Actors - Collateral

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	Actors - Collateral

Collateral is a 2004 Dreamworks SKG/Paramount Pictures American drama/thriller/crime film directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie.

It had moderate financial success, and was largely praised by critics. Both followers of Michael Mann and Tom Cruise have considered it a good film, though there has been substantial critical praise for the performance of Jamie Foxx, including a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. The movie takes place in Los Angeles though the original screenplay set the story in New York. It is also the first major motion picture to be shot with the Viper FilmStream Camera.

Plot summary

A nihilistic, erudite hitman, Vincent (Tom Cruise) uses a cab to make his rounds one night in Los Angeles. After Max (Jamie Foxx) learns the truth about the man he's been driving when the first mark falls onto his cab roof from a window after being shot by Vincent, he tries to get out of Vincent's way offering him his cab, but Vincent forces Max to drive him all night.

Eventually Max realizes that the marks are key witnesses for the prosecution in a court case against an organized crime boss. Max must find a way to save himself and the one last victim.

Featured cast

Synopsis

Max (Jamie Foxx) is a cabbie in LA; he strives to be the best. He has had the job for twelve years. Dreams of starting a limo company in his head, but they’re just dreams, never to be realized. One day he picks up a prosecuting attorney Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith), they talk, and in the end when she leaves the cab, she gives him her card. As Max is staring at the card in amazement, a man, Vincent (Tom Cruise), gets in. They have a little chat, and Vincent tells Max that it's not his first time in L.A., and that every time he's here he can't wait to leave. He tells him about something he read once before; "I read about this guy who gets on the MTA here, dies. Six hours he's riding the subway before anybody notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices.". Max gets him to where he wanted in time. Vincent shows admiration to his precision and offers him to be his driver for a night, dropping him at four more stops and then to the LAX. Max shows hesitation at first saying that it's against the regulations, but then Vincent offers him $600 plus $100 for getting him back to LAX on time and that's almost twice as much as Max makes in one shift, so he agrees. Max waits for him in an alley behind the building.

A body smashes on the roof of the cab. Max is stunned. He looks up at where the body came from and then down again to see Vincent standing near the car. Max asks, “You killed him?”, Vincent responded, “No, I shot him. Bullets and the fall killed him.” Vincent takes Max hostage and makes him drive around. Vincent takes out a lawyer-turned criminal and a jazzman.

At this time, a call over the radio informs Max and Vincent that Max's mom has been trying to get in contact; Max religiously visits his ailing mom. Max tries to blow the meeting off, but Vincent insists that they make the rendezvous, to lessen the chance that Max's situation is discovered, and, to have more leverage against him (Vincent later threatens to off Max's mother before leaving town). They make the visit - and even share the elevator with the LAPD officer investigating one of Vincent's murders who is visiting the coroner. At this time, Vincent discovers that Max has been lying to his mother, who believes that her son owns a limo service and that Vincent is one of Max's clients.

While Vincent amiably chats with Max's mother, Max steals his bag of files and makes a run for it. He makes it to an interstate overpass and flings the case onto the road. An enraged and surprised Vincent then forces Max to meet with Felix, the man who has hired him, to get the files (Vincent didn't want his identity or appearance to be revealed). Felix is at a cowboy club for the evening and, unbeknowingst to him and Vincent, is under surveillance by the FBI. The LAPD agent notices Max's wrecked cab on one of the surveillance cameras, and the law enforcement officials believe that Max is Vincent and that he is driving alone. They do, however, correctly judge the motives of the hits.

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