Collateral

Review by Jason Donner

Tom Cruise goes against his normal grain playing a cold hitman in Collateral. Hey, at least its something new for this usually one-note actor who becomes more and more average as the years go by. Maybe now, after tasting something new he'll go for something new more often because, let's face it... Tom Cruise isn't that bad of an actor when he tries. The trouble is, he doesn't like to try.

Collateral tells the story of a hitman in Los Angeles out to kill himself a whole bunch of witnesses. To do this, he needs transportation so cab driver Jaime Foxx picks him up thinking that it's just another innocent fare.

Whoops.

Soon, Foxx finds himself the wheelman for a killer and, no matter what he does he just can't get away or get help. He's trapped in his own cab and gets more trapped the more and more that the hitman burrows his way into his life.

I do gotta say, though... I feel a little bad for Tom Cruise. He went out on a limb, tried something different, did a great job... and ended up having the picture taken right out from under his feet by the guy who used to play Luwanda on In Living Color. Make no mistake, this is Jaime Foxx' movie and he turns in such a great performance that it's hard to imagine him not getting nominated for something next year. It would be a crime if he wasn't.

The movie itself isn't too spectacular by itself, but the chemistry between Cruise and Foxx elevates it higher than it would have been and the Michael Mann's skillful directing puts a pretty polish on what seems formulaic and predictable.

Collateral is less of an action movie than it is a thriller and interesting character study. A director and two stars give their best and the movie looks great even if the story itself is a little more average than it should be. Still, it's far from two hours wasted. My advise, give this movie a look.