History Film / Collateral

* TemptingFate: When Vincent has [[spoiler: Annie]] at his mercy, Max appears, in a BigDamnHeroes moment holding his own at him, Vincent stupidly asks him, "What are you gonna do about it?" only to get a bullet in his neck ''from his own gun''.

* CarCushion: This is how Max is introduced to the fact that Vincent is a hitman. One of the targets has the bad grace to fall out of the window and onto the hood of his taxi.

* TheCartel: Felix, Vincent's employer.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Annie's business card]].

This Creator/MichaelMann movie features Tom Cruise in his most [[ProfessionalKiller chillingly evil villain]] role since [[Film/InterviewWithTheVampire Lestat de Lioncourt]].

* FallGuy: Although never directly stated, it's implied Vincent is planning on murdering Max to take the blame for his crimes; Fanning recalls a case from years ago when a mild-mannered cabbie [[MurderSuicide apparently snapped out of the blue and killed three random people in one night before turning the gun on himself]].

* BavarianFireDrill: When Max is being hounded by his boss Lenny to pay for the damages to his cab out of his own paycheck, Vincent gets Lenny to back off by claiming to be an attorney and will take him to court for trying to extort one of his employees.

* DeconstructedTrope: The film deconstructs the "loner hitman as cool existential hero" trope, pointing out how sociopathic and hollow such a character would seem when seen from any point of view but his own.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Felix, since Vincent manages to kills most of the witnesses for the trial against him. However, with Max being a highly valuable witness, it's entirely possible he gets put away.]] What a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* AssholeVictim: "You attract attention, you're going to get people killed who didn't need to be." But man, is it hard to feel sorry for ''those'' guys...
** More specifically, when Vincent ties Max to the steering wheel to make sure he doesn't drive away while Vincent takes care of business, Max honks the horn that draws some people to his predicament. Unfortunately, they turn out to be muggers who at first don't even ''notice'' Max is tied to the steering wheel and demand his wallet while holding him at gunpoint and despite no reason still continue to make threats at him as they take his money and Vincent's briefcase. Then Vincent shows up...

*** This is explained later by Vincent checking up on his victim's locations ahead of doing his work. The timing is rather convenient, but it's not actually coincidental that he was grabbing a taxi where she was leaving one...

* DeathByIrony: Vincent, for all his talk of adapting, I Ching, Darwin - acting as Chaos personified - exclusively uses the [[BoomHeadshot Mozambique Drill]] technique to eliminate his targets, [[spoiler:allowing Max to get the better of him in a blind shoot-out as his specific shooting routine only hits the carriage door where as Max's inexperienced random shots manage to get past the obstruction and hit Vincent.]]

* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: After spending the entire film mocking and tormenting Max, Vincent finds out that there is a lot more to the humble cab driver than he anticipated.]]
* TheDulcineaEffect: 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.]]
* DyingTruce: [[spoiler: During the climactic gunfight on the train, Max gets off a lucky shot that hits Vincent in the chest. Vincent staggers and takes a seat, and a shocked Max sits across from him, trying to reassure Vincent that the train is almost at the next stop. Vincent smiles and [[ArcWords repeats an anecdote he shared earlier in the movie.]]]]

* HopeSpot: About two-thirds of the way through the film, [[spoiler: Detective Fanning pulls Max away from a nightclub fire-fight to safety. He believes his story, looks like he's going to help solve all of Max's woes... then is gunned down by Vincent without a pause]].

** See LastWords below and ForeShadowing above.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: 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]].

* TheTaxi
* 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...
** Not to mention that rather than maintain his distance - which is, y'know, ''the point'' of using a firearm - Mugger #1 gets right up in Vincent's face and make it easy for him to slap the gun away and neutralize him. Mugger #2 has his gun jammed so far down the front of his pants that he's still fumbling for it when Vincent switches to him.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Max is forced to impersonate Vincent and ends up committing a few crimes over the course of the end of the movie trying to save the last victim, not to mention [[spoiler: being the murder suspect of Vincent's first hit]]. Good thing the [[spoiler: last victim on the list was Annie, a prosecutor whom he met earlier that night, because when this is over he's going to need all the legal help he can get]].
* XanatosSpeedChess: Discussed. At the jazz club, Vincent compares Jazz to him improvising over the course of the night.

