Every Michael Mann Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Collateral is many things: a tightly-wound, race-against-time thriller; a sharp character study of two radically different men; and a noir crime-thriller that sits happily at the top end of the genre.

Tom Cruise stars a hitman called Vincent, who kidnaps solitary cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) and forces him to drive him to his next batch of targets. And that's the plot, in a nutshell. Max and Vincent drive around, with the hitman willing to do anything in his power to complete his job, and Max constantly reaching for a window of escape.

Moving at breakneck speed and sporting some wickedly cool twists, Collateral is a particular standout not just for its pitch-perfect execution, but for the performances of its leading stars. Cruise has rarely been better as the film's suave and intimidating villain, and Foxx manages to play frustrated, scared, witty and lovably innocent all at once.

There's a lot to love with the film, and it's so thrilling and intelligent, you're likely to be thinking about it long after the credits have finished rolling.