Jump to content

Night at the movies - Collateral


Takvah
 Share

Recommended Posts

Alright, this movie is just cool. The way it is shot is gritty and in your face, very Michael Mann. Before you're three minutes into the movie you can see the fingerprints of his style all over this film. The acting is very good, in my opinion. I am not a big Jamie Foxx fan, I thought this might be a huge mistake casting him in this very serious role but the guy comes through. I was very impressed with him and there are some "comedic" moments in the movie where his skills in that area do come in handy. It isn't anything yuck, yuck it is moreso that uneasy laughter that comes with irony.

Tom Cruise is one of these guys that I can take or leave. Luckily, he has been choosing some choice roles in the past couple of years and this is another good one. Vincent is a guy that none of us wants to be and then maybe all of us want to be. You really have to see the movie to understand what I am saying; yes the guy is a cold blooded murderer but he's doing things his way and respects it when people do it theirs. This feeling makes the ending all the more rewarding. It is in the ending however, that the movie becomes a bit weaker in my opinion. It offers mild thrills but a predictable outcome and that was sad considering how great the rest of the movie is.

This is NOT an action movie. There are action sequences but they are intermittent with the majority of the flick being a conversation between two men in a cab. If you aren't interested in getting into the heads of characters this is not for you. However for those that appreciate good, introspective dialogue there is a lot of meat here. A cold blooded killer that considers it business and a man that has dreams but never really wants to attain them meet up and share their thoughts while engaged the business of working through a hit-list. How bad can that be?

For those of you that loved HEAT there is a use of one of the cuts from that soundtrack in this film. See if you can determine where it is.

Enjoy.

9/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree. Despite the impeccable storytelling, it almost falls apart at the end to give you a weak, predictable hollywood ending. But that's the only weak point and the rest of the film almost makes up for it.

While I have faith in Tom Cruise, I went in expecting Jamie Foxx to ruin the movie. Much to my surprise, Cruise and Foxx are GREAT together! Yeah, who woulda thunk it?

Anyhoo, Collateral reminds me a lot of Man Bites Dog... only with less infanticide... and more color

8.5/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm off to see it this afternoon after church and lunch. Yeah, wot a combo.

EDIT: Just came back from seeing it. Absolutely wicked and typical Michael Mann. I did think the ending was a bit limp as I hoped for something a little more dramatic.

I also was a tad disappointed that I didn't get to see the typical Mann throw-down. You know, when all those badasses converge at the club.

Now I want to go and watch HEAT again for the umpteenth time.

9/10

[ 08-08-2004, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, yes, Heat... one of the all time great heist flicks.

I drove up to Central Florida this weekend listening to Ready Steady Go which is the Paul Oakenfold techno song from the "club" scene. I dare you not to speed to that song. *snickers* I thought that scene was great by the way... talk about professionally possessed! Was anything going to stop Vincent? Heheh... that rocked.

Peace

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Collateral Soundtrack

This is a very varied collection of music that they put in this movie. I didn't buy this soundtrack although I might. I just happen to dig Techno now and then and Paul Oakenfold is like "the man" for that genre of music.

As for the ending, I guess it had to go down that way. I don't think we ever know what Vincent's state is, we assume it. Remember the train is dark and then when the lights come on Vincent drops the clip and sits down. We then see the wound and they have that brief conversation about the guy on the MTA train that they'd discussed in the cab.

There are holes in this movie, such as why the hell NONE of these people that are on the hitlist are in the witness protection program. That was the one thing that I kept going back to about the movie. Ofcourse if all of those people were in the program there is NO WAY he could have done the jobs in one night's time. For the purposes of a good movie you have to simply suspend reasoning a bit. That's why as the train pulled off I chose to believe even if it isn't likely, that Vincent had an epiphany and let Max and Annie go and that he wasn't mortally wounded. I know it's stupid but I enjoyed the Vincent character and so it made me feel better anyway. As for it being less formulaic if we know he got away... hell no... they'd say that it was the worst of Hollywood and totally by the book for cash in sequel status. I can live with the end because I know they were damned if they did and they were damned if they didn't... I just felt like the horror movie kind of chase ending was a bit contrived.

Peace

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I loved this film, despite a generally percieved weak ending. Mann is at his best making the setting of a movie a main character. I have never seen LA portrayed the way it was in this film. The camera work was nothing short of brilliant.

I wish Mann was more prolific as we have only seen Ali, Heat and Collateral in the last 10 years.

Anyone who loved Heat, should check out LA Shakedown, the TV movie Mann did that was the original version of Heat. It is interesting to see how he dealt with the limitations of the medium

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget The Insider which isn't too bad either. Russell Crowe and Al Pacino star in it. It is LOOSELY based on a true story about a tobacco executive that tips off 60 Minutes to the cancer cover-up (remember when cigarette execs said they didn't know that their product was harmful?). The style is there throughout and it isn't a bad flick.

Collateral ROCKED!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...