DVD | Collateral

From director Michael Mann, the genius that bought us Miami Vice, Heat and The Insider, comes a dark and compelling story of two men and one night.

Compulsively clean cabby Max (Jamie Foxx) is a man who choses to work the nightshift because it affords him better tips, but as we discover the reality is he’s hiding from his failures and his inability to pursue his dreams. He’s a man with no real backbone that’s found a comfortable groove and doesn’t have the initiative to get out.

Enter stage left Vincent (Tom Cruise), a wealthy, mature businessman. At least that’s what he wants to portray. But we know better than this.

This is Tom Cruise at his best. Still with a hint of his boyish charm, but still a convincing, cold killer. His plans for the night are vastly different from Max’s, but max is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Vincent is a man with no morals, and won’t let anything, or anyone get in hi way. Max learns the hard way that Vincent isn’t worried about collateral damage. Not surprisingly, Max also discovers that he finds killing people to be repulsive.

But as the evening turns to night things start to change, the more Vincent pushes Max, the more Max grows. This is Max’s coming of age party; this is where the timid boy becomes a man.

As Vincent tries to justify his killing of people by reducing Max to being nothing more that a speck of dust in the vastness of the universe, something snaps into place. Will it push Max over the edge, or give him something to live for?

Collateral is a movie that starts out slow, but draws you in and finishes at breakneck speed. It’s dark and moody and extremely graphic in places. But it’s also stylish and beautifully filmed.

All in all one of the most dynamic thrillers of the year.