User Reviews

Michael Mann, famous in Hollywood circles for his '90s crime thriller HEAT – a film I found distinctly average – comes back for a second go with COLLATERAL, a film which received publicity thanks to Tom Cruise's atypical performance as the bad guy. COLLATERAL is one of those films it's best not to say too much about; suffice that it takes place over the course of one night and that the city backdrop is a major character in its own right. Many scenes are simple two-handers between Cruise and good guy Jamie Foxx, who finds himself battling with his conscience as he converses with the cold assassin.

Cruise has been in many enjoyable films over the years (with the notable exception of WAR OF THE WORLDS, where he was given a dull and derivative, utterly bland character by Spielberg) and this is another one to add to that list. As the grey-haired, immaculate killer, you can tell he relishes the role, and he's really good in it too. Cruise is matched by newcomer Foxx, who holds his own, making his taxi driver a guy you respect and care about. Supporting cast members are pretty decent, including Jada Pinkett Smith, who I used to dislike, and Mark Ruffalo, exceptional as a sympathetic cop on the trail.

Mann breaks the building suspense up with some excellent set-pieces, with the massive shoot-out in the nightclub being a notable highlight. The film is actually at its most effective in the smaller, more original moments, like the opening body-on-the-cab shocker, the police intervention and the bag steal. The script is witty and relevant and nicely cyclical come the last image. There are also some humorous moments to engage the attention, like when Foxx asks for help and ends up getting mugged! That's America for you… Things become pretty clichéd and predictable for the routine ending, which becomes one of those psycho-thriller things in which a killer stalks his victim in an empty building. For its type, though, it's still strong and decent music adds to the suspense. I could have done without yet ANOTHER scene on a train but Mann handles the camera well and makes the premise seem fresh and real, despite its hackneyed history. COLLATERAL is an action flick with a brain and a film wholeheartedly recommended.

"Collateral" is a film that came out 10 years ago and is a definite contender for Tom Cruise's finest career performance (Vincent). It is basically a two-man show, similar to "Training Day", with the White guy being the bad guy however. Strangely enough, Jamie Foxx got the Academy Award nomination though, and what is even more strange is that it was in the supporting category. Foxx' Max was everything but supporting here. Without him, no movie. It is about a contract killer who forces a taxi driver to lead him through Los Angeles, so he can kill those five people he is supposed to kill.

This movie has only one real weakness. They wanted to go for a happy ending so bad that they just sacrificed all credibility for it. Max, a man who never held a gun in his hand, managed to kill a professional contract killer at the top of his game (what police officers and heavily armed bodyguards did not manage) while, at the same time, he has to make sure his future girlfriend won't get killed. And as if that was not enough already, he manages to take out a cop some minutes before. There are some other minor criticisms. For example, it feels too much of a coincidence how Ruffalo's character Fanning appears first at the crime scene early on and later stands in the elevator with Vincent and Max. Another one would be that Max' love interest does appear of course on Vincent's list. It's not really credible, but it's acceptable for the fun of the film and definitely not as bad as they screwed up with the ending. If they really wanted to go out on a high note they should have just finished without Vincent killing Max or they could have left the ending open. The real Max is the one who tries to throw something through the glass without success, clueless and inexperienced.

This movie has more than a handful truly tense and great scenes and references. One would be the Asian club scene with a great song playing there. Another would be the talk with Felix, although Max almost was a bit too much of a hero for me there. Then there is also the scene where those thugs try to get away with Vincent's suitcase, the subway reference, or the two cops who almost open the trunk. Very tense scene and I really wished they would just go away. In retrospective you also have to say that this movie has a brilliant cast. Foxx (actually that same year) and Bardem are Academy Award winners by now. Ruffalo looks likely to score his second nomination this year and Tom Cruise...well he already was a big star back then and still is today. Jada Pinkett is okay, but does not really have much to work with. Director Michael Mann worked with her husband on his previous project and got him a lead actor Oscar nomination.

I liked a lot how things kept going wrong in this movie from one second to the next. There were so many game-changing moments, such as the corpse who fell on the car, the flight at the hospital, Max' car crash idea, Fanning's murder and many more. Fanning's murder by the way was one of the highlights. You actually never knew, but hoped that he could save Max as he was the only one who realized what was going on. But nope, not with a guy like Vincent. Also, the relationship between Max and Vincent was interesting. It seems he lets Max live after the car crash although he killed his driver in the past and said earlier that people he works with should not see him. Apart from that, he helps Max many times in the film. He defends him when he talks to his boss. He kills somebody right before they can kill Max. He gets him back his purse. He tells him to call Pinkett's character etc. There seems to be some kind of connection, at least from Vincent's side.

