*** Official COLLATERAL Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Collateral". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[MichaelPR]

Just saw this today. What an awesome movie. I honestly wasn't expecting much. Tom Cruise is a killing machine. And Jamie Foxx does a great job in his role. Deffinately one of my favorites this summer!

 

[Robert Crawford]

A very good film with Michael Mann being the king of directors when it comes to filming a large city like Miami, Chicago and LA. I had a little problem with the ending and I felt the film drag a bit at the end, but overall, I had an enjoyable time with this film.







Crawdaddy

 

[Patrick Sun]

You know, people die in this movie, but I couldn't help but laugh with some of the situations in which the humor came shining through the dark of night in L.A.

There's a lot to like about this film, and the direction appeared effortless (in that I never thought the camerawork got in the way of telling the story or never missed the inner turmoil/conflict that Max has as he is coerced into driving Vincent around for a night of contract killings).

Both Cruise and Fox do a fine job needling each other and chipping away at each other's exteriors in the span of their starcrossed night together.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Excellent! Any fan of Michael Mann's previous films should find a good deal to like with this one. The pacing is languid (a good thing, since too many modern films forget to give the audience a chance to actually watch & listen to people speak), but the film is never boring. The script probably has a couple of contrivances too many, but the characters seem real and are compelling. Jamie Foxx is very good, Tom Cruise finally appeals to me in this one (maybe because he's playing a cruel sociopath - typecasting?) and is believable in his role. Most of the film is up to his usual high standard - music, editing, sound, casting. The one drawback (for me) was that he chose to shoot it on HD video. Unfortunately, that flat & crushed look really hurts some of the film - faces have no tone and texture (at times Jamie Foxx looks like a marionette from the "Thunderbirds" tv show or a cgi character). I'm not sure why he chose to film it on video, the lighting and everything else is still very carefully controlled, so he couldn't have saved a lot of time. Money is certainly not the issue. Perhaps he wanted a "gritty" look, but he'd have been much better off shooting on film and making the "look" in the post-production phase, IMO. Projection at the show was impeccable, so it's not the fault of the presentation.

A must-see for Michael Mann fans and others who'd like just a little bit more intelligence from their summer movies. 3 1/2 out of 4.

 

[Travis W.]

Wow was the only word I said after the film finished. Something struck a cord with me and it stuck throughout the whole 120 minutes. What a great film. Every actor did an awesome job I mean this was one of the films where I had to remind myself "oh hey that's Jamie Foxx" or "oh hey that's Tom Cruise"...sounds cheesy but it's true. I almost just felt like I was just watching it unfold like I was there. The action was unforgetable, one of my favorite scenes was:

when Vincent is about to kill David Lin at the Fever night club, that scene escalates so fast. The whole thing is very chaotic and tension filled.


Overall I loved it. I'd go as far to say it's the best film I've seen all year and it may even rank on my top 20 sometime, that's how much I liked it.

:star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[todd stone]

Just saw the movie and loved it. Cruise plays the bad guy part to a "T".

Jamie Fox, who I thought would be annoying/terrible in the movie turned out to be a smash hit.


I am glad Jeda Pinkett Smith was not in the movie much. She does nothing for me with her acting.

:star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[BennyD]

Thank god, a quality movie this summer at last. Both my girlfriend and I were very pleased that the film lived up to the hype. Absolutely loved it and would recommend it to everyone. I was also very impressed with the soundtrack. We especially enjoyed Audioslave's Shadow On The Sun as Vincent and Max see the wolves.

:star::star::star::star:1/2 out of :star::star::star::star::star:

 

[Dave Hackman]

I need to be audited, because this movie is pure crap. Watching this junk is like watching a slower paced phone booth without the phone and the booth. I don’t care how much of a Cruise junky you are, do yourself a favor and resist your temptation. The story is boring and outside Cruise and Fox the acting is just pathetic. The actors portraying the police are so bad it hurts to listen and watch. This film exhibits grain and blurriness that will make you schedule yourself for an eye exam. The music selections were depressing and made me wish for legalization of the Kevorkian suicide machine. By the end of the movie I just couldn’t care for anything I had seen.


