Product Details

• Actors: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg
• Directors: Michael Mann
• Writers: Stuart Beattie
• Producers: Bryan H. Carroll, Chuck Russell, Frank Darabont, Gusmano Cesaretti, Julie Herrin
• Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Dreamworks Video
• DVD Release Date: December 14, 2004
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (480 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JN2Z
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,313 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Collateral (Two-Disc Special Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in Ali and his title-role showcase in Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series Robbery Homicide Division). Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx. An edge-of-your-seat thriller has a super cool and super calm contract killer making his hits one stop at a time right out of his cab for a perfect getaway every time. Directed by Michael Mann. 2004/color/122 min/R.

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Convincing Characters & Dialogue Work Wonders. December 26, 2004

By mirasreviews HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Director Michael Mann does what he does best with "Collateral", a well-written (by Stuart Beattie), entertaining thriller that knows just when to be intense and when to be mellow. "Collateral" takes place overnight in Los Angeles. Max (Jamie Foxx), a veteran cab driver who dreams of owning a limousine service, picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise), a slick, talkative fare who offers him $600 for a night's work: 5 stops and get him to the airport by 6 a.m. Sounds good, but when a bloody corpse lands on his windshield, Max comes to the abrupt realization that Vincent is an assassin. He becomes an unwilling accomplice in a murder spree, as Vincent attempts to fulfill his professional obligations and Max tries to walk the line between thwarting a killer and saving himself.

Much of "Collateral" is distinctly mellow in tone. Low-key conversations play out over the classical music in Max's cab. This makes the bursts of action more intense and surprising. No one could call "Collateral" realistic, but the attention to detail in the characters' speech makes it seem so. I have to admire Tom Cruise for embracing villain roles at this point in his career, where other stars have shunned them or insisted on watered-down scripts. Cruise has nothing to lose by playing unlikable characters, and they will among his most memorable work. Vincent's self-possession lends him great presence and charm, while his moral bankruptcy makes him revolting. Cruise is perfect for the role. Jamie Foxx plays the film's "everyman" who rises to the occasion when circumstances demand it. He's stressed, put-upon, and trapped, and he acts it. Jada Pinkett Smith does a nice job in a supporting role as a prosecutor, Annie, who takes a ride in Max's cab, as does Mark Ruffalo as Police Detective Fanning, who suspects trouble in Max's cab after one of his informants is murdered. Great cast, great dialogue, and perfect pacing make "Collateral" an engaging, character-driven thriller that almost everyone will enjoy.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Yo Homie. Is that my briefcase?" August 14, 2004

By Lieutenant Dan

From my point of view, the premise seemed to be very repetitive and potentially boring, but that all changed on August 12, when I went to see this on a rainy day. Don't get me wrong - the plot does involve five murders by hitman Tom Cruise, playing Vincent, who is driven around by Jamie Foxx, playing Max, but there is a lot more to it than that.

The dialogue is outstanding. Foxx, brilliantly cast, is funny at times, but he doesn't come off as trying too hard to be funny, which is what Will Smith is often guilty of. Cruise, playing a villain for once, shows his dark side and turns in a more than convincing performance. This movie, like other Michael Mann movies, relies on good dialogue. There are extended scenes of just talking, but they are so well-written that you don't even notice. A lesser director would have deleted scenes in favor of the more action-packed ones. Now, there is a lot of action and violence, but it never really gets carried away, and it never is without a point. Vincent tries to convince Max that what he is doing isn't all bad, even though it is murder. This is crucial because it shows the character development.

Also of note, the scenery and cinematography of South Central Los Angeles is beautiful. The more violent scenes are incredibly real, on the same level of being real that Saving Private Ryan was on. It may have just been because I was in a theater, but the gunshots sounded real, and the way Tom Cruise handled himself as a marksman made him look like a real hitman. That's something that you can't train for. You either have it or you don't.

And, there were cops in this movie that were chasing after the cab, but only for a very brief part of the movie, so that it didn't end up being like another one of those cat and mouse movies that I grow quite tired of. Yet, at the same time, there still are lot of thrilling action sequences. This truly is one of the best movies that I ever saw.

42 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Tom Cruise as a bad guy? Hell yeah! August 17, 2004

By Jason Oey

**Warning: Spoilers ahead**

This movie surprised me. I mean it REALLY surprised me. I didn't know what to expect from this movie. Collateral shows Tom Cruise in what I believe is his first `bad guy' role and Jamie Foxx in one of his few non-comedy roles. But with its tight writing and direction, and great performances by all actors involved, Collateral is without a doubt one of the best movies of this summer, and the surprise sleeper hit of the year.

The story of Collateral revolves around an assassin named Vincent (played by Cruise) who commandeers a taxi operated by Max (played by Foxx). Vincent forces Max at gunpoint to assist him in assassinating five individuals on his hit list. However, this seemingly simple premise belies an incredibly strong story. If you want non-stop balls-to-walls action, and/or have no patience for movies that `have a lot of talking' then look somewhere else. While there are several scenes of gunplay, the core of this movie deals with the interaction between Vincent and Max.

It is true that, like in most movies, Collateral's most interesting character is the villain. Cruise's portrayal of the character is amazing. As Vincent, Cruise delivers his lines with such ease and confidence, that it's more than worthy of Oscar consideration. Vincent is a person who his incredibly calm considering the profession that he's in. He is also extremely resourceful, as shown when he pretends to be a lawyer telling off Max's boss when he (the boss) wants to take any damages done to the taxi out of Max's paycheck. Vincent also always has something sarcastic (and often funny) say to Max when he begins to criticize what Vincent has done. After Vincent kills of the first person on his list, Max asks why he would kill his victim after only just meeting him. To that, Vincent replies, `What? I should only kill people after I get to know them?'. Vincent then asks Max whether he heard about Rwanda. He goes on to tell Max thousands of people died yet `Did you join Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, or something? No. I off one fat Angelino and you throw a hissy fit.'

Max himself is also an interesting character, and is surprisingly well-played by Jamie Foxx. He tells people who get in his cab about his intentions to own a limo service and drive around famous people, yet at the same time he projects a sense that this is more of a dream than a real plan, and you feel sorry for him. His character is also one that continuously changes throughout the movie. After the first killing, Max gets scared and has no idea how to deal with Vincent. But as soon as he sees an opening, Max jumps on the opportunity to destroy Vincent's suitcase with his work inside. And when Max has to confront a powerful drug lord while posing as Vincent, he has to force himself to become as cool and collected as Vincent himself.

An interesting thing to note about this movie is, just like Michael Man's other movie Heat, Collateral likes to use a lot of the wide shots of the background. In Heat this was used to good effect to give that movie a more `epic' experience. In Collateral, this wide shot technique is used to give the viewer to stronger `feel' for the city of Los Angeles, as a bustling, busy, and warm (in terms of temperature) metropolis.

If Cruise and Foxx continue to make performances like that in Collateral, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they get an academy award. Hell it's entirely possible for them to get nominated for their roles in this movie. With so many special effect blockbusters out there this summer, Collateral bucks the trend by providing a movie that focuses on strong characters and dialogue, and a few unexpected twists, rather than relying on huge explosions. Collateral is one of the MUST SEE movies of this summer, so don't deprive yourself by not checking it out.

I give Collateral a rock-solid 8 out of 10!