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Collateral - 2 Disc Collectors Edition [2004]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

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


why boring?
Review date: 2008-06-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

I fully understand that some people will find the movie boring, espeically for those who expect they will get the same experience from the stimuli in playing PS I, II, III... The film is a great stuff if you savour the content, the details and the visual feast...etc.

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Reviews


BORING, BORING, BORING.......................
Review date: 2007-11-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

If you want to admire the actors technical skills, great.
If you want entertainment value it bottoms out -boring, boring, boring

Saved by the Foxx
Review date: 2007-05-29 Rating: 4 out of 10

This film is massively overhyped yet is saved from the performance of Jamie Foxx who plays a cab driver who realizes that he is chauffeuring a contract killer, Cruise. Thee are many inaccuracies in the plot notably Cruise is supposed to be a cold blooded hitman yet he is as good as one of the baddies in the A team. Hitmen are supposed to kill their prey in cold blood without any traces, Cruise is just a messy urban terrorist. His mindgames with Foxx are the only redeeming part of his role but nothing else. I can't be wrong !


Damaged Collateral
Review date: 2006-10-26 Rating: 2 out of 10

Collateral may well be the single most ridiculous and utterly absurd screenplay ever put into production by a major studio in this century. While the inexplicable critical praise for the film might be expected to result in some failure to live up to expectations, this fails on even the most basic levels of construction for the very dumbest of action movies - and this certainly is the dumbest piece of hokum I've seen in the past ten years. I'm simply at a loss as to how anyone could think this thrill-free thriller even a competent piece of drama, let alone a masterpiece.

One of the problems with people who make more than one good movie is that we very unreasonably expect them to keep on making good movies instead of just being grateful for what they've given us in the past. So I'll go on being grateful to Mann for Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, The Jericho Mile and Last of the Mohicans (even if he is determined to re-edit the heart out of them if left unchecked) and mark this one down as a paycheck. It's just a shame that, unlike Terrence Malick, nobody set up a trust fund for him so that he wouldn't have to make movies this bad just to pay the bills.

The film starts off with a disadvantage - the high concept setup is a hard premise to sell, and the film singularly fails to do so. But instead of going off in the `we know this is stupid, but let's have fun with it' route, instead it tries to play it as serious psychodrama and character piece while offering some of the most ridiculous plotting imaginable.

Cruise is supposedly a top of his game hitman, but is the most spectacularly inept killer the screen has ever seen, revealing himself to dozens of witnesses, beating up and shooting people in crowded nightclubs (the film's utter lowpoint) and even accompanying his reluctant chauffeur on a visit to his mother in hospital. Short of taking over a Presidential press conference at gunpoint, it's hard to imagine him drawing more attention to himself in almost every single scene. By the final reel when he turns into an indestructible relentless Tominator stalking the pair, you suddenly start to appreciate the finely crafted plots and elegant dialogue found in the works of Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Olivier Gruner, none of whom have ever descended to such preposterous lows. It's notable that Jason Statham kept his name off the credits in this one, and he had no such qualms over Revolver.

By the time the unbelievable coincidence of the passenger Foxx falls for being - shock, horror - the last name on the list is wheeled on, we've sat through so many much more unbelievable coincidences and idiotic lapses in logic and credibility that it almost seems rational. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but this is just taking the piss.

Not that faulty suspension is the only thing wrong with this vehicle. None of the individual scenes ever convince or work on their own terms, with every development or line of dialog not just horribly telegraphed but practically written in the sky. Characterization is equally facile and predictable, with only vague moments hinting at possibilities glossed over en route to the next botched setpiece. The performances are variable: Cruise, Foxx, Javier Bardem and, most surprisingly, Jada Pinkett Smith are fine but not outstanding, but Mark Ruffalo becomes increasingly laughable as it becomes ever clearer that the depth of his characterization extends to doing a not very good John Travolta/Chilli Palmer impersonation.

I take no pleasure in writing off this utter trainwreck of a movie. There could have been a good little straight-to-video movie in this, but the end result is a completely unacceptable piece of junk that goes straight into my All-time Ten Worst list. Garbage.

Fantastic
Review date: 2006-05-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is Michael Mann at his most visceral. Shot in Los Angeles at night on DV, "Collateral" feels more like documentary than entertainment. Mann manages to evoke everyman fearful compliance from taxi driver Foxx, and unsettling hairtrigger violence from hitman Cruise. His real life antics aside, Cruise is at the best I've ever seen him. This movie is worth watching not only for the action, writing and tremendous plot, but for the stunning photography. Watching this and Heat makes you believe Mann loves California, and you'll love this movie too by its end.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Mark Ruffalo
Peter Berg
Jamie Foxx
Tom Cruise
Jada Pinkett

Creators:
Tom Cruise (Primary Contributor)
Jamie Foxx (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437866431
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Dubbed, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-01-17
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 115 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2004
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)

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