A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 22 wins & 73 nominations total
- FBI Agent
- (as Ken Ver Cammen)
- FBI Agent
- (as Charlie E. Schmidt Jr.)
- Fever Bouncer
- (as Michael A. Bentt)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Michael Mann, Vincent is a man able to get in and out of anywhere without anyone recognizing or remembering him. To prepare for the movie, Tom Cruise had to make FedEx deliveries in a crowded Los Angeles market without anyone recognizing him.
- GoofsWhen Max and Vincent load the first corpse in the trunk, the "corpse" is holding Max by the wrists as well.
- Quotes
Vincent: Look in the mirror. Paper towels, clean cab. Limo company some day. How much you got saved?
Max: That ain't any of your business.
Vincent: Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barco lounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life. Don't you talk to me about murder. All it ever took was a down payment on a Lincoln town car. That girl,you can't even call that girl. What the fuck are you still doing driving a cab?
- Crazy creditsThere are no opening credits of any kind. The title does not appear until the closing credits.
- SoundtracksDebestar
Written by Rick Garcia, Rene Reyes & Cisco De Luna
Performed by The Green Car Motel
Courtesy of FastKat Records
Cabbie Max (Foxx) picks up Vincent (Cruise) expecting just another job. When Vincent offers to double his nightly earnings if he drives him all night he accepts, until Vincent's mission is revealed. What follows is a night of hell for Max, reluctantly driving Vincent from hit to hit, all the while trying to stay alive and do the right thing, two goals which may ultimately be unachievable together. What is most fascinating about Cruise's character though is the sheer indifference he shows towards his victims. He does not hate them, he doesn't even know them, he has just been assigned to kill them and does so with absolutely no remorse. When a body crashes on to his cab, followed by Vincent's re-appearance, Max is shocked by the answer to his accusatory 'you killed him!" - No, I shot him, the bullets and the fall killed him." This matter-of-fact approach is indicative of Vincent's professionalism, and adds a really chilling level of apathy to the character.
It is certainly refreshing to see Cruise in such a different role, and it is one which he really gets his teeth into, producing a sociopath contract killer, seemingly with no remorse and no redeeming qualities. He pulls it off with a genuinely sinister edge on the character, and the final half hour is particularly impressive from an acting point of view.
Jamie Foxx however is certainly by no means acted off the screen. His likable cabbie with relaxed attitude to life (well, until he meets Cruise) shows many of the qualities he used to really bring Ray Charles to life later.
The action too is well staged by Michael Mann, in probably his best work since Heat. It is easy to track the action through the relatively simple plot, and the set piece scenes are competently done without being spectacular. A very good above average thriller, but most notable for Cruise's revelation of another string to his acting bow. A superbly acted film.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Colateral
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $65,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $101,005,703
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $24,701,458
- Aug 8, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $220,239,925
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1