Reuban Arnold

The longest action sequence ever holy moly

The poor car on the freeway has taken more shots than a pornstar

Michael Mann doesn't miss. Collateral starts as a slick thriller but beneath the tension it's constantly asking questions about how we live our lives. The way Vincent thinks is cold and detached from the rest of us, yet some of what he says forces you to stop and think. Max spends his life waiting for the "right time," while Vincent believes the world moves on regardless and that contrast is what makes the film so awsome. The night time cinematography, the soundtrack and Mann's signature sense of atmosphere make Los Angeles feel strangely alive and completely dead at the same time. Every conversation carries as much weight as the action. It's a film that leaves you thinking after it ends, not because it gives you answers but because it quietly asks whether you're actually living the life you keep telling yourself you'll start tomorrow.

one of the most quietly disturbing films I've seen. Rather than relying on 'normal' horror, it creates a sense that something is completely wrong and unsettling with the world. Every conversation feels off, every silence carries some sort of weight and the film slowly gets rid of your confidence in what you think you understand. The antagonist is terrifying not because of physical violence but because of the questions he asks. "Who are you?" "Where are you from?" "What is your job?" They sound so ordinary, yet repeated over and over again, becoming strange and dazed. They're the kinds of questions we answer unconsciously but Cure forces you to think whether those answers really define a person at all. If your memories disappear, if your role in society is taken, what will you be or become? The film also raises unsettling questions about identity and the deep feelings which exists beneath the surface of ordinary people. Are we truly in control or are we waiting for something to expose what is already inside us? Kurosawa never rushes to answer any of these questions and that's what makes it so haunting. By the end, Cure leaves you with the feeling that the true horror isn't the murders but it's the possibility that identity is far more fragile than we'd ever like to admit.