* DeathByIrony: Vincent, for all his talk of adapting, I Ching, Darwin - acting as Chaos personified - exclusively uses the [[BoomHeadshot Mozambique Drill]] technique to eliminate his targets, [[spoiler:allowing Max to get the better of him in a blind shoot-out as his specific shooting routine only hits the carriage door where as Max's inexpierenced random shots manage to get past the obstruction and hit Vincent.]]

** In city of millions, Max just happens to give a taxi ride to a hitman and one of his intended victims on the same night. The stakes become personal when the last intended victim of the hitman is the one that he has a nascent friendship with.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Felix, since Vincent manages to kills most of the witnesses for the trial against him. However, with Max being a highly valuable witness, it's entirely possible he gets put away.]]

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Max is forced to impersonate Vincent and ends up committing a few crimes over the course of the end of the movie trying to save the last victim. Good thing the [[spoiler: last victim on the list was a prosecutor, because when this is over he's going to need all the legal help he can get]].

* ConfiscatedPhone: Max grabs a pedestrian's phone to call Annie and warn her about Vincent.

** More specifically, when Vincent ties Max to the steering wheel to make sure he doesn't drive away while Vincent takes care of business, Max honks the horn that draws some people to his predictament. Unfortunately they turn out to be muggers who at first don't even *notice* Max is tied to the steering wheel and demand his wallet while holding him at gunpoint and despite no reason still continue to make threats at him as they take his money and Vincent's briefcase. Then Vincent shows up...

* BavarianFireDrill: When Max is being hounded by his boss Lenny to pay for the damages to his cab out of his own paycheck, Vincent gets Lenny to back off by claiming to be an attorney who will take him to court for trying to extort one of his employees.

* HopeSpot: About two-thirds of the way through the film, [[spoiler: Detective Fanning pulls Max away from a nightclub fire-fight to safety. He believes his story, looks like he's going to help solve all of Max's woes...then is gunned down by Vincent without a pause]].

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Felix.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: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. Then there is the fact that Max is an accessory to the murders even if he wasn't complicit, as well as attacking a cop, stealing a cellphone and reckless driving. Good thing he saved the life of an attorney because she's going to be busy.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Vincent's constant belittling of Max's ordered, repetitive lifestyle leads to Max eventually [[spoiler:taking Vincent's words to heart and doing everything he can to stop him.

** Down to sharing the elevator, Fanning visits the hospital at the same time Vicent and Max visit choose to.

* PhoneBooth: The superhero change-over variant is discussed by Fanning with regards to Max's unlikely change of character:
-->"You're telling me the guy walks into a phone booth and changes into a meat-eater super assassin?"

** The magazine that drops is the empty one. He's out of spare magazines which is why he holds up his empty hand. He's also using a Smith and Wesson 5906 from the security guard while Max has his H&K USP45. Unless he grabbed spare magazines from the guard, he'd have been out of ammo anyway.

%%* 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]].

* 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.

+ 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...

* ContrivedCoincidence: In city of millions, Max just happens to give a taxi ride to a hitman and one of his intended victims on the same night.
** JustifiedTrope: Vincent was casing the place where he was going to do his last hit of the night, so he would know the layout and exits and be able to look like he belonged there when it got later. He also very nearly doesn't get into Max's cab at all, as Max was zoning out at the time and called him back.

* 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. Then there is the fact that Max is an accessory to the murders even if he wasn't complicit, as well as attacking a cop, stealing a cellphone and reckless driving. Good job he saved the life of an attorney because she's going to be busy.