“COLLATERAL” (2004): A GREAT THRILLER WITH CRUISE Y FOXX DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MANN

It is a 2004 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. 

It stars Tom Cruise (he has a post in my blog) cast against type as a contract killer and Jamie Foxx (he has a post in my blog) as a taxi driver who becomes Cruise's hostage during an evening of the hitman's work. The film also features Jada Pinkett Smith (she has a post in my blog) and Mark Ruffalo.

Foxx and Cruise's performances were widely praised, with Foxx being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film's editors, Jim Millerand Paul Rubell, were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing

Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx), a meticulous Los Angeles cab driver, is working to earn enough to start his own limousine business. One of the evening's fares is U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith). On the drive to her office, they strike up a conversation and Annie gives Max her business card.

Max's next fare is Vincent (Tom Cruise). Impressed by Max's skill at navigating L.A., Vincent offers Max $600 to drive him for the night, against regulations, which Max reluctantly accepts. As Max waits at the first stop, a corpse falls onto his car. Vincent reveals himself as a hitman, and the body is one of his five targets. He forces Max to hide the body in the trunk and continue driving.

At the second stop, Vincent restrains Max to the steering wheel with cable tie. Max attracts the attention of a group of young men and asks them for help, but two of them rob him and take Vincent's briefcase. Vincent returns and kills both men with his pistol. Vincent then offers to buy Max a drink at a jazz club he likes. At the club, Vincent engages the owner Daniel (Barry Shabaka Henley) in conversation, then unexpectedly kills him in front of Max. Max asks Vincent to let him go, but Vincent threatens to kill him if he refuses to obey.

Max's boss, who has been hectoring him over the radio, informs Max that his mother Ida (Irma P. Hall) is trying to reach him. Learning of Max's nightly visits to his hospitalized mother, Vincent insists that Max does not break his routine. At the hospital, Ida proudly tells Vincent that Max has his own limousine company, revealing that Max has been lying to her.

Overwhelmed, Max leaves, taking Vincent's briefcase containing files on his targets, and tosses it onto a freeway. Vincent forces Max to meet drug lord Felix Reyes-Torrena (Javier Bardem) to obtain information on his last two marks, threatening to murder Ida otherwise. Max, posing as Vincent, successfully acquires the information, but Felix orders his men to kill "Vincent" if he does not complete the job. Max heads with Vincent to the next target, Peter Lim, who is at a nightclub.

Meanwhile, Narcotics Detective Ray Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) uncovers the connection between the three victims and reports his finding to FBI Special Agent Frank Pedrosa (Bruce McGill). Pedrosa identifies the victims as witnesses in a federal grand jury indicting Felix the following day. Pedrosa assembles a force to secure Lim. At the nightclub Vincent manages to kill all of Felix's hitmen, Lim's bodyguards and Lim himself, then leaves the club. Fanning rescues Max and smuggles him outside, but is killed by Vincent, who beckons Max back into the cab.

Following their getaway, the two trade insulting psychological summaries of each other's life. Vincent mocks Max for his lack of ambition, while Max berates Vincent for his inability to understand other people. Aware that Vincent intends to kill him, Max deliberately crashes the cab, but both survive and Vincent escapes. A police officer arrives to help, but sees the corpse in the trunk and tries to apprehend Max. During the arrest, Max sees Vincent's open laptop, which reveals that Annie is his final target. He overpowers the police officer, pockets his gun, and rushes toward Annie's office building.

Max calls Annie to warn her of Vincent's approach. She is initially incredulous, until Max reveals details about the witnesses Vincent has already killed, and Max urges her to call 911. Vincent is already in the building, and Max enters in pursuit; Vincent uses a fire axe to cut the power and telephone lines on the floor Annie is on.

A tense hunt in the dark ensues. Vincent finally finds Annie, aims at her, but is shot and wounded by Max, who escapes with Annie on foot. Vincent pursues the pair onto a metro rail train. Finally cornered at one end of the train, Max decides to make a final stand, in which he and Vincent engage in a shootout. In the final moments of their confrontation, the subway car momentarily goes dark as they exchange gunfire, the pitch darkness rendering Vincent's advantage of experience and marksmanship useless. Vincent, fatally wounded, slumps into a seat as Max and Annie look on. He repeats a remark that he had previously made about a man dying unnoticed on a Metro train, before dying himself.

Max and Annie get off at the next station, in the dawn of a new day.