#346: Collateral

Release Date: August 6th, 2004

Format: Blu-ray

Written by: Stuart Beattie

Directed by: Michael Mann

4 Stars

Of the great Michael Mann crime films - this would include Thief (#3), Manhunter, Heat (#6), Collateral, and Miami Vice (that’s right, I said it) - 2004’s Collateral serves as the outlier in many ways.

It’s the only one that Michael Mann didn’t write (the spec script was penned by Australian filmmaker Stuart Beattie, at the time in his early thirties, who went on to write some real dogs, stuff like Derailed, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and I, Frankenstein; woof). This outside voice, though a bit formulaic and heavily plot-conceited, allows Mann to have some fun, or at least as much fun as a filmmaker like Michael Mann is capable of having. Collateral has moments of levity and warmth, and even some schlocky the-killer-isn’t-dead-yet thrills at the end.

Collateral is also a true two-hander, with tremendous leading performances from Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise. Foxx plays Max, a Los Angeles cabbie who dreams of one day owning his own limo company. Max is sensitive, kind, and cautious by nature. That business plan of his? It’s 12 years in the making when we meet him, partly because he wants to get all of the details just right, and partly because he’s afraid of the risk involved.

One afternoon Max picks up a silver-haired man in a gray suit. This man is Vincent (Cruise), who propositions Max with $600 to take him around L.A. for the night to make five separate stops. Shoot, he’ll even throw in another $100 if Max can get him to LAX on time for his flight. The ever cautious Max reluctantly accepts, but after the first stop, where Vincent shoots and kills a low-level drug dealer who then falls out of a second-story window onto Max’s taxi, Vincent’s proposition quickly becomes an ultimatum: Take me around the city to kill four more people, Max, or I’ll kill you too.

Vincent proves to be antithetical to Max. If the latter is ponderous and trepidatious, the former is improvisational and fearless. They serve as mismatched foils as they drive around L.A. killing people, unless, that is, Max can shed his passive persona and stop Vincent’s rampage.           

It’s a great genre thriller setup, a bit silly if you think about it too much, but Foxx and Cruise win you over immediately. Along their journey you’ll get great supporting performances from the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Javier Bardem, as well as character actors Bruce McGill and Barry Shabaka Henley (don’t blink and you’ll even spot a well-placed cameo from Jason Statham). 

Collateral features some signature Mann set pieces, including a shoot out in a Korean night club that sees Vincent unleashed to his full potential. We also get some philosophizing from both Max and Vincent on the nature of existence, a key trait in Mann crime films where the protagonists are fatally committed to their craft and unbending in the pursuit of their elusive dreams. 

So it’s still a distinctly Mann crime film, but possibly his most approachable and crowd-pleasing.