Review of Collateral (2004) by Filipeneto — 22 Aug 2018

This film is a very competent thriller where an ordinary taxi driver ends up involved in a series of crimes, as his nightly passenger turns out to be a professional killer, hired to kill several people in one night. The plot starts from an excellent idea but the unfolding of the film reveals a lot of plot holes. This is its main problem. Gun shots that miss the target in a weird (but convenient) way, astonishing car crashes where no one gets hurt and other unrealistic or convenient situations complete the script's problems. The best in this film are the action scenes, truly capable of making us forget (or forgive) the mistakes I mentioned. The way the characters are presented and developed is also very good. Taxi driver Max is the most blatant example. In the beginning, he was perfectionist, dreamy and shy but he manages to overcome these blockades and face the problem where he was involved. This made him dear to the audience, who cares about his fate.

The work of the actors is very positive. Despite being the most popular name in the cast, Tom Cruise deserves no more applause than Jamie Foxx, who shone in a way that didn't allow Cruise to dominate. In fact, it's unusual to see Cruise, an actor used to histrionic roles, in a character as calm and restrained, but that pleased me a lot. Jada Pinkett Smith plays the lady in distress satisfactorily, but it never ceases to be a cliché. Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem are also part of the cast, but the plot doesn't take much of their talent. Cinematography is very good, betting on close-up, aerial or scenes with the camera in motion, which gives greater movement to the film. Good special, visual and sound effects complete the good technical details of a film where only the screenplay is deficient. But event this is going to be a lesser evil if we get carried away by the movie.