Collateral

We watched this tonight on DVD, and I was of two minds about it. There were some things I liked, and one thing that really bothered me.

The good stuff first: The movie looks great. As you'd expect from a Michael Mann film, everything is sharp and clean and lit in intriguing ways. The music's nice, especially in the jazz club scene. The story generates some genuine suspense. I really liked Jamie Foxx's performance. Just the right amounts of confusion and fear and ultimately courage and heroism.

Now the annoying part: am I just deaf, or was Tom Cruise's dialogue impossible to understand throughout most of the movie? I kept bumping the volume up on the TV, but Livia and I both understood less than half of what he said. Sure, he looked great, but aren't actors supposed to talk so that you can understand what they're saying? We run across this a lot in current movies, actors mumbling and whispering and generally being inaudible so that we're always asking, "What'd he say?" Livia's been known to blame Marlon Brando for starting this trend, but I could always understand Brando in most of his films.

Anyway, my verdict on COLLATERAL: worth watching, but turn the sound up and be prepared to be confused anyway.