Collateral

It isn't my favorite movie of all time. It isn't the greatest film of all time. It isn't the best Michael Mann film. It is a film that I can always watch and it is a film I will recommend to anyone. The film is Collateral. It stars Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx who essentially share screen time. It also came out right before everyone began irrationally hating Tom Cruise.

The short version of the story is that Max (Foxx) is a cab driver. He picks up a fare by the name of Vincent (Cruise) who claims he is in town to close a real estate deal. He needs to be driven around all night through out Los Angeles stopping to meet with five people and then leave town by morning. In reality Cruise is a contract killer hired by a drug cartel to eliminate witnesses in a Federal trial. Max gets involved when a victim falls on his cab. Chaos ensues.

What I find most compelling about Collateral is the didactic quality that Max and Vincent end up having. There is an ethos that is applied across many of Mann's films that you have to buy in to though. If you aren't buying what he's selling, you'll probably find a film like Collateral much less compelling than I do. That ethos would be a quasi "warriors code" of cops and criminals. There is a common morality that is found throughout another Mann film Heat that also touches on this. That despite the fact that two men may be on opposite sides of the law, they are more alike than any other men. In this case though, Vincent is somewhat indifferent in regards to a baseline morality. Or rather he doesn't subscribe to the common social views of what is right and wrong. He is merely a cipher. Though as the night progresses Vincent and Max do in a bizarre and antagonistic way become partners. It may be a begrudging partnership, but a partnership none the less.

Another reason for me gushing about this film randomly is the fact that it reveals a Los Angeles that is rarely shown on film. This isn't a film for the most part that pretends downtown Los Angeles is a bustling center of life like it was midtown Manhattan. It also doesn't reside on the west side of Los Angeles (Malibu, Santa Monica, Westwood, or even Beverly Hills). This is a film that shows a Los Angeles far less traveled. It even ends with a shootout on *GASP* Los Angeles public transit. The film also used digital camera setups for many scenes that as one critic pointed out though their name escapes me now, how the clarity that digital brought managed to highlight the eery and bizarre glow that occurs at night in to early morning of the Los Angeles skies.

The score throughout is great. Mann has in commentaries mentioned the use of a more organic score and its definitely present in the closing moments of the film. Go watch Collateral if you haven't.