In the past few years, I have fallen away from movies with Tom Cruise in them, feeling that he just hasn't been hitting the mark lately. But under the direction of Michael Mann, Tom Cruise finds his pacing and delivers one of the best performances of his career. Combine his character with the recent explosion of Jamie Foxx and you have the makings of a great movie. Both Cruise and Foxx guide COLLATERAL to its explosive conclusion, all the while managing to shed light on their characters and explore real emotion. I just could not find something not to like about this film while watching it. The opening sequences are great, the dialogue is superb, and the imagery is extraordinary. Los Angeles comes alive in COLLATERAL and Mann's picture seems to be a tribute to its scenic locations and nightlife. I even noticed the quality of the soundtrack, not normally something to which I pay an inordinate amount of attention.

Ultimately, I found COLLATERAL interesting because of the depth of its two main characters. Take Cruise's character, for instance. I was expecting a typical "hitman" character: no sense of morality, quick-decision maker, etc. But what we get is someone who brings complexity to his position, someone who seems to develop a friendship & care for the cabdriver who has been ushering him around all night, someone who behind all of the grime has a personal code of ethics. Of course, at the end of the day he is what he is. But Cruise manages to squeeze a lot more life into the character than I had expected, particularly in the scenes where we learn about his childhood experiences. Opposite Cruise stands Foxx, a simple cabdriver who has been putting off his dreams for twelve years, afraid of the commitment and the responsibility. But he is also a man capable of great heroism and courage, witnessed several times throughout the film in short bursts.

What I really loved about COLLATERAL, however, is how it manages to communicate the haphazard nature of life. The opening sequence is particularly illustrative as Cruise only ends up in Foxx's cab as an accident. Small decisions in this film have ripple effects that change the course of each characters' life. This is not a film of fate. It is a film of personal free will and the chaos of our decisions. It is a film that preaches agency over the chains of predetermined outcomes. And it transforms the audience as it transforms its characters. COLLATERAL is one of Michael Mann's best films to date and an absolute must-see for everyone.

Tom Cruise nails this performance, and Jamie foxx as well. I have not been a TC fan but this time he gets a big thumbs up from me. Without telling the movie, Michael Mann seems to be an expert at exposing the dark underworld of narcotics and the people who are all involved with them.He successfully puts two characters on the opposite side of the fence together in a unique way. The movie has a lot of parallels to Miami Vice and has that sort of feel to it. The two main characters, one's black, the other white.Lots of action, and the music by James Newton Howard is right on the money. If you like Miami Vice or action movies in general, you'll like this one.

When Collateral first debuted in theaters, I hardly gave it a glance. I thought "How good could a movie be that has a hitman riding around in a cab, with Tom Cruise as the hitman and Jamie Foxx as the terrified cab driver?

5 STARS! That's how good it was! And I should have known since it was directed by Michael Mann (The mind behind Miami Vice, The Insider, and HEAT). I wondered after watching it if Mann used to be a cop...no...but he is a 3rd generation one-time taxi cab driver!

This movie moves at the perfect pace. The beginning shows Max, the cab driver, and his meticulous ways of wiping down his dash and making sure everything he has is in order before hitting the street to do his job. The first person he picks up is a prosecuting attorney that he impresses with his investigative style and knowledge of shortcuts in Los Angeles as well as guessing her occupation by what she wears. She seems impressed by him and leaves her card. The next person he picks up is Vince, an assasin who has arrived in town and needs to make some stops. He convinces Max with some hundred dollar bills that it will be worth his while, despite it being against regulations...Max complies...that is until the first stop...

Jamie Foxx does a SUPREME job of playing the cab driver. A simple man with an eccentric intelligence who often escapes the stress of the job by looking at a postcard of a beach. Tom Cruise is AWESOME as an assasin who is of the highest class with laptop in tow, tracking down his victims with a meticulous yet ruthless drive.

Max and Vince get to know each other and are quick to judge each other by the actions they take in their lives. They have several conversations where Vince test's Max truthfulness about his life. A qoute I love is "hundreds of thousands of rawandans die in a matter of hours and your crying over one fat man?" Max is terrified at the fact that Vince can just go around and kill with no remorse or logic as to why he is doing it. Max tries several times to break free but is always hauled back in by Vince. The first rider of the cab, who is played by Jada Pinkett-Smith, ends up having an integral part in the movie later on..but I won't spoil that for you!

The detectives are hot on the trail but think that the cab driver is the murderer. A quote I love from this movie is "Hey, you remember when that cab driver that one time killed 3 people that night, then turned the gun on himself?...that one detective always thought there was someone else in that cab that night..."

A brooding modern day soundtrack that features urban beat music as well as an AudioSlave tune set the perfect backdrop for this movie. If you like Cop movies, Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise, or anything by Michael Mann, then this is the movie for you!

this movie had me on the edge of my seat at the end and i understand now why Jamie Foxx got nominated for best supporting actor. he was brilliant. and to be also truthful, Tom Cruise was no slouch either. i don't know but i was just thinking as i was watching the film i was thinking what a trip it would be if Tom turn around and go into his Lastat character from "interview with the vampire" and bit the hell out of jamie and face the camera and say, "oh-oh, wrong movie". the reason why i gave it four stars is because the silly plot, why would a hired killer take a cab to go on his killing spree? interesting. i'm ready for a Tom Cruise movie where he plays those cute nice roles. but really, this was a great movie. i think i can watch this movie with a guy. lots of great action and of course, i love me some Jamie Foxx. i just had me a Jamie Foxx film festival this weekend and it was just me, him and my DVD player this weekend and i had a ball. all by mysef. Thanks Jamie. i looked forward to our next encounter.

The film seemed somewhat implausable, but if you watch it for the imagery, colors and cinematography, it's a remarkable film. The film depicts a third-shift LA as a very bleak, electric land of concrete. The filmwork really captivates, so this makes for a great film visually, but storywise it is somewhat silly (a contract killer... hires a cab?)