‎Collateral (2004) directed by Michael Mann • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Collateral

2004 Directed by Michael Mann

It started like any other night.

Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.

Tom Cruise Jamie Foxx Jada Pinkett Smith Mark Ruffalo Peter Berg Bruce McGill Irma P. Hall Barry Shabaka Henley Javier Bardem Steven Kozlowski Richard T. Jones James McBride Klea Scott Bodhi Elfman Debi Mazar Emilio Rivera Thomas Rosales, Jr. Inmo Yuon Angelo Tiffe Jason Statham

120 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Evan ★★★★½ 10

It's truly incredible how many GREAT movies Tom Cruise has been in. Whether it's a drama like Eyes Wide Shut, or an action movie like Top Gun, and let's not forget a comedic role like Tropic Thunder; he is always in top form. There'e no denying that Tommy C is one of the best actors of all-time. I might not be the biggest fan of the real life Cruise, but as an actor I absolutely love the guy. Collateral is just another great Tommy C movie to add to the ongoing list.
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 20

"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. "

Can I just be honest? I don't really know a lot about film. I may talk big about the depths of thematic development or the meaning of cinematic style, but like the rest of us I'm just making it up as I go. But if there's one thing I know for sure about movies it's that I prefer film to digital. I think digital filmmaking is good for little more than lowering costs. I love film stock. Sure, some of that comes…
Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 2

Mann's MY DINNER WITH ANDRE.
Review by Katie ★★★★★ 45

my first mann, and fuck was it good. which one should I watch next??
Review by onthewall2983 ★★★★★ 6

One element I haven't seen much in the praise of this film is actually how funny it is. There is a subtle but direct layer of levity, which is mostly used to ease the very palpable tension. I saw it twice in theaters and both times one particular line got a hearty response from the audience. Nearly all of it surrounds the chemistry of it's two leads, and the individual choices they made regarding their characters.

Tom Cruise (in arguably what's a career-best turn) as Vincent sometimes uses very flat sarcasm sometimes to get his point across ("I shot him, the bullets and the fall killed him"), that in no way lessens the amount of menace he puts across in…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 6

[urban lights bleeding into the sky, audioslave playing in the distance]

did u get it

it's cause he's a lone wolf

Recent reviews

Review by Jonathan Larsson ★★★½

77/100

I finished my last review of this saying that one could easily pokes holes in Collateral, but the fact that it has so many enjoyable and great aspects makes the poking of holes not matter that much at all.

But it did this time. The great aspects are still there, but man is there a lot of things that is a little off, as well.

In the end I still love it, and I don't want to think too much about the less great stuff, but they're there, and they're visible again, unfortunately.
Review by Robyn Smith ★★½

Eh....it's alright.
Review by TJ D ★★★★

One of Cruise's best performances, one of Foxx's, and a film in general that is just so tight that you can't fit anything in the cracks.

I forgot how bit the cast is. Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo and Jada Pinkett Smith were pleasant surprises to my memory of the film, which I always remember as such a Cruise/Foxx two hander. The dialogue is so noirish and pulpy, and each character just nails the tone Mann and his writer is going for.

This film was pretty huge in 2004, nominated for two Oscars and a ton of BAFTA--including Michael Mann for director for the latter. And what's great is that it still holds up.
Review by RASIE ★★★★½

Can't believe 2nd & Charles sold me this filet mignon Mann flick for $2.50. Someone pass me a Xanax. Makes me wonder what Mann could've done with John Wick.
Review by Adam

In many ways this is a bit dated (early digital camera work makes it look a bit homemade and Tom Cruise’s character feels like the origin point for a lot of broad parodies we’ve seen in the decade since).

It’s also pretty darn good.
Review by Chris Stuckmann ★★★★★

A visually striking film from the unhinged, endlessly creative mind of Michael Mann.
Review by growd ★★½ 1

Andrew made me watch this
Review by Russ ★★★★½

A pulse-pounding thriller that never really lets up, Collateral is still the only Michael Mann film I've seen (nine months after I first saw it, and also many months since I borrowed Heat from my brother), but it manages to continue to impress and excite on the second viewing. Enough time has passed that I forgot quite a lot of the details, and I was struck by how tightly paced this film is. It never really lingers on much, and it gives everything enough room to breathe without it really feeling like it's meandering.

I'd be remiss to not mention the script, which is impeccably written and has many deep conversations about the meaning of everything these characters do, and…
Review by Chris Upson ★★★½

silver hair tom cruise obviously jostling for the makeover limelight in this but the clear winner by uncontested vote is mark ruffalo with the undercover cop jewels and hair slick