Collateral

[Guest Leon]

The trailer looks really good, and I'm stoked to see Tom Cruise play a heel for once in his life. Looks like this will be what Training Day was to Denzel. Translation: Oscar gold for Cruise. Michael Mann never fails to disappoint either (well, except for Ali). If Collateral has any of the flavor "Heat" did, it will be an awesome film.

[The Mandarin 0]

Shit, I wanna see this movie so badly.

 

I don't know if I can wait until the day I'm supposed to see it with my friends (Aug. 20). I think I've gotta go see a screening tomorrow.

[The Mandarin 0]

I couldn't resist.

 

Great movie though, and if Denzel can win the Oscar for his role in Training Day, then Tom will easily win the Best Actor next year.

 

Jamie Foxx suddenly getting some balls and crashing the car was hilarious. The conclusion was a bit overdone (Jamie Foxx outwrestles a cop, and then goes to save some broad), but the final, final ending (there were a lot of fakeouts) was worth it.

 

Way better than Ali, almost as good as Heat, and up there with ESOTSM and Kill Bill Vol. 2 as the best movie of the year. I'm gonna go see it again soon.

[BX 0]

It wasn't the best movie of the year, but it was pretty solid.

 

I noticed in the club scene that even after the first three or so shots, the people still didn't leave. It took about two dead people before they finally got a clue

[Downhome 0]

I just saw it also, and it is without a doubt one of the best films of the year. It's amazing how I can go from seeing a piece of crap like The Village one week, then the next see something that is just outstanding. Collateral is not the best movie ever, but it's damn solid and very well made. I was highly impressed with Jamie Foxx, and as I posted a few days ago he is well on his way to much bigger and better things. However, I was even more impressed with Tom Cruise. I know many want to hate on him, but I just loved his work in this film. He just fit into the role so perfectly, a role that is a good bit different from most of his other work.

 

A great story, solid acting from everyone involved, great writing, fantastic direction, all equals a solid film, and a great filmgoing experience.

 

EDIT:

 

The more I think about the film, and all aspects of it, the more I love it. I'm being tempted to go watch it again, and I almost never do that.

[Guest HeyMcFly]

For those that have seen it, could you please ellaborate on why it is rated "R", and if you think it should have been? Thanks in advance.

 

~ Pac

[bob_barron 0]

The film was awesome- a couple little of things I didn't like but it was a great adrenaline rush from start to finish. Very highly recommended

[Guest Leon]

I saw it. It was Cruise's best performance along with Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. As for the film being rated R, I can't for the life of me explain to you why. There was nothing overly explicit -- violence nor language -- that you wouldn't see in a PG-13 film, but maybe that's just me being desensitized by everything in our society. And personally, I didn't care much for Jamie Foxx's performance; he was okay, but I didn't feel emotionally invested in him. I actually felt more for Cruise's character, who I believe, was the more fleshed out character.

 

And for the first time in a LONG time, I was actually ROOTING for the bad guy towards the end. Cruise was that Cool. And when an actor's performance is so compelling to the point where you want him to be victorious in the end -- that my friend, that's an Oscar-winning performance.

 

There is a reason why Cruise has been around for the last twenty years -- when other actors have come and gone -- and this performance validates that reason.

[BX 0]

I believe it may be rated R because Cruise kills some 15 odd people.

[Crimson G 0]

It was rated R for some of the violence involved and probably the language as well (they say just about every WORD OF CURSE~!)

 

As for violence:

Tom Cruise snaps a couple necks and breaks some dude's shins

 

Awesome movie all around, though. I absolutely hated Cruise coming into the movie, but now I find it really hard to do so. My family saw the movie with me and my dad later commented that Cruise deserves the Academy Award for this movie. I wasn't too high on Jamie Foxx, but with this movie (and the trailer for Ray) he's really starting to impress me. I always thought he was just another WB reject.

 

One thing I could have done without in the movie was the constantly blurry camera shots. Some of the shots reminded me of Taxi Driver, but that may just have been the fact that the majority of the movie takes place in a taxi cab.

[Downhome 0]

I'm starting to wonder why people dislike him in the first place. Almost every movie that he is in is great, and he even gets good reviews almost all of the time.

[Crimson G 0]

I'm starting to wonder why people dislike him in the first place. Almost every movie that he is in is great, and he even gets good reviews almost all of the time.

It's because he's one of hollywood's golden boys, so he's super cocky. He's also got some insincere quality about him that you can't really point your finger at. It's hard to explain my irrational hatred for some people.

