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Collateral is a 2004 crime/thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie.
The film is notable for the rare villainous role that Tom Cruise plays. There was substantial praise for the performance of Jamie Foxx, including a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
The movie takes place in Los Angeles though the original screenplay set the story in New York City. Collateral is also the first major motion picture to be shot with the Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera. In an HBO movie review, director Michael Mann stated that the movie takes place on the night of January 24 to 25, 2004 from 6:30 PM to 5:40 AM.
Plot
Cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) drives U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith) to work. During the drive, she tells him about an upcoming case she's prosecuting and he tells her about his dream of owning his own limousine service. When they arrive at the Justice Department building, Annie leaves him her business card. Moments later, Max picks up a man named Vincent (Tom Cruise), who was seen earlier exchanging a briefcase with a stranger (Jason Statham) at Los Angeles International Airport.
Vincent directs him to a tenement building, and impressed with Max's efficiency, asks him to be his personal chauffeur for his remaining stops. Max reluctantly agrees when Vincent offers to pay him double his normal nightly profit. Vincent instructs him to park in an adjacent alley while he enters the building. Minutes later, a body drops onto the cab, cracking the windshield and propelling Max out of the cab. He realizes Vincent killed the man. Unable to escape, he is forced to help Vincent put the body in the trunk of the cab.
Vincent reveals that he is a hitman, and that he is in Los Angeles to murder five people before departing in the morning. Originally hoping to keep his occupation a secret, Vincent forces Max to drive him to his other destinations. Upon reaching the second target, Vincent ties Max to the steering wheel of the cab in order to make sure he doesn't run away while Vincent makes the second kill. While alone, Max tries to arouse the attention of passers by in order to free him, but the people that walk up to the cab turn out to be street thugs, and steal Max's wallet and Vincent's briefcase. As they walk away, Vincent appears and asks for the briefcase back. The thugs refuse, and then attempt to rob Vincent, who knocks one thug's gun and performs the Mozambique Drill, shooting both thugs twice in the chest and once in the head.
The third victim is a jazz musician (Barry Shabaka Henley) who owns a jazz bar. Vincent tells Max that he has a few minutes, and that he's a jazz fan. At the bar he invites the owner for a drink with himself and Max. After the club closes and the last waitress is busy in the kitchen, Vincent reveals to the owner the purpose of his visit, but offers to spare his life if he can answer a question correctly: "where did Miles Davis learn music?" (after a previous anecdote from the owner about his experiences in his youth of playing with Miles). The owner replies with an answer he believes is correct, but Vincent shoots him several times in the head using a suppressed handgun, and gives a different answer to his question.
Before locating the fourth victim, Max receives a call on the taxi dispatch to visit his hospitalized mother, Ida (Irma P. Hall), who has been inquiring about him. His visits are routine and Vincent is anxious that he does not break them or it might raise questions. He accompanies Max to the visit and pleasantly converses with Ida, allowing Max the opportunity to steal Vincent's briefcase and hurl it onto the nearby freeway, destroying the details on Vincent's next hits. Instead of killing Max, Vincent sends him into a Mexican club owned by Felix (Javier Bardem), the man who hired Vincent, ordering Max to impersonate him and acquire a backup flash drive containing the information for the last two targets.
Max meets Felix and acquires the flash drive. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police Detective Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) discovers a connection between Vincent's three victims, reporting this information to the FBI agents, lead by Pedrosa (Bruce McGill), doing surveillance on Felix's nightclub, who identify the deceased as witnesses for a trial against Felix beginning the next day. In an attempt to rescue the remaining witnesses, the FBI assembles a SWAT team and travels to a Korean night club, where Vincent and Max sneak inside. The FBI and Vincent converge on the witness simultaneously, igniting a fierce gunfight that disables the SWAT team and throws the crowded club into a panic, allowing Vincent to kill the fourth witness and his bodyguards and disappear. Detective Fanning, who followed the team into the nightclub, rescues Max and drags him outside where he is shot by Vincent, who beckons Max back into his cab.
Following their hasty getaway, Max and Vincent get into a heated personal argument, with Max calling Vincent a sociopath and Vincent retaliating with comments about Max's lack of initiative. Max deliberately crashes and flips the cab in the middle of the street. With distant police sirens approaching, Vincent abandons Max and runs into the city. The arriving officer discovers the first victim in Max’s trunk and prepares to arrest Max, who complies until he notices the face of the fifth intended victim on his computer: it is Annie, the prosecutor he picked up earlier.
