Jun. 21, 2005 - 7:08 pm

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Collateral (2004)

this was a recommendation from a reader named Rachel. i've gotten a few other ones from her recently, but this was one that i actually hadn't seen before. it's a film by Michael Mann who directed The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Heat (1995) among other things. i thought Collateral was actually very reminiscent of Heat, and because of that, I enjoyed it.

the movie stars Jamie Foxx as Max, a cabdriver who has dreams of one day soon starting his own great limo company in L.A. late one night he picks up a man named Vincent (Tom Cruise) who turns out to be a high-paid assassin who has to kill 5 specific people before 6 a.m. Vincent also comes to believe that Max must stick with him in order for him to be successful in his murders throughout the night. he forces Max to do just about anything including posing as Vincent in front of some mob guys, and watching while he kills a man who they are/were having a conversation with. in the end, when the killing hits a little too close to home, Max must find some hidden inner strength in order to contend with Vincent's conviction to carrying out his mission.

Jill and i both thought that this was going to mostly be about the killing. it's really more about the mental tug-of-war that happens between Vincent and Max. Max realizes that he's caught up in something terrible and consistently tries to make it stop, but he also totally realizes that his life is on the line and must also content with his fears. it's a lot like the villain/hero mental battle that takes place in Heat.

interesting bit of trivia here from the IMDb: This movie begins at an airport and ends in a subway. Heat begins on a subway and ends at the airport.

i kept wondering where the title of this movie came from. i know at one point, Max mentions something about himself being "collateral," but it really didn't make sense to me at the time. apparently Vincent's last name, although never mentioned in the film, is "Collateral." it seems that they took out all references to it though because everyone realized that it was stupid. anyway, it's a pretty darn good movie even if the title was brought about by an originally bad idea.