This was already the third time or so I watched this movie written by Stuart Beattie and it is something that truly stays in the mind, much more than his work on "Pirates of the Caribbean". It's all the small components going together and one I did not mention already is probably that it plays pretty much in real time almost. We go through the night through various settings with Vincent and Max, settings that fit the whole atmosphere nicely. And what a journey it is. Highly recommended.

I definitely enjoyed this movie. It keeps you on the edge and doesn't make you want to stop watching.

It's one problem is that it doesn't make sense. Besides the fact that hitman Vincent takes the same cab his last victim just took there is also the fact that Vincent seems to do everything that will make it hard for him to keep it low and stay anonymous. What hitman would kill a guy right in front of the cab driver? And then go riding with the same driver to the other murder destinations? One would think he would go, do his job, return to the cab quietly without making Max suspicious. Then get out and take another driver getting lost in this huge city. I can tell myself that this is because Vincent is an overconfident sociopath but he does it for a living, he should know better.

Still, I can overlook this problem since otherwise the movie is really good. It is filmed in a pretty stylish way. I keeps one exciting. It has some amazing and creative scenes and ideas.

And the acting is top level. I loved Tom Cruise as a villain. It is different from his typical role and he was great at it. Jamie Foxx was also showing us his amazing talent. The dynamic between the characters is great. Vincent has this cruel power that we can see Max is feeling. He is a villain that is different from the ones we know and while we never really get to know who he is he seems to have many character levels. Max on the other hand shows us how he feels under the pressure of this extraordinary client. Him not knowing what to do in this situation and how it leads to the actions towards the end of the movie.

Really good job, I am sure glad I chose this movie to watch today. One of the better thrillers I have seen lately.

What happens when a working class stiff - you know, a decent human being and a live-and-let-live Average Joe type - finds himself face to face with Evil incarnate? Well, that's exactly what happens to a cab driver named Max in Michael Mann's allegorical thriller "Collateral," a sharply-defined morality tale that unfolds on the freeways and surface streets of after-hours Los Angeles.

"Collateral" is that rare crime drama that is more concerned with theme and character than with the mechanics of the crime - at least until the movie shatters to pieces in its closing reel, that is. But for starters, writer Stuart Beattie has come up with a humdinger of a premise to get the ball rolling. Max has been driving a cab for twelve years now, but he still has dreams of owning a fancy limo company one day, then retiring to his own private little island getaway in the South Seas. One fateful night, he picks up a fare who will end up changing his life forever. Vincent is a paid assassin who virtually kidnaps Max, forcing him to drive him around town so he can track down and execute his assigned hits. Max can do little but look on helplessly as he gets pulled further and further into this cat-and-mouse game of cold-blooded murder.

"Collateral" is, above all, an actor's film, as two intriguing characters square off in a fascinating duel of wills. As Max, Jamie Foxx beautifully captures the subtle intensity of a man, passive and humanistic by nature, who is forced to participate in what is to him an incomprehensible case of ritualized slaughter. Tom Cruise, cast against type as an unshaven, salt-and-pepper-haired villain, is chilling as a steely-eyed killer seemingly cut off from even the most basic human emotions of empathy and concern for one's fellow man. Together, these two fine actors draw us into their epic struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, with the latter seemingly holding most of the cards.

The movie is filled with moments of extraordinary suspense and tension as Vincent and Max act out their human drama against the backdrop of a beautifully filmed LA at night - with Mann showing, once again, as he did in "Heat," that no director captures that milieu with greater precision than he does. Moreover, the moody soundtrack provides a perfect, otherworldly complement to the slightly surreal story unraveling on screen.

Unfortunately, "Collateral" falls apart long about the last half hour, as the plot mechanics take over and the characters become pawns in the hands of an out-of-control screenwriter who obviously could find no workable way to bring his tale to a satisfying conclusion. The tension in the first three-quarters of the film derives from our knowledge that Vincent has, for all intents and purposes, caught Max in a snare from which he cannot escape. Thus, that cab becomes a crucial factor in the human drama taking place within its restrictive confines. But once Max and Vincent leave the cab and become separated in the closing stretches, we lose that sense of claustrophobic entrapment so essential to the tale, and most of the tension evaporates. Thus, what starts off as a severely circumscribed tale of two men caught in their own private little hell ultimately devolves into a damsel-in-distress, knight-in-shining-armor action fantasy that undercuts the realism and seriousness of all that came before.

