Tens of thousands killed before sundown. Nobody's killed people that fast since Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Did you bat an eye, Max? "Did you bat an eye, Max" says Vincent, trying to explain to Max the taxi driver that one life is insignificant to his feelings. We never have feelings towards massacres that happen so far away, however one dead body near us can cause us to go crazy.
Michael Mann is definately a man who has a good career in Hollywood. He brought us Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Ali, and now Collateral. Many immediately labeled this a "Black guy meets white guy" movie as soon as the plot was offered on IMDB. However Mann has yet to disappoint me. I saw Collateral in theaters and again this month. This has NO relations to movies like "Showtime" or any other Black/white movie. There isn't a cultural clash between the characters, there is a story to this night that is actually realistic, not filled with corny anecdotes.
Max is a taxi driver, who has been doing his "temporary" job for 12 years. He dreams of owning a high class "Island Limo" business, and has fooled his mother into thinking he already owns it. However all he has is a picture of an island in his visor to escape to between fares. He can calculate the time to your destination, as he does with his first fare, a beautiful lawyer he gives his Island photo to.
His next fair is Vincent. If a wolf turned human this is who it would look like. Vincent, with his gray hair and suit with no remorse for what he does for a living. He pursuades Max to drive him for the night as he makes five stops. The first stop, a body falls on the taxi. When Max questions if Vincent killed him, he replies "No, I shot him. The bullets and the fall killed him." Max is immediately drawn into the biggest night of his life.
Max offers Vincent the cab, he resists, implying Vincent does not plan on letting Max go when it's over. However, despite Max's obviously distaste for what Vincent is doing, at times they seem to bond. Vincent is always giving him advise to pursue things, "Life's short, one day it's gone." He's pushing Max to be assertive as well even though that might make it harder on completing his work. Vincent has his own morals as well too. In one scene where they visit Max's mother, Max refuses to buy flowers, and Vincent replies, "She carried you in her womb for 9 months." Max seems to have a friendly bond with Vincent but his moral views of life still force him to rebel, at one point attempting to destroy Vincent's list. His quest is to stop Vincent, maybe he can save one of the people? Maybe himself?
One thing I loved were the visuals. The L.A. areas, the Club Fever, overhead shots looking down from a skyscrapers view. Mann filmed this movie in a blue-ish gray pallette giving a good mood to the film. Many window-filled areas are in the movie as well such as the office building or subway. Even from taxi point of view I enjoy the looks, the side view seeing a row of palm trees at points.
The music is also well chosen. In one scene Max stops in the road as Coyotes or wolves pass by looking at them with their glowing eyes as Max has a look of despair on him. Vincent also follows the coyotes while Audioslave's "Shadow on the Sun" plays. My favorite piece of music however, is definately "Requiem" by Antonio Pinto played in the final scene. The dialogue is also very well written, mainly for Vincent, with his constant advice and explainations for Max.
Overall, Collateral is a very great thriller, definately either Mann's best or second best film, hard for me to choose with Heat. Very well acted by Cruise, and definately Foxx, who also appeared in Mann's "Ali."
Possible spoilersThe ending however, is different for me. I enjoyed it, most likely for the Travis Bickle-ish head movements and the music I mentioned. However I felt it was just resolved immediately. A well written script with a simply resolved ending, although that might not even be a bad thing.
****/*****
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