Collateral

Review by Zachary Keith Parker

    The cold and exacting hitman, Vincent, has come to Los Angeles to collect the signatures of a few contacts for drug dealer, Felix. The hero of the story, Max (Jamie Foxx), is an unsuspecting cabbie picking up Vincent, engaged in his own dreams, including a possible relationship with a lawyer, Annie (Jada Pinkett-Smith). Soon Max realizes the severity of Vincent’s intent, and is coerced into driving the witty killer around the city.

    Meanwhile, the cops mark Max as the suspect for the increasing number of murders. Only the honest detective, Fanning (Mark Ruffalo), holds any suspicion otherwise. The danger increases and Max's situation becomes worse, but Collateral never devolves into a cheap action flick or chintzy thriller when it could have done so easily under the direction of someone else.

    While the film's strength is due to Mann's direction and the fully-rounded characters, part of the credit is also due to the cast. Each actor takes on a character different from most, if not all, of what they are known for or have worked on recently. 

    Ruffalo metamorphoses into a hard-bitten, slick-haired cop and a honest detective with a mustache. Foxx comes out of nowhere (or raunchy comedies, same thing) and gives a convincingly ordinary man performance, which is sure to win him the Academy Award this year.

    As to whether Tom Cruise will even get a nomination, I doubt it. While his stark representation of Vincent was convincing at all times, it was a somewhat familiar character and not quite the Kevin Spacey “John Doe” type of villain that the Oscars haven't seen before. Tom Cruise, under Michael Mann’s comprehensive direction, skillfully let us glimpse the human side of Vincent, yet still maintaining the coyote-like mentality that pervades his actions.

    Coming from The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise assumes the role of Vincent, moral relativist (who actually recognizes the ultimate end of moral relativity, that is, if there is no right or wrong, murdering people does not matter) with a hard-edged conduct and a face threatening to snarl at any second. Michael Mann portrays of the emptiness inherent in the Darwinistic mindset of Vincent.

    Like so many thrillers, the killer, of course, knows exactly what he is doing, and always has an excuse to practice being God by “taking” away life. Played at a particularly revealing moment in the film, the chorus in Audioslave’s song, “Shadow on the Sun,” echoes Vincent’s feelings: “I can tell you why/people die alone/I can tell you why/the shadow on the sun.”

    Indeed, Vincent twice relates the true story of a man who died on the metro, and how nobody noticed him all day. Vincent points out how it does not seem to matter what happens, because nobody is watching—life is random and just as desolate as humanity. However, Mann does not leave the film with this impression, but ironically twists it. 

    Mann accurately shows the end of moral relativity via Vincent, whose conversations with Max tell us a great deal of his convictions of a random, relativistic world. He tells Max, “Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, s**t happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it.” 

    However, Vincent’s reasoning behind his convictions is not random at all, but he is not afraid of acting consistently with his beliefs. The redeeming value of the film is how Max overturns (quite literally) Vincent’s philosophy against him, affirming the God-ordained order of life and the sovereign justice of God.

    Dion Beebe (Chicago, Equilibrium) and Paul Cameron’s (Man on Fire, Gone in Sixty Seconds) darkly evocative cinematography recreates a modern, striking film-noir representation of Los Angeles’ jazz clubs, alleys, and highways. Stuart Beattie’s script was remarkably well-written, recalling some of the familiar wit from Pirates of the Caribbean.

    Collateral runs smoothly on all ends, once again displaying Michael Mann’s indelible ability to depict the gritty reality of life’s darkest times and places like in Last of the Mohicans and The Insider. Like all of Mann's films, the story feels familiar but watching the characters is a wholly new experience where people and places are so dark the light expresses a more succinct triumph.