Pitched between interludes of anxious intimacy and equally nerve-shredding set pieces, Michael Mann's edgy new thriller scores its points with underhand precision.
Collateral (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:221
Fresh:191
Rotten:30
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Another taut and stylish thriller by Michael Mann.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Three-time Academy Award® nominee Tom Cruise ("Magnolia," "Jerry Maguire," "Born on the Fourth of July"), Jamie Foxx ("Ali," "Any Given Sunday") and Jada Pinkett Smith ("The Matrix Reloaded," "The... Three-time Academy Award® nominee Tom Cruise ("Magnolia," "Jerry Maguire," "Born on the Fourth of July"), Jamie Foxx ("Ali," "Any Given Sunday") and Jada Pinkett Smith ("The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions") star in the thriller "Collateral," under the direction of three-time Academy Award® nominee Michael Mann ("The Insider"). Max (Jamie Foxx) has lived the mundane life of a cab driver for 12 years. The faces have come and gone from his rearview mirror, people and places he's long since forgotten...until tonight. Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a contract killer. When an offshore narcotrafficking cartel learns they're about to be indicted by a federal grand jury, they mount an operation to identify and kill the key witnesses, and the last stage is tonight. Tonight, Vincent arrived in L.A...and five bodies are supposed to fall. Circumstances cause Vincent to hijack Max's taxicab, and Max becomes collateral-an expendable person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the night Vincent forces Max to drive him to each assigned destination. And as the LAPD and FBI race to intercept them, Max and Vincent's survival becomes dependent on each other in ways neither would have imagined. Jada Pinkett Smith stars as United States Attorney Annie Farrell. Rounding out the main cast are Mark Ruffalo ("In the Cut"), Peter Berg ("Cop Land"), Oscar® nominee Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls") and Bruce McGill ("Runaway Jury"). A co-production of DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, "Collateral" is being produced by Michael Mann and Julie Richardson from a screenplay by Stuart Beattie. Frank Darabont, Chuck Russell, Rob Fried and Peter Giuliano served as executive producers. -- © DreamWorks [More]
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall
Director: Michael Mann
Director: Michael Mann
Screenwriter: Stuart Beattie
Producer: Michael Mann, Julie Richardson
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
Reviews for Collateral
A long nighttime ride with a hitman and a tight script that produces a dramatic punch at every third mile marker.
Stylishly made, if less intellectually resonant than first-rate Mann films like Ali and The Insider.
Collateral is an ultimate thrill ride through the mean streets of L.A., powered by a killer performance (pun intended) from Tom Cruise.
Cruise is a little out of his range but that works oddly well, giving him a little frisson of uncertainty underneath the Terminator-like singlemindedness of the character.
Vincent's ferocity (designated by Cruise's grim-face mode) is the film's most distracting cliché.
As much a dark, odd couple comedy as it is a quirky, efficient little thriller.
Taut, exciting and intelligent, Collateral is just the movie this summer needed.
Arguably the first film Mann has made that marries the painstaking style of Heat and Manhunter with the gripping substance of The Insider.
Mann hits a new peak, orchestrating action, atmosphere and bruising humor with a poet's eye for urban darkness.
[Jamie Foxx is] the reason to see Collateral, as he walks into the frame and walks off with the picture.
Mann's film makes Tom Cruise fun to watch again, because he occasionally plays someone besides Tom Cruise.
Collateral has such classy trappings, you're constantly expecting more -- but while there may be less here than meets the eye, this is solid stuff in the midst of Hollywood's dog days.
Outstanding performances and an air-tight script elevate this straightforward story into a formidable thriller.
As violent thrillers go, Collateral goes down quite nicely, stirring up hardly any acid reflux at all.
Cruise and Foxx are great, and this is easily the most accessible Michael Mann film ever.
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