Still, taken as a whole, "Collateral" is a thriller well worth watching.

I remember watching this for the first time at the theaters and thinking that it was a very entertaining and attention grabbing film. Watching it now, it's even better. This film is freaking suspenseful thrill ride from start to finish, and it's really entertertaining. The direction is quite fastpaced, but just about any moviegore can understand what is going on. The plot is about a hit-man named Vincent (Tom Cruise) that hires and then forces a cab driver played Jamie Foxx to go from hit location to hit location. The turmoil, havoc, interactions and discussions is not only enticing. It's intriguing, thought provoking and has depth. The discussions of fallen dreams, fears and negligence to pursue what they want to pursue. And the interaction about how people will usually stay close to their comfort zones to withold going through what they perceive as suffering and fears over seeking what they really want out of life. There is a lot of interesting existential discussion in these conversations that just about everyone has or will think about. But it's really impactful how it was discussed and shown in this film. Tom Cruise really hits the mark when it comes to playing this cold blooded, psychotic, mysterious and persistent hit-man. A character will not backdown on his mission and will see it through no matter what, unless he is dead. He is the villain of the story, but a very interesting villain overall. This is a film that I would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys suspense and action. It's probably my favorite Michael Mann film.

9.8/10

Dirty, sun baked, sprawled, crowded... LA generally has its soul borne to us in sunsets and palm trees, highways and high-rises. Michael Mann and his creative eye for detail and engrossing storytelling style showed us a different Los Angeles. One of soft lights that spill from their street lamps, blues that mix with whites and mingle with greens. His veteran hand having wrought films such as HEAT and Ali, Mann delivers a beautifully created film, which compels the audience to not just watch and listen, but to be a part of the film, and to truly challenge the characters brought to life on screen.

Tom Cruise plays Vincent, a cold contract killer in LA for a single night of hits. Through an interesting course of events, Max (Jamie Foxx), a timid cab driver who lives on dreams never full realized, gets pulled into the whirlwind of murders as the driver for a hired assassin. The majority of the film is just that, Max and Vincent. Cruise drowns himself in the role, training in weapons handling for months beforehand and plays Vincent as a cobra, a natural killer of lightning reflexes and sudden violence. A contrast to Nathan Algren of The Last Samurai, Cruise plays a morally flexible man of questionable scruples quite well, characterizing a dystopian apathy well. Foxx gives a terrific and serious performance as Max, showing well his growth through the film. Also uncharacteristically heavy, the character of Max was a challenge well met by Foxx. The admiration between the two characters is evident only via the actor's incredible performances and without such subtle and silent respect for each other, the characters (and thus the film), would fail.

A modern Film Noir, Collateral starts with a smooth beat and never skips until the final notes. Music choice is excellent, flowing into and out of the smooth and extremely choosy camera work. Without interrupting the scene, the music simply adds to the pressure and tension. The first shots of the film set its tempo; a combination of quick shots of characterization, tearing tiny pieces of meaning from a whole, and large, smooth panning shots in filtered digital, lighting in even blues smoothing all of LA's rough edges, present the film immediately as a piece to be taken in. Los Angeles is presented in all of its sprawling, seedy glory as a ponderous, living, breathing and dangerous American Hell in the most beautiful way in years. Stylized artwork in the film results in beautiful scenes of high contrast, the medium gray of Vincent mixing with the blues, blacks and whites of the background and mis en scene to create compelling visuals. The smart dialogue, written by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean), is short, often witty and has a knife fight nature of quick cuts and ripostes. Mann's camera continues to bring the audience into the movie, slipping us into the cab to nearly intrude on the dialogue between Vincent and Max as they explore each other's limits over a series of threats, philosophical discussion and guidance in a setting so tense it nearly quivers.

For most of the movie the audience never sees the action, only the Vincent and Max. Their growth is incredible, Mann coaxing amazing performances from his leading men. Masterful use of the camera, well written dialogue and incredible acting take a movie in which nothing happens, no explosions, no thunderous gunshots, no huge arguments or fanfare, and presents it as perhaps the most compelling and intriguing film in recent years.

