Saturday, August 14, 2004

A Collateral Perspective

Hi, this is MaTT, and i'm guest blogging for Alan about the movie we saw this weekend, Collateral Damage (i always want to add that second word...).

Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, and directed by Michael Mann, has a rather simple plotline: a hitman (Cruise) requisitions a taxicab driver (Foxx) to drive him around to his five hitpoints throughout the night. Once Foxx finds out who exactly his customer is, things start getting more exciting. Overall, the movie was quite good -- it was basically what i expected from the reviews, and better than i thought from the trailers. The director, Mann, is an artful, mood-setting storyteller, allowing the audience to connect gently and sympathetically with the moral Foxx and also excitingly and shockingly with the cool but raw Cruise. Indeed, it was an welcome change to see Tom Cruise in such a violent, heartless role, however disguied he was by his steely suit and matching character. From what i've read, Cruise really enjoyed the challenge, and i could tell he was comfortable in his fast-talking cab scenes, yet pushing himself in the hunter-killer, all-action assasin scenes. I left the theater with a "hmm" kind of feeling: not particularly moved by the picture's story, but enjoying and thinking about the experience of the movie, and the interesting feeling of connecting with both the heart-felt cabbie and the heartless hitman.

Thanks for the guest blog opportunity, Alan, and welcome to the blogging community! :)