I always thought Tom Cruise, at the start of his career, could be a magnificent actor. When guided by great directors such as Oliver Stone in Born on the Fourth of July, Paul Thomas Anderson in Magnolia or Martin Scorsese in The Color of Money, he was capable of excpetional work. His work in Jerry Maguire was a triumph and he was superb in a Few Good Men. It is a tragedy that since he took on the role of Ethan Hunt for good that we seem to have lost that talent for good. Up until 2004 in this movie and The Last Samurai, there were still signs of the talent behind the movie star. With rare exceptions - his work in Valkyrie and his brilliant cameo in Tropic Thunder - we've never seen the actor again. Collateral shows what we lost.