"Collateral"

Title: "Collateral"
Director: Michael Mann
Producer: M. Mann and J. Richardson
Editing: Jim Miller and Paul Rubell
Composer: James Newton Howard
Starring:
- Tom Cruise as Vincent
- Jamie Foxx as Max Durocher
- Jada Pinket Smith as Annie Farrell

Plot and Critical Review: Cab driver Max Durocher drives U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell to work. During the drive, she tells him about an upcoming case she's prosecuting and he tells her about his dream of owning his own limousine service. Annie leaves Max her business card. Moments later, Max picks up a man named Vincent, who was seen earlier exchanging a briefcase with a stranger at Los Angeles International Airport.

Vincent directs him to a tenement building and, impressed with Max's efficiency, asks him to be his personal chauffeur for his remaining stops. Max at first declines, but Vincent offers him $600 if he takes him to several locations. Max reluctantly agrees. Minutes later a body drops onto the cab. Max realizes Vincent killed the man and, unable to escape, is forced to help Vincent.

Although originally hoping to keep his occupation a secret, Vincent reveals that he is a hitman and that he is in Los Angeles to murder five people before departing in the morning. Vincent forces Max to drive him to his other destinations. While Vincent assassinates his second target, Max tries to arouse the attention of passersby to free him, but because Vincent has tied Max's hands to the steering wheel to prevent escape, the people that respond steal his wallet and Vincent's briefcase. As they walk away, Vincent appears, asks for the briefcase back, and then guns the thugs down.

Vincent tells Max that he has a few minutes and that he's a jazz fan. At a jazz bar he invites the owner, Daniel, for a drink with himself and Max. After the club closes Vincent reveals to Daniel the purpose of his visit, but offers to spare his life if he can answer a question correctly: "where did Miles Davis learn music?" Daniel replies with an answer he believes is correct, but Vincent shoots him three times and gives a different answer to his question.

Max receives a call on the taxi dispatch to visit his hospitalized mother, Ida. During the visit, Max steals Vincent's briefcase and hurls it onto the nearby freeway, destroying the details on Vincent's next hits. Angry, Vincent sends Max into a Mexican club owned by Felix, the man who hired Vincent, ordering Max to impersonate him and acquire a backup USB flash drive containing the information for the last two targets. Max meets Felix and acquires the flash drive.

Meanwhile, LAPD Detective Fanning discovers a connection between Vincent's three victims, reporting this information to the FBI agents doing surveillance on Felix's nightclub who identify the deceased as witnesses for a trial against Felix scheduled to begin the next day. The FBI assembles a SWAT team and travels to a Korean night club where Vincent's fourth target is partying. Both the FBI and Vincent converge on the witness simultaneously, igniting a fierce gunfight that disables the SWAT team and throws the crowded club into a panic, allowing Vincent to kill the fourth witness and his bodyguards. Detective Fanning rescues Max and drags him outside only to be shot by Vincent, who beckons Max back into his cab.

Following their hasty getaway Max, particularly incensed by Vincent gunning down Fanning, deliberately crashes and flips the cab in the middle of the street. Vincent emerges from the car and runs. An arriving police officer discovers the first victim in Max's trunk and prepares to arrest Max, who complies until he notices the face of the fifth intended victim is Annie, his earlier cab fare.

Max overpowers the policeman and runs toward Annie's office building. He reaches Annie on a stolen cell phone and warns her about Vincent's approach. Max enters the building and stops the assassination attempt by shooting at Vincent, grazing his face; he then flees with Annie to the Metrorail station under the building. A brief exchange of gunfire ensues on the train, in which Vincent is fatally wounded. Max and Annie get off the train at the next station while the train continues toward Long Beach with dawn breaking and Vincent sitting slumped in his seat, dead.

If you never see "Collateral", don't feel like you've missed a title on the cinematic "must see" list. You haven't. But if you do see it, you'll appreciate how exciting a movie it really is. Much like "Phone Booth", "Collateral" hinges on one plot element; a risky move for action/thriller movies. But it's the single-minded nature of the story that takes the level of tension and suspense to new heights. I withhold a high rating as I don't think of this film as being too terribly important against other, more obviously important projects. At the same time, I enjoy this movie for its creative (and entirely original, as far as I know) plot and exceptional cast.

My Rating: 6/10

Content to Caution:
V-4 - While this film is exceptionally violent, the amount of gore is lower than it could have been. Thanks to Vincent's precision as an assassin we're spared the typical amount of blood and other icky stuff associated with multiple homicides.
L-3 - Strong cursing throughout.
DU-2 - Drinking and smoking, especially in social situations.
RT-2 – No comment.
H/S-3 – Quite a bit of suspense as Vincent "makes his rounds" and Max tries to stop him.
CH-2 – No comment.
S/N-1 – No comment.

The "Reel Revelation": "You Are The Man!"

Have you ever known someone who thought they were doing the right thing when, in fact, they were doing something wrong? Did you know their decision was a bad one when they made it? If so, did you do anything about it?

In "Collateral", Max is faced with the dilemma of having to choose whether to help Vincent complete his rounds (murder five people) or stop him. It would have been easy for Max to simply drive Vincent to his destinations, take the money, and turn his back on the whole situation. Where's the harm in that?! After all, Max would be $600.00 richer and would still get paid for time on the clock. But when he realizes that Vincent is on a killing spree, he decides to do what he can to stop Vincent from completing his mission. Max made the sort of decision we face more often than we realize; the decision to stop our family and friends from making decisions that will hurt others and themselves. When one person steps into another person's life and challenges their behavior, we call it accountability. But keeping someone accountable for their actions is no easy feat.

Have you ever been told that your behavior was inappropriate? It might have been for something small or perhaps something quite serious. In any case, how did you feel in that moment? Ashamed? Embarrassed? Defensive? Apologetic? Like you wanted to run? It's important to keep these reactions in mind when we consider how we keep others accountable for what they do. To get a good idea of how people react when they're held accountable for sinful behavior, there isn't a better place to turn than the Bible. Here's a condensed version of one of my favorite stories of accountability:

“Then the LORD sent Nathan to David and he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he bought and nourished… It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; rather he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die.” Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! … Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.”

Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.” Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die." (2 Samuel 12: 1-5, 7a, 9-14)

Can you imagine?! David was no ordinary man; he was the King of Israel and God's chosen! He was supposed to lead Israel into a new era of prosperity, strength, and peace. Yet here he is, his sin exposed, and his great descent into sorrow began. And when he fell, he fell far and hard. Keep in mind that no one in the entire kingdom knew of his sin. No one except God, of course, and God sent Nathan to hold David accountable for his acts of adultery and murder. Somehow after reading this story the radical situation presented in "Collateral" seems rather tame.

What if God sends you to someone like He sent Nathan to David? How would you react? Would you be willing to go and call someone out on their behavior? These are important questions to ask as our calling and ministry as Christians is one of reconciliation, accountability, and fighting through our sins to find a way to live peacefully with one another. To get there we'll have to go through many moments in which we will say and be told "You are the man!" Are you ready to step out and hold your best friend (or spouse, or child, or pastor!) accountable for their wrongdoing?

May God give you the very same strength and courage He gave to Nathan! May He also make you humble as you see the wrong in the world and are sent to confront it. Remember that you are not God and do not have the power to judge, condemn, damn, or sentence. Remember that your calling is from God, and it is God's Word you carry. And as we seek to live peacefully with one another, may we remember the words St. Paul shared with the church in Ephesus, that "You are the man!" moments might be avoided at all costs: "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ... Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:29, 31-32)

See you tomorrow - E.T.