Collateral

Year: 2004 Rating: R Overall Evaluation: 7.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 8.0 / 10 6.0 / 10 7.0 / 10 6.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated R for violence and language. The violence is minimal considering the story and none of it gratuitous. The language was stronger than needed to be to maintain realism but could have been a lot worse. No sex/nudity.

Story

The premise of the movie is that a taxi driver picks up a hit man who forces him to drive him around L.A. to make his kills. This is apparently his M.O. although we are not specifically told that in the movie. The story revolves mostly around the uneasy (to say the least) relationship that ensues between the two as they drive around.

Suppositions

I suppose in the world of crime this is a pretty accurate depiction but who knows. The main issue was the relation of the hit man to the taxi driver and here I just couldn't buy into it fully. The taxi driver would go from a total freak out in one second to wearing his heart on his sleeve and telling the hit man his life story at the next. His mood swings made it difficult for me to really believe. Not that this is a very fair comparison but look at the interaction between characters in Heat and you'll see what I mean. All in all it was bit too superficial.

Significance

The message of the movie is not terribly surprising - don't go around killing people, and try to stop those who do (this of course might still need to be stated for the post modern generation). There was a subtle character arc in the taxi driver's attitude where he seemed to take on some of the hit man's life advice (only using it for good) that was interesting. At least crime did not pay.