Would Vincent kill Max?

I think Vincent would have killed Max, albeit very begrudgingly. I think that as the night wore on and Vincent instilled a sense of adventure and confidence in Max, he actually started to respect him and develop a connection. I believe that when Vincent said if you and I make it out of this alive, on some level he was wishing that he didn't have to kill Max at the end of the night, even though he knew that he had to.

After Ruffalo´s character talks about Oakland´s murder-suicide taxi driver thing, you knew that Vincent planned to kill Max.

"Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..."

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There's no way he would have left behind a living witness who could later identify him. I mean, even the big shot mobsters who hired him didn't know what he looked like for chrissakes.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

I think he was gonna spare him. Why waste alot of time taking crap like"You´re low,brother,way low" and more and debate philosophically with"Freud meets Dr.Ruth.",he could and would just pistolwhip him....why save his life in the last second in the club? With one hit to go,he could´ve driven himself. Think the plan was to kill him but as the night wore on,an annoying,reluctant respect started to grow....

He would have killed him because Max can identify him later during police investigation. Remember, vincent was very careful about not showing his face to his clients, so he is very cautious about not leaving any witnesses behind. Of course, he was tricking max all the the way to ensure that he isn't stressed...so he would have killed max just like the way he killed the Jazz man.

Zero chance he let Max live if he completed his mission


"Gold buys a mans silence for a time. A bolt to the heart buys it forever"

I think he would have killed him. And furthermore, I think Max figured this out pretty quickly. The first time it really dawns on him is after the killing in the jazz club, when he gets a direct glimpse of how Vincent could be warm and friendly one moment and then a merciless killer the next. And it finally sinks in during their conversation where they both psychoanalyze each other and Max remarks, "Some standard parts that are supposed to be there--with you, aren't."

Yes, Vincent does make that remark about how if they both survive Max should call up the girl, but that was probably just to give him false hope. He needed Max to complete his mission, and if Max believed Vincent would simply kill him at the end, he'd be less compliant. Indeed, that's essentially what happens finally--and it's exactly the outcome that it's in Vincent's interests to avoid.

Vincent may on some level respect Max, who proves himself to be smart and not a coward, but that's not the same as saying he gives a damn whether Max lives or dies--except, of course, to the extent that it helps him do his job.

There's this romantic cliche that sociopaths have some ounce of humanity lurking deep inside, as in the numerous films about anti-hero mobsters, con artists with a heart of gold, etc. It isn't true. My grandfather, who was a psychiatrist, used to say that sociopaths look human on the outside but basically aren't. They're great at mimicking moral behavior, but in reality everything they do is calculated to manipulate others and advance their own interests. So when they appear to show compassion or concern for another person, it's probably simply that they want to give that impression in order to advance some goal. This movie wisely avoids sentimentalizing the Cruise character, even if many viewers do.