Selected cast credits · Film reference
Roger Ebert gave Collateral three and a half stars and described its five stops as short films joined by the killer and driver’s continuing conversation.
The Fever nightclub wins over the first Jada–Max cab ride, the first corpse, the briefcase robbery, Daniel’s jazz club, Bardem’s Felix scene, Annie’s office, the subway ending, and the cab flip.
Cruise’s white-haired villain, the film’s digital-night look, the coyote, the cab setting, Statham’s cameo, and the supporting-world possibilities have aged best.
The hospital slowdown, Annie’s route, Pete Berg’s sleepy part, Ruffalo’s goatee and slicked hair, and Max’s instant confidence before Felix age worst.
Russell Crowe as Vincent earns enthusiasm; Adam Sandler as Max and Edward Norton in either lead are uncertain, while Val Kilmer’s planned Fanning is the painful lost option.
Barry Shabaka Henley wins over Bruce McGill because his name remains harder to remember despite his recurring Michael Mann work.
Cruise’s “notes behind the notes” intensity in Daniel’s jazz club is selected after the panel initially finds no candidate.
Pete Berg wins a newly improvised underacting prize, also called the Ambien Award for the Sleepiest Actor.
Javier Bardem wins for a single monologue whose command creates demand for twenty more scenes.
Research covers Stuart Beattie’s teenage cab-ride premise, Mann’s character biographies, and Vincent’s sixteen kills.
The unusually clear 105 freeway and possibly pre-L.A.-Live Los Angeles are the only plausible apexes; none of the principal artists peak here.
The surviving cab, jazz expertise, open-air double murder, empty station, travel-time certainty, and implausibly unused freeway bridges generate the nits.
“We got to make the best of it. Improvise. Adapt to the environment. Darwin. Shit happens. I Ching. Whatever, man. We got to roll with it” wins.
A ten-episode adaptation is accepted immediately, with room for Felix, the witnesses, and the investigation.
Questions ask how Felix’s case proceeds, why a major witness visits Fever, whether Max and Vincent should switch roles, and why Mann repeatedly names characters Vincent.
Tom Cruise wins both audible ballots for a performance that closes his largely uninterrupted 1986–2004 star run.
