Collateral [2004] (DVD)

This was one of those films that looked good on the trailer but in the end left me feeling a little dissatisfied as it failed to live up to my expectations. The film stars Jamie Fox as a cab driver in Los Angeles who ends up picking up the fare from hell one evening in the form of Tom Cruise who hires Fox for the evening to drive him around in a single evening as he has five appointments to make then he needs to be returned to Los Angeles airport. He claims to be a business man tyin up a property deal but when the first person that he visits takes a sky dive out of his apartment building onto the roof of Fox taxi then the innocemt cab driver soon realises that ...  Read the complete review

Let’s face it, the hit-man genre has been hip and cool for some time now. Directors such as Quentin Tarrantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction), Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and others have revived the twilight zone of Mafioso killings and stylish film noir to bring to life the cold existence of the contract killer. Set in a sun-baked, sprawling vista of neon lit streets and palm trees at sundown, Michael Mann directs a meticulous tale of pre-mediated death and intrigue set against the back drop of a beautifully observed Los Angeles panorama. What’s unusual about this tale is the level of intense philosophising that gets inside of the head of the main ...  Read the complete review

I have a dirty secret, which isn’t going to remain a secret for much longer. I like Tom Cruise, I know it seems to be the in thing to hate him but I’m afraid I don’t. He has made a few dodgy films over the years but his filmography does include some classics. So with that fresh in mind I headed off this morning to see his new film, Collateral. From what I’d read about this in Empire, Tom Cruise was going to be given the chance to play the bad guy. This left a huge part of me wondering whether he could actually pull it off. For Max (Jamie Foxx) it was just another shift. He prepared his cab in his normal way and started his shift the way he had every night for ...  Read the complete review

Collateral (FILM ONLY REVIEW) Director: Michael Mann Writer: Stuart Beattie Release Date: 17 September 2004 (UK) Runtime: 120 minutes Certificate: R (USA) /15 (UK & Ireland) Main Cast: Vincent - Tom Cruise Max - Jamie Foxx Annie - Jada Pinkett Smith Fanning - Mark Ruffalo Ida - Irma P Hall If you are making a film and Tom Cruise is your star, the chances are it is going to do well no matter how bad it is; then again, if you are making a film and Tom Cruise is your star, the chances are that you are making something pretty special to begin with, given his ability to cherry pick roles. ...  Read the complete review

Director: Michael Mann Run Time: 120 mins Cert: 15 Year: 2004 -- -- -- 'This is a collision of two lives... All collapsed in the events of one night... ' Michael Mann explored the night scenes to limit with this epic. Unquestionably riveting from the off; the scenes fill the air with night-time shifty-ness and blatant testosterone overload. Mann made it artistic, chic to the bone; an exploration of circumstances that catapult lives together, thrown to the mercy of fate. There is a genre that Mann certainly can nail and that is 'crime' 'suspense' and I'm going to add artistic flair to the trio. Jamie Foxx with two exs, ...  Read the complete review