When he met the beautiful female prosecutor he liked and speculative, he could only pretend to be very casual and humorous. When she got out of the car and left, he shook his head and sighed: It is too much for him to leave this kind of beauty and life in the upper class. Far. He had a kind of inferiority in his bones, and even the woman gave him a business card, and he didn't even have the courage to make a phone call.
So, when he took the business card, he sighed again.
Fate will give you a sudden attack when you are not expecting it.
- Tommy came out.
When Ah Tang and the driver spoke for the first time, the black man was still thinking about what happened just now. He sent the photo to the woman, and was absent-mindedly arranging the things in the car, without hearing Ah Tang's words.
Just as Tom was about to turn around and look for another taxi, he came back to his senses, greeted him, and picked up this special customer who he didn't know whether to hate or thank. Sometimes, it's just a little bit, and people's lives look completely different.
Routine question and answer in the taxi, driving to the destination the passenger wants.
At this time, the music started to get a little cold. The sound of the piano drifted in the city at night. Although it was still brightly lit, there was an indescribable indifference. That's why Tom said, "Every time I come to Los Angeles, I can't wait to leave."
In fact, his subtext is that he also feels cold when he comes to this world.
Tom and the driver are both very observant people. They can understand each other's meaning without having to work hard to talk to each other. This is also where Tom appreciates the driver. Tom Tom also saw through it at a glance. The driver's plan to prepare funds to open his own company was just an excuse for him to deceive himself and escape from reality-the driver lived a mediocre life, but he refused to admit and face. This kind of person is timid and afraid of trouble, and should be well controlled, Tom estimated.
Both of them are quite good at things in their profession, so they reached an agreement: Tommy will take his car tonight and pay him more.
Everything was going well, if it wasn't for the fat man who fell downstairs.
Many people say that Atang's level is really inferior, and the first person to kill will be revealed. The director didn't give us the footage, what happened upstairs, maybe, the fat man happened to be by the window when he was shot, maybe he instinctively fled to the window and tried to draw a gun and was shot. ... Tom is a killer, not a god. He can guarantee that the person he wants to kill will die, but he cannot control what happens at the scene.
Moreover, he was not afraid of being known by the driver at all. From the very beginning, he wanted to use a knife to kill people and use the driver as a scapegoat. He thinks that a person like a driver can be ordered. (From the conversation of the detective later, it can be seen that there is a precedent for this approach. There was a strange case of a driver who killed three people and then committed suicide. It is estimated that it was done by Ah Tang.)
Anyway, five people will be killed in one night. , will be known sooner or later. Surprise him early, restrain him early, and let him submit.
This driver has a certain sense of justice, but as an ordinary person, he is very mediocre and afraid of death. If he wanted to fight Tommy bravely, or if he had the guts to run away, he would soon be dead. Brother Tom just got him right, both in terms of character and imposing manner.
The killer, Ah Tang, cleaned up the scene professionally and immediately, which was one of the keys to the later development of the plot. The police couldn't immediately judge what happened at the scene, and they couldn't immediately think that it was a serial assassination of someone related to a certain case by a hired killer. The police couldn't even tell whether the missing fat man was killed, committed suicide, or ran away.
The driver is also a very kind person. He cares about the lives of the two patrolmen more than he cares about himself. While checking the vehicle, he had every chance of getting away.
But he didn't have that courage. Such a good opportunity, he didn't even think of running away.
He adapts to the environment by his own accord, and he has no courage to survive.
His next conversation with the taxi dispatcher exemplifies this. In the face of aggressive insults, he dared not even say a word of dissatisfaction. This made Tang Ge next to him very unhappy-A Tang Ge is a loner, who is not controlled by anyone, and is confident that he has the ability to master the environment and others. He can't even stand watching others succumb to circumstances.
He forced the driver to be tough on his boss, just like he was tough on him with his philosophy of life, the philosophy of killing.
After Brother Tom went upstairs to do business, the driver who calmed down a little still thought that he should escape. He has already concluded that Ah Tang is not only a killer, but also a lunatic who will threaten him sooner or later.
He honked his horn for help, only to attract two thugs.
