point to another in that sprawling city. Affable and modest about his talents, he nonetheless conveys quite early on that, in the contest of wills with this murderous outsider, he will prove to have home turf advantage.
And what a home turf it is. As many have stated, LA by night is as much a character in the film as the two principles. It's seamy glamour has seldom been better portrayed. Contemporary Los Angeles takes on an almost surreal, foreboding aura. It's like BLADE RUNNER, without the sci-fi elements. That creepy. And that good.
Cruise performs a carefully crafted study in his character. 
2008-08-29 - The first 3/4 of the movie as stated by others is very very good, the final chapter is nothing we haven't seen before but look past that and from start to finish watch Cruise and his portrayal of his character.
Cruise's performance and depth is fantastic. The amount of study he has given his role is obvious, and by far the most intriguing character in the film is Cruise.
The movie itself is shot very well, recent action movies are so jerky and badly shot that either you get a headache, want to throw up, or it's so dark you can't tell who is who or what is happening.
Do You Have Collateral?
2008-08-24 - Max, the cab driver, cannot understand why Vincent does not
feel guilt, or remorse, for killing the people he kills. A
conversation begins. After a while, Vincent sounds less like
an assassin, and more like a soldier: Vincent talks like a
US soldier serving in Iraq might talk, rationalizing the
deaths of people he has never met, never known: The US
government has likely caused the deaths of millions of arabs
(mostly male), while "suffering" a few thousand casualties
over a few years of bombing civilian populations, and a
ground war.
Vincent tells Max, as they drive through Los Angeles, that
they live in the world's largest economy, and are in a city
with 72 million people, who do not talk to each other. Near
the end of the film you see a woman in a mostly empty
building. This movie evokes a feeling of desolation.
Dying and killing is not team sport, it is team warfare. And
so a prevailing question, left unanswered is, Who is Vincent
working for? While Vincent seems willing to kill somebody he
does not know, Max seems willing to save somebody he does not
know. Some of the cops do not seem interested in capturing
the killer, to the point of aiding him. Who feels a "need
for speed", and why?
The lawyer is an interesting character. Near the beginning
of the film, Max asks her what she is afraid of. She does
not say that what worries her is the possibility of sending
an innocent man to prison. But instead, she says she is
afraid of losing a case, afraid of failing to impress her
employer. Is she that cold, or that naive? Does Max see a
person who does not care about others, or does he see
somebody who does not believe a police officer would arrest
an innocent person? But from her perspective, she might be
wondering, Why is he being nice to me? If he will give me
a ride for free, would he do that for somebody else?
Regardless, they seem to like each other.
Watching this movie, it was difficult to figure out who the
bad guy was, Max, Vincent, or the lawyer, for they all seemed
to be capable of acts of righteousness. You decide for
yourself what is right or wrong, but the question is, Will you
decide correctly? And if not, do you have collateral? How
will you sleep at night if you hurt somebody? This movie is
primarily about ethics and morality. For example, some of the
police officers do not seem to be interested in stopping
Vincent, to the point of aiding him. But why?
Vincent and Max come across as Christians debating a question,
What to do about the world? Should they give them a chance to
repent, while children are being abused, ot men are tortured
to death by other men, or should Vincent and Max, "Take out
the garbage". Shades of Hamlet: Is it better to be Max, or
Vincent? That is the question. For Max "suffers the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune" while Vincent takes "up arms
against a sea of troubles". Neither a victim, nor a victimizer
be.
Their actions do not betray their thoughts or emotions, only
the words they speak, and the voice with which they speak them,
give you a clue as to what reason they in their hearts. (Do not
some define others incorrectly by considering actions rather
than by establishing intent?) Max, Vincent, and the lawyer,
assume facts to be true, or they know some facts to be true. And
they are logical, but they arrive at conclusions based upon
their assumptions, using not just logic, but emotion too. In one
scene, Vincent tells Max to consider the stars, and the galaxies,
and how insignificant we are in comparison, and then asks him, Do
you think anybody is watching? Science and theology is a curious
mix, of reason and emotion. Faith and reason is a quest is for
both truth and love.
If you knew you might die in the immediate future, you might
ask yourself, Do I have life insurance? Do I have collateral?
Caveat: When I saw this movie on tv, there was no profanity, and
the movie was enjoyable. But seeing it on dvd, you could hear
the profane words. That said, if you say "green house" you draw
attention to the colour of the house, and away from the house
itself. And you might yourself ignore other characteristics of
the house, for you are focusing on its colour. And so, my advice
is, ignore the profanity, and focus on the rest of the dialogue,
for it is the dialogue, and not so much the action, that makes
this movie special. It is the dialogue between the main characters
that carries this movie, "the soft melody behind the notes".
Fantastic gun battles brought to you by Vincent
2008-08-23 - Tom Cruise (Vincent) has complete control of his handguns in this movie. He blows away all his "targets" with style and panache. Well, he should. He's an extremely well-trained assassin, on a "night on the town" picking his victims from his notebook computer; going from place to place with Jamie Foxx as his unsolicited cab driver(?), Max. Ahhh...Vincent shoots people and then, shoots more people. I really loved the way he put down the scumbag punks in the alley. HK USP, Glock, HK MP4, Beretta, Sig-Sauer, Uzi? Just some of the guns used in this mayhem-for-hire movie. Jada Pinkett-Smith is one of his "targets."
Man of Action meets Man of Thinking - Excellent Movie
2008-06-22 - This movie is about a man of action who meets a man of thinking and what happens when the two meet and interact with each other and thus learn from and change each other. It is my belief that the movie shows the psychological make-up of each person and how this produces collateral effects - in the structure and make-up of their own lives, as well as in each character's interactions with others.
The character played by Jamie Foxx is all thought and no action. This is impacting his life, the life of the people he comes into contact with on the streets of LA, and his relationship with his family (grandmother). He analyzes everything and never acts. He is paralyzed by his analysis (like the saying analysis paralysis). He doesn't take action.
The character played by Tom Cruise is all action and no thinking. He hasn't thought about the impact his job is having on other people. He doesn't care. He just executes his assigned missions. He doesn't even assign his own missions, or stated differently, he doesn't even direct his own life - he just takes orders. He is like a robot. He is like a machine and not a thinking human. He just acts. He hasn't really even thought about what he is doing with his life. He doesn't care. He doesn't think.
When the two meet, they collide. They change each other. This change in each other changes other people as well. The meeting and interaction of Tom Cruise's character with Jamie Foxx's character produces "collateral effects" and hence the title of the movie.
In the end, they each become both men of action and men of thought. For one character, he moves on with his life with his new psychological make-up (a mix of both thought and action), but for the other character, his new mix of thought and action and his new realization of his life is too late.
This movie is an excellent psychological thriller. The cinematography is unique and powerful. The direction and the writing - excellent as well.
I also love the soundtrack.
This is another brilliant and excellent work by Michael Mann.
