Collateral (2004)

Collateral is a 2004 action film directed by Michael Mann. The protagonists of the film were Tom Cruise as Vincent which I will later touch on further into my review, and Jamie Foxx as Max. Usually Tom Cruise plays comfortably as the hero of the film who tries to protect his country or the poor who goes to endless efforts to try and keep his humanity and not harming any civilians or using his extreme martial art skills as a last resort. We see a different side of him here where in fact his character was much more ruthless. Still maintaining however the same charisma he manages to acquire in his mission impossible films. However which his relatively young face and a hard to believe attitude. I hardly found his anger or threats to be nearly as intimidating as I would have expected them to have been from the character they were trying to achieve. This is why I could of thought of much better actors to fit the part. One who looks more 'battle worn' or has a certain ruthless atmosphere to him if he was to try and fit the part. However I must give my respect to Jamie Foxx as I think they did a good job casting him and he fit the part remarkably well. Collateral fits in with the other thriller/action films quite generically however had a twist on the whole idea. With hardly any environment change throughout they manage to stick to the cooped up rough streets L.A It still did a good job of reflecting the environment they were trying to achieve. Furthermore they managed to keep you on the edge of your seats by remaining Max, the taxi driver as a hostage throughout the film seemingly forgetting that he was even being held hostage! Fighting against his restraints from Vincent you can't help but admire their heart warming brotherly relationship that starts to grow and blossom as the film goes on. But the film takes a sharp turn and conflict starts to happen when Vincent is hired to assassinate an innocent prosecutor who he had a recent skinny love relationship with and his moral side starts to command him to protect her. When things start to get heated we start to see a tragic and heartbreaking deterioration of the tainted and has a certain friendship Romeo and Juliet feel the film where their encounter is a sealed fate and not meant to be as they find themselves fighting for the opposite sides not yet foreseen at the beginning of the film, this makes the film ever more tragic and interesting and I find the film as a very enjoyable twist on an action film.

In my opinion I did considerably find the film it very entertaining and loveable. It manages to keep a dash of humour and liveability while maintaining the brutal, serious atmosphere that a action film always aspires to achieve. The characters get split apart and their relationship is extirpated as Vincent cannot place personal affairs over his job as we start to see his more mindless cold hearted killer side, which on the first half of the film we are mistaken for naivety and lack of regret. However the film is slow paced at times Its exhilarating and intense camera angles and effects make it ever more of a heart pounding thriller than it I believe was made out to be when they started to film. Its camera techniques and editing far exceed its storyline enjoyability and you can't help but to lose yourself from the primary story and get lost in the fast paced gunfire that a entertaining yet sometimes faceless action film has.