Actors: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Bruce McGill
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Collateral
Max (Foxx) is a cab driver in Los Angeles who dreams of starting a classy limo service. One night he brings in Annie (Smith), a federal prosecutor stressing about a huge case, from the airport, and they have a pleasant conversation. Then he picks up an out-of-town businessman named Vincent (Cruise) who offers him $600 to ferry him around all night. Max quickly learns that Vincent is a contract killer who intends to murder five different people involved in a grand jury hearing to indict a drug kingpin named Felix (Javier Bardem).
Max does everything he can to get out of this job, including destroying the laptop that contains all the information Vincent needs to track his quarry, but he's in too deep, and he can't avoid the suspicion that he will be history too, before the night is out. Max will witness several deaths, meet the drug lord face-to-face, be forced to introduce Max to his ailing and estranged mother in the hospital, and eventually realize that he not only has to save his own skin but stop Vincent from taking his final victim, who turns out to be Annie. This 2004 Michael Mann picture is as much a character study of the two men as it is a thriller.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
A cab driver picks up what looks like an average businessman. The man wants the cabbie to take him to five different places. In exchange the cabbie gets paid $600. After the first stop the cabbie realizes that the man is a hitman who has to kill five witnesses. The cabbie then tries to stop him from killing anyone else.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
The worst night of Max's (Jamie Foxx) life started out with his second fare, a man named Vincent (Tom Cruise). Vincent is in town on business, and that business is death. A hired killer, Vincent's assignment is to murder five people in one night before they can testify before a federal grand jury in the morning about a Mexican drug cartel.
Hopping in Max's cab, Vincent intends to have Max simply drive him around L.A. while he kills people, and never be the wiser. But this plan quickly disintegrates when Vincent's first victim goes out the window and onto the cab.
Forced to take Max as a hostage/unwilling accomplice, Vincent resolves to continue his rounds and eliminate everyone on his list as planned.
As a team of cops led by Detective Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) stumble onto the trail, Max must summon the courage to escape from his captor and save not only himself but Vincent's last victim.
(Editorial note: this movie is more about Jamie Foxx than about Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is barely even seen for the first half hour of the film)
--James Craver, Resident Scholar
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Analysis of Collateral
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie Actual chase scenes or violence - 50% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Time/Era of Movie:
- present (2000-2010)
Crime & Police Story?
Yes
Criminal enemy is...
- known killer
If this is a criminal POV story...
- killing innocent people
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- cab driver
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- very short/crewcut (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- aggressive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn, straight
How much in movie?
- 20%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- killer
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Hair color
- white
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
City?
Yes
City:
- Los Angeles
- dangerous
Misc setting
- moving train
- sewers/subways
- building
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- challenged
How many deaths in film?
- 8 or more
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 2 (a little)
Kind of violence:
- hand to hand
- guns
- knives
Unusual forms of death
- dropped from large heights
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
