Pam invited us to go see this film and, since we wanted to see it anyway, said sure. Always good to spend time with the lady with the funny hat even if she wouldn’t wear it to the movie house, plus we had some pretty tasty BBQ after.
Collateral comes from director Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat, Ali) and scripwriter Stuart Beattie (first big American credit) that rides a fairly standard Hollywood formula but turns many of these aspects against itself to succeed:
- Hit man hires a cabbie to drive him around one night while he takes out the witnesses planning to testify against a drug lord
- Weak hero (Jamie Fox) starts out scared of his own shadow but overcomes it through events and provocation, but mostly because of true–not needed by the script–goodness in his heart
- Tom Cruise cast against type as the bad guy, with gray hair and a scraggly beard, which only matters because Cruise has such a positive, pretty boy reputation and he confounds expectations in ways that less strongly-typed actors couldn’t
- A slick, stylish production, visually, sonically, even in the editing that will be no surprise to Mann fans
Pam said this was the best movie she’s seen this year and I’ll agree with her that this is excellent but I’d rank it second to, but not far behind, Bourne Supremacy.
definitely recommended
BillSaysThis 
