#max collateral

So there's writing on the window divider in the cab, right? Something about change. Actual text isn't important. What matters is COLOR and PLACEMENT.

The text behind Max on the right is pretty easy to see, green, big letters. The text in front of Vincent on the left is red and a little smaller.

Here's the thing. In EVERY shot from this direction, where we can see both characters, Vincent is ALWAYS talking from behind the red and Max is ALWAYS talking from in front of the green—except two.

Here, Vincent is coaching Max through telling off his boss. Vincent is pretending to be an attorney and defending Max from having to pay for damages to the cab out of pocket. Notice that Vincent is on the side of the green but not actually touching it; it's important to note that, while he is helping Max here, he's only doing it so the boss will stop poking at them and potentially try to bring them into the station early.

The second scene is far more telling, and, while I couldn't find any screencaps myself, I found gifs of it here on our very own Tumblr.com! Thanks to @illusivesoulgaming for making this one!

In the car on the way from El Rodeo to Fever, which is the penultimate hit and a hugely climactic scene, Vincent does something he hasn't done for the whole film: he sits directly behind Max. His face is partially obscured by those green letters. And he urges Max, in the most sincere and vulnerable fashion we've seen from him, to call Annie after this is all done.

Now, this is WHACK and unbelievably interesting in a lot of ways. First being that, if you've seen this movie before, you know that Annie is the final hit. And you know that Vincent knows this, because he saw her business card in Max's car. So it's pretty easy to interpret this as Vincent twisting the knife, enjoying some private, cruel irony, which will only come to fruition when the night is over.

But personally, I am convinced that this a brief, brief glimpse into Vincent's heart, and what he wants. He wants to lose. He wants to die that night. He wants Max to kill him so that Max can have a happy life. See, this scene comes right after Vincent forces Max to impersonate him in El Rodeo, a very critical moment of growth for Max. He comes out of the club a different man, a more capable man. And he does that by pretending he's Vincent, by stepping into Vincent's shoes. Right after that, just for a second, Vincent does the same thing. He switches to Max's side.

I am convinced that the letter placement and Vincent's position in the car is critical for understanding both scenes. Each time, Vincent is helping Max—the first time it's blatant, to set up the metaphor, but the second one is subtler. Without the first instance and a whole movie of Vincent talking only from behind the red lettering I don't think you can fully make the argument that he's actually wanting what's best for Max in the second scene, but with it, I think it's the best reading. And that's just... some brilliant set design, writing, and cinematography. Wow.

collateral has taken over my life again and uh

The most obvious example is when Max is facing Felix and quotes Vincent's "Darwin, I Ching" line. This one is especially good because it's one of Max’s steps towards self-empowerment and growth, and he does it by mimicking Vincent, literally becoming him.

But there are some other really cool mirror moments like that! Like just before the scene with Felix, when Vincent is telling Max he has to go into El Rodeo to get the backups, Max asks Vincent what kind of benefits he gets: the exact questions Vincent asked him at the start of the night. Vincent answers the questions just like Max did: no benefits, no paid sick leave, no retirement. It's banter, sure, but it's also pointing back to the larger theme of work and what you do for a living, and highlighting that Vincent and Max, for all their differences, are still just two guys at work.

A subtle one I really like is when Vincent is "inviting" Max to go to the jazz club: he lists off all the greats who played there, ending with, "Like that." Later, when he is recounting his childhood bouncing between an abusive father and foster homes, he ends with, "Like that." Halfway between a vocal tic and an echo.

One of the last ones is when Max escapes arrest in order to go save Annie; while pointing Vincent’s own gun (!) at the cop, he says, "Put your hands down!" Which is exactly what Vincent said to him when he first pointed that same gun at Max. Then he says, "When did this become a negotiation?" A direct parallel to Vincent’s line earlier.

And then, of course, there's the story that pulls everything together: the man who dies on the MTA.

The mirrored lines throughout the whole movie gives it a (and forgive me as I put on my Pretentious Hat for Pretentious Takes hat) Jungian kind of vibe. Vincent is Max’s shadow, his dark and dangerous opposite—but it's only by learning from and integrating his shadow (becoming Vincent, using Vincent’s own words and weapons) that Max can grow and ultimately triumph. Which makes the incredibly shot sequence in the justice building even cooler, because you have all these massive plate glass windows making everything a dark reflection—and those reflections only shatter after Max shoots Vincent. The wall between them has come down.

Collateral (2004) dir.Michael Mann

I watched it for the first time in June 2021 and it became my hyperfixation, something I've been obsessed so much that... well, I literally LIVED that movie for about 4 months and I consider it changed my life's goals' perception❤️‍🔥 I've been reading all possible reviews, comments, interpretative theories... I wanted to wrote my own review and interpretation of the film.

