Les Jones: Movie: Collateral

December 29, 2004

A&E > Movie: Collateral

I'm not a big fan of actor Tom Cruise, but I am a big fan of director Michael Mann. In some circles he's best known for Miami Vice. For everyone who has forgiven him for that he's probably best known for the movie HEAT, one of the best cops-n-robbers action dramas of the '90s, starring Amy Brenneman, Robert De Niro, Ashley Judd, Val Kilmer, Al Pacino, Tom Sizemore, and Jon Voight.

I mentioned before that HEAT bears a lot of similarities to Mann's earlier film, Thief, starring James Caan. Collateral likewise bears similarities to HEAT. There's the impersonal Los Angeles landscape, where De Niro's Vince Neil McCauley looked out over the city's lights and protested to Amy Brennamen's Eady that "I am alone. I am not lonely." Tom Cruise's Vincent tells Jamie Foxx's cabdriver Max that he hates LA and can't ever wait to leave. To explain why, he tells the story of a guy who died on the MTA train and circled around and around LA before anyone noticed he was dead.

Neil and Vincent share other viewpoints. When Max tells Vincent about the woman who had been in his cab, who had given him her card, Vincent implores Max to call her. "Life is short," he says. Call her if we get through this tonight.

That recalls the conversation between Neil and Eady in HEAT after his plans have been thwarted and his friends are dead or scattered. "I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I know life is short. Whatever time you get is luck. If you wanna walk, you walk right now. Or on your own - on your own - you choose to come with me. All I know is... all I know is there's no point in me going anywhere anymore, if it's going to be alone. Without you."

Vincent's mission in Collateral is to kill six people in one night, while Max is just trying to survive and stay true to himself. The clock works to enhance the drama, and Mann makes sure to flesh out his small cast to make them interesting and sympathetic. The end of the movie is hugely suspenseful.

Collateral Script
HEAT Script
HEAT: The Script vs. the Movie

Posted by lesjones

Comments

I too, am a huge fan of Michael Mann, Les. Heat was excellent. One of the top gun battles ever caught on film. The way Mann captures gunplay in his films is excellent. The sound of the gunshots are very certain...

The Insider was not cops and bad guys, but it was an excellent movie as well. If you haven't seen it, i'd recommend it.

Posted by: F-Stop at December 30, 2004

The Insider was awesome. Really different from his other movies, too.

We just got back from seeing his newest movie, The Aviator. Absolutely great. We're going to be rooting for it on Oscar night.

Posted by: Les Jones at December 30, 2004

I was not impressived with collertal, i could not figure out the point. Heat was a great moive with a well defined theme.

Collertal was not quite an assian moive, but not quite a bad ass dude saves the day moive (ie die hard).

I thought the moive did not not have a clear point (it might have tried to say a lot, but i think i accomplished little).

though it was better than average, i like I, Robot better.

Posted by: cube at December 30, 2004

Collateral had a point, why you care so much about little people die that you dont even know,.. its like why 9/11 was sucha big deal, 3000+ died,.... and tsunami wasnt as big (it was still big but not as big as 911) 150.000+ died,... see those ppl you dont know, and NY feels closer to you... so we still remeber it. Another thing I came up with, which i think kindda beside the point, is that lots of ppl are so insignificant that they dont have any value to anyone,... so it easier to kill you and at the same time nobody cares about you, where if you have a great value, some ppl might want you dead, but its harder to kill you, like that Max saved Anne... so impact the world and have lots of friends and enemies. Stay low and be safe, work on the same job your whole life, and keep dreaming...

Posted by: Dalkor at January 13, 2005

What was the last words that the hitman said before the lights went out. I missed it because of my daughter being loud. what did he say to the cab driver at the end. I have to know. thanks

Posted by: Emil at June 11, 2005