Saturday, August 21, 2004
In Cruise Control

Max (Jamie Foxx) has lived a mundane life as a cab driver for twelve years. The faces have come and gone from his rear-view mirror: people and places he's long since forgotten--until tonight. Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a contract killer. When an offshore narco-trafficking cartel learns that they're about to be indicted by a federal grand jury, they mount an operation to identify and kill the key witness, and the last stage is tonight. It is on this very night that Vincent has arrived--and five bodies are supposed to fall. Circumstances cause Vincent to hijack Max' taxicab, and Max becomes collateral--an expendable person who's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the night, Vincent forces Max to drive him to each assigned destination. And as the L.A.P.D. and F.B.I. race to intercept them, Max and Vincent's survival become dependent on each other, in ways neither would have imagined.

Collateral is the second best summer movies of the year that I've seen so far,after Spiderman 2.It does not have many action scenes but when the violence come,they come in short and furious bursts...besides the protracted shootout during the termination of the fourth witness at the disco club.It is talky...with many excahnges between Cruise's callously amoral (yet strangely philopsophical...in a postmodern way) hitman and Foxx's scared-shitless cab driver who seems to have lost his way in life.The interplay is as interesting as the dependency on each other.Take note of the exchanges between Cruise and Foxx while at the same time also take notice of how the two depends on each other.Cruise needs Foxx to survive to drive him around while Foxx,an unwilling participant in the whole scheme,tries repeatedly to foil the scheme yet Cruise comes to his rescue a couple of times when the ineptitude of Foxx threatens his survival and has people trampling all over him.

Cruise,taking on his first villainous role here,is surprising very good.First of course,his decision to alter his looks is commendable.Here,he looks decidedly older,with pepperish-grey hair and day-old stubble...not the usual slick Cruise we know.Detached,clinical and decided amoral(I steer clear of using the word "immoral" because he does believe in certain things but his values,if any,are grey at best),Cruise plays him close to perfection.Foxx is a good counterpoint to Cruise's character.He always seems in two minds,doesn't know what he wants to do and is just terrified of this hitman who seems absolutely sure of himself.There are passages in the film which suggests why each man have become what they are now and that is an interesting point.Max and Vincent are characters who are uncommonly alive.

Director Michael Mann has produced a film that is lovingly filmed.A film that shows as much the vibrancy of LA as it does it's coldness and harshness.Washed in hues of blue and towards the end,red as dawn sets in,the cinematography is quite breathtaking.I kind of like the violent scenes as well.It should be said that Mann is extremely businesslike in his treatment of his characters even though he lovingly creates each character to give them life.Mark Ruffalo's Fanning, a cop on the trail of Vincent,is bummed off violently in sudden burst of gunfire by Cruise's Vincent the least u expect it.And another character,Daniel (Barry Shabaka Henley),a nightclub owner who betrayed the cartel as a federal witness to prevent himself from going to prison is also suddenly killed off by Cruise.And that after brilliant characterisation by entusing about his lost chance with jazz legend,Miles Davis.

A 4 out of 5 for this movie.I always have reservations about highly recommending a movie to anyone because tastes can differ so much.But give this movie a try and you just might enjoy it as much as I did.