Spotting the handgun Vincent left behind, Max overpowers the policeman and cuffs him to the flipped cab before running toward Annie's office building, where he discovers the building security guard is dead and his handgun is missing. He reaches Annie on a stolen cell phone and warns her about Vincent's approach. Max enters the building and stops the assassination attempt by shooting at Vincent, grazing his face; he then flees with Annie to the Metrorail station under the building. With the guard's handgun, an angry Vincent follows and corners them in an empty rail car. Vincent and Max fire at each other through a closed door, with Max escaping injury by stepping to the side as the rail car's lights flicked off, and shooting through the glass, fatally wounding Vincent who had used his routine manner of killing and attempted to perform the Mozambique drill on Max through the door, missing. Dropping his gun and collapsing into a seat, Vincent waits for death as Max and Annie silently look on. Vincent sardonically asks Max if anybody will notice he has died, echoing an earlier story of Vincent's about a man who died on the MTA and sat undiscovered by LA commuters for hours. Max and Annie get off the train at the next station while the train continues toward Long Beach with dawn breaking, and with a now dead Vincent sitting slumped in his seat.
Production
Michael Mann chose to use the Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera to film many of the scenes of Collateral, the first such use in a major motion picture. There are many scenes of the movie where the use of the high-definition is evident - especially in scenes where the landscape or skyline of Los Angeles is visible in the background, but also during many of the nighttime scenes, where the high-definition is able to bring out more details in a dark, colorless scene. Mann would employ the same camera for the filming of Miami Vice.[2]
Themes
In the film's DVD commentary, Michael Mann said that the general theme of Collateral is the clashing of ideals behind the two main characters. Vincent lives his life by improvisation and living in the moment. He often mentions his reverence for constant change and making things up as he goes along. In contrast, Max has been driving cabs for twelve years because he believes that everything he does must be meticulously planned, especially the "Island Limos" company he wishes to set up.
Reception
The film received positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 213 reviews.[3] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 71 out of 100, based on 41 reviews.[4]
The film opened August 6, 2004 in 3,188 theaters in the United States and Canada and grossed $24.7 million its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office.[5] It remained in theaters for 14 weeks and eventually grossed $101 million in the United States and Canada. In other countries it grossed a total of $116.7 million, for a total worldwide gross of $217.7 million.[6]
Richard Roeper placed Collateral as his 10th favorite movie of 2004. The film was voted as the 9th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".[7]
Awards and nominations
2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
- Won - Top Box Office Film — James Newton Howard, Antonio Pinto
2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)
- Nominated - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role — Jamie Foxx
- Nominated - Best Editing — Jim Miller, Paul Rubell
2005 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
- Nominated - Best Actor (Film) — Tom Cruise
- Nominated - Best Director — Michael Mann
- Nominated - Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
- Nominated - Best Writing — Stuart Beattie
2005 American Society of Cinematographers
- Nominated - Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases — Dion Beebe, Paul Cameron
2005 Art Directors Guild
- Nominated - Feature Film - Contemporary Film — David Wasco, Daniel T. Dorrance, Aran Mann, Gerald Sullivan, Christopher Tandon
2005 BAFTA Film Awards
- Won - Best Cinematography — Dion Beebe, Paul Cameron
- Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role — Jamie Foxx
- Nominated - David Lean Award for Direction — Michael Mann
- Nominated - Best Editing — Jim Miller, Paul Rubell
- Nominated - Best Screenplay (Original) — Stuart Beattie
- Nominated - Best Sound — Elliott Koretz, Lee Orloff, Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga
2005 Black Reel Awards
- Won - Best Supporting Actor — Jamie Foxx
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actress — Jada Pinkett Smith
2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actor — Jamie Foxx
- Nominated - Best Picture
2005 Golden Globe Awards
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Jamie Foxx
Soundtrack
The Collateral soundtrack was released on August 3, 2004 by Hip-O Records.
- "Briefcase" by Tom Rothrock
- "The Seed (2.0) [Extended Radio Edit]" by The Roots Feat. Cody Chesnutt
- "Hands of Time" by Groove Armada
- "Guero Canelo" by Calexico
- "Rollin' Crumblin'" by Tom Rothrock
- "Max Steals Briefcase" by James Newton Howard
- "Destino De Abril" by Green Car Motel
- "Shadow on the Sun" by Audioslave
- "Island Limos" by James Newton Howard
- "Spanish Key" by Miles Davis
- "Air" by Klazz Brothers Feat. Cuba Percussion
- "Ready Steady Go (Korean Style)" by Paul Oakenfold
- "Car Crash" by Antonio Pinto
- "Vincent Hops Train" by James Newton Howard
- "Finale" by James Newton Howard
- "Requiem" by Antonio Pinto
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A unique, intelligent and classy flick from the man behind Heat
Michael Mann's Collateral sets up its two principal characters
dtgonehome from United States - 7 June 2009brilliantly. The first of these is Vincent, played by Tom Cruise in one
of his rare villainous roles. Here he's a hit-man who's arrived in Los
Angeles, and mysteriously exchanges briefcases with the guy from the
Transporter movies, played none other than Jason Statham himself. For a
second we think this is some sort of cheap, advertising stint that's
