Double Feature

September 2011 - Think of great directors and Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Ang Lee and Kathryn Bigelow might come to mind. You might also consider Michael Mann. He's probably best known as the driving force behind the TV show Miami Vice, but he's also directed some very solid movies.

One of those is Collateral, an R-rated thriller from 2004. Jamie Foxx plays Max, an LA cab driver who dreams of starting his own limo service. On one particular night, his first fare is Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), a federal prosecutor in town to work on a big case. Max gets Annie where she's going, and she gives him her card and says, "Call me."

Max's next fare is Vince (Tom Cruise), who tells Max that he has five stops to make during the course of the night. Vince offers Max some extra bucks to stick with him and get him to LAX on time in the morning. Soon, Max becomes Vince's unwilling accomplice in all things hit-man related. Eventually, we learn that Vince is eliminating witnesses in the federal case against a crime boss. Can you guess who's prosecuting the case? Can you guess who's stop number five?

Overall review: Liked it. OK, so it's a little predictable plot-wise. But, there's plenty of action, and it's interesting to see Max and Vince establish a relationship, however twisted it may be. Jamie Foxx got an Oscar nomination for his work. I thought Cruise was pretty good, too, as he played against his good-guy type.

In 2009, Mann directed Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in the R-rated Public Enemies. Depp plays the 1930's bank robber John Dillinger while Bale is Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent who always gets his man.

The movie begins with Dillinger busting his gang out of the Indiana State Penitentiary. They hit the road and head for Chicago. That's where Dillinger meets Billie (Marion Cotillard), who quickly becomes "his girl."

While Dillinger and the gang carry out a series of well-timed bank robberies, Purvis uses the most modern detecting techniques to track them down. Dillinger seems to understand that he's running out of time, but he hopes for one more big score before he and Billie head somewhere warm to live out their days.

Overall review: Liked it. Depp, as usual, is great. He plays Dillinger as a man on a mission, willing to kill without a second thought. Still, he manages to make Dillinger a sympathetic figure. It's clear that he loves Billie, and you root for him to quit the bank robbing business before it's too late.

What struck me most about the film is that it's more of a character study than an action movie. There are a couple of gun battles and a chase or two but, mostly, it's Depp giving us a good, long introspective look at the man J. Edgar Hoover called "Public Enemy Number One." As Depp plays him, Dillinger knew his days as a bank robber were numbered, but he just didn't know what else to do.