Collateral (2004)

Oops, already another noir about hit men. Well, this doesn't have much else in common.

Max (Jamie Foxx), an especially good taxi driver in L.A., agrees to bend the rules and hang around to take out-of-towner Vincent (Tom Cruise) to five destinations in one night, in light of a lucrative offer. But at the first destination, Vincent accidentally reveals that he's a hit man, with four more kills to make on a contract with a drug lord (Javier Bardem). Max wants no part in it, but he doesn't have much choice anymore. An occasional other focal character is Detective Fanning (Mark Ruffalo), whose connection to the first victim draws his attention quickly.

Another supporting character is a prosecutor with the disproportionately common movie name of Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith). Somewhat unusually, she makes Max's acquaintance at the beginning and doesn't appear again until near the end. There's a hint of a budding love interest, but the situation is too intense by then to facilitate such thoughts.

In some ways, Collateral is very Hollywood. Apart from the aforementioned Annie and the L.A. setting, it includes contrived coincidences, improbable action, a Hitchcockian wrongful suspicion by all but the focal detective, and just that cliche feel. Might come from veteran action/thriller director Michael Mann, aided by a big-name cast.

In other ways, it's kinda surprising. Max is no badass, at least at first. He doesn't dare try to overtake Vincent, who certainly is a badass. He falls to pieces as much as I might in his shoes, which may explain Foxx's Best Supporting Actor nomination (incidentally the same year he won Best Actor for Ray).

It doesn't exactly show the usual Hollywood impatience either. There's no sense of conflict for about 20 minutes. If I hadn't already read the description, I would've taken that long to figure out the genre. I'm not complaining; it's only sometimes slow, arguably to good effect.

Then there's the elephant in the room. We'd seen Cruise dabble in villainy back in Interview with the Vampire, but this time I almost didn't recognize him. Vincent's a pretty complex role, trying to minimize Max's discomfort with halfway friendly gestures, even dispensing advice to set his life on a better track. You could just about believe that things might work out between them, except for Fanning's hint that Vincent previously killed a cabbie and framed him for murder-suicide under similar circumstances.

Can't say I like the resolution very much. Apparently, the one thing Vincent didn't count on was Max reaching a breaking point and doing things that would be crazy if not for desperation. The theme doesn't go far into the tripe of "We're not so different, you and I," but Max does tap into his inner Vincent to some extent. We're left to wonder what exactly happens after the fade-out; probably most viewers take it optimistically, but there is room for doubt.

In the end, I never found myself gushing about any aspect of the flick, but neither is it anything to get bent out of shape about. It can be slightly refreshing. You might get something new out of it, and if you don't, at least it has its typical hostage story thrills.