Collateral

Aside from a dabbling as the evil blood-sucker Lestat in Interview With The Vampire, it's very rare for Tom Cruise to portray anything other than the good guy.

He has saved the world, offed the baddie, rescued the girl and even shaken up a few cracking cocktails in the process but, when it comes to joining the dark side, he's often reluctant to step into the fore.

So what would it take for the cheesy-grinned mega-star to make the transformation from diminutive action hero into a nasty little man? Well, director Michael Mann seems as good a reason as any but add to the deal plenty of scenery to chew on and it's an offer Cruise simply couldn't refuse.

On a night like any other, a contract killer named Vincent (Cruise) arrives in Los Angeles with a mission to knock off five marks and get out of town as quickly as possible.

With such a tight deadline, Vincent is going to need transportation so, with just a few hours of darkness to complete his objective, he hijacks a taxi-cab driven by Max (Foxx), a sweet-natured dreamer who has been ferrying people around the streets of LA for the past 12 years.

Using his considerable powers of persuasion, barely disguised threats of violence and those oh-so charming pearly whites, Vincent forces Max to act as his chauffeur on the series of hits. In the process, Max becomes an accessory to murder and his very survival becomes dependent on the hitman.

Set over the course of one night, Collateral is a slickly contrived thriller, enlivened by fine direction from Ali and Heat director Mann, who paints Los Angeles in his inimitable clinically imposing fashion. Naturalistic lighting contrasts with neon billboards and smoky jazz rooms to create an unworldly but immediately recognisable sense of menace.

While never fully convincing as a stone-cold killer, Cruise attempts to invest his character with enough humanism to at least try to make us emphasise with his washing-the-scum-off-the-streets creedo, even if he does carry out the job purely for monetary gain.

Foxx puts in an understated performance, at once terrified for his life but remaining defiant enough to stop us wanting to put a bullet in the whiny driver ourselves.

Despite some great action set pieces, including an uber-cool nightclub shoot-out, and some nail-chewingly tense moments, it's the relationship between cabbie and killer that keeps things moving along nicely. Their crackling conversations provide the emotional heart of the piece and keep the momentum moving apace.

On the evidence of this top-drawer thriller, it's a fair bet Cruise will be stepping into the dark again.