Tom Cruise’s Collateral was the actor’s best and only horror movie

A well-dressed man slips through throngs of dancers at a tightly packed nightclub while the rhythmic, electronic drone of Paul Oakenfold’s “Ready Set Go” bounces off every surface in the space. While the crowd seems lost in the music and unaware that there is a dark presence moving among them, the crowd remains captivated. It is clear that the figure at the back of this room is not there for dance and mingle. Nothing will stop him from pursuing and murdering another victim. A handful of guards are hidden in the crowd to help protect his target. But they are swiftly dispatched by a wild flurry jiggling bludgeoning strikes and snapped limbs. Loud music and the crowd’s pulsing noise obscure the brutal scene. This physical altercation has not stopped the brutal killer from completing his grisly task.

This foreboding sequence sounds like a horror movie, but it’s actually Michael Mann’s 2004 thriller Collateral. Inhabited by Tom Cruise, the character, Vincent, is a rarity among the image-conscious superstar’s past performances, allowing him to play an emotionally distant and ruthlessly violent force of destruction. Although it’s not Cruise’s only role of villainy, it is the most terrifying. Coupled with Mann’s use of sudden violence, Collateral Tom Cruise is closest to making a slasher flick in this film.

The word “slasher” likely conjures images of unstoppable knife-wielding maniacs killing off coeds at a summer camp or university. But the slasher horror genre is broad and composed of only a few essential elements: an unstoppable killer, unwitting victims (who try but fail to escape the killer’s wrath), and a foil to stand against the madman’s rampage. Collateral may not have Cruise wearing a mask and brandishing a chainsaw, but it unabashedly has all those other needed pieces front and center — they’re just covered in the window dressing of a noir-ish crime thriller.

The plot for CollateralVincent arrives in Los Angeles to embark on a night of assassinations. His goal is stop the progress of a federal indictment. To aid him in his task of navigating the city, he dupes a taxi driver, Max (Jamie Foxx), into chauffeuring him, with promises of a wad of cash for an easy night’s work. In these early moments of the film, Vincent doesn’t seem all that unique compared to other Cruise performances. He’s charming but focused, and outside of sporting a buzzed, gray hairstyle that matches his immaculate suit, Vincent feels like the actor relying on the qualities that made him a star. This all changes quickly when Vincent’s first hit goes slightly awry and the body of his victim does a two-story belly-flop onto the top of Max’s cab. The body hitting the car’s roof not only shatters part of the taxi sign that rests there, but also the lies that Vincent spun to Max about his one-night agenda.

Image: Paramount Pictures/DreamWork Pictures

Before Max can even fully process what’s happened, Vincent makes it clear nothing has changed for Max’s situation: Vincent still needs ferrying to his destinations, and Max is responsible for that. It’s a deal. Max and Vincent see Vincent’s charming facade fall off to expose the sociopath beneath. This is Max’s first encounter with Vincent. It’s laid bare that Vincent is an apex predator in this jungle of concrete and glass— an uncaring force ready to gun down anything that stands between him and what he’s pursuing.

Max and his partner make their way along the disconnected, sprawling streets of L.A. after-hours. Max struggles to comprehend the chaos he has created. He attempts this in the way many of Michael Mann’s noteworthy protagonists do, through conversation. Trapped in a cab and isolated in the empty urban sprawl, he questions his passenger-turned-captor but Vincent offers no answers that would bring clarity or solace. He is, in his own words, simply “indifferent” to the death he leaves in his wake — leaving him not too far removed from other truly monstrous characters of horror fiction, like another well-dressed, charismatic sociopath: American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. The biggest difference between the two is training and purpose, but murder is still murder, even if it’s done with tactical efficiency.

Image by DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures

Mann seizes horror tropes for alternative use in Collateral Vincent’s malevolent nature was reinforced. In one standout scene that takes place halfway through the night, Vincent’s demeanor shifts back to something approaching normalcy when he tells Max they are ahead of schedule and he’ll buy him a drink at a nearby jazz club. The film then cuts to the pair with their drinks, watching the club’s owner, Daniel (Barry Shabaka Henley), masterfully play the trumpet for that night’s patrons. Vincent tells Max about his love for jazz and invites Daniel for a drink.

