Collateral Review

Collateral Review and Running Commentary:

Today I will be reviewing Collateral starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Should be good.

Running Commentary -

Starts off with Cruise bumping into Jason Statham at LAX. They exchange bags. Then it switches to Foxx cleaning his taxi before starting his shift.

Foxx gets Pinkett as a fare and makes a bet with her about which way is faster to get to her destination faster.

Foxx and Pinkett have a conversation in the taxi. He correctly guesses that she's a lawyer.

They then have a conversation about her job. He tells her she needs a vacation after she talks about what she does before a case and gives her a picture of a Maldives island. She leaves but then comes back and gives him her business card. He's in shock he got her number.

Cruise appears again leaving the building she's dropped on in and Cruise is Foxx's next fare.

Cruise and Foxx have a conversation about Foxx's work and what Cruise thinks about being in LA. He drops off Cruise at his destination and Cruise hires him as his driver for the night for $600.

Cruise says his name is Vincent and Foxx's name is Max.

A BODY JUST FALLS ONTO MAX'S CAB! HOLY CRAP!

Vincent shows up and Max finds out Vincent is a hitman. Vincent pulls his gun on Max and makes him help him put the body in the trunk. He then takes Max hostage as his driver.

A gangbanger guy shows iup at the apartment of the guy who landed on the trunk. Turns out he's a cop named Detective Fanning and he calls in for back-up about finding a crime scene.

Cue up Max freaking out and Cruise going on a sociopathic rant in the taxi. Good stuff.

Just after Vincent reveals the guy was a criminal they are pulled over. He tells Max to talk himself out of a ticket. One of the cops sees blood on the winshield. Max tells them it was a South Central Deer. The cops make him get out and pop the trunk. Vincent tells him that if he opens the trunk they're going inside. Just as they are about to check out the cab they are called in and tell him to take his car straight to the garage.

They arrive at Vincent's next hit and he ties Max to the steering wheel. Manny the dispatcher calls him and Vincent starts yelling at Manny through the CB radio. He tells Max to tell him he's an asshole and if he says it again he'll stick this yellow cab up his fat ass, LOL. Great scene.

Max tries to signal for help using the car horn while Vincent is killing his next hit but gets robbed. The men take Vincent's suitcase and his wallet.

VINCENT SHOOTS THE TWO MEN FIVE TIMES IN FIVE SECONDS WHEN THEY PULL A GUN ON HIM! THAT WAS AWESOME! Vincent kicks ass, period.

The cops are now investigating the Ramone hit at the apartment complex and find a bullet shell casing and a guy across the street says he saw two guys walking around a cab in the alleyway.

Vincent and Max are at a jazz nightclub. Vincent wants to buy the owner Daniel a drink. Daniel tells them a story about his experience with Miles Davis in that club when he was younger. Turns out Vincent is a jazz fan.

DANIEL IS HIS THIRD HIT! He tells them he was sent by the people from Cutachan and Kartahenia.

He asks Daniel a jazz question. If he gets it right he lives. Daniel says to tell them he was sorry.

He gets it partly right and SHOOTS HIM IN THE HEAD THREE TIMES WITH A SILENCER! Max is in shock. Great scene. This movie is getting good.

Now Vincent has Max take him to meet his mother. Max doesn't want to do it but Vincent says "When was any of this negotiable?" lol

Vincent has Max buy flowers for his mother. Detective Fanning arrives and gets in the same elevator with them! He doesn't realize it's them and they walk right out past him. I LOVE that scene.

Max's mother Ida loves the flowers but only after Max tells them Vincent got them for her and not him, lol. Max is annoyed that his mom and Vincent are talking. Ida has some funny lines. Another great scene.

When Vincent is talking to Ida Max grabs his bag and runs off with it. Vincent chases him down. Max runs outside and tosses it off of an overpass bridge and down to the freeway. Vincent doesn't kill him but instead says he wants to see what else he can do.

Detective Fanning goes to the morgue and finds someone he recognizes. He calls his boss and they decide to meet up.