F

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I linked my review in the discussion thread, but I'd like to add my praise to the pile:

Collateral

Half crime thriller and half unexpectedly amusing buddy pic, Michael Mann's "Collateral" throttles full-bore through one night of murder and mayhem. It's like Brian De Palma meets Martin Scorsese, and it's absolutely one of Mann's best movies yet.

Tom Cruise as a cold-blooded and merciless assassin?

Already I'm intrigued.

Jamie Foxx as a milquetoast cab driver?

Interesting...

Then toss the slickly talented Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans) into the equation and you've got one tight-fisted little all-in-one-night crime thriller that delivers generous doses of high-end action amidst compelling character moments...

Boom. You've got the best action flick of the summer...at least as far as grown-ups are concerned.

Cruise is an icy hitman who goes by the name of Vincent. Foxx is an aimless, yet intelligent and kind-hearted, young cab driver. Fate jams the duo together for one (extremely) long evening in Los Angeles as Vincent "does his rounds". Max becomes more anxious as the bodies begin piling up, and somewhere a few miles back the cops are just beginning to pick up the pieces.

Plotwise, Collateral is simple "high concept" all the way, but Mann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie manage to elevate the material beyond simple gimmickry. A brief parcel of plotholes may rear their ugly heads now and again, but for the most part this is a seriously crafty and intelligent little thriller.

The deal is that Vincent promises Max 700 bucks to act as wheel-man while the killer dispatches his victims. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Max is pretty much doomed once Vince's dirty deeds are done. This is the spine of tension that runs through the entire movie...up until a somewhat formulaic finale that involves a lot of running, a subway train, and some truly bad marksmanship all around.

Shot mostly on digital video and boasting a grittily beautiful visual style, Collateral is fascinating to watch - even in between the assassinations and gung-ho gunplay. Boasting two distinct (and very talented) cinematographers, one for film and one for digital, Mann is able to bring late-night L.A. to life that few filmmakers can. Plus James Newton Howard's score is one of the best I've heard in a long time. It's catchy, gloomy, totally in tune with the mood of the film, and it never impedes upon the action itself. Excellent movie music.

Since Foxx and Cruise are in virtually every scene, much of Collateral's success depends upon their individual performances, as well as their chemistry together. Fortunately, it's all aces across the board in this department. Cruise seems to be really relishing the Bad Guy vibe, and his Vincent is a guy we can't take our eyes off of. He's coolly evil, he's infinitely fascinating, and he's creepily likable. And as far as Jamie Foxx goes, I'm willing to remove him from the Comedy Guys pile and move him right into the Dramatic Chops category. After pleasantly surprising just about everyone with his commanding turns in Any Given Sunday, Redemption and now Collateral...heck, this guy's got some real, serious skills. (And don't be stunned when Foxx gets nominated for his upcoming portrayal of Ray Charles!)

Collateral is not exactly deep or even startlingly original. But it is a smoothly satisfying and exceedingly well-made crime story, and one that should capably please anyone who considers themself a fan of Mann, Cruise or Foxx. If you're not, maybe this flick will help convert you.

In a summertime season full of gee-whiz spectacle and generally mindless gizmos, it's exciting to see an "action flick" this mature and refined and well-conceived. This is a supremely good-looking movie, one that boasts a canny concept, the actors required to pull it off, and a gifted director doing his part to elevate the genre just a little. Plus it has one of the coolest extended shootouts I've seen in years, a sequence that, by itself, is worth the price of admission.

(4.5 out of 5)

 

[Tim Glover]

Good review Scott. I will just say "ditto" for my review. Saw this last night. The final 30-45 minutes had me literally on the edge.

Cruise & Foxx were outstanding.

Will also give :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[NickSo]

Watched it last night...

Beautifully shot and edited... just everything looked, felt, and sounded so damn good... the soundtrack. I was esp surprised by the Audioslave track.

I thought Jamie Foxx did an amazing job as the cabbie... bought it entirely. Tom Cruise was great as well, but i thought jamie foxx was better. However, i loved how Vincent was written, his subtleties behind the cold blooded hitman

 

[Mike Graham]

Another wonderful Mann film. Technically speaking, the film is superb to look and listen to. The acting, likewise, is fantastic. While Foxx is good, Cruise should be applauded for playing a charismatic hitman who can quickly show his dark side in the blink of an eye. Only had one problem with the film:

After the first hit, the cops pull over Max and Vincent, and it looks like the jig is up when they want to impound the car. Yet at the very last second the officiers are called away for something more important. This did not feel right at all in the story, Mann and his screenwriter should have worked out a better resolution, especially since the rest of the film so smoothly skims over the rest of the plot.

