Collateral is a 2004 Academy Award-nominated thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie.

The film is notable for the rare villainous role that Tom Cruise plays. There was substantial praise for the performance of Jamie Foxx, including a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.

The movie takes place in Los Angeles though the original screenplay set the story in New York City. Collateral is also the first major motion picture to be shot with the Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera. In an HBO movie review, director Michael Mann stated that the movie takes place on the night of January 24th to 25th, 2004 from 6:30 PM to 5:40 AM.

Max has lived a mundane life as a cab driver for twelve years. The faces have come and gone from his rear-view mirror: people and places he's long since forgotten--until tonight. Vincent is a contract killer. When an off-shore narco-trafficking cartel learns that they're about to be indicted by a federal grand jury, they mount an operation to identify and kill the key witness, and the last stage is tonight. It is on this very night that Vincent has arrived--and five bodies are supposed to fall. Circumstances cause Vincent to hijack Max' taxicab, and Max becomes collateral--an expendable person who's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the night, Vincent forces Max to drive him to each assigned destination. And as the L.A.P.D. and F.B.I. race to intercept them, Max and Vincent's survival become dependent on each other, in ways neither would have imagined. Written by Sujit R. Varma

One night in Los Angeles, cab driver Max Durocher picks up a gray-suited man named Vincent. Vincent offers Max a large sum of money to drive him to five locations around LA before the night is up. Max accepts, but realizes that Vincent is a hitman who has been hired to kill five people that night. Max is forced to drive Vincent around the City of Angels, unsure if he'll live to see sunrise. Written by G-reaper

Max Durocher (Foxx) is a night-shift cab driver in Los Angeles. He's planning a limo company called Island Limos, but has been a cab driver for twelve years. One night, he picks up a passenger named Vincent (Cruise) who seems like another ordinary passenger. But when he drops Vincent off at his location and waits for him as asked, a body falls on his cab, and it becomes clear that Vincent is actually a hitman, and he's got four more stops to make. Written by Ridley Lavine

For Max, the dreams of his own limo company are what keep him afloat from the mundane reminder of his real job: taxi driver, which he has been doing for over a decade. But one fateful night, Max has one cab fare that he would never expect named Vincent. He's a smooth, charismatic fellow who is sharply dressed and apparently wealthy, offering Max an excellent tip if he'll bring him to five stops throughout Los Angeles. But fate intervenes and Max soon finds out that Vincent isn't a businessman, but a contract hitman making his rounds. As the night progresses, Max finds himself under the microscope of a coldblooded killer. Meanwhile, the police and FBI are onto Max's cab while the two ultimately play a psychological cat and mouse game, that will lead to an inevitable climax neither would anticipate. Written by mystic80