Collateral

Director Michael Mann (The Insider and Ali) turns one Los Angeles night into a seductive neon-splashed crime scene, as a contract killer hunts down and attempts to silence several witnesses before they can testify in a high-profile federal narco-trafficking case. Tom Cruise, in a graying, well-gelled, quasi-Christopher Walken hairdo, plays a philosophy-spewing sociopath who offers extra cash to a mild-mannered cabbie (an appropriately low-key Jamie Foxx) to transport him around the city to five different locations before returning him to the airport by dawn. Events at the first stop create an immediate rift between the two men, who then not only clash but also are ironically dependent on each other for survival. Credibility-stretching coincidences and holes weaken the story, but strong performances and Mann’s muscular direction provide plenty of tension, atmosphere and action-packed teeth.