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“ | Okay, look, here's the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we're into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it. | „ |
~ Vincent's most famous quote as he explains his "living" to Max. |
“ | Of all the cabbies in L.A., I get Max. Sigmund Freud meets Dr. Ruth. Look in the mirror. Paper towels, clean cab. Limo company someday. How much you got saved? "Someday? Someday my dream will come?" One day you'll wake up, and you'll 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 gonna do it anyway. You'll push it into memory, then zone out in your Barcalounger, 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 downpayment on a Lincoln Town Car. Or that girl. You can't even call that girl. What the f-ck are you still doing driving a cab? | „ |
~ Vincent's nihilistic speech. |
Vincent is the main antagonist of the 2004 action thriller film Collateral. He is a professional yet sociopathic hitman employed by nefarious drug lord Felix Reyes-Torrena to kill four witnesses and the prosecutor within the case against him.
He was portrayed by Tom Cruise, who also played Lestat in Interview with the Vampire, and Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.
Biography[]
Vincent arrives in LA when a taxi driver Max Durocher takes him for a ride, during this Vincent admits he does not like Los Angeles very much. Max is shocked when a drug dealer Ramón Ayala falls down into the taxi and Vincent reveals himself as a hit man, holding Max as a hostage to cover up Alaya's murder, during which he kills his targets including Peter Lim as Max watches helplessly and fears his mother will be targeted by Vincent next.
Max comes to realize that Vincent's last target is Annie Farrell, who had earlier rode in his cab. Escaping from a police officer and stealing a man's phone, he tries to warn her by telling her that Vincent is about to kill her in her office. Although Vincent successfully foils Annie's escape before cornering her in her office, Max manages to reach them in time before shooting Vincent to save Annie. Wounded yet alive, Vincent pursuses the fleeing duo and eventually corners them on an LA train. This forces Max to face Vincent with the policeman's gun, which he had taken from the officer earlier, and the two instigate a gunfight with each other that culminates with both men running out of ammunition. When attempting to reload, Vincent is revealed to be fatally wounded and he finally admits defeat by sitting down on the train, awaiting for his inevitable death. Max joins him and the two exchange a final discussion before Vincent reflects on his earlier statement about a guy who died on the MTA and sorely questions Max, "Do you think anyone will notice?". Shortly afterwards, Vincent stares at Max one last time before his head drops down, signaling his death. As Vincent dies, Annie joins Max and the two stare at Vincent's body before abandoning him on the train when they get off at the next station. The film ends with the train leaving with the deceased Vincent still inside it as dawn emerges.
Appearance[]
Vincent is gray-haired with stubble. He wears a gray suit, a gray tie, and a white shirt; a minimalist outfit that was custom-made by "the best tailor in Kowloon" to be both fashionable and nondescript. His appearance can be compared to a wolf, and may even reflect his personality.
Personality[]
Vincent appears to be warmhearted, friendly, and affable when you first meet him; beneath the facade, however, he is a cold, ruthless, and calculating sociopath. He believes that human nature is intrinsically evil and that, deep down, people care only about themselves.
Vincent is also very careful and meticulous, preferring to accept his contracts and interact with his employers through middlemen. Nevertheless, Vincent enjoys improvising and takes pleasure in adapting to changing situations.
Powers and Abilities[]
Vincent is an expert at handling firearms and hand-to-hand combat. He is also adept at blending into the environment, and is particularly able to improvise if a situation takes a turn for the worse.