[Guest Leon]

Anyone who hates Cruise is just flat out jealous. How can you dislike the guy? In interviews, he comes off as a cool guy I'd like to hang out with -- he seems really level-headed and modest for a guy who doesn't have to be. And Cruise is not insecure, you are. It's not uncommon for someone to project their insecure feelings onto someone else.

[The Mandarin 0]

Anyone who hates Cruise is just flat out jealous. How can you dislike the guy?  In interviews, he comes off as a cool guy I'd like to hang out with -- he seems really level-headed and modest for a guy who doesn't have to be. And Cruise is not insecure, you are. It's not uncommon for someone to project their insecure feelings onto someone else.

I'm assuming you read Crimson G's post wrong. He said Cruise seemed insincere, not insecure. Plus, he said that Cruise came off as cocky (in his opinion). It's hard to be insecure and cocky at the same time.

 

Anyways, I like Tom Cruise. I can't judge the man on a personal basis, but I'm a fan of his movies (Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report- etc.)

[razazteca 0]

I'm starting to wonder why people dislike him in the first place. Almost every movie that he is in is great, and he even gets good reviews almost all of the time.

It's because he's one of hollywood's golden boys, so he's super cocky. He's also got some insincere quality about him that you can't really point your finger at. It's hard to explain my irrational hatred for some people.

Its because he is a box office draw and happens to be short, which boggles the minds of the promoters......er....film execs.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Really good movie which came a bit short of being great.

 

I though the ending was way too cliche with Foxx racing to save the girl then Cruise going all Terminator after getting shot in the face/neck.

 

Still Cruise and Foxx both deserve a lot of praise in my opinion. Cruise will get nominated most likely but I liked Foxx's performance better.

 

Still a great movie.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

(Spoilers within)

 

I absolutely loved this movie. Top 25 of all time. Best of the year. Give it lots of awards.

 

Tom Cruise is inevitably and irrevocably done-in by being Tom Cruise. No matter what role he plays, no matter what character or character traits he portrays, he is ultimately still Tom Cruise. Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption was Andy Dufresne. Marlon Brando in Streetcar was Stanley Kowalski. Tom Cruise in Collateral, Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, etc. was Tom Cruise. At no moment did I believe he was any of those characters. It's "Tom Cruise is sad" "Tom Cruise is happy" "Tom Cruise is funny" "Tom Cruise is angry"; it's Tom Cruise "playing", not Tom Cruise "becoming". He cannot and I cannot step away from who he is. But shit, did I ever love the fuck outta Frank TJ Mackie, David Aames and now Vincent.

 

I loved the way he played Vincent. The way he used his eyes inspite of his face. The way he talked and reacted. The way he ran and shot. The way he projected his attitude. I think the world will get a few more guys in sport jackets and sunglasses walking around after this, because Cruise was cool and cold. I want to be Vincent. You want to be Vincent. I want to listen to Jazz and shoot people in the chest 2 times and in the head once. Well, the Jazz part is true...

 

Cruise delivered. Hit it right out of the park. Who cares if he didn't get me to believe he really was Vincent and break down the barrier between screen and mind? He had me wanting to hear every single thing he said, and that's rare.

 

It's a shame that Cruise was so good, because Jamie Fox was having a very good night; even if Max wasn't. There were a few moments when "this guy is a star" entered my mind; when he was talking with JPS in the cab and when he was in talking with Felix. The cab scene felt real. All of the dialogue in this film felt real -and by that I mean "unrehearsed"- but this, above all else, had the potential to feel 'read', and it didn't. It was a very natural conversation that convinced me that it was possible for her to give him her number. The way Fox stuttered and thought (which is a nuance that doesn't happen very often today) and emoted was fabulous and deserves praise. He was Max.

 

However, as good as Cruise and Fox were, Michael Manns filmmaking is what stole the show.

 

(part 2 coming soon..)

[Downhome 0]

Holy shit RRR, I agree with you again. That was damn well put so far.

 

The only difference between us apparently, is that for the first time in a long time, I didn't think of Cruise as Crusie in this film. For me, I just looked at him like this badass Vincent.

 

I don't think it was the best of the year either, but it's in the top three or five for me without a doubt.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Oh.

 

Oh yeah.

 

That's good movie.

 

(Spoilers within)

 

Best film I've seen since Return of The King. Top 20 of All Time easily. Cruise's performance? A Top 10 without a doubt.

 

You didn't just watch this movie, you felt this movie. Mann's filmaking is such that he has a way of forcing the audience to adjust to his perspective on things ie. close ups where the subject is halfway in the shot and such. Tom Cruise's eyes are the best example of that in this movie. They take up the entire room. They don't miss a beat and they know what exactly is happening. The scene in the club was just complete 100% domination and skill. Beautifully executed scene.

