Simply A Masterpiece

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles. Collateral is probably one of the hardest roles and films that Tom Cruise chose to do and he really did a great job but the same goes for Jamie Foxx who was just as good as he was plus the film was directed by a very good director Michael Mann and his cinematography totally shows up in various scenes. Collateral is fast paced, intense and just thrilling and another win for Tom Cruise as an actor. (10/10)

I don't know if any of you has noticed this detail, I guess some of you have done it, but there is a little think that I have thought about whist I watched this pure masterpiece. It's the postcard element, when Tom Cruise - or Jamis Fox - hands and watches the little postcard, showing the Pacific island. The impossible and ultimate dream of a life time. How not to think about THIEF, with James Caan handing a kind of photos patchwork of this whole past life, and showing it to Tuesday Weld, the girl whom he wants to live with. One picture means future, the other the past, I admit, but I could not prevent myself to think about this detail, me who has both features so many times. So many. That's all folks.

I would've rated this one a 7 if it hadn't been for the beginning when Max is driving the woman. They argue over which route's the fastest way and he persuades her to trust him. When they get close, she goes, "Go ahead, say it." He asks, "Say what?" She answers, "That you were right." He shouldn't ask that because it's a stupid question, because it's playing dumb. We all know what she means. Later, whether this is realistic or not is debatable: I'm just saying there's no point in the cops ordering Max with Vincent back to the garage immediately as they race off to the emergency call they receive because of COURSE he's not going to follow that order. The climax is stupid because it's too typical that the cell phone dies, and what Joe Schmoe is talking on the street corner in the middle of the night with a low battery? And just because the battery's low doesn't mean the line would break up as it doesn't have anything to do with reception. After Max shoots Vincent in the office, he quickly just grabs the girl and runs away to get away from him instead of sticking around to put him into submission and turn him in. Had he logically done so, the pursuit through the subway would've never happened.

I have to admit up front that I am no fan of Tom Cruise's acting. Much to my surprise, the acting in this film is its strength. Nice cameo by Javier Bardem, but his presence if pretty much wasted. The problem is the heavy handed directing and typical Hollywood boorish script. A reasonable person can pretty much predict the outcome within the first half hour of the film. The ending left me less than satisfied and laughing at the lack of ingenuity. I think Michael Mann has found his calling with Transformers.