Collateral

           Tom Cruise plays a most excellent role as hitman Vincent in this amazing action thriller. Jamie Foxx plays a cab driver who has never caught his break. He has big business plans and ideas, can’t cope with his ailing mother and has never truly connected with a woman. He is the man to get things done behind the wheel of a cab. He plays by the rules and takes life one passenger at a time.

            After meeting the girl of his dreams and demonstrating his smoothness, his next fair is Vincent. He coerces Foxx to shuttle him around all night, but shortly after their first stop, He realizes what business Vincent is taking care of and who’s old friends he’s visiting.

            Cruise is stellar in what I consider to be his best role of all time. Foxx dazzles as the cabbie who pulls smoothness out of every orifice as a man just trying to cope, and who finally snaps under the pressure.

            The portrayal of real people and character development through dialogue is amazing and endearing, considering the farfetched Mafioso surroundings, but it is done quite elegantly. The performances are worth watching more than once, particularly Cruise, who has finally broken the pretty boy mold in a dynamic role. A 2.