“Collateral” (DreamWorks)
Tom Cruise goes “cruisin’ for a bruisin'” as a cold blooded, steely-eyed hit man in his new film “Collateral.” Directed by Michael Mann, the movie looks great, has atmosphere to burn, and captures totally the feel of pre-dawn Los Angeles. But the film has no heart and even violence can become boring, or at least numbing, when there is no message to its amorality.
The film starts with Max (Jamie Foxx) picking up a fare named Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith). Annie is a prosecuting attorney in the US Attorney’s Office. Max and Annie actually click a little in their conversation and when she leaves she gives him her card. As he mulls over that encounter another fare steps into his cab. This is Vincent (Cruise).
Vincent hires Max for the entire night as he has several stops to make before he goes back to the airport. At the first stop they make Vincent goes into a building and a man comes sailing out of a window, landing on Max’s cab. It is obvious Vincent has killed him, a fact he doesn’t dispute. Now Max becomes Vincent’s prisoner and in turn collaborator.
As the night wears on the tension heats up as Max looks for a way to escape and to end the killings. Just when you think the movie is grinding to a halt there is a twist that defies logic but provides a somewhat exciting climax.
In this film Cruise has gray hair and a foul mouth but he also still has that “Top Gun” killer smile. It may signal evil in this movie, but it is a distracting reminder of who this killer really is. There also is less surprise in Vincent’s actions here than there were in Matt Damon’s coiled spring reflexes in “The Bourne Supremacy.”
Foxx has a much better role and he plays it surprisingly well. Some of his actions conflict with each other but in the overall tone of the film you can forgive some gaps. Pinkett Smith is okay as the token love interest.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
Tom Cruise had better get “Mission Impossible 3” in the can as soon as possible. With “Vanilla Sky,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “The Last Samurai” and now this one, he just hasn’t delivered a real crowd pleaser in years. A few more clunkers might just wipe the SMILE off his face.
I scored “Collateral” an unbankable 5 out of 10.
