Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight

Collateral  (2004)  —  movie review
Last night I took an evening off of Christmas movies to watch and action movie.  My choice was the 2004 thriller “Collateral“, starring Tom Cruise as Vincent (a contract hitman) and Jamie Foxx as Max (a taxi driver).  Basically, Vincent is in Los Angeles with a night to kill (as in five targets to murder).  Max is the lucky taxi driver who gets a cash bonus to drive Vincent around as he does his dirty deeds.  Max awkwardly discovers Vincent is up to no good, but Max is convinced (by Vincent) to assist.  Action and hilarity ensue…
Okay, maybe NOT hilarity, but this is a pretty entertaining movie.  To start off, Tom Cruise is a bad guy.  Yeah, I know Tom has done a few bad guy or against-typecast roles in the past, but (for me anyway) I have to think about when was the last time I saw Tom as a “bad” guy.  If I have to think, that means I’m open for surprise.  I was both, open and surprised.  Tom was Tom (“run Tom, run”), but Tom was also pretty good.  Strike that,  VERY good.  Jamie Foxx is also mildly “against-type” cast in the role of ne’er-do-well taxi driver who dreams of owning a luxury limousine service.  It’s only in the last few minutes of the movie where Foxx reverts to super-hero and saves the day.
I particularly like Vincent repeatedly telling Max: “We’re in this together” and “We’ll both get through this”.  Max wants to believe he still has a chance to live through the night.  We, of course, have been told by the police of a similar case in Oakland, where a rampaging taxi driver killed several people and then committed suicide.  So, we pretty much know how it will “really” end up for Max at the end of the ride.
So, final recommendation:  Strong to highly recommended!  I really enjoyed this movie.  (Maybe I’ve been over-dosing on too many Christmas movies and I need to clean out my system?)  The type reversals for the two main actors was a big part of the enjoyment, but still, it (the enjoyment / entertainment) was there.  This is not a movie for kids.  The body count alone is enough to restrict access (rated “R” for violence and language), but for mature viewers, I didn’t find it to be gratuitous, over the top or offensive.  It was part of the story.  Are these “defining” roles for either of the main actors?  No.  But they are both against-type (mostly) and they both carry it off.
The question is:  “A man dies while riding on the MTA.  How long until somebody notices?“
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