This review may contain spoilers.
When they introduce Jamie Foxx’s Max I kept thinking, he’s Wall-E’s MO—he just wants to keep a clean cab!
I love Michael Mann Movies™ because there’s usually one character who just wants to do the job right, even if if they know at some level that the game is rigged, the forces stacked against them are too big and too strong. In this one you get two, and that explains the weird bond that develops between Cruise’s Vincent and Max. Speaking of Cruise, this movie relies so much on disembodied shots of his eyes/head—can anyone else have played a sociopath this convincingly?
It’s been a while since I saw this so I was surprised each time a familiar actor rolled onscreen. Ruffalo! Berg! Mazar! And that’s all before Javier Bardem shows up.
Really enjoyed Jamie Foxx’s transformation into “Vincent” that sets up the climax of the movie. In less qualified hands it would feel unbelievable, but Foxx gives you just enough early in the movie to signal that he’s a guy who is smart, precise, and probably carries some anger just simmering under the surface.
I remember thinking this movie looked “ugly” when I first saw it, but now the digital grittiness feels…comforting? Especially when stacked against the weird, flat, unreality of most streaming productions.