Vincent and Max talk about their families and their experience with their parents. Vincent jokes that he killed his dad when he was 12 before revealing his dad died of liver disease. Then they talk about Max being a cab driver for 12 years and his Island Limos idea. There hasn't been a bad scene in this movie.

They arrive at El Rodeo and Vincent tells Max to go in, say he's him, and get his back up information. If he doesn't he's going to go and kill his mother on his way out of town.

Max goes in and meets with Felix. The FBI tapes him going in and Detective Fanning notices a cab with a "roof all beat to shit."

Max tells Felix he lost his work-ups on the targets. Felix is pissed. Felix tells him a story about Pedro Negro and Max then impersonates Vincent while telling them he had heat on him before scoring the back-ups for Vincent.

FBI and LAPD watch video of Max telling the security his name is Vincent. Detective Fanning asks if there's anyone else in the cab. Max arrives and hands Vincent the work-ups. They're going to a club called Fever.

Fanning thinks that Max is innocent but nobody believes him. They all think he's Vincent and that Vincent is impersonating him to carry out the kills. His boss leaves to go back home while the FBI and Fanning head to Fever to get to Peter Lim before Vincent kills him.

Everyone now driving to Fever.

AWESOME scene where Vincent and Max stop the taxi and two coyotes run out in front of them as they look on.

The cops, cartel thugs, Fanning, and Max/Vincent all arrive at Fever at the same time. Vincent now picking out where everyone is including the club's security detail.

VINCENT JUST BROKE A SECURITY GUY'S NECK! WOW! NOW HE BROKE ANOTHER GUY'S LEG! He takes the third hostage to use as a human shield. Cops find Lim first.

AWESOME NIGHTCLUB SHOOTOUT SCENE! One of the BEST action scenes ever done, period. Ends with Vincent killing Fanning and recapturing Max to drive him to his last kill.

Vincent reveals to Max that all the people he's been hired to kill are witnesses in a federal case and the people who hired him don't want to be indicted.

Max speeds the car to dangerous speeds and tells Vincent he thanks him making him see that it wont matter anyway. Max then crashes the cab on purpose.

A cop arrives just after Vincent runs off and finds Max. The cop finds the body in the trunk and tries to arrest Max. Max sees that Jada is the last victim and takes the cop's gun and handcuffs him before telling him where he's headed. He takes the gun and goes to rescue the girl.

Max commandeers a cellphone from a guy in the street and tries to call Jada to warn her.

Max calls Annie (Jada) on the phone and warns her that Felix hired Vincent to kill her just as Vincent arrives in her office. Max, who's on top of a parking garage across the street, warns her that Vincent is in her office. His phone battery is almost dead. Vincent then realizes Annie is in the library two floors above him. Max tells her he knows where she is but his phone dies. He then runs to go save the day.

Vincent cuts the power to the top floors just as Annie goes to call the police.

Now a cat and mouse scene in the library as Vincent arrives. Max is outside breaking in with his gun after seeing that the night security man has been killed by Vincent.

Max arrives and shoots Vincent to save Annie at the last possible second. Vincent is pissed and goes after them in a rage. They make to the elevator just in time. They run for the subway instead of the street. Vincent does the same.

Max and Annie get on a subway train. Vincent has two trains to choose from and picks the one they are on. He then corners them in the last car. Max and Vincent have a shootout. Vincent goes to reload but drops his magazine. He's been shot in the abdomen.

Vincent sits down and then Max sits across from him. Vincent then recounts his MTA story from when he first sat down in the cab before dying. Max and Annie get off at the next stop leaving Vincent on the train. Ends with them looking for a police station. Excellent movie.

Overall -

4 3/5 out of 5 stars. This is one of the best movies EVER. Even if you don't like Tom Cruise you will probably like this movie. Cruise's Vincent character is a total bad ass. He's a sociopathic hitman with no remorse or mercy. Great job by him. Foxx's Vincent character is also well developed and does a great job in his role. The action scenes and the scene with Max's mother were great most notably the alleyway murders, jazz club hit, and Fever nightclub shootout scenes. The Fever shootout is one of the greatest action scenes ever. I HIGHLY recommend this movie to watch. Good stuff overall.