Collateral

AroView: A moody night-thriller that cruises the streets of Los Angeles with a taxi-driver (Jamie Foxx) whose cab is commandeered by a ruthless, grey-suited hitman (Tom Cruise) who proceeds to work his way through a long list of victims.

Benefitting from being dramatically smaller in scale than dir. Michael Mann’s recent efforts (ALI, THE INSIDER), this retains his visual prowess and lingering melancholy, while building psychological portraits that feel more convincing and less macho than in previous films. Performances are top-notch with Foxx in particular revealing unusual depth in a star-making role and even the normally super-slick Cruise allowing some cracks in the mask.

Interestingly, this was largely shot on ‘High Definition’ Digital Video, apparently the first major Hollywood release to use the format.