(Just for those freaking abt actors: ppl who hate movies with Tom Cruise in it - usually make exception for the Collateral - and if THAT'S not convincing to you I don't know what is!)

Who would have guessed that the story about heartless hitman interacting with that poor random taxi driver has a potential to change a live perspective of a 35 years old person? Vincent is so inhumane I'm not even sure he deserves to be called a "character" (not more than a killer-cyborg probably) and what he says to Max about his attitude toward the world and his life and his dreams is so provocative and cruel but... it's all so freaking true. You are over 30 already and the time to act and to change your life and to fulfill your dreams is NOW! Now or never!

"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."

Not to mention every next victim feels like another lesson in personal developement of Max (or any viewer sympathising with him), just like those lessons given to Scrooge by ghosts in A Christmas Carol. Yes, there are five of them instead of three but it's like the first case is: "wake up!" - the next: "this happens for Real!" - then "and there's nearly nothing you can do about it..." - and "...but you got to try anyway..." - followed by: "...because it's all about you right from the start!"

(One night you may need to turn your whole life upside down)

And I know some people see the last case as lame, cliche, unbelieveble, predictible or whatever - but jeez, ppl, that's how it works in a theater play! Of course it could have been predicted and so what?! It's the story about Max's character and in my opinion: that when he gets to know about his key role in all this - in a way similar to Bastian in The Neverending Story.

And I dare to say at this point it is not about any "love" or any such thing (here, take my AroAce filter): it's about a dream, that still is to be fulfilled, about a life, that could have been, about the right to be yourself and freedom to choose your way. About an urge to fight for something so important that you simply can't turn away from it anymore. About a need to defend something that feel so close and dear to you like it's your core, like it's yourself - like it was all about your life from the very beggining!

(And what if: maybe it all would never had happened if not for Max symbolic giving away his dream "island"?🤔)

I love how the provocative speech of Vincent to Max and all the uneasy questions he gives to him are meant to get him out of his comfort zone: your job is to take the client from point A to B, never before have you cared what they gonna do there, maybe all of them where going to kill or hurt somebody, so why did you not care about it ever before? Why would you care about it now? What the difference if the bad thing is happening close to you or far away from you? What's the difference if you do or do not know about it? And what actually changed in your case now - anything other than that now you know? In all this you are irrelevant, COLLATERAL, you are only a fucking meaningless, powerless cab driver! Look at you, you're not even the one to decide your own route! And if you decided to only always do your job without the second thought - then why don't you just do your fucking job right now?!

And then it's like: you can run from your problems and avoid hard decisions for just so long - there's literally no more place left to run and hide, and you got to face your greatest fear... To save a life.

Not your life though.

You'll be reminded it's NOT about you. That it's not your business. So you can simply step back and live. Just keep on being nobody, not having anything to say, not having any power over bad things happening around you. You'll be reminded that you're weak and you can keep the safe distance and remain comfortably numb just as you always used to be...

You could remain COLLATERAL

Only would you be able to live with knowing you haven't even tried?

As much as I hate guns IRL - I loved to learn about the "mozambique drill" (some fans probably breaking new record of rewatching "yo, hommies" scene over and over again) and reading other viewers' interpretations of what actually happen in the final shooting... and of why he could not or would not reload... (as a neurologist I'd vote it's bc of his brachial plexus) and finally thinking about the spontaneous act of previously non-spontanous character - winning over cold routine of the one always talking about "adapting to enviroment"... Like Max've won over him by actually learning his lessons!

This movie is filled with symbols and allegories. Starting with the silver gray Vincent: I like to compare him to a heartless cyborg T1000 from Terminator 2: The Judgement Day, or see him as an angel of death, or even - as mirror giving a dark reflection, like an evil alter-ego of the main character! (there's the allusion of policemen that a taxi driver might get rampage and kill ppl around the town - followed by Max's mother asking "Who?" like not noticing Vincent - to the point Max actually "acts" Vincent - all these priceless little hints that Vincent might not even exist in a first place...)

My own favorite interpretation is that Vincent is personification of a coyote - the spirit animal meant to teach you life lessons that are many times very uneasy but really rewarding

(And don't listen to director talking about Vincent, it seems to me that Michael Mann did not himself get any deeper meaning of this guy at all!😑 Like treating his past history seriously? Oh please, have mercy...🙄 Vincent's power derives from the fact he's so perfectly inhumane he barely touches the earth! Or at least he's the perfectly neutral transparent everyman... who's empty of emotions. And you can treat as a symbol of anything you want!😋)

The story takes place in the middle of the night - with the broad streets of the great town being almost empty - and it's such an unusual view it gives an almost dreamlike mood. Perfect time and place for a life-changing story about changing your life.

All in all this story is so brilliant someone definitely should have made a movie about it!

😆