A macabre relationship develops between Vincent and Max which leads into sibling rivalry, relationship and life advice, moral guidance and general discussion of life which is an area generally left to close friends to breach. Poetic scenes involving an understated fight for motherly affection and a question of morality of the hows and whens to kill lead to an intense relationship that seems to bond the two men. In terminus, the two realize their admiration for the contrasting aspects of the other man and the resultant event is a confrontation, a skillfully manufactured climax. The most compelling aspect of the film is not the content but what that content means. As Max and Vincent explore each other and developed, their conversations pose questions and begin to form inquiries in the minds of the audience. Some answers are the easy ones; others are much harder to come to resolution with. There is no right answer to any of them.

Never losing momentum, the film inexorably pushes onward through its motions, the audience running after it attentively. The third act of the film comes after a climactic gunfight and seems almost a let down until once again we are at home with Max and Vincent in the cleanest cab in LA. A series of quick twists deliver a more conventional final piece of the film, hurtling toward a final confrontation. It can not be emphasized how different the final part of the film is from the former pieces, nor how important it is to the film in its entirety. An interesting and intense crime drama, Collateral delivers in a way few films have in many years and will leave you walking away from the theater wondering at the significance of the film.

I believe that the scenes in Collateral were very well set up. The lighting, the angles, and the camera movement. I am also glad to see that seemingly raw digital video was used for filming. Although a bit distracting at times(because it's noticeably different than standard film or modified DV), it's something I'd like to see more of because of its' crisper image on screen.

The direction and performances were also great. You really got to know the characters, and learn about them throughout the progression of the movie. Initially, I doubted Cruise's ability to portray "The Bad Guy", but he did so very well, making his role as 'Vincent' believable. Foxx also did a great job, showing his ability to portray serious roles, in contrast to his usual comedic jobs.

The disappointment to me was the last 20 or 30 minutes of the film. As many reviewers have stated... It was cliché'd and almost ridiculous.

It was a big let down to see an extremely experienced, sharp, collected, ruthless hit-man instantly turn into an obsessed, rampaging, sloppy madman. While at the same time, a clumsy, frightened daydreamer becomes a cool, collected ace.. all in an 8 hour span. Not to mention that he overcomes by blindly firing a weapon which 'just so happens' to inflict a fatal wound on Vincent, who at the time (although still keeping his shots in form) fails to realize that the steel doors he's aiming for may not allow the bullets to pass into his intended target.

I personally would have much preferred for Vincent to have lived, whether or not he accomplished his final hit. (Seeing as the case the hits were intending to jumble, had for the most part, been effective) When they both ran out of shells, it should have stopped there, without further casualty, and ended up with Vincent walking off and disappearing, with Max left dumbfounded, but grateful for his own life (which would have been taken under any other circumstances according to comments earlier in the movie). The reason for this view is that throughout the movie, Vincent shows that he can be empathetic, and tries to understand Max's situation. This shows that Vincent is performing his job, and is probably a nicer guy off the clock. I'm not trying to excuse his status as a murderous hit-man, but show that he's someone who strives to be the best at what he does, just like Max is in regards to his cab driving job.

The Badness of this movie can not be described in the 1000 word limit imposed by IMDb so I would only describe some of the obvious blunders.

How many young hot US attorneys take cabs to work? Then hand out their business card to the cab driver after a brief conversation?

That is the opening seen of this movie.

If you are a professional hit-man, are you going to take a Cab driver hostage and make him drive you around and kill five people in high profile case including the US attorney and then hope that JUST LIKE one previous time in nearby city, the detectives would conclude that a Cab driver with impeccable history just lost his mind?

That is the PREMISE of this movie.

If you want the detectives to conclude that Cab driver indeed lost his mind, are you going to sit in a restaurant with the Cab driver and with the owner of the restaurant that you are going to kill and expose yourself to all the employees of that restaurant? Do you think a detective following up on the case would ask the waitresses, whether the Cab driver was sitting alone by himself?

The 'Hitman' in this movie feels he is invisible and hundreds of the people around him are not able to see him.

If you are driving around town with a Dead Body in your trunk, are you going to stick with the same cab on which you threw a dead body and SMASHED its windshield? Is this the way to NOT draw attention to yourself?

Right after the third Hit, Cruise comes out and kills two more people in the alley.

