Collateral

Michael Mann's COLLATERAL is a thrilling, introspective, existentialist masterpiece. It tells of two men and the relationship between them in the style of that of Tony Scott. But this is Mann's film: stylistically riveting and occasionally stark. There's a quality to it that is very integral to Los Angeles, where it is set, but it contains universal themes, and small reminders of a larger world or larger truths. The film begins with Max (Jamie Foxx), a cabbie who's just trying to make end's meat, but has been doing so for 12 years. One day a woman (Jada Pinkett Smith) and it begins a sort of cosmic decided fate for the cabbie. He knows the streets extremely well, and is quite charming with the woman who reveals herself as a lawyer, and, before she leaves, reveals her number. Max is overjoyed, and sits in his cab dazed until a man taps on his car and essentially wakes him. The man who enters is Vincent (Tom Cruise), slick and gray-haired but fast talking and existentially compelling. Vincent gives Max $600 to "hang with him" for the rest of the night as he goes and visits friends. Max is reluctant at first, but then agrees. However, at the first stop, Max discovers Vincent's true identity to be a gun-for-hire. Mann's film here reveals itself to be a noir film. Max is at heart a good guy, good enough to get the number from a woman out of his league, good enough to make Vincent want him to drive him around. However, as Max's self-guilt is brought out by the existentialist musings of Vincent, he is driven to change himself to fight back and become a darker, more rash man. This suspenseful film is then adorned with wonderful camera movements and images, and the acting from Cruise and Foxx are first-rate (even to the point of being so authentic its hard to notice their acting). Mann pulls no punches, although he could have done so to be universally entertaining, rather, his film is entertaining because it is specific to a time and place, or to two people.
Collateral: ★★★★