been inserted into Collateral, but chances are it isn't. It's probably
just an inside-joke.I say that because Collateral is filled with many humorous scenes, ones
where we chuckle and laugh at in-jokes and humorous references to other
works. There's a certain air of dark humour floating around the film,
and it sits in stark contrast to the real atmosphere and tone of
Collateral: a dark, brooding, violent, cold and thrilling ride through
Los Angeles, where we follow the trail of destruction and havoc left by
Vincent as he meets his 'clients' for the night across the city.For transportation, Vincent does not have a flashy Lamborghini,
Ferrari, Porsche Jaguar or anything similar, like a typical suave
hit-man may possess. Instead he prefers to use a yellow taxi cab to get
around the sprawling metropolis. Not his own, though, but Max's (Jamie
Foxx) taxi. Foxx puts on one of his finest performances as the taxi
driver whose life is turned upside down by Vincent, as he's coerced by
the cold hit-man to be his 'driver' for the night. Vincent forces Max
at gunpoint to drive him to the various locations of the people he
needs to kill, and in the process establishes an awkward relationship
between the two. It's fascinating to watch the two interact, as they
eventually become arch-enemies by the end of the movie.Max is introduced immediately after the scene with Statham rudely
crashing the movie, and he's introduced as the mellow, laid-back,
kind-hearted and down-to-earth guy. Next thing you know Felix becomes
Max's next 'customer', and soon after that Felix pulls out his gun and
reveals to both Max and the audience who he really is. Foxx plays the
terrified, confused and frightened innocent cabbie absolutely
perfectly, capturing these very emotions with no error; on the other
hand, Cruise plays the cold, heartless, violent and emotionally-devoid
hit-man also with utter perfection, and his performance in Collateral
affirms he's not just a typical action hero, but a worthy villain too.
These two characters, who are pretty much the only characters who have
over five minutes of screen-time, juxtapose each other extremely, but
somehow there's chemistry notable in all of the scenes they share –
which is practically the entire movie.There are other characters, but they're so minor and so unsubstantial
that they're practically just catalysts, or even McGuffins so that the
story between Max and Felix can continue to its zenith. These secondary
characters are all part of dozens of other subplots complementing the
main feature, and even though a majority of these are insignificant,
defunct and so much less interesting than the main plot line, they
still serve their purpose. Collateral's story is indeed a rich one,
filled with intricacies and complexities that make it unique; it's also
riddled with themes which add to the overall 'feel' of the film,
including the much-forgotten theme of coincidence which is treated here
superbly.And speaking of 'feel', Collateral possesses an atmosphere so brooding,
so noticeable and appropriate that it makes the whole viewing
experience one to savour. Shot on High-Definition camera, director
Michael Mann captures the sights of Los Angeles and their inhabitants
sublimely. It's both vivid and dark at the same time, and the visuals
are indeed worthy of note. Mann shows in Collateral that he's a veteran
of the crime genre, and although this isn't as great as his masterwork,
Heat, also pertaining to said genre, it's still a fine film at that.
Flawed, but fine.What exactly is wrong with Collateral? What prevents it from attaining
that elusive perfect score? Well along with the numerous and sometimes
contrived subplots mentioned earlier, Foxx's character of Max is one
that is troubled, both in the film and out of it. At a sudden point in
time during the movie's events, Max suddenly becomes a totally
different character, resembling the cold heartless killer that is Felix
– he becomes an amateur version of him. Whether it's due to Felix's
personality rubbing off on Max, regardless the character development
and depth of the characters is flawed. And then there's the schmaltzy,
cheesy and predictable Hollywood ending to the otherwise authentic
film, which for the most part managed to resist becoming a
stock-standard movie. Yes, Collateral does possess problems which mire
the movie, but in the end these problems are overweighed significantly
by the good things the film offers.Which, I've mentioned already – the superb establishment of characters,
the characters themselves, Mann's exemplary direction, the refined
script and so on. Collateral, if not a masterpiece that it potentially
could've been, is still great; it's sharply-made, it's got a unique
story, it's superbly acted and has a perfect feel and atmosphere to it,
suiting the gritty, violent and dark world of crime with hardly any
discrepancies. It's a prime example of a refined Hollywood action
flick, and in contrast with the mindless, moronic and dim-witted action
blockbusters being churned out nowadays, this is the type of movie I
like.
Dazzling and Stunning Thriller!
This is one of the best thrillers I have seen this decade. I found it
g-bodyl from United States - 15 March 2009impossible to pause the film to get a drink every once in awhile. This
movie was even nominated for two Academy Awards. I could've gotten
more.This film is about a assassin named Vincent who has been assigned to
kill five people due to legal troubles. Vincent hires a taxi driver
with a big dream to take him around to these killing stops. That
changes Max's life dramatically.The acting is very good. Tom Cruise is back but this time as the bad
guy. Jamie Foxx is a superb job as the babbling taxi driver.There are many plot twists in the film. When I expected something to
happen, it seems like the opposite always happens. I give kudos to the
screenwriters.Michael Mann did a great job. It's ironic that the movie I saw before
this one was his 1992's Last of the Mohicans.Overall, this is a great thriller that stands out. I rate this film
10/10.
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