History Characters / Collateral

* LackOfEmpathy: As he explains to Max.

* TheSociopath: Vincent is described as such in-story. He ticks most of the boxes, but there ''are'' glimpses into his personality that does show conflict and maybe smidges of regret for what he does.

-->'''Vincent:''' What do you care? [[UsefulNotes/Rwanda Have you ever heard of Rwanda?]]

-->'''Vincent:''' What do you care? Have you ever heard of Rwanda?

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Detective Fanning, the only one who believed Max's story and could have ended Vincent's mission without Max himself bloodying his hands, is killed by Vincent partway through the story to up the stakes.]]

* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: [[spoiler: While the other cops believe Max is the killer, Detective Fanning doesn't think so, in large part because he's familiar with another case in which a cab driver was suspected of a killing people under questionable circumstances. However, he's killed by Vincent before he gets a chance to prove his case.]]

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Detective Fanning, the only one who believed Max's story and could have ended Vincent's mission without Max himself bloodying his hands.]]

->'''Played By:''' Creator/TomCruise
->'''Dubbed By:''' Creator/BrunoChoel (European French)

-->''"There's no good reason, there's no bad reason to live or to die."''

->'''Played By:''' Creator/JamieFoxx

->'''Played By:''' Creator/JadaPinkettSmith

->'''Played By:''' Creator/MarkRuffalo

->'''Played By:''' Creator/PeterBerg

->'''Played By:''' Creator/JavierBardem

->'''Played By:''' Creator/BarryShabakaHenley

->'''Played By:''' Creator/BruceMcGill

* BigBad: The whole tale wouldn't have happened if Felix didn't felt like [[LeaveNoWitnesses getting rid of some witnesses]].
* BreakingSpeech: When Max poses as Vincent, Felix gives him a pretty brutal speech that doesn't break Max in quite the way he probably intended, but ''does'' force him to take action.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:His overreliance in the Mozambique Drill (two shots to the chest, one to the head) backfires on him when he tries to use it on Max through two metro doors and fails, while Max's random full-auto fire gets through. Max was also using Vincent's H&K [=USP=] pistol, so it counts for double.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: About two thirds through the movie when he has to pretend to be Vincent in front of gangster Felix. You can actually see the ''exact point'' in the film where he levels. He then takes ''another'' level or two when he [[spoiler:deliberately crashes the cab at top speed, and then when he goes to rescue the lawyer]]. Made even more moving by the fact that Max [[spoiler: turns Vincent's StrawNihilist rhetoric on its head in a ShutUpHannibal moment just before the crash.]] There's also a less-noticed level when [[spoiler:Max takes the briefcase and runs, destroying it, even at the risk of his own life.]]

* WeaponOfChoice: A Heckler & Koch USP .45 caliber pistol.

* InsspectorJavert: One of the more notable members of the law enforcement part of the cast that believes, with very little evidence, that Max is a hitman (the theory he and the others in that camp posit is that Max is not Max but Vincent having done a KillAndReplace with a cabbie that looks alike). He even prioritizes trying to arrest Max in the middle of a shootout.

%%* {{Determinator}}

* BaitTheDog: Most of Vincent nicer interactions with Max become this when [[spoiler: we find out that his MO is to murder kidnapped cabbies and frame them for the hits he's committed, meaning he was ''always'' planning to kill Max from the word 'go.']]

* ProfessionalKiller: He is an assassin, and quite an evil one at that.

* TookALevelInBadass: About two thirds through the movie when he has to pretend to be Vincent in front of gangster Felix. You can actually see the ''exact point'' in the film where he levels. He then takes ''another'' level or two when he [[spoiler:deliberately crashes the cab at top speed, and then when he goes to rescue the lawyer]]. Made even more moving by the fact that Max [[spoiler: turns Vincent's StrawNihilist rhetoric on its head in a ShutUpHannibal moment just before the crash.]] There's also a less--noticed level when [[spoiler:Max takes the briefcase and runs, destroying it, even at the risk of his own life.]]