I had recently seen the movie "Heat" directed by Micheal Mann, and I liked the movie. So, I was checking out movies by the same director, and found "Collateral" about which I had read a long back, and was remembering the movie as the one that got an academy award nomination for Jamie Foxx.
Again, a couple of my colleagues were talking about Tom cruise(what we actively do in an IT company), and someone mentioned "Collateral" as his better performances. Finally, I decided to see the movie.
As I had already read and heard a lot of the movie, I tried as much as possible to be objective. From the time the movie started, I have to give in that it got me engrossed. The first episode between the cab driver and a female attorney, was particularly interesting.
After this, there is a new passenger in the cab, and he cuts a deal with the cabbie, to take him to 5 places before dawn. The movie goes into fast gear, when a corpse falls on top of the waiting cab. We come to know that the new passenger is a contract killer, and he is on job, to kill 5 people.
From here, we see the conflicts between the cab driver and the killer, the investigations by the police who manage to catch a trail of this pair, and the murders. The plot takes us to a rather predictable and simple climax.
In between, the scenes unfold with a lot of intelligent dialogue, good scene conceptions, and wonderful acting.
Jamie Foxx plays the cab driver, and Tom Cruise plays the killer. I was remembering the smooth ways of Rober de Niro in "Heat". Cruise fits the role of the cold blooded and thinking killer, perfectly.
The music, the pace of the movie and the way certain scenes are shot, shows a distinct style which was also found in Heat.
The movie could have done with a better ending. Inspite of this, it is worth a watch. If you like intelligent thrillers, and appreciate male protagonists working against each other, u will enjoy this movie.
At least I enjoyed it immensely.