MovieChat Forums > Collateral (2004) Discussion > Vincent is the WORST hitman ever

Vincent is the WORST hitman ever


1. Why continue to ride around in a smashed up cab when your job is to be unnoticed.


2. Why not just kill Max in the alley right after you have killed the two muggers


3.Why accompany Max to see his sick mother in the hospital where there are multiple cameras and witnesses.


4. Why even allow Max to see his mother anyway?? Just have him call her and say he cant make it


5. Why cut the power off in Annie's building?? How was he even able to find her??

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1 few time
2 he's noble
3 there arent , however been bypassed
4 suspect by the Cab Company
5 They could not escape using Elevators , but he would cut phone line not power

"To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart."HCB

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1 few time
2 he's noble
3 there arent , however been bypassed
4 suspect by the Cab Company
5 They could not escape using Elevators , but he would cut phone line not power


1. So?? Get another cab.
2. He is a murderer, not noble
3. There ARE hospital cameras...Are you retarded?
4. They would not care.
5. They DID escape on an elevator and the power was cut off. It was dark as hell in Annie's floor.



Did you even watch the movie? Your responses make no sense.

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1. Why continue to ride around in a smashed up cab when your job is to be unnoticed.
No time to change Cab

2. Why not just kill Max in the alley right after you have killed the two muggers
He's really noble

3.Why accompany Max to see his sick mother in the hospital where there are multiple cameras and witnesses.

Nobody has his records

4. Why even allow Max to see his mother anyway?? Just have him call her and say he cant make it
He had time and I ching Wants

5. Why cut the power off in Annie's building?? How was he even able to find her??

so Nobody can see him from outside
"To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart."HCB

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How is he noble when he killed a man he said he wouldnt who gave the CORRECT answer to the question????

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I agree he's not noble, but technically he didn't give the correct answer.

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You didn't hear Tom Cruise explain the correct answer to a corpse?

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2. He was using Max as cover but fully intended to kill him later. When the cop intervened about the damage to the cab, he was prepared to kill the cop. Let’s say he does kill Max after he kills the muggers. His options are to leave a triple murder on foot or drive around in a stolen cab covered in Max’s blood which is riskier than having Max as “collateral” or a hostage in a situation where it might benefit him.
3. Gain more leverage on Max to get him to do his bidding

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Without the things you listed, there's no story, and thus, no movie.

No repartee with Max. No Max posing as Vincent in the nightclub scene with the guy that ordered the hits (best part of the movie, IMO).

Part of Vincent's 'appeal' as a character is the obvious nature of the mistakes he makes and the chances he takes (rhyme unintentional). He's that good. It also made think that secretly, Vincent wanted to end it all.

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Jamaal,
I agree about being a great scene. I have seen this movie over 10 times and just watched it again today, which turned up actor Javier . I never noticed him before today, which is crazy for a movie buff like myself. He played a great Mexican warlord antagonist leaving me to want more. Javier was born in Spain I believe without looking it up. Glad to know that I was not the only one who liked this part a lot. Also, Tom Cruise played the Vincent part excellent IMO and this is my favorite TC movie by far. Mann directed him to do a wonderful job and TC delivered. I do not understand the OP's problem, without the OP's objections, subsequently there would be no movie if all situations were perfect for Vincent in the movie. Seems like common sense to me.


"Imagine how disappointed they'll be if they're Cubs fans."

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1) He didn't have time to profile another driver who would have been as weak minded as Max. He owns Max through intimidation. Plus some cab drivers pack heat. Vincent can tell Max has never shot a gun in his life, and poses very little threat to Vincent. There were probably very few hitmen that would take on such a high risk contract, and I'm sure the job paid enough that Vincent felt it was worth the risk.

2) How are you at math? He needed to finish all 5 hits. He was just gonna kill Max after the 5th hit was completed.

3) and 4) Pretty sure this was just for dramatic purposes. It was also a nice way to establish what Fanning was up to, and to take a break from the suspense/action.

5) Maybe to draw her out and make her an easier target. He had no idea Max was calling her or that she knew Max. Vincent had good bios and work-ups from the Cartel about each target. Most likely the information on the flash drive gave him information about their habits, places of business, residence. These were most likely given to the cartel through counter surveillance experts and private investigators.

