Michael Mann is an undisputed master of male dominated crime stories. He puts you inside the heads of his characters forcing you to identify with the distinctive motives that drive them to a psychological face off. Neither hero nor villain go unscathed in his films. Each affects the other in sometimes unimaginable, yet always believable and very human ways. They are always professionals - the best at what they do. Think of the cop - Al Pacino - and the thief - Robert De Niro in “Heat” (1995) or Pacino again as the journalist and Russell Crowe as the whistle blowing chemist in “The Insider” (1999) - two great character studies. “Collateral” shares many of their traits.
Jamie Foxx is Max, an L.A. cab driver who knows his home town like the back of his hand. He dreams of having his own limo service, but twelve years as a hack has weathered his ambition. Tom Cruise is Vincent, a contract killer sent to Max’s city to wipe out five key people in a high profile drug investigation. He is the epitome of cool. He walks the walk and talks the talk of a successful cultured businessman who just happens to be an assassin. Vincent can discuss jazz and the meaning of life with unsuspecting victims, and can kill them in an instant without breaking a sweat or wrinkling his well tailored suit. He is focussed, able to adapt randomly to any situation, at least until he meets Max whose sense of morality, fair play, and desire to live an long and fruitful life put a chink in his steely reserve.
Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx have an undeniable chemistry as fiend and foe responding to each like chess players making unexpected moves. Max reluctantly accepts Vincent’s offer to drive exclusively for him through the night. Max wises up when a body comes crashing down on his cab. There is little doubt about who the killer is, but Max is as indecisive in his response to Vincent as he has been about his future. He is mentally paralyzed. Not knowing what to do or which way to turn, he keeps going with Vincent until his survival instinct kicks in and shifts into high gear. Vincent ups the stakes by making Max impersonate him at a gangland night club when he loses some high tech tools of the trade because of Max. The tension blows up in a sea of disco lights and dance fever patrons in one of director Michael Mann’s best action set pieces. Anyone recognizing Vincent must be iced and Max knows it.
The filmmakers cleverly reveal Vincent’s history through the eyes of Detective Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) who pieces things together intuitively drawing parallels to a similar case involving a dead cab driver. Mann and Beattie use other secondary characters, like Max’s mother, to provide a background history that offers some surprising turns in the plot and a few that do not. But they are a minor inconvenience when compared to complete delineation of character exhibited by Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Their performances alone are worth the price of admission. The action set pieces choreographed by Michael Mann are a bonus.
Copyright 2004
The Best of Michael Mann
“The Insider” (1999) - Two men from two different walks of life are thrown together by fate in a struggle to reveal the truth about corporate greed and the flagrant disregard for human life that has been wrought by the tobacco industry. One must grapple with his conscience, the other with the media conglomerate that feeds him. “The Insider” is one of the most violent movies Mann has ever made even though there are no car crashes or explosions and no one is beaten, shot, or killed. Instead a man and his family are psychologically abused, emotionally raped, and pushed beyond the breaking point. At the heart of “The Insider” is the extraordinary relationship that develops between Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), the whistle blower fired by The Brown Williamson Tobacco Company, and Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), the journalist who uncovered the story that was too hot for WCBS-TV’s 60 Minutes. This is a Great Movie!
“Heat” (1995) - Mann wrote this classic thriller with Al Pacino as the cop out to get the low key high tech thief, played by Robert DeNiro, who invades his turf. The centerpiece is one of the most violent and suspenseful bank robberies ever put on screen. It’s right up there with the classic armored car scene in Fritz Lang’s “You Only Live Once,”(1937). The personal lives of the criminals are fleshed out with particularly remarkable performances by Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd as a married couple who hope to go straight - after the big job.
“Manhunter” (1986) - The first movie to introduce Hannibal Lechter to the movies. William L. Peterson is the FBI guy who has the ability to identify with serial killers in order to catch them. Tom Noonan is downright scary as the killer from Tom Clancy’s book, The Red Dragon. Mann concentrates on the suspenseful detective work and the emotional costs on the agent and uses violence in just a few key scenes.
“The Last of the Mohicans” (1992) - At first thought you wouldn’t think that James Fennimore Cooper’s novel would be a natural for Mann, but Hawkeye has to think like his adversary, Magua, much like the cops in “Heat” and “Manhunter.” Of course it’s easy because he was raised by Chingachgook and moves easily between the worlds of the Indians and the white settlers.
“Thief” (1981) - Mann’s feature debut with James Caan as the professional thief whose personal problems affect his work. Worth a look for one of Caan’s best performances and the first inkling of a style that would later dominate Mann’s hit TV series “Miami Vice.”