History Film / Collateral

+ TooDumbToLive: Played with when it comes to the two muggers. After all, they're both armed and don't ''know'' what [[ProfessionalKiller Vincent]] is capable of, like the audience does. Then again, demanding money from a man ''clearly tied to the steerin

** The magazine that drops is the empty one. He's out of spare magazines which is why he holds up his empty hand.

* BittersweetEnding: Max and Annie survive the night and Vincent is defeated. However Max's cab is totalled and many people (including Fanning who saved Max) were killed throughout the film and Vincent himself dies a rather tragic death.

* VillainousBreakdown: Vincent progresses through one of these over the course of the film. It has it's beginning from the moment he meets Max and they start conversing. Vincent is an amoral, completely self-centered assassin who cares for no one. However, he's also incredibly isolated and walled-off from the rest of humanity, with the resultant loneliness that he'd never admit to, not even to himself. Despite how ruthless he is, it's heartbreaking to realize that Max may be the first person he's had a meaningful, introspective, and honest conversation with ''in his entire life.'' In several scenes, you can't help but feel that he's honestly trying to help Max change his life, and is very conflicted over the part of his plan that means killing Max. [[spoiler:And after the final shootout with Max, rather than go down swinging Vincent just ''gives up'' rather than die alone.]]

* [[MeleeATrois Melee A Quatre]]: In the nightclub during the fourth hit: Max and Vincent (with Max standing in for Vincent while Vincent follows him) vs some mafiosos (who were sent after 'Vincent' just in case the hit goes wrong) vs the LAPD (who try to both protect the victim and locate Vincent and his supposed partner-in-crime) vs the victim's bodyguards (who start firing at everyone with a gun). It helps that the room is completely cramped with panicking party-goers and the lights go on and off.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Vincent at the end of the film. After he and Max unload their entire magazines at each other in a blind shoot-out, Vincent attempts to reload, only to find himself suddenly fumbling. The camera pulls back to reveal why: He's been fatally shot in the gut and he's starting to bleed out. With the last of his strength, he calmly puts away his gun, adjusts his suit, and sits down on a train seat. He waits for Max to come sit across from him before delivering his LastWords, then relaxes silently into death.]]

* ShownTheirWork: The famous "briefcase scene". No editing, no sped-up film or special effects: Tom Cruise ''really was that fast'' after weeks of constant weapons training. In fact, he actually beat the time given in the script: 1.39 seconds as opposed to 1.6 seconds.

* LaserSight: At the night club, Max [[GoThroughMe jumps in front of Vincent]] when the security guards point their laser weapons at the hitman. It's left [[AmbigiousScene ambiguous]] whether Max wanted to [[SaveTheVillain save Vincent]] or was just confused.

* IfOnlyYouKnew: Max's mother tells Vincent that you'd have to hold a gun to Max's head to make him do anything. That's what Vincent actually did.

* GambitPileUp: The club shoot-out devolves into one, in which six different factions are involved, all with wildly varying interests. The Feds think Max is Vincent, and try to arrest him while escorting Lin (Vincent's target) safely out of the building. LAPD Detective Ray Fanning knows something is up and that the Feds are acting prematurely, and tries to help Max. Max just wants to get through the whole thing alive, and also prevent Vincent from killing his mother if he fails. Vincent wants to kill Lin, while using Max as a decoy. Lin's security guards are just trying to protect their boss, are startled by the Feds rushing in with guns, and turn the thing into a shooting spree to start with. Felix's guards think Max is Vincent, and will kill him if things go wrong. [[spoiler:Vincent comes out on top. The Feds are rendered useless by Lin's bodyguards, Felix's guards are scared off by Vincent, he kills both Lin and his bodyguards, he kills Ray after Ray just escorted Max out of the building, and forces Max to continue driving him to his next target]].

* DieHardOnAnX: This movie is ''Die Hard'' in a taxi cab... with an occasional stop and go.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Vincent in the end.]]

