Didn't anyone else notice

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2004)

After reading many of these comments I was really surprised that no one has commented yet on the importance of the sound in this film.
Through out the entire film every once and a while gunshots are heard. Often they are almost repeats of the the shots earlier performed by Vincent.
No one in the film flinches or anything, taking away the suggestion that there could be other gunshots taking place in LA that evening. It has that feels, but you realize that that is not it.
This effect is crucial to making the ending so great. I have read many of you state that the ending was weak. I was left speechless by that ending in a good way. Didn't any one notice...
Spoiler Alert..
That when the train pulls into the station and the doors open, the doors make the sound of two shots being fired in quick succession from a silenced weapon. This is Vincent's trade mark. (Remember the cop noticed that two bodies had come in with two bullet wounds within inches of themselves.) Again that sound is heard right when the doors open. However for one second you the viewer think that this could be as a result that Vincent was maybe playing dumb, and as the train pulls in and both Max and Annie have let there guard down, Vincent shoots them both in the head. (again a trade mark of Vincent's who seemed to have done this in LA before with a cabbie, in which after his rampage he kills the cabby making it look like a murder suicide. Remember the other cop mentioned that?)
However when the doors open, MAnn purposely has Maxx and Annie wait for a fraction of a second. Allowing the viewer to think that Vincent got them. Only to realize that Mann was using the sound effects of the silenced weapon to represent the opening of the doors. Using gun shots as sound effects was brilliant, very much a commentary on LA where often shots are heard and little is done or noticed.
The other fantastic use of sound was with the music during key conversations with characters. The first time it happened I thought, "hey turn down the music, I didn't catch what he was saying". Then I realized that Mann was purposely muting the conversation, allowing only a few words to filter through. This gave the audience the idea that they kind of understood what the conversation was about but not exactly. It allowed for the viewer to make up their own conversation.
This occurs in the nightclub with the Jazz guy when Vincent mentions Cartagena. It also occurs in the car with the Maxx and Vincent where only a few words are heard (near the end). It also occurs with the Spanish drug guy in the club with Maxx. And lastly it occurs right at the end when Vincent says his last words. (Did anyone else catch exactly what he said??)
This to me is what really made the movie interesting and great. You had to involve yourself and in a sense make the movie your own. Lost in Translation did this, but by doing it at the end of the film made the audience think... "Oh if I heard that I would totally understand the movie."
In other words it seemed crucial to the plot. This however was thrown throughout the film and allowed that audience to not miss anything important but let there imagination run.
I give this movie a 9.5 out of 10
Didn't anyone else notice this??