3.5/4  Tom as a Baddie... Remarkable role!!
Collateral is one of those rare movies that strives to keep an audience interested from end to end--not just with action and loud noises, but with well-written and smart dialogue. The casting of Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx were also superb d... (read full)

3/4  well written
The thing that stands out the most to me in this movie is the writing which is excellent. The acting is also really good, which sells what is kind of an intense and strange plot. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is very claustr... (read full)

3/4  The intelligent man's action movie
Michael Mann’s new thriller dares to turn pretty boy, good-natured Tom Cruise into a ruthless, silver-haired, existentialism-spouting assassin, but not only that, it makes him likable.

Vincent (Cruise) is in Los Angeles for ten hours t... (read full)

2.5/4  Collateral Quick Review
It's an ok film. Better and worse than I thought if that makes sense. Tom Cruise should always play a bad guy.

3.5/4  Collateral Quick Review
Tom Cruise as the bad guy. And he's awesome. It's nice to see an actor play a different role once in a while. And Jamie Foxx, is fantastic as the nervous cab driver who gets caught up in the mess.

3/4  Collateral Quick Review
This one keeps up the pace and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Cruise works well as a villain and Foxx manages to hold his own. There are a few cliche moments, but overall this keeps you interested until the last frame.

3/4  Collateral Quick Review
A good movie that kept me watching the entire time. There were a few times when "driving" that I found myself fairly uninterested. Cruise does an admiral job (though not great) and Fox is ok. The cell phone dying was predictable though.

5/5 EXCELLENT 2 DISCS SET! WELL PACED ACTION FILM WITH GOOD CHARACTERS!
  by ! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b (TRI STATE AREA)
I saw this film a few years ago and decided to give it another look. While the film is contrived at times, it is helped greatly by a wonderfully cold performance by Tom Cruise. The film is well paced and builds slowly to an intense climax. Fox and Pickett should also be commended for turning in believable performances under crazy situations. The film probably rated a little over 4 stars, but the two discs DVD set is stellar and brings this super charged action film up to a top rating!

2/5 Pretentious rubbish
  by OldAmazonian (Portland, Oregon United States)
This product bites the big one. Visually chaotic, the auditory equivalent of having your ears used for a public lavatory, and with a plot as crisp and distinct as a moldering roadkill carcass, "Collateral" is thoroughly sucky, despite Tom Cruise's putative "best ever" performance.

Avoid this thing even if it's free. Life is too short to waste any of it on such trash.

5/5 Excellent Condition
  by D. Martinez (Santa Fe, NM USA)
I received the DVD promptly and it was in excellent condition. No problems at all.

5/5 Engrossing
  by Pandelume (USA)
On the surface a crime drama, but to me a meditation on death like Bergman's Seventh Seal with Jamie Foxx as the knight and Tom Cruise as the grim reaper. Life is a battle fought in darkness and shadows but as the end scenes show at least a partial victory is possible. The film's noir atmosphere is beautiful and the plot is entertaining throughout. The actors all hit their parts perfectly. Recommended.

5/5 One night in Los Angeles . . .
  by Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
Los Angeles, California. Present Day.

Max (Jamie Foxx) is one of a thousand cab drivers in the city. He keeps his cab squeaky clean during his night shift, he knows his streets and his signals, and he always reaches his passengers' destinations in time. He's been driving a cab for 12 years, but he's got some big dreams. He wants to own a limo company, and is only comfortable talking about it to those who look like they would never laugh their butts off at him. One of these people is a prosecutor named Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith). She gives him her card after a drive to the Justice Department, and Max can't decide at the moment if he wants to call her later or not. What comes next is something that is completely unexpected.

The next passenger in Max's cab is a man named Vincent (Tom Cruise). He looks to be a business man, with a clean gray suit and a luxurious-looking briefcase. Vincent makes a deal with Max: make five stops for the night and he'll give the driver 600 dollars total. Max hesitates, and slowly accepts the offer. At the first stop, the cab is parked in the alley of an apartment building where the first stop is located. Vincent enters the building, while Max takes his time eating a deli sandwich and examining photos of automobiles, which probably gives him motivation for his "big dream". With the exception of the radio, everything is silent . . . until a dead body crashes on the top of the taxi. Seeing the broken window on top of the apartment building, and Vincent returning with no look of shock on his face, Max discovers . . .

Max: "You killed him?!"
Vincent: "No, I shot him. The bullets and the fall killed him."

Max has become the driver for a hitman who has been contracted to kill five people in one night.

"Collateral" is a movie that focuses on these two men of extreme differences. Vincent is a cold-blooded killer who does what he sets out to do, and if something happens, he decides to "improvise" and "adapt" if the change is either unstoppable or too abrupt. Max, on the other hand, does not use improvisation. He plans everything from the start with no distractions, hoping to fulfill his dreams of owning his own limo company that he's puting up. Vincent never loved L.A.; Max is comfortable living in the city. Vincent loves Jazz; Max does not. And so on. These two men find themselves questioning each other's motives and beliefs, which leads to an ultimate confrontation in the end.

The city of Los Angeles becomes an important "character" in the film. The foggy nights, the city lights, the unavoidable crime, the towering skyline, everything looks beautiful. Director Michael Mann has really captured the look and feel of L.A. in an almost perfect way. The digital cinematography makes it all worthwhile.

Cruise, Foxx, Pinket Smith, and Ruffalo make a fine acting ensemble. Even though I'm not a big fan of Cruise, I'd say that this is a big surprise. Here he is not seen as a hero, but a villain. He is a cold-blooded contract killer who knows how to properly use a gun. But the truth is, you don't know if you should love or hate Vincent. Aside from the story of his parents, we don't know much about his past, and what drove him to this path. I could say that he does have a heart, but his job is what shatters that statement. Foxx manages to play the part of the average guy very well. He finds himself in a hazardous situation, and he doesn't know what will happen to him when it's over. He should've won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, but his win for "Ray" clearly makes up for it. Pinkett Smith's role is smaller in the film, but it is influential in that she becomes part of Vincent's questioning of Max's life. She is a fine actress, and she never misses a beat here. Ruffalo may be a bit off at times, but he is still believable as the Detective who starts to see that the killings may be linked to something more serious. I never realized it was Javier Bardem who played Felix until I saw "No Country for Old Men." He looks and sounds creepy here, but not as creepy as Chigurh.

This is one of my favorite movies in general. The atmosphere of Los Angeles, the acting of Cruise and Foxx, and the music (kudos to Audioslave, Paul Oakenfold, and James Newton Howard) are just few of the reasons for the admiration. This is yet another film (along with The Godfather 1 & 2, No Country for Old Men, Terminator 2, 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc.) that I'll never get tired of watching repeatedly.

Grade: A