 

[ThomasC]

Cruise and Foxx shine in their roles, and some of the tension had me shaking in my seat. The volume of the dialogue may have been turned down too low in my theater, so it made some of the scenes boring and/or difficult to understand. It was good enough for me to want to catch it again on DVD.

 

[Tim Glover]

Took in my 2nd viewing this evening and really liked this film. Gritty, brutal, honest, and well acted & directed. Definitely one of the years best.

Bumping up my rating to

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

I expect the sound mix to get some noms during Oscar time. A super rich and detailed mix.

 

[Travis W.]

Same here, Tim. Planning on seeing it for a third time eventually. Caught some things I didn't during the first viewing.

 

[Seth Paxton]

(duplicate from the 2004 film thread - no spoilers or plot discussion)
Collateral
8.5 of 10

Mann continues to impress as one of the best visual directors working today by lifting what is an iffy action script into serious dramatic art, at least most of the time. The visual style is classic Mann, beautiful to behold. He brings us LA from a cab in a manner similar to Scorsese's treatment of NYC in Taxi Driver. His visuals and Howard's terrific score set a mood and maintain it throughout the film.

Foxx shines for a 2nd time in a Mann film (Ali) and Cruise is in solid form. Ruffalo and JP Smith are both decent but with roles that are a bit cliched.

The film could have been a real homerun were it not for the script. At times the dialog is pretty banal, and generally the plot requires leaps of faith beyond the Die Hard action film level. Without Mann at the helm this film easily could have fallen into forgettable action vehicle status.

With him it teases us with what might have been a truly amazing flick if only a script doctor had reworked a lot of the forced connections and "lucky" breaks and had instead focused a bit more on the character points (though they are still good at times).


(Oscar shots for score, cinematography, maybe direction and Foxx as well)

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Collateral is another one of those thrillers where it is to be enjoyed within the confines of its 120-minute plus running time. Any thought put into analyzing the film afterwards will reveal a story that is not so tightly woven.

Still, the material is elevated by Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx’s acting turns and synergy with each other along with Michael Mann’s signature visuals and craft in shooting in his beloved city, Los Angeles.

More in the discussion thread.

Edit: Upon further analysis, the story is very problematic with major lapses in logic and cliched situations. It now only gets a mild recommendation.

Collateral rates :star: :star: ½ (out of four)

~Edwin

 

[Kachi Khatri]

Found this movie to be enjoyable to some extent especially Mann's directional style and strong character interplay between Cruise and Fox.

There are few flaws that I can nitpick but hey what the heck.

I still prefer 'Heat' over this one.

Grade: B+



I know what you mean. There is one scene that was an eye strain for sure.

 

[Adam_S]

Collateral - :star::star::star:½

One of the best films of the summer, imo, and I've not been too impressed by this summer's crop (usually I"m pretty easy to please). Tom Cruise does a fabulous job and Jamie Foxx is equally excellent. It's not a perfect film, but it's a great one, and one I'll definitely watch again. I actually wish the film were more slower and meditative, so that the sudden coming upon the lone wolf in LA didn't stand out so much. That should ahve been a really great moment, but the movie was just too propulsive after the cab gets smashed by the body. It's an editing thing, but I wish the rest of the movie had taken on the languid pace of the first cab ride with the lawyer and the scenes with the trumpet player. But those are really minor quibbles. Just an outstanding piece of filmmaking all around. I love how digital was incorporated more as a tool along the lines of a different lens, stock, or chemical treatment being used for different aesthetic effects by filmmakers past. To me this is the way digital should be used, rather than outright replacing film in every movie, it should be another option or tool for artistic expression when it's unique characteristics are most needed.

And I gotta say that I loved seeing the 7th/Metro subway station and liked the way it was shot. I've been there far too many times and always thought it had interesting potential.

A definite highlight for this year.