Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Collateral's Damaged
Where to start...for a film whose main plot point is Tom Cruise having grey hair, I mainly want to go to bed, but need to cleanse myself of this before I can get to sleep!
OK, first off will be the title. I have no idea why this film is called Collateral. Anyone? The closest I can think of is that collateral can mean "happening alongside or in accompaniment with," and that James Foxx does indeed accompany Tom Cruise during the film and have things happen to him as a result.
Secondly, involvement with the characters. Foxxy (note the double X, Sarum - it's someone else!) was obviously supposed to be a sympathetic character, but all I could get out of him was that he was stuck in a taxi-driver's job with delusions of grandeur. And as for Tom Cruise, let's just say that he played his emotionless character extremely well. Heat, directed by the same guy Michael Mann, was incredibly involving, and despite having about 3 million supporting characters and more tension than you could shake a stick at, still managed to make you feel torn between supporting De Niro's and Pacino's characters, not knowing which to root for more. This had lots of points it could have built on, but just ignored.
Finally, I'm reasonably certain that near the end, Mr Cruise got on the wrong train, so I couldn't figure out how he managed to suddenly end up on the right one a moment later. Maybe I blinked (or more likely fell asleep for a moment).
Before the film started, we'd discussed and rejected all the ones shown in the advert break beforehand as looking rubbish. Collateral might make me reconsider that decision, and want to go see Ae Fond Kiss, which looks truly awful.
OK, first off will be the title. I have no idea why this film is called Collateral. Anyone? The closest I can think of is that collateral can mean "happening alongside or in accompaniment with," and that James Foxx does indeed accompany Tom Cruise during the film and have things happen to him as a result.
Secondly, involvement with the characters. Foxxy (note the double X, Sarum - it's someone else!) was obviously supposed to be a sympathetic character, but all I could get out of him was that he was stuck in a taxi-driver's job with delusions of grandeur. And as for Tom Cruise, let's just say that he played his emotionless character extremely well. Heat, directed by the same guy Michael Mann, was incredibly involving, and despite having about 3 million supporting characters and more tension than you could shake a stick at, still managed to make you feel torn between supporting De Niro's and Pacino's characters, not knowing which to root for more. This had lots of points it could have built on, but just ignored.
Finally, I'm reasonably certain that near the end, Mr Cruise got on the wrong train, so I couldn't figure out how he managed to suddenly end up on the right one a moment later. Maybe I blinked (or more likely fell asleep for a moment).
Before the film started, we'd discussed and rejected all the ones shown in the advert break beforehand as looking rubbish. Collateral might make me reconsider that decision, and want to go see Ae Fond Kiss, which looks truly awful.
posted by Chip : 00:13
3 comments
Comments:
Jimbobjo: That's not quite true, Iasonas thought that Bride and Predjudice looked really good and I thought it would be worth seeing for comedy value!
# posted by 
: 21 September, 2004 20:30
: 21 September, 2004 20:30
Sorry - I thought you were just taking the piss!
The general opinion still stands, however. 4 of us, 3 films, and only 2 of us liked the look of 1 film. That looks like a 17% success rate for the trailers to me.
The general opinion still stands, however. 4 of us, 3 films, and only 2 of us liked the look of 1 film. That looks like a 17% success rate for the trailers to me.
Did Tom Cruise have a beard in the film? I really wasn't paying attention at all!
The train was, I think, the final straw. Or possibly the mobile phone with a dead battery that he'd nicked off someone at 4 in the morning was, and I was just looking for faults after that.
I'm requiring independent verification of quality before I go and see a film on Colm's recommendation again!
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The train was, I think, the final straw. Or possibly the mobile phone with a dead battery that he'd nicked off someone at 4 in the morning was, and I was just looking for faults after that.
I'm requiring independent verification of quality before I go and see a film on Colm's recommendation again!
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