Anna Daniels
Even if his name doesn’t inspire the same sort of awe as some of the previously-mentioned masters, Michael Mann is as influential an auteur as Scorsese or Spielberg, with cinematic diamonds like Thief (1981), Manhunter (1986), Heat (1995), and The Insider (1999) highlighting his decades-long career behind the camera. Whether you realize it or not, Mann’s boldly-stylized films have even shaped the careers of modern masters like Christopher Nolan and Nicolas Winding Refn.
The early ’00s saw Mann become one of the few major filmmakers embracing digital technologies. Collateral was the first of Mann’s films (see also 2006’s Miami Vice and 2009’s Public Enemies) to be shot almost entirely with digital cameras, and found the director fully indulging in the low-light capabilities of the format to craft a gritty, noir-tinged thriller about an assassin running amok in Los Angeles.
If you’re among the many who’ve yet to catch up to Collateral, the film follows a cab driver (Jamie Foxx) who thinks he’s hit a bit of luck when a well-dressed fare offers him a lucrative payday for driving him to a series of locations throughout the night. The night takes a shocking turn when bodies start falling out of windows, and it becomes clear the well-dressed man is not at all who he appears to be. What follows is a pulse-pounding cat-and-mouse game that finds Foxx’s cabbie desperately fighting to get out from under the assassin’s thumb. It also finds him crossing paths with an impressive supporting cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
In true Michael Mann style, it’s all stylish as hell, and never quite goes where you’d expect. Along the way, Cruise delivers one of the best performances of his career in a film that, despite heaps of critical praise and decent box-office returns, still feels tragically underseen.
Written by: Looper
