Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise both deliver fine performances in Michael Mann's thriller/action picture Collateral. The movie pushes the boundaries of credulity and then some, and its resolution is never really in doubt, but perhaps that is the way of action pictures.

The real stars of this piece are Mann's cinematographers Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron, who shoot Los Angeles at night in a cold, steely blue. We see shimmering abstractions built from closeups of the tools of the trade—a jazz trumpeter's instrument, cabbie Max's (Foxx's) gear—and from point sources of light out of focus in the background. The partition separating Max from his fare, contract killer Vincent (Cruise), almost becomes a third character, obscuring and revealing the two men's faces. Lights reflected in the windows of a dark office dazzle.

Max's empathy establishes the first plot point, and keeps the relationship going between the hit man and the hack long past its more likely end. Well-crafted entertainment.

posted: 9:53:01 PM