Quotes[]
“ | Only thing that didn't show up was the Polish Calvary | „ |
~ After the nightclub shootout. |
“ | Max: Why didn't you just kill me and get another cab driver? Vincent: Cause you're good. We're in this together. Fates intertwined. Cosmic Coincidence. |
„ |
“ | Max! I do this for a LIVING! | „ |
~ Final confrontation with Max on the subway. |
“ | Yo' homie...That my briefcase? | „ |
~ To a street thug before confronting them for stealing his possessions. |
“ | You attract attention, you're going to get people killed who didn't need to be. | „ |
~ To Max after he kills the street thugs |
“ | Vincent: Max, six billion people on the planet, you're getting bent out of shape cause of one fat guy. Max: Well, who was he? Vincent: What do you care? Have you ever heard of Rwanda? Max: Yes, I know Rwanda. Vincent: Well, tens of thousands killed before sundown. Nobody's killed people that fast since Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Did you bat an eye, Max? Max: What? Vincent: Did you join Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, or something? No. I off one fat Angelino and you throw a hissy fit. Max: Man, I don't know any Rwandans. Vincent: You don't know the guy in the trunk, either. |
„ |
“ | Get with it. Millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars, in a speck on one in a blink. That's us, lost in space. The cop, you, me... Who notices? | „ |
“ | Vincent: They project onto you their flaws, what they don't like about themselves. I had a father like that. Max: Mothers are worse. Vincent: Wouldn't know. My mother died before I remember her. Max: What about your father? Vincent: Hated everything I did. Got drunk, beat me up. In and out of foster homes, that kinda thing. Max: And then? Vincent: I killed him. I was twelve. [pauses, then laughs] I'm kidding. He died of liver disease. Max: Well, I'm sorry. Vincent: No, you're not. |
„ |
“ | Take comfort in knowing you never had a choice. | „ |
“ | Max: I can't drive you around while you're killing folks. It ain't my job! Vincent: Tonight it is. |
„ |
“ | Max: Hey.[stuttering] He, he, he fell on the cab. He fell, he fell from up there on the motherf-cking cab. Shit. I think he's dead. Vincent: Good guess. Max: You killed him? Vincent: No, I shot him. Bullets and the fall killed him. |
„ |
“ | Vincent: There's no good reason, there's no bad reason to live or to die. Max: Then what are you? Vincent: I'm indifferent. |
„ |
“ | Max: First time in L.A.? Vincent: No. Tell you the truth, whenever I'm here I can't wait to leave. It's too sprawled out, disconnected. You know? That's me. You like it? Max: It's my home. Vincent: 17 million people. This was a country, it'd be the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. I read about this guy, gets on the MTA here, dies. Max: Oh. Vincent: Six hours he's riding the subway before anybody notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices. |
„ |
“ | Vincent: [Visiting Ida] Hey! Flowers? Max: It's a waste of money. Won't mean a thing to her. Vincent: [Staring him down] She carried you in her womb for nine months. People buy flowers. Buy flowers. |
„ |
“ | Most people - same job, same gig, doing the same thing 10 years from now. Us, we don't know what we are doing 10 minutes from now. | „ |
“ | Vincent: Lets go. Max: Hey, why don't you just take the cab? Vincent: Take the cab? Max: Yeah, you take it. I'll - I'll chill. I'll - I'll just chill. They don't even know who's driving these things half the time anyway. They never check or anything. Okay... so... just - just take it. You, me... Vincent: You promise not to tell anybody right? Max: Yeah... yeah... yeah... promise. Vincent: Get in the f-cking car. |
„ |
“ | [after Max crashes the cab] Well, that was brilliant... | „ |
“ | Max: I'm not taking you to see my mother. Vincent: Since when was any of this negotiable? |
„ |
“ | Vincent: You're alive. I saved you. Do I get any thanks? No. All you can do is clam up. You wanna talk? Tell me to f-ck off? Max: F-ck off. |
„ |
“ | Max: You're full of shit. Vincent: I'm full of shit? You're a monument of it. You even bullshitted yourself, all I am is taking out the garbage, killing bad people. Max: Yeah, well that's what you said. Vincent: You believed me? Max: Then what'd they do? Vincent: How do I know, you know? They all got that 'witness for the prosecution' look to me. Probably some major federal indictment of somebody who majorly does not want to get indicted. |
„ |
“ | [warning Max when two policemen have them pulled over] If you open that trunk, they go inside. | „ |
“ | Max: [Max is on the radio dispatch with his boss, Lenny] Yeah, Lenny, what's up? It's me. Lenny: Just got off the phone with the cops. Desk sergeant called to check if you brought the cab in? Max: Yeah, so? Lenny: So, aside from I hate talking to cops, they tell me you crashed the goddamn cab? Max: No, no, I got crashed into. I didn't... Lenny: Do I care what, where, why? You're paying. [Vincent is trying to think of what Max should say next] Vincent: [to Max] It was an accident. You're not liable. Max: It was an accident. I'm not liable. Lenny: Bullshit. I'm making you liable. It's coming out of your goddamn pocket. Vincent: [to Max] You tell him to stick this cab up his fat ass. Max: I can't do that, that's my boss. Vincent: So? Max: I need my job. Vincent: No, you don't. |
„ |
“ | Someday my dream will come. One night you'll wake up and you'll discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you and it never will. Suddenly you are old, didn't happened and it never will, 'cause you were never going to do it anyway. | „ |
“ | Hey Max... a guy gets on the MTA here in L.A. and dies... Think anybody will notice? | „ |
~ Vincent's final words, as he accepts defeat. |