Collateral (2004)

Actors: Paul Aulicino (actor), Howard Bachrach (actor), Javier Bardem (actor), Michael Bentt (actor), Peter Berg (actor), Troy Blendell (actor), Joey Burns (actor), Auggie Cavanagh (actor), John Convertino (actor), Tom Cruise (actor), Josh Cruze (actor), Chic Daniel (actor), Robert Deamer (actor), Donald Dean (actor), Paul Adelstein (actor),

Plot: LA cabbie Max Durocher is the type of person who can wax poetic about other people's lives, which impresses U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell, one of his fares, so much that she gives him her telephone number at the end of her ride. Although a dedicated man as seen through the efficiency in which he does his work, he can't or won't translate that eloquence into a better life for himself. He deludes himself into believing that his now twelve year cabbie job is temporary and that someday he will own his own limousine service. He even lies to his hospitalized mother that he already owns one, with a further lie that he tells her as such primarily to make her happy, rather than the truth which is that he won't do anything to achieve that dream. One night, Max picks up a well dressed man named Vincent, who asks Max to be his only fare for the evening. For a flat fee of $600, plus an extra $100 if he gets to the airport on time - Vincent wants Max to drive him to five stops that evening. Max somewhat reluctantly agrees. Max learns the hard way at their first stop when a body falls from a third story apartment window and lands dead on top of his cab that Vincent is a contract hit man. Vincent's main goal, as per his current contract, is to kill five people, one at each of the stops, but he will not let others get in the way of that goal, even if it means killing them, including Max. As Vincent forces Max to continue driving him for the evening, Max tries slyly at every turn to take back control of his life from Vincent, especially when Max learns of one of the names on Vincent's hit list. Meanwhile, LAPD narcotics detective, Ray Fanning, and ultimately the FBI get involved when Vincent's first victim is associated with a case in which Ray is working undercover. Ray is able to piece together information which makes him hot on Max and Vincent's tail.

Keywords: accomplice, african-american, airport, alley, apartment, apartment-building, armed-robbery, assassin, attorney, bar
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller,
Taglines: It started like any other night

Quotes:

Vincent: Max, I do this for a living!

Max: Hey. [stuttering] He, he, he fell on the cab. He fell, he fell from up there on the motherfucking 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.

Max: I can't drive you around while you're killing folks. It ain't my job!::Vincent: Tonight it is.

Vincent: 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.::Max: I Ching? What are you talking about, man? You threw a man out of a window.::Vincent: I didn't throw him. He *fell*::Max: Well what did he do to you?::Vincent: What?::Max: What did he do to *you*?::Vincent: Nothing. I only met him tonight.::Max: You just met him once and you killed him like that?::Vincent: What? I should only kill people after I get to know them?

[first lines]::Vincent: You OK?::Airport Man: Yeah, I'm fine mate, don't worry about it.

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 is got to be the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. I read about this guy who 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.

[last lines]::Vincent: Guy gets on the subway and dies. Think anybody'll notice?

Vincent: Lady Macbeth. Leave the seats. The light's green. We're sitting here.::Max: [a car horn honks behind Max. The car whips around them to get through the intersection] Asshole!::Vincent: You no longer have the cleanest cab in La-La Land. You gotta live with that. Focus on the job. Drive.

Traffic Cop #2: Hey, is this blood up here on your windshield?::Max: Yeah, uh, yeah. I hit a deer.::Traffic Cop #1: You hit a deer?::Max: Yeah, over on, uh, it was on Slauson.::Traffic Cop #1: A South Central deer?

Fanning: [cops are in alley outside Ramon's apartment] Ramon went through that window... splat. Glass here, then tires rolled over it.::Richard Weidner: Maybe he jumped.::Fanning: Sure... he's depressed so he jumps four stories out of a window onto his head. "Wow, that feels better." Picks himself up. "Now I think I'll go on with the rest of my day."