Collateral
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: August 6, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Most of the time we are with Cruise and Foxx, and their interplay is never less than galvanizing. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
As a result of Mann's craftsmanship and concern, Collateral crackles with energy and purpose, a propulsive film with character on its mind and confident men and women on both sides of the camera. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
Hugely entertaining thriller.
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The best kind of genre filmmaking: It plays by the rules, obeys the traditions and is both familiar and fresh at once. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
No crime film in years boasts a cooler vibe than Michael Mann's dazzling Collateral. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Shake it all up and you get Collateral, a movie with only one conceivable flaw: its disinclination to break new ground, though no one held that against "The Fugitive" more than a decade of Augusts ago. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is a rare thriller that's as much character study as sound and fury. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Michael Mann's tensely funny and alive Los Angeles night-world thriller, is, in its own twisty way, a very high-stakes buddy movie, yet it doesn't look like one, because it leaps off from a situation more jangled and threatening than we're used to. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Cruise is a man whose youthful cockiness has aged into self-assurance and cool confidence. It's a masterstroke of casting. The dynamism of Collateral, however, comes from Jamie Foxx. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Mann vividly captures the nocturnal pulse of East L.A. in this taut, confined game of cat and mouse. In the homestretch the thrills get too generic and farfetched for their own good. But the first two thirds are a knockout. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Shot by shot, scene by scene, Mann, whose recent work includes “Heat” and "The Insider," may be the best director in Hollywood. Methodical and precise, he analyzes a scene into minute components. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Schickel
As much a dark, odd couple comedy as it is a quirky, efficient little thriller. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Occupying a dramatic, philosophical and sensory twilight zone that casts a considerable spell, this intensely focused piece soars not only on the director's precision-tooled style but also on the outstanding interplay between leads Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Pitched between interludes of anxious intimacy and equally nerve-shredding set pieces, Collateral scores its points with underhand precision. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
If Collateral is all formula, it's polished to a fine sheen. Read full review
80
EmpireColin Kennedy
Perhaps the best premise for thrills since "Speed," only this time the bad guy’s on board and the battle of wits is more philosophical debate than pop quiz. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Really two movies: a taut, terrific, realistic crime drama, and, by the end, an over-the top, high-tech extravaganza which tries to out-Woo John Woo and turn Cruise into another Terminator. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Stylishly made, if less intellectually resonant than first-rate Mann films like "Ali" and "The Insider." Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Collateral is a small, modest movie writ large by people so talented, they aren't capable of anything less. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Foxx makes what he does look effortless. He's the reason to see Collateral, as he walks into the frame and walks off with the picture. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Cruise is chillingly credible as the cold, cruel Vincent. And Foxx shows unexpected depth and humanity as Max, whose night encapsulates the cliché about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Stylish - if predictable - thriller. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The whole movie is something of a joke, a feature-length prank that mixes stark violence and shock humor in the mold of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." Though it is a far less ambitious entertainment than Tarantino's masterpiece, it has its moments. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Devolves into a contrived, coincidence-driven, by-the-numbers thriller in its final act. That's not to say the movie's a failure. It's impossible to dismiss a film that starts out as such a sensuous, existential crime story. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The first half is exhilarating, and the rest is a tolerably honourable surrender to Hollywood conventions. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Collateral is a good idea for a movie, backed up by expert execution... It's straight-up entertainment, not something to see and then talk about a month later, but definitely something to enjoy. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The movie never really gets below that surface. It sticks to the mean streets of Los Angeles without much introspection or analysis. But those surfaces are slick and beguiling. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Mann's moody Collateral unravels toward the end, faltering at its conclusion but dispensing enough atmosphere, characterization, and world-weary humanism along the way that audiences would be wise to enjoy the ride without worrying too much about the final destination. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Like "Heat," Collateral will doubtless go down in film history as the noir marvel it undoubtedly is, but I don't quite buy its characters, and I came out of the theater still wondering what it had to say. Me, I have a soft spot for that old ’60s radical. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The best thing Mann brings to his picture is a strong sense of time and place. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
After a solid hour and a half, the climax almost seems to have come from a different movie. Collateral is still a hell of a ride, but could've used a smoother landing. Read full review
63
PremiereGlenn Kenny
If there was ever an example of a movie's visual language leaving its verbal and narrative components in the dust, this, unfortunately, is it. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Preposterous without being much fun about it. That's a shame: How often do you get to see Cruise play a professional assassin with Bill Clinton's hair? Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's essentially an urban variation on "The Hitcher" (1986) with nothing much going on underneath. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
If you boil the psychology of Collateral down to its essence, what you get, mostly, is Vincent badgering Max for not having enough chutzpah -- in essence, for not being enough of a tough guy. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Collateral is a slim drink of thin beer, remarkable only as evidence that Mann might have a modern masterpiece in him if he were cut loose and allowed to roam around in his own obsessions. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Suffice it to say that Cruise never seems right in this part--never as treacherous as he should be, nor as mysteriously tortured. Foxx has his moments, but there's no room for his trademark humor, and we can never quite get our minds around the idea that the hit man has beguiled the cabbie. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's too bad that halfway through, Collateral turns into a series of loud, chaotic, over-the-top action set pieces in which the existentialist Mann proves he's lousy at action. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Ruffalo makes a dent as a dogged narcotics detective, and the Spanish superstar Javier Bardem appears as a crime boss. Overall, however, Mann seems content to play games with his fast cars, cool streets, and loud rock, leaving Collateral squarely within the action genre. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
If only all this wonderful talent wasn't in service to a story that pushes credulity beyond the breaking point, perilously close to the realm of farce. Too many coincidences, too much convenient timing, too little honest plot development. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The director, Michael Mann, remembers the best of film noir pretty well, but it doesn't protect his film against its ultimate Movieland silliness. Read full review
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