One of the most tiresome film genres is the "crime thriller". It's not a satisfactory name, but whatever they're called, they're contemporary and the climax usually involves somebody being chased and shot at. They also have unmemorable titles (Internal Affairs, Presumed Innocent, Unlawful Entry). Hollywood probably keeps releasing so many of them because, like family and courtroom dramas, they're relatively easy to produce. But if Hollywood must make these interchangeable movies, it should let only Michael Mann do it; that way we're guaranteed a movie that's a little more intelligent and a lot cooler.
Collateral doesn't have the gloss of Thief, or the studied framing of Manhunter, but the cinematography and music still have Mann's stamp on them. An added bonus is the empty L.A. streets that give the latter parts of the movie a real sense of isolation.
Collateral starts out slowly, taking it's time in introducing taxi driver Max (Jamie Foxx). He's hard-working (or, more importantly, good at what he does) and honest. And instead of coming across like a defeated man caught in a dead-end job, he has set himself the goal of opening a limousine service. So we like Max by the time Vincent (Tom Cruise) gets into his cab and Max's night goes all to hell.
There are no major surprises in the film, but enough minor plot twists to keep things suspenseful. Others have already pointed out that the film goes downhill the closer you get to the ending. I'm not sure who, but somebody is responsible for making Hollywood think we need resolutions to be action-oriented.
An element that keeps cropping up in films and TV shows is the territorial mentality that law enforcement agents supposedly have, especially local cops and the FBI. (Colors has a scene where the animosity is between different departments of the same force.) Collateral takes the more common stance of siding with the locals. Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) is snubbed by the FBI, yet he's the one who realizes that Max is an innocent bystander caught up in Vincent’s murder spree. Americans have a long, healthy tradition of not trusting government agencies, but American movies have their own tradition: of pandering to both the smaller, the more local, the "down-to-earth". Even the main characters reflect this, as Max is working class while Vincent is a "professional".
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