*** Official COLLATERAL Discussion Thread (2 Viewers)

[Alex Spindler]

I don't know if I'd agree with that. It seemed clear on both viewings that the asian witness was frozen in fear and his bodyguard eventually has to physically drag him up over the back of his chair.

And is revealed that Vincent's MO is to stick with a cabbie at the end and then stage a suicide to take the blame. It'd be hard to do if he swapped cabbies.

This film is deserving of the nitpicks noted in the thread (cliche'd cell phone gag, Annie coincidence, lucky diversion for the police), but I don't think either of the two you mentioned were errors.

 

[ThomasC]

MO?

 

[Alex Spindler]

Modus Operandi, or general signature of operation/standard method of committing his crimes.

 

[Ryan FB]

I thought cheek at first as well, but later (I believe somewhere in the subway sequence) I noticed that there was a large chunk missing from Vincent's left ear, so I'm pretty sure that's where he was supposed to have been hit.

 

[ZacharyTait]

A reader by the psuedonym of NJA wrote a letter to Jeff Well's column for Wednesday August 11th about the end of Collateral. When you think about it, it makes sense. Here's the letter:

"You wrote that the coincidence at the end of COLLATERAL (the reintroduction of Pinkett Smith's character) is a stretch. And it is, sort of, but maybe not as much as you're suggesting.

"Remember that Vincent passes her on the elevator just as he comes out of the MTA at the beginning of the film, and we get a look at his impassive face as he sees her -- and also remember that Max, due to his perfect knowledge of LA's streets, has gotten Pinkett Smith to her destination a bit earlier than expected.

"It would seem that Vincent intended Pinkett Smith to be hit #1, but missed her because Max screwed up his timing by getting her to the office earlier than Vincent planned for. That logical explanation (which I believe was spelled out in the original screenplay) goes a long way toward making the film's third act seem less of a coincidence." -- NJA.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crawdaddy

 

[Paul.S]

Correction: Jack and Marla hold hands at the end of FC.

-p

 

[Steve Felix]

Interesting... it did seem too logical to be completely made up.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Vincent was getting there to wait to kill her in her office. Remember, he has the fake I.D. to get in. He got there to set up, only to see her already in the building on the way to her office. That was when he decided to make her the last hit of the night and walked out and caught Max's cab.

 

[ThomasC]

But I thought he was exiting the building even before he saw her. We saw Vincent going down the escalator, and Annie going up.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Actually, what I had referred to as a "Hollywood" choice is actually Michael Mann's choice to humanize his villains. Not a very good decision in my view as it compromises the story and makes it less gritty. Max should have finished the job and Vincent should have died back in the federal building but instead we have to be subjected to an unnecessary cat and mouse chase.

~Edwin

 

[Paul.S]

Exactly what I was gonna say, Thomas.

Does Vincent even see Annie in this scene? Could be wrong, but I don't recall there being any kind of even fleeting glance object cut indicating Vincent sees her. I recall just a medium shot of Vincent descending, with Annie ascending in the background.

Could just be a careless error on NJA's part (like my Jack-has-his-arm-around-Marla's-shoulder flipper error ) but, seeing as how he/she says "elevator" when it was an escalator, I'm not sure how much stock I place in this person's reading . . .

-p

 

[Paul.S]

"Their m.o. . . . is that they're good."

-p

 

[ThomasC]

No.

 

[Dave Bennett]

There's not much my coworkers and I can agree on regarding movies. So far the only movie that we all have seemed to mutually enjoy (that we've actually brought up in conversation) is Stir of Echoes.
However, I saw Collateral and one of the people who sits next to me saw it later in the week and we both absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed Heat so I knew I was in for a treat (pardon the rhyme ) and I was not let down. This is definitely one that I'll be picking up on DVD. I suddenly have the urge to go out and buy Heat. I think it's still dirt cheap so I might have to go do that.
I agree though if maybe the script originally called for New York. I've not been to LA is some time but both of my parents are from there and go back occasionally and they've often told me the LA subway is tiny and that hardly anyone rides it. Then again, that might make Vincent's tale about the dead guy riding the train
that much more believeable. I don't think that would go unnoticed in NYC.

 

[Kachi Khatri]

Michael Mann certainly knows how to elevate an actor's untapped potential and it does as far as Tom's acting is concerned. As for Jamie Foxx's acting, I think it was his best I've since and best overall in the movie.

The story was pretty straightforward and not much suspense involved, but all other elements of the moviemaking style the Mann is known for is exudes brilliantly.

The key to this move i think was the acting and dialogue.

Good follow up to the brillant epic that Mann delivered in 'HEAT'.

I too found the ending a bit of a letdown - cliched hollywood type.

 

[Carlos_E]

What group performs the song that they play in the movie Collateral as the Taxi cab is speeding down the streets toward the end of the movie before it flips and crashes? They also play the song earlier in the movie. I love this song.

 

[Lewis Besze]

You mean Vincent finishes the job and Max dies in the building . Hey you asked for nitpicking.

 

[ZacharyTait]

According to the track listing at Amazon for the Collateral soundtrack, the name of the song and the artist of the song that is playing when the cab crashes is Antonio Pinto. He (They?) has a song at the end titled "Requiem."

Hope this helps. If not, I'll smack myself upside the head.

 

[Paul.S]

Yeah, he used to be pasty pale but then Max schooled him on some makeup tips and he started using rouge.

R-o-g-u-e.



-p