Netflix quietly adds underrated Tom Cruise thriller secretly linked to Jason Statham classic in way you won’t realise

Netflix have quietly added yet another hidden gem to their ever-growing catalogue, and to mark the release of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the streamer has gone with a Tom Cruise classic.

Cruise is best known for his role as Ethan Hunt, with what many believe will be the last Mission: Impossible movie in cinemas now, but he’s produced much more than just the one series.

Whether it be the Top Gun films, classics like Jerry Maguire, or controversial sexual thrillers like Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise has a filmography well beyond the Mission: Impossible films.

Now, Netflix have added one of them, and weirdly enough it links to another Jason Statham classic – but you might not know that even if you’ve seen it.

Collateral, starring Tom Cruise alongside a stacked cast including Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Javier Bardem, and Mark Ruffalo, was quietly added to Netflix today – and is Tom Cruise’s most underrated thriller.

The film follows Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx as Vincent and Max.

Taxi driver Max accepts a large sum of money to drive Vincent around before realising he isn’t on an innocuous journey, but a deadly mission, realising that Cruise’s Vincent is an assassin.

Beyond the brilliant concept, the film is directed by Michael Mann, the legendary creative behind Heat, Last of the Mohicans, and the controversial but brilliant Ferrari.

The 2004 film is without a doubt Cruise’s most infrequently talked about gem of his career, showing that the action star has range far beyond what is he is commonly thought to have.

Right at the beginning of the movie, Cruise and Jason Statham share a scene with the bald action star not returning for the rest of the film.

Tom Cruise as Vincent (Paramount Pictures)

That said, the small seemingly insignificant scene all but confirms that the film links to a role which arguably helped launch Statham’s career.

Just two years prior to Collateral Jason Statham starred in The Transporter, an action thriller in which Statham played a mercenary who would transport packages without ever looking at what he was taking.

In the opening of Collateral, Statham is shown bumping into Cruise’s Vincent in the opening scene with the pair sharing a knowing glance.

The running theory goes that Statham was playing his character from The Transporter in this film, something which the film’s screenwriter has actually confirmed.

A young Jason Statham appeared in the film (Paramount Pictures)

Speaking in a podcast appearance screenwriter Stuart Beattie said when asked if the cameo was him playing the same character: “Absolutely [he played] Frank Martin of Transporter. I asked Jason about that.

“Yeah, absolutely. Yes, it’s canon. Same world… the studio will never admit to that, but in my head, absolutely it’s him.”

Whilst we will never know for absolute certain, you can now watch the Tom Cruise classic on Netflix and make the call for yourself.

Collateral is available to watch on Netflix now.