'Collateral'
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Cold-blooded contract killer Tom Cruise has been hired by an offshore drug cartel to eliminate the five key witnesses in a pending federal indictment. Mild-mannered Jamie Foxx is the unlucky Los Angeles cab driver randomly hired to take Cruise to crime scene No. 1. One professional appreciates another.
'Collateral'
Rating: R for violence and language.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Director: Michael Mann.
Critic's call: 
Jamie is such a good driver, Tom decides to engage him forcibly for all five destinations, thus making Foxx -- and the film's title -- "Collateral."
Um, actually ... I hate to quibble right off the bat, but collateral is something held in reserve to secure a loan or other obligation. It's not a synonym for "hostage," nor an accurate metaphor for Foxx's hijacked condition and function. I'm sorry, but I'd rather be pedantic than anti-semantic.
I'd also rather be believing than disbelieving the 10 or 20 chances Foxx misses to escape from the pathological clutches of Cruise in the course of screenwriter Stuart Beattie's thriller yarn. It has its virtues, but the script is not among them.
Atmosphere is. You can feel and smell the languid So-Cal air, no less than the hoagie remains strewn on the seat and floor of Foxx's cab. You can admire director Michael Mann's attention to detail, his pacing, his execution -- literal and figurative -- of the action. You can enjoy the seriously committed performances of Cruise (normally not a villain) and of Foxx (normally a comedian).
On the other hand, you need Dramamine to endure the L.A. law-and-disordered cinematography, a scorecard to keep track of the players' plot positions, and an ear trumpet to pick up much of their mumbly dialogue.
Along the way, precious little is seen of Jada Pinkett-Smith as the U.S. attorney fare that Foxx picks up first -- and last -- in the story.
Its makers also are aiming for a certain existential exercise in the pairing and comparing of these two colliding male lives.
Maybe that's what is supposed to be "collateral" -- the adjective instead of the noun.
Maybe.
But while the meter is running, the vehicle runs out of gas.
First Published August 6, 2004 12:00 am
