Collateral: Michael Mann

After watching Collateral, I find myself in awe that director Michael Mann isn't more widely respected and lauded among cinema circles. Collateral was such a perfectly conceived and executed film that after I finished watching it I simply stared at the screen, completely slack-jawed. The entire crime drama genre has become so tired and stale in today's cinema that Collateral felt like a blessed breath of fresh air. Of course, this should have come as no surprise considering that Mann also directed Heat, a film which I personally believe was the finest crime film of the 90s, and Public Enemies, a criminally overlooked film detailing the final days of John Dillinger. I feel that one of the main reasons that Mann is so skilled at creating crime films is that he never operates on just one level. Heat was not just a perfect crime film...it also was a stirring examination of the symbiotic relationship between criminals and policemen. Public Enemies wasn't just a piece of historical fiction...it was an exploration of the nature of folk heroes and cultural deification. And so we come to Collateral. What is the deeper meaning behind Collateral? Well, let's examine the plot: Nightshift cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) accidentally picks up professional hitman Vincent (Tom Cruise) and is forced to drive him around L.A. while he completes a list of five hits. As the night progresses, Max and Vincent develop a strange relationship. I wouldn't call it a "friendship" per say...but a kind of uneasy understanding. It isn't one based on respect or admiration. Max vocally derides Vincent and takes every opportunity to escape that he can. But after a while, Max seems to gain a kind of understanding of why Vincent does what he does. And as the audience, we can't help but envy Max's discovery. What exactly makes Vincent tick? That is the true enigma of Collateral. In Vincent, Tom Cruise creates one of the most original and compelling villains since Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs. It's obvious that Vincent is fascinated by the world and the people who inhabit it. Yet this does nothing to stop him from killing his contracts. He kills efficiently and remorsefully. But why? His third hit is the owner of a jazz club. Before he kills him, he listens to him play, buys him a drink, complements him, and listens to him tell stories about Miles Davis. He even gives him a chance to escape his fate. Why would he kill somebody that he admired so much? I'd like to propose a theory...Vincent is a man who is scared at the world and at the thought of being forgotten. He has finally found a place as an assassin and as such, he feels that he must carry this occupation out to the best of his abilities. He kills because it is all he knows. If he doesn't, then what good is he? During the course of that terrible night, Vincent and Max drive by a wolf prowling the streets of L.A. What is the wolf doing there? It doesn't belong there. Neither does Vincent. But despite this, both can only be what they are: the wolf a wolf, and Vincent an assassin. Or maybe I'm completely wrong. The point is that Collateral made me think about this. That, my friends, is the sign of a truly great movie.

9/10