 

Cruise just fucked that movie's shit up. He owned it with his eyes and his hands and his body movement. He owned it with the way he does double-tap shots that are 5 mm apart. He owned it in the way he charmed the fuck out of Ida. The club performance is one that will go down in history as one of the best (and most stylish) shoot-up scenes. Fucking deadly.

 

The music fit beautifully. I dug the coyote Audioslave vibe. Mann gets props for using The Roots and lots of dramatic operatic-style music to enhance the scenes and give the background a life.

 

2004 could very well be known as the year that Jaime Foxx solidified himself as a leading dramatic actor. I'll be there on opening night for Ray thanks to his ass-whopping turn in this. When he told Felix's henchman to put his gun away was a choice moment in a movie full of them. Felix himself, as Rudo said "Can cut a good promo". The story was wicked awesome.

 

Good supporting work by Ruffalo and JPS. I really liked the way Jada looked in the cab ride with Jaime at the beggining and I don't usually dig her. Ruffalo had a really quiet intensity to his character and I'm kinda wishing we saw a Vincent/Ruffalo showdown but it upped Vincent's badass quotient X50 when he capped him.

 

And to think this baby comes out on DVD in December. Merry Christmas, TSM.

[Guest Leon]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you were actively rooting for Cruise to win in the end? Because in the theater I was in, everyone was cheering Cruise on to complete the mission. It was like SummerSlam 1998 all over again -- you know, where the Rock came into his ladder match as a heel, but as the match progressed, people could slowly but surely see his greatness exude all over the arena, and decided to cheer for him at the end. That's how fucking cool Cruise was in this film. You just can't help but love his character as the movie develops.

 

And Tom Cruise isn't that short; he's 5'9"

 

Pacino is 5' 6"

Gibson is 5' 9"

Banderas is 5'9"

Clooney is 5'11"

Pitt is 5'11"

Hoffman is 5'6"

Marlon Brando was 5'9"

 

So it's not abnormal to see a movie star at Cruise's height.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Speaking of Ruffalo, it took me forever to recoginize him. Only when he actually said something did I realize it was him. Real slick get up there.

 

Oh and has anyone givne props to Irma P Hall yet? I loved the scene with the mother and how coolly Cruise says, later on, that he'll go back and kill her. Hall's role is small but she really comes off like she's actually Max's mother and you sense the history between them and how she often looks down upon him etc. That's probably my favorite scene in the movie.

 

If only the last 20 mins were better.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Michael Mann just became my top 5 filmmakers/directors with this single movie. Curry loves him, but I hadn't seen any of his previous films in-full. That may discredit me and my standards by elevating someone on the basis of one film, but I'd like to think it says more about the film itself.

 

Mann owned everyone* with Collateral. Sam Raimi? Owned. Mel Gibson? Owned. RRR? Owned. Right now Collateral is different from everything out in theatres. There are no special effects; there is no shiny finish - this film is raw. It is visceral. You don't just watch it, you feel it and you live it. Through the use of handheld cameras, spectacular lighting, and the best soundtrack I've heard in a very long time, he was able to impact my senses and leave me reeling.

 

Much like Fox with Cruise, the visual style will probably take a backseat to the soundtrack. With good reason, too, because the music was stunning. The ending, on music alone, was as powerful as it comes. Just thinking about it makes it diffucult to breathe; it was enveloping. Like Last of the Mohicans and Heat**, Mann was able to enhance his film through a powerful score which was almost too good, in that it could have outright distracted from acting and story. Luckily, it was able to walk the line very well and didn't take away all the focus.

 

Visually, this should win every award there is. The use of the handheld camera, the colours and tones, and the lighting were all fucking great. The camera work gave you the impression that you were there; it heightened tension and -like the music- complimented the emotional state of the characters. The colours -of blue and black, mainly- gave the film a distinctness where it all felt like the airport scene in Heat. However, the best thing about the visual style was the use of lighting... or more importantly, the use of darkness. Usually filmmakers will use darkness just because it's night or because they need to hide something. Basically, they use the dark for the dark. Mann used the dark for the light. He has the best interpretation of "night", period. The atmosphere and ambience of night is downplayed in almost every film out there, but Mann knows it. As a kid, I found myself in the position of Vincent many-a-time. I don't mean killing people for money, but rather, in the backseat of a car in the middle of night. Often I slept from long trips and when I awoke near-home I looked out the window and it was all calm. The lights flared from my weary eyes and everything was rested. Collateral had that tranquility about it. It was relaxed, but still very active. It paced itself and let the story unfold. The style reflected the content, and I dig that.

