Seth Lamey
“It started like any other night.” The tagline for the 2004 film Collateral initiates a simple concept. Screenwriter Stuart Beattie took a cab home from the Sydney airport and the idea dawned on him: what if a cab driver picked up a homicidal maniac? The idea grew into a fully realized script, and in the early 2000s DreamWorks Pictures green-lit the film to be directed by crime/thriller savant film maker Michael Mann. Collateral executed the idea efficiently and calculatedly, building off of strong performances from Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise, and it’s supporting cast. The production style fit in with Mann’s normal beats, including a new experimentation with digital cameras. 2004 would prove to be a strong year in American film making, with the neo-noir thriller Collateral providing the summer with an august hit with audiences and critics alike.
The story of Collateral is fairly simple. What if an L.A. cab driver had the misfortune of picking up a hired assassin and was forced to escort him throughout the night while he killed for contract? This happens to Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) when he meets Vincent (Tom Cruise) in the 1st act of the film. Max is an everyman cab driver in L.A., claiming he drives to make ends meet and save for his dream job: a luxury limousine company. When times get tough in his cab, he stares at a picture of an island in a place he’d rather be. After being persuaded by a silver-haired business professional to be his escort for the night, he finds he is in for more than meets the eye with Vincent. The dark L.A. landscape serves as a labyrinth and playground for his midnight devious acts.
Collateral sets up the audiences fairly early to like Max, and identify with him as a trustworthy protagonist they can buy into. Foxx plays the character with an inherent goodness and his moral integrity is reinforced throughout the film. That is contrasted by Cruise’s performance as Vincent the hitman assassin. Both are good at their jobs, Max with being a personable cab driver who makes quick and efficient time with his cab routes and makes a strong impression on U.S. Attorney Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith) and then Vincent. Vincent is also good at his job, going from one contract killing to another during the night with enough charm to create a deranged kinship with his cab driver escort Max and an intense coldness to execute those in the way of his killings. Vincent begins the night with a goal to kill three key witnesses in a Grand Jury trial to indict drug lord Felix Reyes Torrena (Javier Bardem) and finally, kill the prosecuting attorney…Annie Farrell.
At the time Jamie Foxx had not fully broken out as a dramatic actor yet. Cutting his teeth mostly on TV in the ’90s, he would get roles in Any Given Sunday and Michael Mann’s 2001 film Ali to start breaking himself into the mainstream film scene. 2004 would be his big year, with his strong work in Collateral leading into his Oscar winning performance as Ray Charles in the film Ray. Tom Cruise had more than twenty years on his resume as a dramatic and action actor, working with many auteur film makers ranging from Scorsese, P.T. Anderson, Kubrick, and Spielberg. Most of his work centers him as a hero or protagonist, someone the audience can sympathize with and cheer for.
Collateral plays against type, casting Cruise as the cold and calculating hitman Vincent. His demeanor comes off as personable and charming in his interactions with Max, gaining information and trust so he can weaponize it when he needs to. His portrayal as Vincent is one filled with confidence bordering on arrogance, as he pushes Max to stand up for himself on multiple occasions. Mixed among the killing of contracts, he coaches Max to tell off his bully boss at the cab station, he questions his motives for lying to his mother on a hospital visit and why Max doesn’t attempt his goals and dreams in life or even get a date with Annie. Cruise plays Vincent steely cold when he needs to kill or evade trouble, but Mann centers the two main characters together in a deranged one-night friendship.
Mann showed his precise control as a director in Collateral. Performances are sharp and riveting, both by the leads already mentioned and a slew of talented supporting performances. Jada Pinkett Smith, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, and Bruce McGill all bring their best to small roles with Bardem’s star rising to an Oscar win three years later for No Country For Old Men. Ruffalo would go on to a very respectable dramatic career and a recurring part as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the Avengers franchise. The Collateral script fits right into Michael Mann’s wheelhouse of men doing crimes and being good at what they do. Thief centers around a thief who takes on high profile jobs. Manhunter showcases FBI agent Will Graham trying to solve the crimes of a serial killer before he strikes again. Heat shows the cat-and-mouse nature of FBI agents chasing high profile thieves before the pull a big job. Ali follows the life of the greatest boxer in history, Muhammed Ali. The filmography progression for Michael Mann was leading to another template crime thriller, and he chose the story of Collateral to fit that mold.
The early 2000s saw experimentation with digital cinematography. For nearly a century movies were shot on “celluloid film” but digital camera tech was starting to show up in Hollywood. George Lucas shot the entirety of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones digitally and more dramatic film makers like Michael Mann would try their hand with it as well. About 20% of Collateral was shot with digital cameras, mostly low-lit scenes that Mann found better suited for the digital cameras. His liberal use of hand held cameras made for a good match with digital, and he would continue to expand his use of it with the rest of his filmography since. His control of the frame with compositions would be a strength of Collateral, often times using a shot-reverse-shot editing technique in the cab scenes. Close-ups of Max’s face aligned on the right side of the frame (with negative space on the left) would be intercut with Vincent in the back seat, composed on the left side of the frame. Digital cinematography would also capture bursts of intense action that breakout during the film. Vincent flipping a switch from business professional in a grey suit to double-tapping, gunwielder leave the audience as disoriented as Max. Mann’s work in digital film technique would go on to inspire David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh to conform to a new production style as well.
Three key action scenes stitch together Mann’s aim at grounded realism and dramatic tension in the film. The Fever Night Club scene showcases Vincent’s brutally efficient skills as an assassin as he cuts through security and LAPD/FBI agents to kill his mark and evade capture with Max. Cruise embodies the determined physicality of a deadly assassin through the well-staged action with Vangelis composition “Moxica and the Horse” pulsating in the club. Secondly, Mann reuses a leitmotif from just before the club scene with Audioslave song “Shadow on the Sun.” The first time it is used is when Max sees a coyote cross the road with similar hair color to Vincent, and the second time it is used Max reaches full desperation mode when he speeds up and flips his cab. Thirdly, the final act of the film crescendos with Max and Annie attempting to evade Vincent before he can kill her. Vincent stalks her in an office building like a horror villain and eventually he chases them on the metro rail train. Max reaches his peak bravery by fatally shooting Vincent among gunfire and Vincent calls back to a morbid story he told Max earlier in the night: “A man dies on the train…do you think anyone will notice?”
Mann would go on to make Miami Vice, Public Enemies, Blackhat, and Ferrari. To no surprise they would all expand his fascination with digital film making and male-centric crime stories. There has been varying results and consensus on how the 2nd half of his career has gone, but even the most cynical of critics would be able to admit Mann has his own style and honed craft. Foxx would win his Oscar in 2004 but settle in as more of an over-qualified supporting actor save for his lead in Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Cruise would re-invigorate his action star status with Mission Impossible franchise going onto it’s 8th entry and his 2021 hit sequel Top Gun: Maverick. His days as being the cold-blooded antagonist appear to be over. Twenty years later, Collateral proves to be a vital turning point in the trajectory of all of their careers. A crime thriller making 200+ million at the box office at the end of summer and gaining raves from critics and audience alike have become a rarity in modern film making, but Collateral shows that a satisfying work of art by an auteur film maker and acting stars is still a formula worthy of execution.
