Collateral, 2004.
Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill.
SYNOPSIS:
Paramount is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Michael Mann’s edge-of-your-seat action film Collateral with a reissue of the 2020 4K Ultra HD disc in a new SteelBook package. The film looks great, and you get a Blu-ray with the bulk of the bonus features (nothing new here), along with a code for a digital copy. Highly recommended if you’re a fan of this movie and haven’t grabbed it in 4K Ultra HD yet.
I’ve never been a huge Tom Cruise fan, but I’ve always appreciated him when he’s gone against type, such as his role as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire and this movie, Collateral, in which he played a merciless hitman named Vincent.
Jamie Foxx also stars as Max Durocher, a cab driver who dreams of starting a limousine service that will provide a top-notch experience to customers. Unfortunately for him, Vincent gets in his cab and tells him that he needs to visit a series of addresses that evening, ostensibly as part of a real estate deal.
When a dead man falls onto the roof of Max’s car during the first stop, he discovers to his horror that Vincent has been tasked with a series of assassinations that evening, and he must drive him around at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, LAPD detective Ray Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) visits the scene of the first crime and reveals that the victim was a police informant. When the second victim turns out to be a criminal lawyer, Ray is convinced that a hitman is working his way through a list connected to a pending criminal case. However, his coworkers believe the hitman must be the cab driver, who killed the actual driver and assumed his identity, which puts Max at risk when he shows up on security camera footage.
A cat-and-mouse game between Max and Vincent and the LAPD ensues across Los Angeles, and as the chase works its way to Vincent’s final victim, Max realizes to his horror that he knows that person. Collateral’s climax involves Max trying to save that person (I’m avoiding specific details so I don’t spoil anything for first-time viewers) while dealing with Vincent’s relentless, almost robotic pursuit of his prey.
Director Michael Mann shot this film mostly with handheld cameras, giving the action a cinéma vérité feel that produced a visceral reaction in me as the action unfolded. The cast is great across the board, with Stuart Beattie’s script giving them very natural-sounding dialogue. Even Vincent shows a human side as he banters with Max, trying to put the cabbie at ease while he carries out his evil tasks.
It’s a shame that Jamie Foxx never quite reached the highs he achieved in 2004, when he earned Academy Award nominations the following year for this film and his portrayal of Ray Charles, for which he took home an Oscar. He has worked consistently, but none of his live-action roles have had quite the same impact he had that year.
Paramount has reissued Collateral in the 4K Ultra HD format in SteelBook packaging for its 20th anniversary. This is my first time with this movie in a home video format, but I believe this is the same release as the 2020 edition, which wasn’t a SteelBook. Like the previous edition, the only extra on the 4K platter is a commentary track, relegating the rest of the bonus features to the included Blu-ray. You also get a code for a digital copy.
The studio didn’t commission any new extras for this release, but what’s here provides a solid overview of the movie, starting with a commentary track featuring Mann. The director serves up a comprehensive discussion of the movie that covers a wide range of topics, from the differences between Beattie’s script and the final film to the combat training undertaken by Tom Cruise, who’s known for preferring to do his own stunts whenever possible.
Here are the rest of the extras:
• City of Night: The Making of Collateral (41 minutes): This making-of does a great job of complementing the commentary track by showing us a lot of what Mann talks about. Mann, members of the cast, and other folks chime in to talk about the movie, with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage to illustrate what they’re discussing.
• Special Delivery (1 minute): This amusing, albeit very brief, featurette shows us what happened when Tom Cruise attempted to pass himself off as a FedEx delivery driver without being recognized. While Vincent wears a suit and doesn’t try to impersonate anyone in the service industry, he does try to blend into his environment, so this is a look at Cruise’s attempt to do something similar.
• Deleted Scene with Commentary (2 minutes): This cut footage features Max and Vincent trying to get away from the LAPD. Mann’s commentary explains that it was cut to maintain the story’s momentum.
• Shooting on Location: Annie’s Office (2 minutes): Part of the climax takes place in an office building plunged into darkness by Vincent, and this is a brief look at the difficulty of filming in such an environment.
• Tom Cruise & Jamie Foxx Rehearse (4 minutes): The two leads’ rehearsal footage is compared to the final versions of those scenes, so we can see how their performances changed.
• Visual FX: MTA Train (2 minutes): The final part of the movie takes place on a train, and this quick featurette explains why Mann decided to shoot it against a green screen.
The teaser and theatrical trailers, the latter in 4K on that disc, round out this release.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
SEE ALSO: Collateral at 20: The Story Behind the Stylish Neo-Noir Crime Drama