Two people that Cruise shot in the alley who tried to rob his hostage, the Cab driver, actually started out as four people. However, even though there were loud gunshots, two of the four did not bother to check on their friends.

As a matter of fact, just before that, hundreds of people were passing through alley perpendicular to where the Cab was parked, and even though they could hear the car horn, they couldn't hear the gunshots, leaving Cruise and Fox to have a nice humorous conversation in peace.

The Conversation: Apparently Cabbie's Mom was raising a ruckus by calling his company, and his Boss was trying to reach him to tell him to call her at the hospital where she is at.

This is the same Boss, who Cruise (Hitman) and Fox (Cab Driver) told only a few minutes earlier that "they would shove a giant Yellow Cab up his...." if he demands that Fox pay for the damage to the Cab. Cruise actually pretends to be a US attorney passenger and threatens to prosecute the Boss for extorting Cab driver.

If your EMPLOYEE cursed you in absolutely insulting manner, are you going to convey a message from their Mom to them a few minutes later?

Then RIGHT AFTER the conversation, Cruise and Fox head to the hospital to visit Fox's Mom.

However, even before Cruise and Fox arrive at the hospital, the CORPSES of the 3 victims have ALREADY arrived at the SAME HOSPITAL, and the detective who is searching for them, shares an elevator with them.

Congratulations to LAPD for their efficiency in cleaning up Crime Scenes!

If you are a FBI agent or a LAPD detective and you have your suspect under surveillance and the CAB that you are looking for, in which you believe the assassin working for your suspect is going around and killing your witnesses, that Cab is parked at side of the building, what would you do? If you think the Cabbie is the Killer, and he meets your suspect, and you know that he is heading to next witness, what will you do? Would you try to take down the killer right at the building which you have under surveillance? Most likely.

Not in this movie.

Here the entire LAPD and FBI get into a caravan and head to the club where witness is supposed to be. Apparently they don't want to take out the killer at relatively empty spot on the side of the building, instead they prefer to shoot the killer in middle of a Night Club where hundreds of people are dancing. Since both sides (Cruise/Fox & FBI/LAPD) started out from same spot, they arrive at the club at same time!

Finally, if you are a hit-man and you leave your hostage for dead in a car wreck, and you are about to shoot the US attorney and your former hostage shows up with a gun pointed at you, are you going to ignore him? Even if you thought the guy was a total loser, the fact that he still walked out of the same car wreck as you and got to the same place as you and has a gun pointed at you, are you still going to ignore him? Cruise does and gets shot in the face, but doesn't die.

Chases the Cabbie and the US attorney in a train, and as he is about to get to them, he YELLS and warns them of his approach and thus promptly gets shot. Is this how professional killers approach ARMED victims who are anticipating them?

Last Blunder: Fox kills Cruise and then he and the girl walk off the train and he immediately takes his coat off and puts it on her.

This after they have been running for miles, jumping trains, crashing through glasses, and have been shot at repeatedly. How cold do you think the girl was at that point? How cold does it get in LA anyway?

It takes a genius like Michael Mann to make a movie this bad.

Max has been a cab driver for twelve years. The faces have come and gone from his rear- view mirror, people and places he's long since forgotten.....until tonight.

Vincent is a contract killer. When a trafficking cartel learns that they're about to be indicted by a federal grand jury, they mount an operation to kill the key witness, and the last stage is tonight.

It is on this night that Vincent has arrived, and five bodies are supposed to fall. Circumstances cause Vincent to hijack Max' taxicab, and Max becomes collateral.

Through the night, Vincent forces Max to drive him to each assigned destination. And as the L.A.P.D. and F.B.I. race to intercept them, Max and Vincent's survival become dependent on each other, in ways neither would have imagined........

Just lately, Mann has fallen off track with his directing, and when you compare the likes of Miami Vice and Public Enemies to this, Heat, and The Insider, it's quite frustrating when you know that the man is a veritable genius.

Even though the film is set in the dead of the night, Los Angeles has never looked more alive in a movie. Manns L.A is reminds on of the first Terminator movie, raw, dirty, and dangerous. Yes the song said 'I love L.A', but the song wouldn't have been that good if it elaborated 'just not these parts'.

The relationship between Vincent and Max is fundamental to the films progression, and it is one strange relationship. In some parts, the narrative really leads you to believe that Max will survive the night, and there are times when you think to yourself, 'just go with it Max, Vincent's quite reasonable'.

