- Surging excitement and one-man heroics fuel this powerful action thriller from the director of The Fugitive and Under Siege. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a fireman whose wife and child are killed in a terrorist bombing and who obsessively tracks the mastermind (Cliff Curtis) behind it, from Los Angeles to Colombia to Washington, DC. The fanatic plans to strike again in Washington?but how? When? Whe
Vincent is a cool calculating contract killer at the top of his game. Max is a cabbie with big dreams looking for his next fare. This fateful night max will transport vincent on his next mission - one night 5 stops 5 hits & a perfect getaway. Together they find themselves in a non-stop race against time. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Tom Cruise Jada Picket Smith Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R
Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthl! ess contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (
Thief,
Manhunter, and especially
Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in
Ali and his title-role showcase in
Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and ! Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. int! o a thir d major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series
Robbery Homicide Division).
Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax.
--Jeff ShannonCOLLATERAL - Blu-Ray Movie
Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (
Thief,
Manhunter, and especially
Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While S! tuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in
Ali and his title-role showcase in
Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series
Robbery Homicide Division).
Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax.
--Jeff ShannonCollateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller.! It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar! track r ecord with crime thrillers (
Thief,
Manhunter, and especially
Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in
Ali and his title-role showcase in
Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series
Robbery Homicide Division)! .
Collateral is a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax.
--Jeff ShannonARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER DELIVERS A NAIL-BITING EXCITEMENT AND BOLD ONE-MAN HEROICS AS A LOS ANGELES FIREMAN WHO SEEKS REVENGE AFTER HIS WIFE AND SON ARE KILLED IN A TERRORIST BOMBING. SCHWARZENEGGER TRACKS THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FROM COLOMBIA TOWASHINGTON, D.C. IN A RACE TO STOP HIM BEFORE HE STRIKES AGAIN.Arnold Schwarzenegger's loyal fans get what they want in this routine but rousing revenge thriller, which pits the aging action star against a Colombian guerrilla terrorist. Schwarzenegger plays a Los Angeles fireman who witnesses the killing of his wife and young son, caused by the terrorist's bombing in a crowded L.A. pavilion. Despite intense scrutiny by FBI and CIA officials, Arnie infiltrates the terrorist's remote jungle compound, enlists the! aid of the villain's seemingly trustworthy wife (Francesca Ne! ri), and plots to foil another bombing in Washington, D.C. Director Andrew Davis (
The Fugitive) maintains adequate plausibility even when Schwarzenegger's survival grows absurdly unlikely, and lively roles for John Turturro and John Leguizamo add welcomed spice to the movie's impressive display of military ordnance. Despite its formulaic plot and Arnold's advancing seniority,
Collateral Damage still manages to pack an entertaining punch.
--Jeff Shannon Based on a short story by the late Philip K. Dick, this science fiction-thriller reflects the writer's familiar preoccupation with themes of concealed identity and mind control. Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, a Washington, D.C. detective in the year 2054. Anderton works for "Precrime," a special unit of the police department that arrests murderers before they have committed the actual crime. Precrime bases its work on the visions of three psychics or "precogs" whose prophecies of future events are never in err! or. When Anderton discovers that he has been identified as the future killer of a man he's never met, he is forced to become a fugitive from his own colleagues as he tries to uncover the mystery of the victim-to-be's identity. When he kidnaps Agatha (Samantha Morton), one of the precogs, he begins to formulate a theory about a possible frame-up from within his own department. Directed by Steven Spielberg, who hired a team of futurists to devise the film's numerous technologically advanced gadgets,
Minority Report co-stars Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow, and Neal McDonough.Set in the chillingly possible future of 2054, Steven Spielberg's
Minority Report is arguably the most intelligently provocative sci-fi thriller since
Blade Runner. Like Ridley Scott's "future noir" classic, Spielberg's gritty vision was freely adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick, with its central premise of "Precrime" law enforcement, totally reliant on three isolated human "precog! s" capable (due to drug-related mutation) of envisioning murde! rs befor e they're committed. As Precrime's confident captain, Tom Cruise preempts these killings like a true action hero, only to run for his life when he is himself implicated in one of the precogs' visions. Inspired by the brainstorming of expert futurists, Spielberg packs this paranoid chase with potential conspirators (Max Von Sydow, Colin Farrell), domestic tragedy, and a heartbreaking precog pawn (Samantha Morton), while Cruise's performance gains depth and substance with each passing scene. Making judicious use of astonishing special effects,
Minority Report brilliantly extrapolates a future that's utterly convincing, and too close for comfort.
--Jeff Shannon Stills from Minority Report (Click for larger image) Surging excitement and one-man heroics fuel this powerful action thriller from the director of The Fugitive and Under Siege. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a fireman whose wife and child are killed in a terrorist bombing and who obsessively tracks the mastermind (Cliff Curtis) behind it, from Los Angeles to Colombia to Washington, DC. The fanatic plans to strike again in Washington…but how? When? Where? In the scramble for answers, one thing is clear: Collateral Damage is a ticking time bomb of suspense.Arnold Schwarzenegger's loyal fans get what they want in this routine but rousing revenge thriller, which pits the aging action star against a Colombian guerrilla terrorist. Schwarzenegger plays a Los A! ngeles fireman who witnesses the killing of his wife and young son, caused by the terrorist's bombing in a crowded L.A. pavilion. Despite intense scrutiny by FBI and CIA officials, Arnie infiltrates the terrorist's remote jungle compound, enlists the aid of the villain's seemingly trustworthy wife (Francesca Neri), and plots to foil another bombing in Washington, D.C. Director Andrew Davis (
The Fugitive) maintains adequate plausibility even when Schwarzenegger's survival grows absurdly unlikely, and lively roles for John Turturro and John Leguizamo add welcomed spice to the movie's impressive display of military ordnance. Despite its formulaic plot and Arnold's advancing seniority,
Collateral Damage still manages to pack an entertaining punch.
--Jeff Shannon ![]()
