Movie Review: Collateral

With the boy staying at the grandparents for a couple days, my wife and I decided to head to the theaters and knock some of the summer movies off of our need-to-see list. First up...Collateral.

Going into the movie, I thought it would be interesting to see Tom Cruise attempt the bad-guy role, and as expected, he delivered a solid performance. However, I think everyone seeing the movie would agree that Jamie Foxx stole the show.

Foxx's character, a cab driver and want-to-be entrepreneur named Maxx, picks up a fare after dropping off a U.S Attorney played by Jada Smith. The fare turns out to be Vincent, a contract killer played by Tom Cruise. The rest of the movie deals with Maxx's coming to terms with the situation Vincent has put him in.

After the first 5 minutes of the movie, I had the plot figured out. The trailers gave away way too much, and the appearance of a big name actress in the first few minutes hinted at a surprise twist at the end. The question was what would happen between points A and B. Collateral answered with an interesting blend of emotionless violence from Vincent and nervous rambling from Maxx. The odd combination and some twists and turns in the storyline kept my interest throughout the film.

Overall, I would give the movie a B- simply because the plot was a little too obvious. If they had used a no-name actress instead of Jada, it would have been much better.