Slow but good psychological thriller. Analysis of movie-SPOILER

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2004)

Unwittingly, Vincent and Max prove to be Collaterals to each other.
Max has been driving for 12 years, while believing at the bottom of his heart that this is just a temporary job, and that one day, he'd go for his ultimate dream..to open up a Limousine Company. And as is true for most of us, we cherish that ultimate dream so much, yet cannot gather the guts to go for it! Max indulges into this self-delusion too. For twelve years, he's been convincing himself that he'll go for it one day...why does he not go after his dream if he's harboured it for so long?
And then Max meets a nice Taxi fare, a prosecution lawyer, whom he instantly likes, since he reveals his innermost dream to her. But again, when she gives him her card, he doesn't plan on calling her. He puts her card where he had put a picture of a distant island.. which he dreams of being on whenever he wants to. What is it that makes Max satisfied with dreaming of it, rather than wanting to be there?
Then Max meets this fare, who offers his $600 for a night. If he were an ambitious man wanting to open the Limousine company soon, he'd have jumped to the offer...yet he hesitates, not because he thinks the deal could be shady, but because he's again..unsure, somehow uninitiated.
And this one night with the hit-man changes Max's life and attitude a lot! The movie traces Max's evolution to a man who learns to take control, and soon, demands control. This movie is his journey of transformation from being a helpless guy being pushed about by circumstances, to a guy who knows how to save what he holds dearest.
SPOILER PART:: Avoid if you haven't seen the movie!!!!! ------ From being a mute witness to the murder of a man, during the first execution, when Max realizes the nature of work Vincent is on, the movie traces Max's evolution to a man who learns to take control, and soon, demands control. From being someone who could never imagine being on the wrong side of law, to assaulting a police officer, from being one who fumbles with the safety catch of the gun, to killing a guy at point-blank range in a rain of bullets, this movie is his journey of transformation from being a helpless guy being pushed about, to a guy who knows how to save what he holds dearest.
After the first execution, Max realizes that he is going to be an unwilling accomplice to Vincent's plan to execute 5 people. During the second execution, he puts up some weak resistance..he tries to get away from the situation. But in a huge city like LA, at times, the ones who come to help a man in distress are the ones who have come to feed on his helplessness. And he almost falls a victim to the street-robbery.
Then Vincent also puts up a fight on Max's behalf to his employer. That is where Vincent walks Max through putting up a fight. And Max takes up talking back to his employer. Vincent teaches him how to wriggle out of a potential exploitation..Max uses his rights of his liability in a road accident, even though he's been driving for 12 years (and knows the time it takes to drive from one place to another like no other). That is perhaps his first lesson at survival. And this reiterates the first part of his lesson -- there is no help like self-help.
And then, after his third execution, Max is shaken by his conscience into destroying the list of victims. This is his third level of solution..if there is no list, Vincent cannot continue. A naive solution, and it does now work. Vincent now wants Max to get the list for him.
This is it! If Max wants, he'll not get the list. And the killings stop.But that moment, when Max finds himself face-to-face with the killing-hirer, when it becomes clear that if he does not get the list, either this guy, or Vincent will kill him..when Max finds his ass on the firing line..that is when Max's character undergoes a dramatic change! We see him talking back with an attitiude to a drug-lord. He's totally unarmed, yet he asks the armed guys to take the gun away from him. In this situation, when he's most helpless, this is when he puts up the fight back..why? They say that we puts a fight back when either we've got nothing to lose, or everything to lose. This moment redefines Max's character. Unwittingly, Vincent has become a collateral to bringing about this change in Max.
And by getting Vincent the list, Max has become his collateral!
This is when Max comes up with his final solution to the situation. He drives like crazy and ends up with the car turtle. Now, the cops shall come to the car themselves. Vincent's plans are jeopardized, Max is freed of his hostage drama. Vincent runs away.
The rest of the movie is a dramatic end to the story. We have the necessary love interest being saved by Max, in a dramatic chase in the building, and into the tramway. The fact that Max has finally gathered the courage to hit Vincent point blank with a gun is witness to the completion of his transformation.
The fact that Vincent is left dead in a sitting position, where his death will probably not be noticed by co-passengers for 6 hours, as was mentioned by Vincent earlier as one of the reasons why he hated LA, is a fitting end to the story - ironic, yet poetic.