We don’t usually affiliate Tom Cruise with villainy. For a lot of his career, the person, the parable, the legend has loved heroic roles in movies reminiscent of High Gun, Mission: Not possible, and Conflict of the Worlds whereas sometimes venturing into morally ambiguous territory in Eyes Vast Shut, Born On the Fourth of July, Magnolia, and Minority Report. Even Lestat, his violent, blood-sucking vampire in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire, is extra of an antihero than an outright villain, whereas Les Grossman, the profanity-spewing, balding producer of Tropic Thunder, is merely a company stooge in dire want of an ethical compass.
Certainly, it took Cruise over twenty years to dive head-first into the opposite aspect of the pond, leading to maybe his most nuanced work to this point. Following a string of field workplace successes, Cruise teamed with legendary director Michael Mann for the thriller Collateral, through which he portrayed Vincent, a ruthless hitman who forces Jamie Foxx’s lowly cabbie, Max, to drive him to varied “appointments” round Los Angeles.
Adorned in a slick swimsuit and sporting steely gray hair, Vincent is the epitome of evil. He wanders the Earth looking for victims, kills with out hesitation, and conceals his disgrace behind a flimsy philosophy drenched in fake nihilism. He’s principally the Satan, rising from the netherworld to assert his victims, relishing each alternative to show his unimaginable energy.
Cruise disappears into the position, burying his trademark charisma beneath a steely-eyed facade that regularly unravels the extra he regards Max as greater than one other notch in a protracted checklist of victims. His transformation takes time, however Vincent finally finds a contact of humanity earlier than his demise.
After we first meet him, Vincent is barely human. His makes an attempt at dialog really feel compelled and synthetic. He behaves the best way he thinks extraordinary folks behave, spouting the identical nonsense he seemingly vomited on earlier victims a dozen instances earlier than. His phrases really feel extra like a company mission assertion designed to alleviate guilt. In spite of everything, if the world is full of disconnected, depressing folks, what’s the hurt in killing a couple of?
Finally, Vincent bribes Max with substantial money to be his driver for the night time. Reluctantly, the cabbie agrees, too blinded by the almighty greenback to contemplate the strangeness of the state of affairs till it lands on the hood of his automotive.
Vincent refuses to just accept duty. “I didn’t kill him,” he says, “the bullets and the autumn did.” Tom Cruise ensures Vincent stays barely aloof and disconnected. When he comes out of the constructing, he doesn’t panic and seems extra involved with potential passersby than Max, a person he regards as weak and inconsequential. Vincent bosses Max round, forcing him to assist with immoral duties like hiding lifeless our bodies and mendacity to cops.
In a terrific scene, Vincent chews out Max’s boss, a second that infuses our dastardly killer with a way of humanity. He might commit homicide with out regret, however he can’t stand by and watch one other human being being taken benefit of. It’s a singular character quirk, and Cruise permits Vincent to savor the second, casting a fleeting look at Max earlier than exiting the automotive.
Later, Vincent returns to the cab to discover a group of road thugs operating off together with his briefcase. Right here, we see our hitman at his most ruthless, utilizing his gun to homicide the 2 males with out hesitation. Cruise skilled exhausting for the position, making certain that Vincent’s actions felt like “an extension of the character.”
As typical, Cruise’s exhausting work and dedication pay dividends, significantly through the now-iconic membership shootout sequence. Dripping with Mann’s signature neon-lit fashion, the scene offers Vincent a stage to show his extraordinary professionalism and impeccable abilities. After all, Mann takes it one step additional by giving the killer a heroic second, permitting him to save lots of Max whereas capturing a understanding look in his route.
The scene solely works if we totally purchase into Cruise’s character. Fortunately, the actor rises to the problem, crafting a terrifying, albeit oddly likable, murderer colourful sufficient to root for.
One other nice scene arrives earlier within the image when Vincent halts his mission lengthy sufficient to go to Max’s sick mom. There’s a terrific beat the place Vincent, at all times distant, all of a sudden snaps to consideration when the previous girl delivers him a praise. Vincent relishes this view of extraordinary life and chastises Max for not having fun with it extra. Slowly, we see the human beneath the robotic exterior. Cruise by no means totally opens up however as an alternative supplies glimpses of Vincent’s true persona.
One of the best scene in your entire movie options Vincent and Max verbally tearing one another aside. Max, for his half, hits a nerve when he asks Vincent a easy query: what drives you? Vincent explains that life is meaningless, utilizing Max as the last word instance of unfulfilled potential. “What the fuck are you continue to doing driving a cab,” he snaps, noting that Max won’t ever name the lady he met within the opening scene and can seemingly by no means obtain his goals of proudly owning a limo firm. In reality, each males are stuffed with shit, but it surely’s this conflict of ideologies that makes Collateral such an exhilarating cinematic expertise.
Naturally, this conflict of attrition involves a head when Max discovers that Vincent’s last goal is the lady from the opening scene, performed by Jada Pinkett Smith. Pushed by a newfound goal, Max races to save lots of her whereas Vincent pursues, his focus extra muddled than earlier than.
In his last moments, Vincent is not an unstoppable machine however a flawed, even tragic determine who loses himself whereas fleeing from domesticity. Satirically, he leads to the precise state of affairs he fought so exhausting to keep away from, dying alone on a prepare, prone to go unnoticed for hours.
In Vincent, Tom Cruise crafts a personality not like any in his astonishing oeuvre. Lots of his characters are advanced or a minimum of flawed in a method that makes them relatable. But, Vincent is extra delicate, a hard-hearted assassin who finally melts right into a pathetic soul. Max could be the hero of Collateral, however secretly, we’re all rooting for Vincent to journey off into the sundown.
Oddly, Jamie Foxx earned an Academy Award nomination for Greatest Supporting Actor, whereas Tom Cruise’s efficiency was snubbed completely. Apparently, Foxx gained the Greatest Actor award for Ray, beating Don Cheadle (Resort Rwanda), Johnny Depp (Discovering Neverland), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), and Clint Eastwood (Million Greenback Child). Personally, I believe Cruise might have changed Depp, DiCaprio, or Eastwood within the Greatest Actor class. Whereas his efficiency might not surpass Foxx’s in Ray, it deserved extra recognition than it acquired.
Vincent stays considered one of Tom Cruise’s most advanced and layered performances, showcasing his versatility and expertise in darker, extra nuanced roles. It’s a disgrace he returned to his typical heroic characters as a result of he was actually good at enjoying dangerous.
