DVD Reviews

Collateral (Blu-Ray)

If you’re a fan of crime-thriller films, then a director named Michael Mann should be somewhere on your cinematic radar.  Most of his work represents some of the best in the genre.  He got his feet wet with the gritty James Caan flick Thief, tackled the first Hannibal Lecter film Manhunter, and then reached a career pinnacle in 1995 with the epic Al Pacino/Robert De Niro heist face off in Heat.  In 2004, Mann hit another high note with Collateral, a movie that again features two high-profile movie stars in conflict with one another, but on a much different level than the typical cop chasing a criminal.  Jamie Foxx plays Max, a cab driver with future business aspirations that picks up a smooth-talking fare (that turns out to be a hired hitman) named Vincent, played by Tom Cruise.

Vincent recruits Max to drive him to multiple stops during the night, but when one of Vincent’s victims crashes dead atop Max’s cab, Max becomes a reluctant hostage forced to take Vincent to each mark on his list.  What transpires is an amazing moral and philosophical character clash between Max and Vincent, mostly driven by sparkling dialogue within the cab itself during several scenes.  Both actors are at the top of their game here, with Cruise relishing in perhaps his best villain performance to date and Foxx doing an impeccable job as the innocent, common man trying to find a way to stop the committed assassin without getting himself killed in the process (Foxx was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this film, but won instead for his Best Actor performance in Ray).

The film contains a very methodic pace, and the night life of Los Angeles gives Mann an incredible environment to set the tone and the hard-boiled style the material deserves.  The movie was filmed with High Definition Digital Cameras and when it was initially brought to DVD the image looked good but not spectacular.  Much of the movie is intentionally grainy and soft to reflect a “real world” experience, a choice that has carried over to Mann’s follow-up films Miami Vice, and Public Enemies (two flicks that had potential, but ultimately became mediocre efforts).  In Blu-ray HD, Collateral now relays a sharper, and far more detailed image than the previous release, and with the incredible DTS-HD Master Audio track attached to it, the technical aspects have been unquestionably upgraded to near perfection.

Every special feature that was on Collateral’s original release has been imported into this Blu-ray edition.  The line-up proves to be enlightening and variously unique enough to make each one noteworthy in some way.  Mann provides an insightful Commentary, and the subsequent features tend to highlight the strength of the film, which is the dynamic chemistry between Cruise and Foxx.  Their Rehearsal Footage shows their process of working a certain scene from its initial page-read, practice run before filming, and then the final take.  Great stuff from an acting perspective.  New to the disc are the Teaser and Theatrical Trailers for the movie, nicely presented in HD.

I never thought Collateral was a perfect flick, but it most certainly possesses some substance in the script and superb acting to back it up.  It’s an intriguing and worthy ride for a viewer to take.  This Blu-ray upgrade is outstanding on Paramount’s part.  The video and audio improvements are top notch, and even though there isn’t a lot of new supplemental material to play with, the old options still have more than enough punch to cover the film adequately.  Definitely a high-rated Blu-ray recommendation if you’re buying for the first time.  If you’re double-dipping, then pull the trigger if you really love the film and want to see it at its best.

Review By Ryan Young