Film Summary CCXCVII (Collateral)


I remember really enjoying this film when I was 13, now I'm wondering if it will hold up at all. That's my biggest fear with rewatching films that I haven't seen in 15 years. Not knowing if they'll actually be any good. Well that remake of ''Ocean's Eleven'' was still pretty good, so God willing this will be okay too. To the best of my memory Tom Cruise was actually livable in this film and he wasn't a complete psychopath jumping about like a weirdo. That's stupid couch gag on that Oprah shows going to hunt that man for the rest of his life. Not that he should give a darn, the man's made of money.

I've got to say this was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting this movie to be quite subpar or even all out bad. Most of the films I watch from my early teenage years land in that lower category. But Collateral is still a pretty decent film. Our main actors have such a serious tone to them which is kind of strange when you consider Jamie Foxx as a comedian and Tom Cruise is known for doing all kinds of bafflingly silly things.

The main story to the film is surprisingly simple and within it are a bunch of complex mini stories mainly based around some Court case involving what I can only presume to be a drug lord or other high up Criminal with the same amount of power and influence. It's like you're watching the other side of an action flick. I'm reminded of a police drama or one of those 80s action films where an assassin is always called in to go after the hero. In this movie we get to see everything from the simple assassin's point of view or at least some of it we never really leave Jamie Foxx's character and we don't see Tom Cruise kill half his victims. Except for that Chinese bloke in the nightclub that's probably the most action-packed part of the entire movie.

Here we get to see Jamie Foxx playing the world's second most unlucky cab driver*.
Working countless years as a taxi driver with the overly elaborate dream of one day owning his own line of Resort island limos. But such a dream is never coming to be because Tom Cruise is going to get involved in his life and drop a man on top of this car. After this he's going to be hit, shoved almost shot and in the end will actually have to commit murder. All this to stop one guy from killing an attorney that he met earlier that night who ironically is working on the same case that Tom Cruise is trying to kill.

There are things in this movie you could nitpick such as the ever-changing broken window that occasionally isn't broken in certain shots. It doesn't really do anything to take away from the film. The only thing I want to complain about is at the very end of the film when Tom Cruise is about to shoot the attorney lady. Every other person he Encounters in the movie he shoots immediately he doesn't give them the time of day to even comprehend that he's there. But he hesitates to shoot this woman which gives Jamie Foxx the ability to shoot him. That's the only thing I wish was really different in this film.

None of my memories about this film involve any of the action. I remember the island limo idea, the tropical island photo and a conversation they have a blues musician. Along with Tom Cruise dead at the very end sitting on a train. All the action shots or completely unknown to me .

Films got a good mix of action and dialogue interspersed with lots of high shots and hella helicopter flyovers.

*I don't care what happens to this guy in this movie. Robert De Niro had a harder time.

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