Here’s Something Satisfying To Wrap

Up The Summer Movie Season

When good guys go bad…

Hollywood has been ambivalent about whether it likes its clean-cut leading men taking turns on the dark side. Almost always the noble hero, Denzel Washington finally captured the Best Actor Oscar that had so long eluded him by turning in a shocking portrayal as a corrupt L.A. detective in Training Day; Kevin Costner earned critical acclaim but very little public support for his role as a disturbed, escaped con in the still-underrated A Perfect World; and Harrison Ford could only boast of a modest hit (but well below the standards of his Han Solo, Indy Jones and Jack Ryan franchises, not to mention his presidential run with Air Force One) with What Lies Beneath, a suspense drama in which he plays a cheating husband.

There are several other examples, of course (Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition also comes to mind), but the one of note at the moment is Tom Cruise in Collateral. Sporting flinty facial hair and gray locks, Cruise takes to the screen as a hired assassin in director Michael Mann’s thriller, which is still among the top ten films in the country and has grossed over $80 million.

Collateral, which also stars Jamie Foxx (who previously teamed with Mann by giving him a wonderful, warm yet chameleon-like portrayal in Ali as the champ’s pudgy, rhyming corner man, Drew “Bundini” Brown) as meek, mild taxi driver Max, follows the overnight ordeal of a Los Angeles cabbie whose vehicle is taken hostage by a contract killer named Vincent (Cruise).

The gunman orders the driver to take him around the city to make his rounds (he’s been hired to kill five people before dawn) ...otherwise, innocent people, including himself, will surely be killed as well. It’s a simple story, to be sure, but it’s precisely this straightforward take (written by Stuart Beattie) that helps not only the drama and tension to mount, but allows the characterizations, especially those of Max and Vincent, to unfold nicely.

Although curiosity seekers might search out this movie in order to see whether Cruise pulls off the villain role or not (he does: Cruise mixes his engaging smile and charm with sharp, shark-like instincts to make for a most dangerous foe), the most important item about Collateral is that it’s the newest film from the talented, Oscar-nominated Mann, whose efforts include The Insider, Heat and The Last of the Mohicans. His last effort, Ali, had some electrifying moments, but he seemed to be unable to completely find his focus throughout that picture.

With Collateral, Mann returns to the Los Angeles setting of his grand crime film, Heat, and although this effort is not as epic as that Pacino-De Niro match-up, he is able to return to a lean, mean and clean style he displayed to such fine measure in The Last of the Mohicans, and the effective, single-mindedness that was shown in The Insider.

In fact, although the film boasts an impressive, effective cast (including Mark Ruffalo, Irma P. Hall, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem and a refreshingly different portrayal by Jada Pinkett Smith), it’s essentially a two-person, dramatic clash between Vincent and Max, with Mann putting Cruise and Foxx through their paces and the two actors delivering at each turn.

Additionally, Mann, the executive producer behind beloved cop shows Crime Story and Miami Vice, is on top of his technical game: the film not only boasts an effective, driving soundtrack, but also features some impressive cinematography by utilizing high-definition video cameras to give the film a unique, gritty visual style.

Overall, Collateral, rated R for language and violence, is a tight, taut drama that satisfactorily wraps up the summer season.