Collateral (Widescreen Two-Disc Edition)

Rating:
Summary: The ride of his life
Review: "Collateral" stars Tom Cruise as Vincent, a cool-as-ice assasin in L.A. for a rather ambitious group of hits in one night. Jamie Foxx plays Max, a cabbie with big dreams but little ambition. Vincent hires Max to drive him to his assignments, and the two spend the night becoming ... not exactly friends, but they do end up having a understanding of one another. The film is directed by crime genere great Michael Mann ("Heat" and "Miami Vice"), and he makes this movie his showcase; it is his life's achievment. He has a way of not just showing you Los Angeles, but making you feel like you are there; but it never feels like a travel log, and never gets boring. Cruise and Foxx are both great here, both at the top of their game. Cruise shows that his arrogence is put to better use as a villian, he is much easier to bare when you're supposed to hate him. He is cool, smooth, vain, and very intellegent; much like Lestat from "Interview with the Vampire". My only complaint is why the white hair and three days beard? Anyway, on to Maxx. It is very easy to identify with him, a little man with big dreams. We like him instantly as he flirts innocently with L.A. District Attorney Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), and she likes him too, because she gives him her card. She likes him, so he must be OK. And then the rest of the movie is all about Vincent and Maxx, as the two become begrudgeingly friends. Some how this strange relationship works, like when Maxx takes Vincent to his mother in the hospital. I liked that the whole movie isn't about Vincent's killing, although when he is on the job he is amazing to watch, especially in the crowded night club.

Rating:
Summary: Micheal Mann will do it again
Review: I know this movie will be awesome this is a Micheal Mann movie. Just look at the list of movies he's made Manhunter, Heat (one of my all time favorites), The Insider (another one of my all time favorites), and Ali. In all Micheal Mann's movies there are alway's awesome plot's, plot twists and performances. Ten years ago Tom Cruise was an awesome bad guy in Interview with the vampire, and again Tom Cruise will be awesome as a bad guy. I know Jamie Foxx who is always good, and Mark Ruffalo will put on good perfomances. So be ready for a night on the town.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I thought this was very good, certainly good for a night's entertainment. I thought both Cruise and Foxx were good, but probably not for a nomination (must be a slow year in movies). Cruise has his "Mission:Impossible" mode and Foxx changes from a waddling to active state back to waddling, but you always want him to pull through.

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this movie. It was refreshing to see Tom Cruise play bad guy, and Jamie Foxx is terrific as a cabdriver caught in the middle of his scheme. Tom Cruise is Vincent, a hit man who essentially forces Jamie Foxx, his cabdriver, to take him from one hit to the next as he attempts to kill 5 people in one night. Things change when Jamie Foxx's character realizes that Vincent's final victim is a woman (Jada Pinkett-Smith) Foxx had met earlier that day.

The movie takes place over less than 10 hours, and as a result has a very high-energy, crazed feeling. You find yourself viewing the story from the perspective of Jamie Foxx's character, and I certainly wondered quite a few times what I might do if I was in the same situation. Cruise and Foxx are excellent, and once the story picks up you are completely engrossed through the conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie
Review: I watched Collateral for about 10 minutes and fell in love with Foxx's charecter. Foxx play "Max" taxi driver with dreams but not actions. Tom Cruise plays "Vincent" a hitman that is as cool as ice and you can not help but like him. Throughout the movie Max drives Vincent across LA to different assasination points all the while discusing everything from the philosophy of killing a man to the improvisation of jazz. Overall I thought the movie was great. I thought the screen play was spot on, the plot twist was not predictable, and the way Mann filmed LA at night was simply beautiful. The scene where the car was parked at a light and you see the silhouette of the palm trees against the incandescent LA sky was gorgeous, along with the three coyotes. The only thing i did not like about the movie was the shift from a psychological thriller to a shoot-em-up action movie near the end, i really enjoyed the dialogue a lot.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE!!
Review: I'm not a Tom Cruise fan but this gets two thumbs up! Saw it twice in the theater, and am gonna buy it on DVD and watch it again!!

Rating:
Summary: Collateral (Two-Disc Edition)
Review: Max 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 is a contract killer. When an off-shore 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.



Rating:
Summary: A Movie with no direction
Review: The movie starts erratically. I believe I could see they were trying to develop Jamie Foxx's character and the mood of the city, but it fails and it looks conspicuous in the attempt, like a teenager trying to write classic literature. For the next hour Jamie Foxx makes a valiant attempt to salvage the movie with his acting, but it's in vain because the movie is dreadfully boring and pointless. Halfway through the movie it becomes a different style; it seems to switch from a dark, psychological story into an action, shoot-em-up type. At this junction we have a few minutes of potential character development, why Cruise is a hitman, why Foxx is a cabbie, but it doesn't work. Jamie Foxx does a very good job overall, but it seems like the script and the directing held him back. Tom Cruise, assuming he's capable of a good performance, does a fairly good job also, but is held back by the same things.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: This is a movie that will definitly keep you at the edge of your seat for the entire length. I love the characters. They are so well played. It's amazing how this story springs up. The fight scenes are so awesome, especially the one in the blue-lit danceclub. It's fast-paced and sexy. I highly recommend it to everyone looking for some fun!

Rating:
Summary: "hey homie, that my briefcase?!"-Tom's character
Review: Watching this film noir was pleasurable, I had plenty of opportunities to interact with it. Saying to the box, "Why don't you just kill the man?" (refering to max when he throws vincets brief case of evidence including his hit list down upon a busy street from an overpass. The entire film is full of them, the climactic end not sparing either! After being shot in the face he manages to leap frog onto the back of a speeding subtrain. But it's just one of those films. I wouldn't go as far as saying low brow, not with the sometimes engaging conversations, and hilarious dark humor. The cinematography focuses, at its most creative moments, on the lonely nature that lives on the peripheral of the city limits. Showing how close indeed L.A is to the desert. Along the way in following Max (the taxi driver) you cross landmark streets (such as le brea-named after the le brea tar pits), and some of the most notable superstructures in the los angeles area. You can follow the timetable in which the night flows from Max's fare reader and other places in the movie. (such as a subway sign that read "today is january 25,2004. The time 540AM.) The time is referred/displayed 5 times in the movie. See if you can catch them all.