* ShownTheirWork: According to the director, Vincent's job as an assassin requires him to get in and out of places without being recognized or remembered, so Tom Cruise prepared for the role by practising making [=FedEx=] deliveries to a crowded LA marketplace without being recognised. He also underwent extensive martial arts and weapons training including shooting with live ammunition and how to perform the famous [[BoomHeadshot Mozambique Drill]].
** The director also went through weapons training himself. Officially, it's so he'd know more about how to direct gunplay. There's a good chance he just went "oh, what the heck".
** The famous "briefcase scene" is a literal example. No editing, no sped-up film or special effects: Tom Cruise ''really was that fast'' after weeks of constant weapons training. In fact, he actually beat the time given in the script: 1.39 seconds as opposed to 1.6 seconds.

* RealityEnsues: Vincent is a steely-eyed, cold-blooded killer and a total badass. [[spoiler: He still gets killed by a lucky shot [[{{Irony}} from what has to be the most timid man in all of LA.]]]]

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: Even after Max fatally wounds him, it's pretty clear Vincent could still have simply reloaded his weapon and killed him. He chooses not to and instead merely [[FaceDeathWithDignity faces death with dignity]], although it may have something to do with Vincent knowing his number's up and not wanting to die completely alone.]]

* NotMyDriver: The basic concept of the film inverts this trope.

* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: The setting for the movie; so prominent, it might as well be a character itself

* BrokenHeel: Averted. Annie does not remove her heels when she and Max flee from Vincent, and she never trips or falls.

* BlackAndNerdy: Also Max.

* MuggedForDisguise: A different take on this; Max is providing cover for Vincent. At first the feds think Max is Vincent, and the hitman has simply picked a cab driver who looks like him, killing the original.

* SamaritanSyndrome: Max's ordeal was just about over, and then [[spoiler: he saw that Vincent's last target was Annie. He immediately goes to her rescue.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Max, about two thirds through the movie when he has to pretend to be Vincent in front of gangster Felix. You can actually see the ''exact point'' in the film where he levels. He then takes ''another'' level or two when he [[spoiler:deliberately crashes the cab at top speed, and then when he goes to rescue the lawyer]]. Made even more moving by the fact that Max [[spoiler: turns Vincent's StrawNihilist rhetoric on its head in something between a WorldOfCardboardSpeech and a ShutUpHannibal moment just before the crash.]] There's also a less--noticed level when [[spoiler:Max takes the briefcase and runs, destroying it, even at the risk of his own life.]]

* AbusiveParents: Vincent's father was an abusive alcoholic. It can be taken as an attempt of manipulation on Vincent's part to get Max to do his bidding, [[spoiler: but WordOfGod confirms that it was a rare moment of honesty on his part, that he quickly tries to cover up]].

* AlmightyJanitor: [[spoiler: Max, a civilian with no firearms training, is able to defeat Vincent, a professional assassin who has already dispatched many cops and armed guards up to this point.]]
* TheAntiNihilist: Max evolves into one as the film progresses, in contrast to StrawNihilist Vincent.

* BadassDriver: Max.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Vincent's gray flannel suit.

* ClockKing: Max. Vincent is the exact opposite.

* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Vincent survives a serious 100MPH car crash, gets right up and runs off. Soon afterward he gets shot... in the head... and simply continues to chase after his quarry with only the slightest hit to his cohesion.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Vincent again. He's a vicious, coldblooded killer, but there's something oddly likable about him.

* TheGunslinger: Vincent is a type D - QuickDraw. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-P8sJNHk0#t=167s It's even mentioned by one of the actors in the documentary at 3:00.]]

* HitmanWithAHeart: Subverted. Vincent tries to convince Max he's this, saying he only kills bad people, "taking out the garbage." His daddy issues also serve to make him sympathetic. But then, Max learns [[spoiler: the people Vincent's killing are witnesses for a case against a drug lord, and Vincent honestly has no qualms with it. We also learn from the cop that his MO is to take a taxi cab driver hostage to drive him around and then fake said driver's "suicide" after the other killings are done, implicating the dead man for the murders.]]

