Collateral

Really enjoyed the film Collateral. Like the previous film we watched again this one was all set in one night, however the difference between Collateral and Identity was that the setting wasn’t limited. The opening scene was the cab driver (Max) is driving a woman (Annie) to a location in which by the end of the scene he gives her a picture that means something to him and tells her to keep it, by that alone I assumed that the film is going to end up being all about the woman in the end and I was right. Just like in the last film I was right from the start. It’s a very dark setting again because it’s set at night throughout the film so I think that in terms of Art direction it was important to make use of the city lights. Tom Cruise plays the role as Vincent who employs Max drive around the streets of L.A. all night killing witnesses at various locations, in which they make use of the streets of L.A. by going to different buildings scattered around encountering various problems. The typical streets of major places in America like L.A. and New York etc. have bright city lights everywhere you go (or at least that’s what I’ve seen on TV and movies) so I think that it was important to make use of them in different scenes and shots simply because it’s dark all the way through and they need something to lighten the atmosphere up and as the plot unfolds the main characters make their way through the concrete urban jungle that is Los Angeles.

 

The colour pallet like all previously had a limited amount of colours used varying from greens, blues, reds, yellows and more paler but light colours I think again were used to add but to also capture the feel of the modern street of L.A. as the film is set in the year 2004.

After driving around all night it gets to the point where (as I predicted) Annie is one of the witnesses that Vincent needs to take out as he is hired to do so, and so it’s Max to the rescue.  Luckily he keeps the phone number given to him by Annie so he can call and warn her about that Vincent is coming for her. Max and Annie eventually escape, though however they are chased onto a metro rail train by Vincent in a desperate hope of getting away it ends as Max kills Vincent and then I guess they all live happily ever after? I’m being sarcastic, but it reminds me of L.A. confidential not in the sense that it’s all set in the same place but because of the plot is all about murders and crime etc. moving in and around the city. I remember the scene where they are in a night club and the lighting is very blue and they captured the feel of what a modern day night club in L.A. looks like though then again it’s not as hard to capture the modern day feel because we are living in the modern day… but they got it right! It would have been harder to produce L.A. confidential because they trying to produce a setting from 40 years ago at the time of production. The costumes and environment to be honest was very different but that is simply because one film is set in 1950’s L.A. and the other 21^st century L.A., and you can tell the comparison between both dates. I for me they captured right. it was a great film and I’d definitely watch it again.