Collateral

"It started like any other night."

2004 2h 0m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 6,545

DramaCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.

“It started like any other night.”

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Cast

Tom Cruise
Vincent
Jamie Foxx
Max Durocher
Jada Pinkett Smith
Annie Farrell
Mark Ruffalo
Det. Ray Fanning
Peter Berg
Richard Weidner
Javier Bardem
Felix Reyes-Torrena
Bruce McGill
Frank Pedrosa
Klea Scott
Zee

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Mann
Writers: Stuart Beattie, Frank Darabont, Michael Mann
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $65M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

394+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Mann, shot by Dion Beebe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by António Pinto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jim Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Mann directs. Dion Beebe behind the camera. António Pinto scores. Jim Miller cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $65M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
3Released 22 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
5394+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Michael Mann, shot by Dion Beebe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by António Pinto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Jim Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "It started like any other night.".
11IMDB entry: tt0369339 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 26 themes, including "taxi", "police", "hitman", "hostage".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dion Beebe
Original score: António Pinto
Editing: Jim Miller
Production design: David Wasco
Makeup / hair: Terrie Velazquez Owen
VFX supervisor: Robert Rossello
Sound: Elliott Koretz
Stunt coordinator: Joel Kramer
Runtime: 120 min · 2h 0m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $65,000,000
Box office: $220,239,925
Return: 339% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Collateral (2004)

Awards

Satellite Award for Best Editing
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Director
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
BET Award for Best Actor & Actress
Satellite Award for Best Sound

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Michael Mann

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-02-03
★ 6/10
Pretty good for a Tom Cruise led movie, but he's still bloody playing Tom Cruise. Just Tom Cruise with even stupider hair. Tom Cruise. Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.
JPV8522020-11-27
★ 8/10
Well made thriller with Cruise turning one of his better performances (argument could be made deserved an Oscar nod), same with Jamie Foxx. A bit preposterous at times and some convenient moments (like when the cops let them go), but still entertaining and engaging until the very end. 4.25/5
CinemaSerf2026-07-24
★ 7/10
"Max" (Jamie Foxx) is one of those cabbies you'd probably never want. Although he knows his way around LA like the back of his hand, he has opinions on just about everything and that would just drive me mad. It does not, however, bother "Annie" (Jada Pinkett Smith), a prosecutor working for Uncle Sam who makes and loses a bet with him about the best route to take to her destination. He's a curious fellow, "Max", with an almost naive expectation of what his life might deliver for him. He has been behind the wheel for over a decade, latterly earning money to pay his ailing mother's medical bills, but he sees this as just a stop-gap measure before he advances to something else. What dream might that be? Well perhaps the offer of $600 from one customer to be his exclusive hire for the evening might help? That's what the respectable looking "Vincent" (Tom Cruise) offers him. All he will have to do is drive him to half a dozen locations across the city, wait a few moments at each while he conducts some business, then get him to LAX for an early flight next day. How hard can that be? Well the first stop sees a body try some bungee jumping off the roof of his cab - only without any rope, and he quickly discovers that his employer's "business" isn't entirely legit. His options are distinctly limited, though, and so he must continue to co-operate whilst trying to find some way to escape. Meantime, LA's finest FBI agent "Fanning" (Mark Ruffalo) is investigating the first hit of the night so perhaps with him also working on the case there is hope that "Max" won't end up floating in the ocean at the end, too? Though at times this is a little procedural, the pace of this thriller and a really solid effort from Foxx helps create something just a little more mysterious as their night goes on and his day goes somewhat more full circle than he might have expected with "Annie". I can't say I really loved the denouement as it did what so many of this genre does and lost the courage of it's more malevolent convictions as it ended, but along the way this is quite an entertainingly menacing ride that allows Cruise to play the bad boy dipped in Grecian 2000 charismatically; for Foxx to prove that "Max" ain't no pushover and that Los Angelino taxis are robust bits of kit!