In these brief moments, Daniel entertains them with stories about Miles Davis, a legendary jazz musician. Cruise’s natural charisma shines through, and Vincent seems like any other fan, enraptured by the thing he loves. He quickly switches from icy disinterest to calm when it becomes apparent that Daniel is another on his list. Max and Daniel beg Vincent to allow Daniel to go. Vincent offers an apparent compromise, if Daniel can correctly answer one question about Miles Davis he’s free to go. This was not actually possible. Vincent coldly shoots Daniel with his silenced gun at point-blank distance. Daniel answered the question. Vincent rationalizes it with a technicality, but it’s clear Daniel had no hope of survival. Max and the rest of the audience were simply shown that Max has no need for this concept.

The film’s horror theme is also heavily represented in a shocking moment when an older narrative thread is tied in shocking fashion. After the first assassination’s sloppy resolution, we learn a detective (Mark Ruffalo) is looking for Vincent, and understands Max is likely nothing more than a captive living on borrowed time. The story builds in such a way that the audience is led to think this lone policeman will help Max and work as the competent foil for Cruise’s steely hitman, acting as the Dr. Loomis to Vincent’s well-dressed Michael Myers.

Image by DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures

Immediately following a signature Michael Mann show-stopping gunfight inside of a packed nightclub that sees Vincent brutally take out numerous policemen on his way to eliminating his penultimate target, Max is grabbed by Ruffalo’s lone cop and rushed away from the scene. Through the chaos, Max is reassured that this is the help he’s been so desperate for throughout the story. However, as they exit the building, Ruffalo’s character is shot dead mid-stride by an already waiting Vincent. From the moment they arrived at the club, to the tragic murder of the detective, this sequence feels like it is a subversion from a scene similar in 1984 sci-fi classic. The Terminator (“Come with me if you want to live.”). Instead of a valiant stand-off with the unfeeling killing machine that ultimately leads to its defeat, Ruffalo’s Kyle Reese stand-in is wiped out without making any real difference in the story at all. This undermining of the audience’s expectation is a reinforcement of a trope often seen in horror— you may think you are getting away but the killer is always one step ahead and waiting to strike when it matters. Safety is not possible.

As CollateralAs the film enters its last act, it fully embraces its horror theme. After he finally rebels and crashes the car carrying them both, Max learns that the last name on Vincent’s list is (in the kind of coincidence that only exists in movies), Annie (Jada Pinkett-Smith), a defense attorney whom Max had shared a romantic moment with briefly at the start of the film. On foot, Vincent chases after him, trying to get Annie to help. He uses a stolen cellphone to try to reach Annie, but unfortunately the phone is dead. This creates a familiar moment for horror enthusiasts. Annie is working late, alone in her law office’s multi-floor building and unaware that a killer is lurking and moments away from finding her. Max tries warning Annie while Vincent closes in. Max is forced to watch helplessly below.

Image by DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures

Cruise is Vincent’s neo-slasher counterpart at this stage. Cruise is bloody from the accident and can’t hide his injuries. Cruise enjoys the chance to look desperate and gloomy on screen. He even uses a fire axe in one scene to turn off the electrical current. At this point, all his serial killer undertones are revealed and he is fully transformed into what the audience sees as a scary movie villain.

In a sequence that uses Mann’s immaculate eye for staging physical action to create a heavy sense of dread, Vincent slowly stalks a cowering Annie through the darkened high-rise – with only the distant illumination of the surrounding buildings shedding any light on their high stakes cat and mouse game. Vincent seems to be on the verge of killing Annie when Max arrives. Cruise’s determined physicality is used to project pure menace in these tense moments, and it’s some of the best physical acting of his career. Vincent transforms from being calm and prepared to strike, to a ferocious anger when he smashes through plates to chase the fleeing couple.

Annie and Max finally make their way onto the train. But in an act of determination and stubbornness that would be worthy to Leatherface and Jason Voorhees respectively, Vincent follows them on their journey for one more confrontation.

The story ends when Max stops Vincent and saves Annie. The story concludes with Max stopping Vincent and saving Annie.

Since his arrival here, Tom Cruise has never done anything so dark. Collateral’s release, nearly 18 years ago, even though he received strong reviews and the film itself was a big box office success. Maybe as he enters his later years and his time as an action star begins to shorten, he’ll once again take on a role that is so diametrically opposed to his typical onscreen persona. If he doesn’t though, at least there is this all-time villain performance for audiences to savor.

Collateral It is possible to view it HBO Max.