Customer Reviews

why boring? - By: HenriSYLO, 25 Jun 2008
I fully understand that some people will find the movie boring, espeically for those who expect they will get the same experience from the stimuliin playing PS I, II, III... The film is a great stuff if you savour the content, the details & the visual feast...etc.

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BORING, BORING, BORING....................... - By: B. M. Walker, 07 Nov 2007
If you want to admire the actors technical skills, great.
If you want entertainment value it bottoms out -boring, boring, boring

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Saved by the Foxx - By: Jay, 29 May 2007
This film is massively overhyped yet is saved from the performance of Jamie Foxx who plays a cab driver who realizes that he is chauffeuring a contract killer, Cruise. Thee are many inaccuraciesin the plot notably Cruise is supposed to be a cold blooded hitman yet he is as good as one of the baddiesin the A team. Hitmen are supposed to kill their preyin cold blood without any traces, Cruise is just a messy urban terrorist. His mindgames with Foxx are the only redeeming part of his role but nothing else. I can't be wrong !

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Damaged Collateral - By: Trevor Willsmer, 26 Oct 2006
Collateral may well be the single most ridiculous & utterly absurd screenplay ever put into production by a major studioin this century. While the inexplicable critical praise for the film might be expected to resultin some failure to live up to expectations, this fails on even the most basic levels of construction for the very dumbest of action movies - & this certainly is the dumbest piece of hokum I've seenin the past ten years. I'm simply at a loss as to how anyone could think this thrill-free thriller even a competent piece of drama, let alone a masterpiece.

One of the problems with people who make more than one good movie is that we very unreasonably expect them to keep on making good movies instead of just being grateful for what they've given usin the past. So I'll go on being grateful to Mann for Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, The Jericho Mile & Last of the Mohicans (even if he is determined to re-edit the heart out of them if left unchecked) & mark this one down as a paycheck. It's just a shame that, unlike Terrence Malick, nobody set up a trust fund for him so that he wouldn't have to make movies this bad just to pay the bills.

The film starts off with a disadvantage - the high concept setup is a hard premise to sell, & the film singularly fails to do so. But instead of going offin the `we know this is stupid, but let's have fun with it' route, instead it tries to play it as serious psychodrama & character piece while offering some of the most ridiculous plotting imaginable.

Cruise is supposedly a top of his game hitman, but is the most spectacularly inept killer the screen has ever seen, revealing himself to dozens of witnesses, beating up & shooting peoplein crowded nightclubs (the film's utter lowpoint) & even accompanying his reluctant chauffeur on a visit to his motherin hospital. Short of taking over a Presidential press conference at gunpoint, it's hard to imagine him drawing more attention to himselfin almost every single scene. By the final reel when he turns into an indestructible relentless Tominator stalking the pair, you suddenly start to appreciate the finely crafted plots & elegant dialogue foundin the works of Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme & Olivier Gruner, none of whom have ever descended to such preposterous lows. It's notable that Jason Statham kept his name off the creditsin this one, & he had no such qualms over Revolver.

By the time the unbelievable coincidence of the passenger Foxx falls for being - shock, horror - the last name on the list is wheeled on, we've sat through so many much more unbelievable coincidences & idiotic lapsesin logic & credibility that it almost seems rational. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but this is just taking the piss.

Not that faulty suspension is the only thing wrong with this vehicle. None of the individual scenes ever convince or work on their own terms, with every development or line of dialog not just horribly telegraphed but practically writtenin the sky. Characterization is equally facile & predictable, with only vague moments hinting at possibilities glossed over en route to the next botched setpiece. The performances are variable: Cruise, Foxx, Javier Bardem and, most surprisingly, Jada Pinkett Smith are fine but not outstanding, but Mark Ruffalo becomes increasingly laughable as it becomes ever clearer that the depth of his characterization extends to doing a not very good John Travolta/Chilli Palmer impersonation.

I take no pleasurein writing off this utter trainwreck of a movie. There could have been a good little straight-to-video moviein this, but the end result is a completely unacceptable piece of junk that goes straight into my All-time Ten Worst list. Garbage.

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Fantastic - By: neuro, 01 May 2006
This is Michael Mann at his most visceral. Shotin Los Angeles at night on DV, "Collateral" feels more like documentary than entertainment. Mann manages to evoke everyman fearful compliance from taxi driver Foxx, & unsettling hairtrigger violence from hitman Cruise. His real life antics aside, Cruise is at the best I've ever seen him. This movie is worth watching not only for the action, writing & tremendous plot, but for the stunning photography. Watching this & Heat makes you believe Mann loves California, & you'll love this movie too by its end.