Wearing a bespoke suit that sets off his stylish, cropped, silvery hair, Tom Cruise is not only convincing but compelling. In a complex, meticulously detailed performance, Cruise plays evil as if he'd been dipped in it, while Jamie Foxx ("Breakin' All the Rules") is superb as his mild-mannered "everyman" hostage. Jada Pinkett Smith ("The Matrix Reloaded") makes an indelible impression as a savvy, sly prosecutor who precedes Vincent in Max's cab and then crops up later in the story, while Irma P. Hall is effective in a brief scene as Max's feisty hospitalized mother.

Working from Stuart Beattie's intelligent, multi-layered script that delineates the unlikely relationship between these two disparate men, director Michael Mann ("The Insider") keeps the tension taut while exploring the nuances of each character-driven scene, although the conclusion seems agonizingly anti-climactic, as does the dutiful subplot involving two narcotics detectives (Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg) and an FBI agent (Bruce McGill). On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Collateral" is an intense, unflinching 8. It's paralyzingly seductive and suspenseful.