After missing it in the Japanese theaters and on airplanes in-flight service and in hotel rooms’ pay-per-view, I finally saw Collateral last night via rental DVD. Due to a sense of high school nostalgia caused by Manhunter and Miami Vice (forgiving a misstep with The Keep), I am willing to watch just about anything Michael Mann makes. Moreso that Heat, Collateral felt like a return to the stylings of Miami Vice’s action and drama, with natural, well-paced comedy to even out the emotional pacing. In a word, Collateral was good.
With all the freak-out based press Tom Cruise has been given, and hearing what appears to be zealotry in his responses to a German interviewer who questioned the data as Cruise presented it, it is even easier to watch him in the role of a villain. It is probably preferable; he did a good job with the arrogant, untouchable Lestat in Interview with the Vampire, though that character was a bit more ham-fisted than the role of assassin, Vincent, played in Collateral. A featurette on the movie that I saw promoting its theatrical release focused on the amount of physical training Cruise went through to make his actions seem flowing and deadly: a natural killer. Unlike many directors in recent movies, Mann doesn’t resort to quick cuts and tight shots to “immerse” the viewer in the action (and instead simply causing confusion), however the result is that some of the choreography seems a little over-rehearsed. Still, his speed is impressive, and generally believable. Perhaps more believable is the quasi-philosophical ease with which Vincent excuses his lethal-to-everyone-around-him job, and is psychopathically willing to kill time conversationally with his victims before literally killing them, as he professes utter conviction that nothing matters in the larger picture.
Jamie Foxx was very good; more easily and readily believable than Cruise, though that may have more to do with the level of celebrity than any objective criteria. He definitely is on par with Cruise’s performance, turning out one of the most nuanced portrayals of a normal guy caught in an abnormal situation that I’ve ever seen. Jamie is a couple years younger than I am, but appears aged a decade or so, either from a life of stressful perfectionism trapped in medicrity, or it could just be 12 years of driving for a living in Los Angeles (shudder). I suspect Foxx is destined for big things; it turns out that he will be opposite Colin Farrell in the movie remake of Miami Vice, so Mann apparently liked what he saw working with him here.
Biggest Tease award goes to a brief cameo by Jason Statham in the opening scene. Actually, I probably would have liked the whole movie better if Statham has played Cruise’s role (Check out this trailer for The Transporter 2).
More than any of these people though, much like Miami Vice’s focus on the city as a presence, the real star of Collateral is Los Angeles. Color use in the movie tends toward dingy greens and baleful yellows and oranges, lending a tone of failed sterility, a denial of the natural palette. As in real life, there is almost no presence of plantlife on view, only man-made structures, with the exception being a momentary, middle of the night sighting of a coyote against the backdrop of the carefully regimented rows of palm trees that are cinematic shorthand for southern California. There is something truly ethereal and elusive about Los Angeles at night; through sweeping, rolling shots of cars on freeways, chainlink fence, and lights reflecting, refracting on steel and glass, then scattering dully across expanses of concrete, Mann has captured that essence with frightening success.
With all the freak-out based press Tom Cruise has been given, and hearing what appears to be zealotry in his responses to a German interviewer who questioned the data as Cruise presented it, it is even easier to watch him in the role of a villain. It is probably preferable; he did a good job with the arrogant, untouchable Lestat in Interview with the Vampire, though that character was a bit more ham-fisted than the role of assassin, Vincent, played in Collateral. A featurette on the movie that I saw promoting its theatrical release focused on the amount of physical training Cruise went through to make his actions seem flowing and deadly: a natural killer. Unlike many directors in recent movies, Mann doesn’t resort to quick cuts and tight shots to “immerse” the viewer in the action (and instead simply causing confusion), however the result is that some of the choreography seems a little over-rehearsed. Still, his speed is impressive, and generally believable. Perhaps more believable is the quasi-philosophical ease with which Vincent excuses his lethal-to-everyone-around-him job, and is psychopathically willing to kill time conversationally with his victims before literally killing them, as he professes utter conviction that nothing matters in the larger picture.
Jamie Foxx was very good; more easily and readily believable than Cruise, though that may have more to do with the level of celebrity than any objective criteria. He definitely is on par with Cruise’s performance, turning out one of the most nuanced portrayals of a normal guy caught in an abnormal situation that I’ve ever seen. Jamie is a couple years younger than I am, but appears aged a decade or so, either from a life of stressful perfectionism trapped in medicrity, or it could just be 12 years of driving for a living in Los Angeles (shudder). I suspect Foxx is destined for big things; it turns out that he will be opposite Colin Farrell in the movie remake of Miami Vice, so Mann apparently liked what he saw working with him here.
Biggest Tease award goes to a brief cameo by Jason Statham in the opening scene. Actually, I probably would have liked the whole movie better if Statham has played Cruise’s role (Check out this trailer for The Transporter 2).
More than any of these people though, much like Miami Vice’s focus on the city as a presence, the real star of Collateral is Los Angeles. Color use in the movie tends toward dingy greens and baleful yellows and oranges, lending a tone of failed sterility, a denial of the natural palette. As in real life, there is almost no presence of plantlife on view, only man-made structures, with the exception being a momentary, middle of the night sighting of a coyote against the backdrop of the carefully regimented rows of palm trees that are cinematic shorthand for southern California. There is something truly ethereal and elusive about Los Angeles at night; through sweeping, rolling shots of cars on freeways, chainlink fence, and lights reflecting, refracting on steel and glass, then scattering dully across expanses of concrete, Mann has captured that essence with frightening success.
Heat actually accomplished a goal I'd thought impossible - I didn't hate Val Kilmer in a movie. Of course, he played an idiot.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Thief?
James Caan? I think so, but it was WAY back in the day. (*checks*) Oh, holy crap. I didn't realize that was Michael Mann too. Neat!
ReplyDeleteThief is fantastic, especially Robert Duvall. PPPPPP
ReplyDeleteCollateral was a very good movie with the exception of some painful musical choices (in an otherwise fanastic soundtrack). The scene where he gets his suitcase back from the robbers was one of my favorite scenes from a movie last year.
The whole movie felt like that unintentional period-piece, "After Hours," with an assassin. In Los Angeles. I wonder if that was the elevator pitch.
ReplyDelete