Dargis, Manohla. "Killer in a Cab, Doing His Job." Rev. of Collateral, dir. Michael Mann. The New York Times. 6 Aug. 2004
Ebert, Roger. Rev. of Collateral, dir. Michael Mann. The Chicago Sun-Times. 6 Aug. 2004
Hunter, Stephen. "'Collateral': The Meter Keeps Running." Rev. of Collateral, dir. Michael Mann. The Washington Post. 6 Aug. 2004
Theme and director's intention:
"The new film takes place against a backdrop that pits a drug cartel against law enforcement agencies presumably intent on shutting it down, and to that end features big, beefy men wielding big, scary guns and the jolting image of Vincent hitting his marks, specifically with two bullets to the chest and one through the head. But because Mr. Mann makes thrillers the way that John Ford made westerns, using genre as a way into meaning rather than as an escape, ''Collateral'' bears little relation to the usual Hollywood blowout." -Dargis
"Mann allows dialogue into the kind of movie that many directors now approach as wall-to-wall action. Action gains a lot when it happens to convincing individuals, instead of to off-the-shelf action figures." -Ebert
Separate elements and their relation to the whole:
''Collateral'' is very much the product of a distinct vision, one as eager to push technological limits (the film was shot with the most advanced video cameras) as to upend the usual studio white-hero/black-villain formula." -Dargis
"...observe the way Jada Pinkett Smith sidesteps the conventions of the Meet Cute and brings everyday plausibility to every moment of Annie's first meeting with Max. This is a rare thriller that's as much character study as sound and fury." -Ebert
Objective evaluation of the film:
"Set in Los Angeles mostly after dark, after the city's sunshine has given way to cool noir, the story centers on a taxi driver, Max (Jamie Foxx), and the assassin Vincent (Tom Cruise), who hops a ride with him deep into the night. As the pair cover the city, looping over interchanges and down wide open boulevards, they travel a landscape alive with wild animals and wilder men, noisy with unfamiliar music and chatter, and punctured by the hard pop of occasional gunfire." -Dargis
"Collateral is essentially a long conversation between a killer and a man who fears for his life." -Ebert
"The not-so-funny thing is that Tom Cruise is a better samurai in "Collateral" than he was in his last movie, in which he actually played a samurai. Cruise is the gray-hued symbol of the universe's mayhem in the new Michael Mann film, a killer with an ironic sense of self, a knowledge of jazz, clothes cool enough to get him into GQ and a remorseless will." -Hunter
Subjective evaluation of the film:
''Collateral'' is finally about men and work, and about how being a man is itself a kind of job. (It's no wonder the director gives the Sears ''Craftsman'' logo a loving nod.) Whether chasing fictionalized serial killers or those serial killers who run tobacco companies, Mr. Mann's men risk everything -- happiness, women, life itself -- to get the job done, which explains why these fastidiously executed commercial films are not just entertainments, but statements of personal faith." -Dargis
"So now we know more about Vincent. The movie is structured to make his occupation a surprise, but how much of a surprise can it be when the movie's Web site cheerfully blurts out: "Vincent is a contract killer." Never mind. The surprise about Vincent's occupation is the least of the movie's pleasures."
-Ebert
"The movie goes a little wobbly when Mann leaves the intensity of the Max-Vincent pas de deux. For storytelling purposes -- Mann needs a chase structure -- he cuts away frequently to a team of cops who begin to piece together (the corpses are helpful) the nature of Vincent's mission and thereby work out ways to intercept him." -Hunter
The film's level of ambition:
"It is also good on its own terms, like a self-contained short film. It allows us to learn things about Max we could not possibly learn in the scenes to follow, and adds a subtext after the next customer into his cab is Tom Cruise." -Ebert
"Collateral" is the best kind of genre filmmaking: It plays by the rules, obeys the traditions and is both familiar and fresh at once." -Hunter
Words you found interesting:
"Mr. Foxx can't have had an easy time playing foil to the world's biggest movie star, but he holds his own gracefully. For his part, Mr. Cruise, whose famous self-discipline has helped turn him into a bankable personality and a less-than-believable regular guy, makes Vincent scarily convincing." -Dargis
"I would have preferred for the movie to end in something other than a chase scene, particularly one involving a subway train, since I've seen about six of those already this summer, but Mann directs it well. And he sets it up with a cat-and-mouse situation in a darkened office, which is very effective; it opens with a touch of "Rear Window" as Max watches what's happening on different floors of an office building." -Ebert
"the frosty Vincent is serving as a mentor to Max. He forces him to do and be things the laid-back underachiever could never have done or been. In the end, Max becomes that which seemed utterly impossible in the early going: a hero." -Hunter
Relationship to the film movements/genres/relation to other filmmakers' work:
"Wired for action, ''Collateral,'' which opens nationwide today, initially seems like a return to basics for Mr. Mann, as exemplified by ostensibly straight early films like ''Thief,'' about a safecracker in love, and a retreat from the more self-consciously serious films like ''Ali,'' his underrated movie about the legendary boxer." -Dargis
"Cruise and the filmmakers bring a great deal more to his character than we expect in a thriller. What he reveals about Vincent, deliberately and unintentionally, leads up to a final line that is worthy of one of those nihilistic French crime movies from the 1950s." -Ebert
"If this sounds not so much dicey as vicey -- that is, "Miami Vicey" -- it should; the director, Mann, brought this form of jazz cool to crime stories many years ago on "Miami Vice" and other television work. He expanded it with "Heat," that great bank-job epic, then gave it up with two dim misfires ("The Insider" and "Ali")." -Hunter
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