Am I missing something?
Why was Vincent at Annie’s office at the start? Why was she travelling to her office late at night? How come Vincent entered the exact same cab vacated by the woman he is due to kill later that night?
shareI don't remember the scene enough to answer your first question. Just speculating, but maybe he was staking the place out? Maybe he was going to try to bump her off first, but something went wrong and he decided to wait until later? Perhaps he got a tip-off that she was coming back in to work late...?
The second question is easy: she works really, really late. She tells Max about her pre-trial rollercoaster of nausea. Working where she is on the cases she works, it's not hard to imagine that she's working late a LOT. It's probably part of her habits and rituals (since she is that kind of person - she's got the same routine/rigidity thing that Max has in some ways...) She also seems very driven and workaholic in general (probably how she got where she is).
As for number three, would you believe coincidence? Fate, i-ching, karma...whatever. I'll buy a few coincidences, and this is one of them.
Just bizarre that Max doesn’t pick Vincent up from the airport. No reason is given as to why he’s at Annie’s workplace.
I get that she works late, that’s fine, but why is she not already at work? If she’s travelling to her office in the evening, then where the hell was she all day? Why is she pulling an all nighter before a huge court case she’s nervous about? Surely you’d do your work in the day then get a damn good night’s sleep to be on top form?
Yeah well it’s one too many odd coincidences in a film that really didn’t need any more.
Maybe a little odd, but we can guess a couple reasons why. Maybe Vincent arrived early and kinda "walked the beat", getting a feel for where he'd need to be and when. He might have used a bus, his feet, or a different cab for that (which would take him from the airport to Annie's office). We wouldn't need to see this, but I can imagine it happening. Maybe he got in the cab at the airport, got a bad "vibe" off the guy, and didn't pick him. Maybe he tried to offer the bribe and the guy wouldn't take it, so Vincent gave him the first address that popped into his head and grabbed another cab. It's slightly strange, but is it really enough to put the whole (awesome) movie off? Not for me.
She was working late, went out for dinner with her boss, came back to the office. Or she was working, went home, got nervous and returned (if this is a pattern of hers, it would explain why Vincent would go to the office instead of her home). Or she worked until the late afternoon, went home, slept, and returned to the office basically so she could work really, REALLY late but still be refreshed for the court case. Does it say when the case is? That morning? That afternoon?
Coincidence, improvising, going with the flow, fate/chance/luck, and the responses we have to situations are big themes of the movie. I'd argue that it needs a certain amount of coincidences to make that point.
I mean they’re not deal-breakers, it’s still a good film, but when a film’s good then the question becomes ‘are there any flaws?’ and these unexplained oddities stand out to me.
shareIt is not a flawless film. Are there any? I don't know. I suppose it depends on your standards.
Collateral is pretty close to a flawless film to me, and the few problems it does have (an abundance of coincidences (thematic though they are) and some strange character placement (Vincent at the office building)) I am more than willing to overlook because of how dynamite the rest of it is - particularly the performances and chemistry between Cruise and Foxx.