And this is why Vincent is so dangerous, Cruise portrays him as a reasonable person, almost a friend to Max, when stereotypical plot narrative would just tell you that Max wouldn't survive. This is why Collateral is so innovative, you care for both hero and villain.

Cruise is wonderful, and it's one of his best roles, and what Mann does with Vincent's apparel is another genius stroke, as his plan begins to fall apart and Vincent begins to lose it, his clothes become more frayed and damaged, just like his psyche.

The final third of the movie is tense on the verge of uneasy watching, you feel just as helpless and desperate as Max, when he sees Vincent on the floor below his next intended victim.

As the sun rises on a steam-punksesque L.A, a story told by one of the characters comes into to its own, a perfect ending to a great thriller.

This is another very stylized crime saga from thriller genius Michael Mann(Heat, Public Enemies), that I feel is a pretty big deal IMO.

Yes its a utterly superb and gripping thriller from start to finish, but the reason its such a big deal is, is because the usually action lead superstar and normally good guy Tom Cruise goes way against type as a extremely cold hearted assassin who moves from target to target killing without a flinch half the time, this is so odd but very memorable and it works wonders in my opinion. Cruise brings his usual good looks, comical timing, kick ass nature and frenetic energy and moves it up a notch, his Vincent is truly one of the most coolest and lethal hitmen I have ever seen on the big screen, the amount of times he brutally killed his targets(plus others that cross his path)was awesome stuff, plus him stalking them(especially towards the end)was chilling and proves what a quality performer this guy is.

He is backed up by Jamie Foxx as poor cab driver Max being forced to drive Cruise's Vincent round LA as the bad guy goes after his targets. Foxx isn't as strong as Cruise, even if their chemistry is brilliant. Whether it is early on with Max first finding out about Vincent's antics, becoming his helper in crime, standing up to him at last and even reluctantly taking Vincent along to the hospital when he has to visit his mother(Cruise putting on the old charm as ever). Foxx is terrific and becomes more heroic as its goes along even if he appears a bit like his Amazing Spiderman 2 villain role Electro at the beginning(goofy and a bit cowardly), a very good foil to Cruise though.

The rest of the cast are more just tiny supporting players even if they all are very good. We have the beautiful Jada Pinkett Smith as Anne, a lawyer who Max falls for and who comes back into play in the corking finale. We also have a early role for Mark Ruffalo as a cop trying to find Vincent and Max, along with actor/director Peter Berg as his cop partner plus Javier Bardem in a small role as a gangster(shows his future quality in a small appearance)and of course a tiny cameo from future superstar Jason Statham, who delivers a package to Vincent in a airport(playing I think his Transporter character Frank Martin).

The movie is very stylish and not only reminds me of Mann's masterpiece Heat, mainly for its LA cityscapes, brutal and loud action scenes, shocks and the cool camera work, but it also reminds me of The Dark Knight , which followed about four years later. The skyscrapers, chases and wide shots as well as the memorable action moments remind me of the iconic comic book classic.

The film lulls a tad in the middle, mainly for the hospital visit plus Max in the club with Bardem's gangster and other slower moments drag a bit but the opening scenes especially the first few kills from Vincent are awesome(plus when Vincent guns down the two idiots who stole his briefcase in epic style), and of course the last 40 minutes or so when Jada's Anna reappears and is now on Vincent's hit list, its one of the most thrilling final acts I have seen, as Max really becomes a hero in trying to save his lady love from Vincent's relentless kill appetite(which sees a pitch black sequence in a office block plus a chase sequence before the last stand on a train). Another outstanding scene is in another nightclub which sees a couple of fantastic shoot outs plus Tom in full on Mission Impossible mode as he batters a few cops and gangsters(saving Max's life)and a shock death takes place after(again by Vincent).

Probably not in the very top level of Cruise's movies but its arguably his strongest and most menacing role still to date and makes the movie that much better because of it. He is backed up by cowardly then heroic Foxx, who also shows his future action potential. Jada gives one of her finest displays too and Ruffalo, Berg, Bardem and Statham are briefly memorable. Along with some of cinemas most stylized sequences, thrilling action and chases, dark humour, LA at its most visceral(both gorgeous and grim), a outstanding last act and a sad death, even though we really shouldn't care.

Michael Mann is the king of the crime saga plus Tom needs more roles like this now and then.