* IconicOutfit: Vincent's suit, which has appeared in quite a few [[VideoGame/MaxPayne3 video]] [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV games]].

* LackOfEmpathy: Vincent, throughout. Although, he does show slight regret after killing [[spoiler:Daniel]].

* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Vincent in his suit again.

* NiceGuy: Max. Very much so. He's quick to sympathise with people he's just met [[spoiler:including Vincent's victims]] and goes out of his way to treat his customers well, even though driving a cab is "only temporary" for him. That treasured picture of a holiday resort he looks at whenever he needs to relax? He gives it to a stranger he's just met, because she's stressed out over her job and he can tell she needs it. Aw.

* ProfessionalKiller: Vincent is an assassin, and quite an evil one at that.

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Detective Fanning, the only one who believed Max's story and could have ended Vincent's mission without Max himself bloodying his hands.]]

* SirSwearsALot: Both Max and Vincent themselves.
* TheSociopath: Vincent is described as such in-story. He ticks most of the boxes, but there ''are'' glimpses into his personality that does show conflict and maybe smidges of regret for what he does.

* StrawNihilist: Vincent. Or you can see Vincent as an {{Ubermensch}}, he is basically giving Max a vision of what his life could be like if he didn't play it safe all the time.
-->'''Vincent:''' Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it a

* TheUnfettered: Vincent. [[TheFettered Max]], on the other hand, [[HeroicWillpower is strongest]] when protecting someone he cares about (even if they just met).

* WickedCultured: Vincent has a fairly extensive knowledge of jazz and really good taste in suits.
* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: [[spoiler: While the other cops believe Max is the killer, Detective Fanning doesn't think so, in large part because he's familiar with another case in which a cab driver was suspected of a killing people under questionable circumstances. However, he's killed by Vincent before he gets a chance to prove his case.]]

* AllThereInTheManual: If you listen to the DVD commentary and the bonus features, you'll find out more about Vincent's background, including where he grew up and the significance of jazz to his character.

* ClockKing: Max. Vincent is the exact opposite.

"What? I should only kill people after I get to know them?"\\
"You no longer have the cleanest cab in La-La Land. You gotta live with that. Focus on the job. Drive."

* ImStandingRightHere: This happens to Max at the hospital, courtesy of his mother.

* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: The setting for the movie; so prominent, it might as well be a character itself

* MultipleGunshotDeath: We can see the beginnings of Vincent's VillainousBreakdown in the fact that he empties the whole magazine of his gun (even having to reload to deliver his signature [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] CoupDeGrace) on Lin, whereas he had been pretty efficiently using the Mozambique Drill beforehand. [[spoiler:Also how he kills Detective Fanning, to utterly puncture the HopeSpot.]]

-->'''Vincent:''' Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barco lounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life. Don't you talk to me about murder. All it ever took was a down payment on a Lincoln town car. That girl, you can't even call that girl. What the fuck are you still doing driving a cab?

+ TooDumbToLive: Played with when it comes to the two muggers. After all, they're both armed and don't ''know'' what [[ProfessionalKiller Vincent]] is capable of, like the audience does. Then again, demanding money from a man ''clearly tied to the steering wheel of his car'' doesn't do them any favors...

* TheReasonYouSuck: Max levels up and delivers a ''blistering'' one to Vincent right before crashing the car. Max tells him that he couldn't connect with anyone if his life depended on it and that he's like someone who grew up institutionalized without experiencing any normal human interactions at all. Watch Vincent's face during this. It's plain that what Max is saying is hitting him ''hard'' and he's barely keeping himself together.
** Vincent then turns around and smacks ''Max'' with an equally brutal one (see above), tearing into him for not having the courage to take any risks and make something of himself, or even call a girl he likes, even comparing Max's voluntary stagnation to "murder". Somewhat bites him in the ass, since [[spoiler: it seems to get to Max so much that he shifts gears into "Badass" and deliberately wrecks the cab to halt Vincent's killing spree]].

* WickedCultured: Vincent has a fairly extensive knowledge of jazz and really good taste in suits.