Vincent: Okay, look, here's the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we're into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin,… More
Vincent: Okay, look, here's the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we're into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it.
A unique story, with a solid cast, made even better by Mann's direction and use of digital cameras to capture Los Angeles at night.
Jamie Foxx stars as Max, a simple cab driver. He starts off his shift pretty well, meeting an attractive D.A., played by Jada Pinkett Smith, and striking up some chemistry, but his next fare proves to be a little more to handle.
Max: Hey.
[stuttering]
Max: He, he, he fell on the cab. He fell, he fell from up there on the motherfucking cab. Shit. I think he's dead.
Vincent: Good guess.
Max: You killed him?
Vincent: No, I shot him. Bullets and the fall killed him.
Enter Tom Cruise as Vincent. He plays a hitman who essentially abducts Max and forces him to escort him around LA, helping him get to each target he has for the night.
As the bodies start to pile up, more characters including a cop played by Mark Ruffalo and Vincent's employer played by Javier Bardem come into play and get involved in this taxi cabs affairs.
While this movie is definitely in the thriller genre, it is certainly a good character film with some interesting drama as well as a good sense of humor. The more I watch this, the more I see the various elements that make up the main characters and how these aspects are slowly revealed over the course of the film, reflecting themes of the film through the two leads.
Max: First time in L.A.?
Vincent: No. Tell you the truth, whenever I'm here I can't wait to leave. It's too sprawled out, disconnected. You know? That's me. You like it?
Max: It's my home.
Vincent: 17 million people. This is got to be the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. I read about this guy who gets on the MTA here, dies.
Max: Oh.
Vincent: Six hours he's riding the subway before anybody notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices.
Foxx and Cruise are very good together here. Foxx downplays his character to make you care for him as well as go along with his point of view of a man trapped in an impossible situation. At the same time you have Cruise being cooler than ever as a man locked into his work and maintaining a certain attitude that fits his surroundings.
Vincent: There's no good reason, there's no bad reason to live or to die.
Max: Then what are you?
Vincent: I'm indifferent.
The majority of the film is shot with a digital camera giving this thriller a very unique look, especially in portraying LA at night, something Mann is very good at doing. It is a Michael Mann film, which means that not only does the movie look good, but it has a pretty cool vibe throughout, complete with well handled action, good performances, and a good soundtrack/score that blends the different flavors of LA culture.
While the end of this film falters a bit by way of giving in to a cat and mouse game, Cruise, Foxx and Mann all make this a film that functions very well and delivers on its neat premise.
Max: Why didn't you just kill me and get another cab driver?
Vincent: Cause you're good. We're in this together. Fates intertwined. Cosmic Coincidence. Whatever.