Reviewed by Andrew Wooding

Collateral
Director: Michael Mann (2004)
Distributor: United International Pictures (UK) Ltd.  Certificate: 15

Spoiler notice: If you read on will become aware of how the film ends.

This film is not what I was expecting – and that’s a good thing. I thought it was going to be one of those gritty, moody thrillers with lots of people getting shot by a paid assassin in the seedier parts of Los Angeles – not the sort of film I would normally go to see, or rent from the video store (I didn’t like Death Wish, and I hated Dirty Harry). Well, the film is gritty and moody, lots of people do get shot, and it is set in the seedier parts of Los Angeles. But there is more to the film than that … much more.

The two main characters are: Max, the driver of a yellow cab who has dreams of owning his own limo company, counsels people in the back of his cab and is aiming for a better life; and Vincent, the cool, adaptable hit-man with no conscience, who believes that life is meaningless and that when people die their lives will have counted for nothing and they will ultimately be forgotten about (“it's all meaningless”).

Once Max realises Vincent’s true mission (when Vincent’s first victim falls through a window and lands dead on top of Max’s cab) it is too late. Max has been a witness to the crime, and Vincent forces him to continue driving him to his deadly appointments. Over the course of the night these two unlikely compatriots try to figure each other out, and at times there are even glimpses of mutual respect. But in the end, Max knows that he must stop Vincent before he kills any more - and Vincent is a difficult man to stop.

The two hours of this film went by extremely quickly. I was engrossed in wanting to find out more about the central characters. Unlike most action films, I genuinely cared about the people involved. There were even moments of humour. Plus, I started to feel for Vincent, despite having seen him gun down so many people at point-blank range. In many ways, he was a victim himself – although of course, nothing in his past could ever justify his actions.

Surprisingly, there is not much gore in this film, but there is a lot of callous gunning down of people, even innocent bystanders. If this is not your cup of tea, steer clear. (I’ll admit that it is not generally my cup of tea either.)

Also, I was slightly distracted by the picture quality at times. In moments of fast movement, such as people running, some of the motion was ever-so-slightly blurry. And when there were bright lights in the background, these lights had a flaring quality, with distortion at the edges. After a few minutes, I thought to myself, “This film has been shot on video.” Sure enough, I found out later that Collateral was indeed shot on video – albeit high definition video – which was then converted to film. This was only a slight distraction and probably won’t be as noticeable on the DVD release when viewed on the small screen.

In short, this film has stayed with me, and will continue to stay with me for many days to come. The ending is haunting, challenging and moving. Collateral is easily the best film I have seen so far this year, not least for the believable and fully-rounded performances of Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx who say as much with their silent looks at each other as with the words that they say. Thoroughly recommended!

THROUGH THE LENS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH 

Some key themes: What is life all about?; Is life ultimately meaningless, or do we have a purpose?

“The Teacher says, ‘Useless! Useless! Completely useless! Everything is useless’” (Ecclesiastes 1 v 2).

“The lights of a million stars, millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars, in a speck on one in the blink of time ... that's us, lost in space, who knows, it's all meaningless” (Vincent in Collateral).

The clue to the main theme in Collateral lies in the film’s title. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, one definition of the word “collateral” is: “parallel, coordinate, or corresponding in position, order, time, or significance”.

In Collateral we see two people occupying roughly the same place in time and space over the course of a night in Los Angeles. They are roughly the same age. They are both extremely clever and perceptive people. They are both human beings with needs, wants, past experiences and potential. In short, they are “collateral” to each other. But they couldn’t be more different.

Max has unfulfilled dreams and ambitions. He also genuinely cares for people, giving friendly advice to his customers as he drives them around. Vincent, on the other hand, doesn’t care for anyone. His view of human life is that it is here today, gone tomorrow, and in the grand scheme of things really means nothing at all – a very cynical view, to say the least. When Max asks Vincent what he thinks about Los Angeles, Vincent says he finds it highly impersonal. To back up his point, he tells the story of a man who died on the Los Angeles metro, and it took six hours of the train travelling round and round before anyone noticed he was dead.

At one point, Max accuses Vincent of being a “sociopath”, someone who can perform violent acts without feeling the slightest bit guilty. It turns out that Vincent was abused by his father, and grew up in various institutions. At the end of the film, we see Vincent slowly dying and then abandoned on the very same metro train he talked about. One can’t help wondering how things would have turned out for him if he hadn’t had such a wretched childhood. What a waste of a life.

Two characters. Collateral characters. One has dreams and hopes, and believes for the best in people. One has no hope and believes that people’s lives are ultimately worthless. Two people who shared a car together for an entire night, and yet lived in two completely different worlds. One viewed life as nothing more than a living death, and ultimately ended up dead himself. Another viewed life as something for the taking, and ended up free to pursue his dreams and visions. He also walked away with the film’s love interest!

The natural question is: which world do you live in? Many people share the view of “The Teacher” in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, where everything is seen as useless, or meaningless. Here’s something to think about: if you believe that, then maybe everything you do or experience will be meaningless, a self-fulfilling prophecy. This was certainly the case with Vincent.

Or do you live in Max’s world, where there is always hope, something worth striving or fighting for? Elsewhere in the Old Testament, God says: “I know what I am planning for you… I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future” (Jeremiah 29 v 11). All of us are special and have worth in the eyes of God. He knows everything about us; in the words of Jesus, he even knows all the hairs on our head (Luke 12 v 7).

One of the plot points in the film seemed to me at first to be too much of a coincidence: that the female attorney Max became friendly with at the beginning of the film just so happened to be the final person on Vincent’s hit list – surely a billion-to-one chance. But, thinking about it, maybe this plot point is deliberate – showing that there is such a thing as fate, a higher plan, something that is meant to be, a Godly coincidence (or God-incidence) even.

It’s your choice. Do you choose to live in a world that is meaningless and leads to death? Or do you choose to align yourself to a higher purpose – God’s purpose – a way that leads to life? Which of those worlds do you live in?

Have your say on the discussion forum....

·  Vincent must have cold-bloodedly killed hundreds of people in the course of his job, yet we find out that one reason for his cold-bloodedness was that he was abused by his father when he was a child. Does this excuse his actions, or was Vincent still able to make choices about doing good or bad things? Was Vincent beyond God’s forgiveness, or had he gone too far? Can anyone be beyond God’s forgiveness?

·  Are there times in your life when you have experienced a coincidence, or God-incidence - a million-to-one shot - bumping into an old acquaintance unexpectedly, or getting an important phone call or letter completely out of the blue?

·  What would you say to someone who believes that life is ultimately worthless, eventually counting for nothing?

To discuss this further why not leave a message of the discussion forum.