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How are you at math? He needed to finish all 5 hits. He was just gonna kill Max after the 5th hit was completed




Ok?? He shouldve killed Max right after he killed the muggers. He couldve easily got a new cab driver that would take him to his destinations. Money talks and Vincent clearly possessed it. Max already proved he cant be trusted.....

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1. It must have been a tough decision to continue on in a banged-up cab because on one hand, getting safely rid of it as well as Max and finding a new suitable vehicle/driver may have been too time consuming, derailing him, but on the other hand, there was a great risk of getting pulled over by the cops (which did happen) and the possible escalation of such a situation into going to war with LAPD would have very likely meant he'd have had to abandon his hit spree altogether.



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

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Vincent was efficient and lethal. One of the BEST ever.

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Yep, he was terrible. He did all these stupid things just to make an exciting movie.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.

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1 & 2: Vincent needed to pull off his plan/scenario. Remember when Fanning told the other cops about this cabdriver who went crazy, killed a lot of people and then turned the gun on himself? I guess we can assume, that it was Vincent who was behind that. And, given the fact the he’s again taking a cabdriver hostage and forcing him to drive him around, we can assume that he wants to create the same scenario again. Therefore, the killing of two muggers didn’t mean anything in relation to this. But to kill Max and afterwards get a new cabdriver, that would ruin the scenario/plan. Of course, to drive around in a car with a pretty smashed front window creates attention. But that’s just a risk Vincent has to take, in order to get the rest of his plan to work.

3 & 4: Vincent is very careful by making sure, that Max does everything he usually do. By that, nobody asks questions. Concerning cameras and witnesses, I honestly don’t think it matters. Obviously Vincent is not from L.A., or even California. He looks like an average guy, who no one would pay attention to. I think I read somewhere, that Tom Cruise delivered packages to private people in relation to the movie, to see if people recognized him with his new look. It wasn’t the case  But yes, I see your point.

5: Like someone else wrote, to cut off the phone lines and to make it dark (so she couldn’t see him coming). And how he was able to find her...? Annie was a hotshot lawyer, and there is usually a visible list at the main floor, of where all the staff is located in the building. If I remember correctly, he comes into her office. And even though she’s not there, he can see a red light on her office phone or something, which shows where she is at the moment.

All these voices in my head, and not a single one I understand.

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guess we can assume, that it was Vincent who was behind that. And, given the fact the he?s again taking a cabdriver hostage and forcing him to drive him around, we can assume that he wants to create the same scenario again.




Only problem is that the police would never buy that scenario. All the victims were connected in a case (realistically they would be in witness protection but its a movie) so what motives would Max have to just go and kill these people??

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You don't think all the victims during the first scenario was somehow connected...? And given the fact, that the police treated the case the way they did, I honestly can not blame Vincent in thinking that L.A.'s police may not be the sharpest tool's in the shed.

All these voices in my head, and not a single one I understand.

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Isn't one reason that Vincent wanted to go to the hospital to see the mother was....to SEE the mother; understand who she was and where she was, so as to show Max that if he didn't continue the plan...Vincent would kill the mother?

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"1) He didn't have time to profile another driver who would have been as weak minded as Max. H"

Profile? After the 'dance massacre', Vincent shoots the cop that believed Max, and then stupidly opens the door of the same, WANTED cab. Earlier he said it's not good if people start asking questions and trying to find the cab, so what the..

If you imagine this movie to be GTA V, he's a really bad player.

The least he could do is take another car, or just take any cab - no profile needed, just take another anonymous cab and be outta there. Just as his first plan, the cab driver doesn't need to know anything, it's just transport. With some cash, the cab driver could be his personal driver from one location to the next, and no one would be the wiser.

Profile?!

He didn't profile Max, he just rode his cab and talked to him a couple of minutes. Are you saying he couldn't have done the same with another cab driver just as easily? Why wouldn't there have been time? Are you saying he didn't have 2 minutes?

This movie is just so so SO so very stupid.

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Also, this movie doesn't seem to know how phone lines work; they don't work on 'electricity' per se - at least phones don't need electricity from the outlet.

Therefore, at least how phones USED to work, cutting power from the building would NOT cut off the phones. Of course we don't know what all he cut, but the lights off-thing was just so really awfully stupid.

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