History Fridge / Collateral

* In the last part of the film, Vincent criticizes Max for being trapped by the routine of his life and being unable to adapt or change for the better. But in the final confrontation Vincent fails to kill Max because of his routine reflex of performing a chest-chest-head tap. He attempts to shoot Max through the subway door, but ends up hitting the steel beam located between the two windows (perfectly in the middle, by the way). Max empties his entire magazine without aiming properly, including through both windows - and actually hits his target mortally. The roles of the two leads are thus perfectly reversed by the end of the film.
** Also, Vincent offers Max a shedload of money to drive him around for the rest of the night, which is against regulations. The order-bound Max decides to take it. He had that spark of rebellion from the start.

* Max waits for Vincent to draw his gun before crashing the car, so that way it would come loose in the aftermath.

!!FridgeLogic
* A previous case involving a cab driver who apparently "went crazy" shooting several people in a single night, then killed himself, is implied to show Vincent's intentions re Max. But since all the hits are related to the same case, it's unlikely the police would believe these deaths were the result of Max going crazy.
** Vincent's plan doesn't necessarily involve making the police think Max went crazy, but rather confusing the issue so that he can get away. It's enough if the police think Max did it. If they realize it's a contract killing, Vincent doesn't care. He only cares that ''he'' doesn't get caught.
** And if you want to get REALLY cynical about it... the police are more likely to believe that a black man killed a bunch of people than a white man wearing a suit. What are the LAPD famous for, again?

* Executing five people in one night, one of whom is a U.S attorney is a particularly difficult job and must command a suitably high fee for the effort. In fact so dangerous that it might even be [[OneLastJob the last job]] for Vincent. Part of Vincent's determination to see this through is that he needs to get away, then get paid if his cover blown this time and he can't work again. Meaning him taking such risks as killing a cop and opening fire in a crowded night club.
* Even with the stress of his job, it's unusual for a guy as young as Vincent to have a full head of silver hair. It's well-known that hitmen alter their appearances in a variety of ways -- wigs, glasses, facial cosmetics, ''[[DyeingForYourArt hair dye]]'' -- to build fake identities and [[VagueAge obfuscate their real age]].
** The DVDCommentary actually suggests he went grey prematurely, but his habit of [[SunglassesAtNight wearing sunglasses in public, even after nightfall]], also leans into this idea.

* After visiting his mother at the hospital and seeing that she is clearly MyBelovedSmother, and considering how much he has gone through in a single night on top of however many years of emotional blackmail he has had to put up with, there was a real possibility that when Max grabbed Vincent’s case and attempted to escape, He chose to do it despite knowing there was a real chance that he would be leaving his mother at Vincent’s mercy had he not decided to chase after Max.

* Max's meeting with Felix ends prior to 10:01pm. Afterwards, Max says it will be twelve minutes to drive to Fever in Koreatown where Vincent kills Peter Lim. A deleted scene shows afterwards they drive to LAX to lose surveillance after the club. Before the next hit on Annie is at 312 Spring St, Max calls Annie at 5am. Even accounting for Los Angeles's legendary traffic (which would be lessened at this time), losing the cops, and moving on foot to the top of a parking garage, a nearly seven hour gap between leaving El Rodeo and Max calling Annie seems like a stretch.

* After visiting his mother at the hospital and seeing that she is clearly MyBelovedSmother, and considering how much he has gone through in a single night on top of however many years of emotional blackmail he has put up with, there was a real possibility that when Max grabbed Vincent’s case and attempted to escape, He chose to do it despite knowing there was a real chance that he would be leaving his mother at Vincent’s mercy had he not decided to chase after Max.

* After visiting his mother at the hospital and seeing that she is clearly MyBelovedSmother, considering how much he has gone through in a single night on top of however many years of emotional blackmail, It’s possible that when Max grabbed Vincent’s case and attempted to escape, He chose to do it despite knowing there was a real chance that he would be leaving his mother at Vincent’s mercy had he not decided to chase after Max.

* After visiting his mother at the hospital and seeing that she is clearly MyBelovedSmother, considering how much he has gone through in a single night on top of however many years of emotional blackmail, it’s possible that when Max grabbed Vincent’s case and attempted to escape, He chose to do it despite knowing there was a real chance that he would be leaving his mother at Vincent’s mercy had he not decided to chase after Max.