 

Where the acting and the music were fabulous, the content and story -in my opinion- was the best thing about this film.

 

(part 3 coming soon)

 

(That "*" is because of Joss Whedon, my favourite director. The only reason I bring up Whedon is because they had very similar styles; Mann with this film and Whedon with Firefly. They both used handhelds and loved using flares. Whedon says that both are seen as taboo in the movie industry where most things are smooth and flawless, and wanted to make the world "lived in" and real - an approach Mann takes to heart. Firefly and Collateral had a lot of the same qualities in them, maybe that's why I love this movie so much and feel inspired to write on and on and on about it.)

 

(**Though I have never seen a Mann film in full until now, I have seen both climaxes for LOTM and Heat ((courtesy of LOTC)). The music in both were stellar.)

[Downhome 0]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you were actively rooting for Cruise to win in the end?

At the very end in the train, when Vincent's head fell forward and he died, I wasn't wanting it to end there. When Max and Annie both sat in front of him, I was hoping to God that Vincent would open a single eye, with a closeup showing that to us the viewer, then close his eye again. Then, as Max and Annie are sitting there thinking this entire thing over, I wanted Vincent to open his eyes, pull out a gun, and tag both of them in the head, then stand up and get on a different train, and ride off.

 

The way he told that story about the dead guy on the train riding around, and then at the end he asked Max about it again, it would have been so fitting for it ending up being that he was asking him that because he knew that in a second, he'd end up killing Max and Annie, while all along it was just trying to get us to believe he was talking about himself.

 

I mean, as he says, he does this for a living.

 

I still loved the movie, and the ending, but if he ended up killing both of them and getting away, I might have had to just get up and cheer for him, heh.

[razazteca 0]

Is there any chance for a sequel? maybe have Jason Stratton as the guy out to kill Max

[Crimson G 0]

Is there any chance for a sequel? maybe have Jason Stratton as the guy out to kill Max

Do you mean Jason Statham. From his cameo as the Transporter in the airport terminal.

 

If so, that wouldn't make any sense. They might as well just have Cruise's character live, and pretend he faked his death. Of course, that wouldn't be a true sequel because it would have almost nothing to do with the original storyline. Cruise's character would have to been shown as caring to be given a reason to seek out vengeance (for losing the money he would have gotten as part of the job, or losing honor, or whatever.) I just don't see it happening.

 

Although thoughts of a sequel did come to mind after the ending (which sucked).

 

The movie stopped being good after the dance club scene where Cruise totally fucked everyone up.

[Guest GreatMuta]

To me... this is one of those films you do not make a sequel to.

[jesse_ewiak 0]

Between this and Heat, I am now convinced anybody who wants to set as film in LA should either...

 

a). hire Michael Mann or...

b). make the director they hire watch this movie and Heat.

 

On a side note, anybody have a clue what the music that was playing the first time we see Ruffalo's detective character.?

[Lord of The Curry 0]

It's 10:30 a.m, I'm supposed to be working but I can't do it. I'm at work, surrounded by tons of movies I love and Spongebob is playing on tv. And it doesn't matter. Because they're not Collateral.

 

The Jazz Club scene is growing as a favorite of mine, partly based on Daniels story about Miles Davis. It fit in so well with Cruise and Fox's relationship ("You're good, but not good enough yet").

[razazteca 0]

Is there any chance for a sequel?  maybe have Jason Stratton as the guy out to kill Max

Do you mean Jason Statham. From his cameo as the Transporter in the airport terminal.

 

If so, that wouldn't make any sense. They might as well just have Cruise's character live, and pretend he faked his death. Of course, that wouldn't be a true sequel because it would have almost nothing to do with the original storyline. Cruise's character would have to been shown as caring to be given a reason to seek out vengeance (for losing the money he would have gotten as part of the job, or losing honor, or whatever.) I just don't see it happening.

 

Although thoughts of a sequel did come to mind after the ending (which sucked).

 

The movie stopped being good after the dance club scene where Cruise totally fucked everyone up.

Well Felix could give the hit to another professional. It does not have to be the Transporter.

 

Or they could maybe make the ultimate spy action movie and combine Ronin, Bourne, Collateral into one sequel.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

there is no shiny finish - this film is raw.

How do you figure? The movie has a cliched happy ending with the hero killing the villain and getting the girl. Hell the last 20 minutes are one long cliche(fuck I hate scenes in movies where guys walk from one subway car to another).