Why would a hitman, one who is trained to be invisible, one who lives his life being invisible, suddenly be eager to RUN AROUND LA IN THE WIDE OPEN DRAWING TONS OF ATTENTION TO HIMSELF?
duh.
It just doesn't add up. I.M.P.L.A.U.S.I.B.L.E.
It's been a while since I've seen the film so you'll have to clarify.
What do you mean exactly by his " odd behavior and connections with Max"? What things precisely was he "so intense about"?
It's been a while for me too. Basically his fixation on Max, his latching onto him arbitrarily for the 'mission' or challenge or whatever you call it.
Intense: really? You don't remember that? His whole persona was extreme. But why it was aimed at Max is weird to me.
Vincent's intensity and obsessions are what makes his character interesting. A philosopher-assassin is a fascinating juxtaposition. It is rarely done as well as it is here, but we do see it crop up from time to time. James Bond, for instance, expresses a viewpoint in Casino Royale (the book) that he lives life 90mph, right to the hilt, at all times because he knows death is around every corner. Vincent, I think, spends a lot of his time thinking about how fast life can end and he gets obsessive. Some people are like that, but Vincent realises the thin line separating life from death.
Also, although done before, the hitman-monk (hitmonk?) isn't seen often enough to feel played out. They're still rare, especially as well-written as Vincent.
Why hold out so long? His MO was to get the cabbie to drive him around, do the hits, then bump off the cabbie. It kept things simple and clean. The movie gets messy, but that's part of Vincent's philosophy: roll with it. He improvises. He keeps Max alive because he's become interested in Max and who Max is. Max fascinates Vincent. Why? Never spelled out, but he's pushing all of Vincent's buttons. He dreams big but does nothing - antithesis to Vincent's personal worldview. Maybe Vincent used to be like Max. Maybe he's afraid of being Max and that's what spurs him. Maybe he's just playing with Max like a cat.
Main gripe is talked about in the movie. "I read about this guy who gets on the MTA here, dies. ... 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." Hiding in plain sight is a major theme here - what and who we pay attention to, big pictures, little details, etc. This kind of thing happens all the time. Okay, not gunfights and shootouts, but stuff that people miss because they just can't or won't see it.
I love this movie, and I think it's underrated.
good ponts.
shareI edited my OP down to one single point, which I still stand by. Other comments I made, just disregard those. Thanks, LTUM
shareI think the purpose was to make sure that witnesses see Max and his cab thereby creating a suspect other than himself. Therefore when Max's body is found dead of "suicide", the case is closed. Same tactic that Christopher Walken's character tried to pull off in Nick of Time with Johnny Depp.
shareInteresting. Interesting.
shareThat's exactly what he's doing. The movie explicitly tells us this.
shareyup. they mention a previous case where a CABBIE kills 3 people and offs himself - but it didnt make sense to the detective, thinking maybe someone else was behind it. that is told to us in the dialog, and sounded exactly like Vincent was doing this again but with Max as the next scape goat
shareMy impression from Vincent's sudden turn and pulling Max into his mission was the mistake made in his first hit at that apartment. He didn't intend for the guy to fall out the window and create a witness in Max. He also didn't know where he was so he needed Max as his guide AND his shield.
If Vincent had killed the the first guy with no mistakes then he would have easily carried out his other hits while still employing Max as his driver and Max would be oblivious to Vincent's actions.
My impression from Vincent's sudden turn and pulling Max into his mission was the mistake made in his first hit at that apartment. He didn't intend for the guy to fall out the window and create a witness in Max. He also didn't know where he was so he needed Max as his guide AND his shield.
If Vincent had killed the the first guy with no mistakes then he would have easily carried out his other hits while still employing Max as his driver and Max would be oblivious to Vincent's actions.
Admittedly, I had to think about your top post before replying and I remember contemplating many things about this movie, which I rewatch from time to time, and one of the underlying themes in the movie is that of coincidences and fate.
If you recall the final shootout on the train between Vincent and Max you'll notice that Vincent expertly fired into Max's head and chest area BUT because they were in motion and the train would have those split second black outs Vincent's vision wasn't 100% and the sliding divider door would eventually block and prevent his shots from hitting Max. This coincidence feeds into Max leaving a strong impression with Vincent when he accurately predicted the time for him to reach his first destination and Max humbly told him that he was just "lucky with the lights".
In a weird way, Max earned Vincent's trust in what otherwise would have been an assured death sentence at the end of Max's services if Vincent carried out his assassinations. Mark Ruffalo's character also brought to light the weird murder of a taxi cab driver up in the Bay Area who was supposedly blamed for a string of murders but he and other investigators felt something was off about it.
great points, again. also i will add that tom cruise gave the finest quick draw performance ever captured on film. many herald keanu in john wick but i honestly think cruise takes the title. found a great youtube showing him training for collateral.
love the username. what's your brand?
IF I'm not mistaken Wasn't Vincent's objective to hit 5-6 marks the same night??
IF so wouldn't it make sense to hire a cab, Go around town pretty much invisible, MAKE your hits, THAN no matter what else went down in between HIT the Cabbie
""IF so wouldn't it make sense to hire a cab, Go around town pretty much invisible, MAKE your hits, THAN no matter what else went down in between HIT the Cabbie""
my exact thinking too
I've found it curious that Vincent and Max weren't pulled over for the cracked windshield after the first incident. You could just chalk it down to luck, but the damage done to that windshield was so easily observable that one would imagine that driving around all night would attract attention again.
Now to your question . . . Vincent could stealthily run around the town doing his business since the only person who would see him (i.e., pay attention to him) would be his victims (and they couldn't talk) and Max, who was going to get axed after Vincent completed his rounds.