Honestly, I don't view Collateral as a movie about L.A. To me, it's a character development movie. There's a cab driver who's had a plan to do something big for twelve years; never had the guts to go out and actually do it. Then, he has the bad luck to get a hitman in his cab. Bit by bit through his conversations with Vincent, he realizes that he's been putting everything off and fooling himself all these years.iamscott wrote:Here's the beauty of Collateral, and indeed, all Michael Mann movies: they are slow and drawn out for a reason. They build character, and through that, relationships with the audience, through the quiet and the music and everything, and then he decimates it with brutal, intense violence. The movie in question is really a movie about LA, as is Heat. So... it really just conveys the serenity of a chaotic city.
Obi, as I am a serious student of film (if you read my writing, most of it is quite cinematic, full of quick cuts), I can only say that if you do not appreciate Collateral for what it is, then you don't know what you're missing.
Another thing that builds over the course of the film is his realization that he has a choice. Ever since the beginning, Vincent is telling him, "Take comfort in the knowledge that you never had a choice," "When did any of this become a negotiation." But Max does has a choice, always has, and at the end makes a choice to stop it. It's amazing to watch it all build up until he finally reaches his breaking point.
I know my thoughts are a bit jumbled, but that's the way I see the film. And the way I look at it, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made.
