'Collateral' Brief Film Review & Recap

'Collateral' - 2004 

If you are unfamiliar with 'Collateral', here is a quick recap/review (with minimal spoilers). 

Tom Cruise portrays Vincent, a hitman with a bunch of targets to knock off. The cold and calculated Vincent contrasts perfectly with Jamie Foxx's Oscar nominated turn as Max Durocher, a gregarious cab driver. Max (the protagonist) is looking for a good payday and cash flush Vincent (the antagonist) is happy to oblige. Thus, Max begins to chauffeur Vincent around night-time Los Angeles. Morally bound Max gets his monetary wish, but unbeknownst to him, this ride comes with some significant baggage. 

The tension is ratcheted up (through some great editing) shortly after the two men meet. As the victims begin to pile up, Max inadvertently finds out that Vincent is a lead-packing criminal. With this revelation, Max wants to break all ties with Vincent. Instead, he effectively becomes Vincent’s hostage and is forced to continue driving. And so, the main plot of the movie comes into focus. But, right as the film begins to suck you in, screenwriter Stuart Beattie flips the narrative on its head and the expectations for both men are irrevocably altered. 

Plot and character development aside, I believe the best moment in 'Collateral' takes place inside a packed Koreatown nightclub, rather than a yellow taxicab. Why? Well, the nightclub plays hosts to a shootout involving Vincent, the unarmed Max, the FBI, and some Korean gangsters. Meanwhile, the crowd of revelers ducks for cover (or heads for the exits). Cinematographer’s Dion Beebe & Paul Cameron chose to use 35mm film, due to its overcranking (i.e. slow-motion) and low-light abilities, to capture the nightclub scene in a more visceral, claustrophobic manner.

Watch the nightclub scene below:

That said, most of the picture (some 80 percent of ‘Collateral’s runtime) was captured digitally using the Thompson Viper FilmStream Camera. Sure, this camera has a silly, overly long name, but it was an incredibly significant piece of technology back in the early-to-mid 2000’s. In fact, it helped convince the big studios that digital cameras were good enough to supplant film as the go to acquisition format less than a decade after ‘Collateral’s release. Overall, I believe the technical aspects of this movie deserve as much praise as the cast received. 

So, whether it is the fantastic performances by Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, the moody cinematography or the Oscar nominated film editing (by Jim Miller and Paul Rubell), ‘Collateral’ excels as a thrilling crime drama. Lastly, it is a film that stays with you long after the end credits roll. P.S. I need to rewatch this gem as soon as possible.

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Review by: Matthew R. Reis (c) 2021.