Many people questioned the ending of this film. In fact, if you want to question it, you can do it here. Why did he recruit gangsters instead of policemen or good-hearted people? The development of the story can be rewritten immediately.
Many things in life are left unexplained. To explain, can only say - this is fate! Like at the beginning, if he hadn't called Tom to get in the car, the whole story would have nothing to do with him.
Brother Tom cleaned up the two gangsters neatly. Note that he fired with a sound. In the first murder, he controlled the scene without gunshots very well, and used a silent pistol. No witnesses heard gunshots in the killing of the fat man. The nature of the case and the direction of the investigation are completely different (killing the bar owner is also a silent pistol) . Killing these two bastards was completely unplanned, life is full of surprises! The bullets and methods of death on the two gangsters also became one of the clues to the case. Let the capable policeman realize that this may be done by a professional master.
Everything in life is inextricably linked. When you activate one of the traps, all the connections will work on you.
But the driver still didn't know. The biggest difference between him and Tom is here, Tom integrates his beliefs into his lifestyle and into everything he does. He knew what he was doing, and he explained everything with his own philosophy: work, women, good and bad, life and death...
The owner of the bar didn't realize this, and many people felt that Tommy was not keeping his promises by killing him. The boss clearly answered the question correctly, why should he die?
In fact, what Brother Tom asked was the subtext: What kind of life do you want to choose? Are you going to keep doing your music here (meaning he might be a witness in court like a normal person), or go back to the underworld?
If the boss wants to survive, he should immediately tell Ah Tang: I'm going back to settle this matter and give me a chance - Ah Tang does mean to give him a chance, otherwise he will shoot him directly, of course Ah Tang does not. Letting him go just like that, and letting him go back and talk to the boss himself, is the greatest possible concession. The boss chose to continue his current musical life, and he must die. Whether he answered that question right or wrong.
It's very similar to Zen, you can't take life and death matters literally.
The driver Max was shocked! He couldn't believe that Ah Tang killed such a good man while talking and laughing. This also caused him to lose all the good feelings he had for the killer. Originally, he admired Ah Tang's skill, bearing, and keen observation (he lacked these qualities all his life), plus The three of them sat together in the bar, talking and laughing, bringing them closer together. His subconscious thought that Ah Tang might not be that bad in nature, and even had the possibility of becoming friends. Maybe, Ah Tang is really doing things for the sky, killing some bad guys and cleaning up social garbage? This is what makes Ah Tang, a lifelike killer, different.
What happened at the bar completely shattered his thoughts: Ah Tang was just a ruthless killer who made his job first. He can use any high-sounding philosophy to explain that anyone he kills has a reason.
I think Ah Tang's acting skills are also brought into full play here: in the bar, he constantly observes the surrounding environment, waiting for the best opportunity to do it, while chatting and laughing at the same time, it really makes you feel that he is pity for the boss's musical talent Desperate. These details can only be made by people who have been very involved in the play and have studied the characters carefully. There, he really is a killer, with his philosophy and beliefs, a killer who executes meticulously.
The driver was completely out of control, and he couldn't accept what was happening in front of him, either intellectually or emotionally.
Ah Tang must regain control of him.
The main station just notified Max that his mother called one after another. Because he didn't go to visit her on a routine basis.
So Ah Tang seized this opportunity. On the one hand, he could let the driver adjust his emotions (driving with a cranky head is quite dangerous), on the other hand, he felt that he had found the driver's weakness, his mother, who could use it to blackmail him, let him continue to submit.
Things may not be what Ah Tang imagined, but he is a fairly confident man. Considering his plan and circumstances at the time, this was also a very good move. Besides, time has not allowed him to find another scapegoat.
Of course, he underestimated Max's kindness, a man who was willing to sacrifice himself for others. Besides, it was his mother who was in danger now. Max had to grab Ah Tang's briefcase and ran out of the hospital, just to divert Ah Tang away. This quality of the driver is also not found in Ah Tang, and it is also valuable in human nature. The driver is not a useless person. His brilliance, wit, and bravery were only overshadowed by his habit of succumbing to life and circumstances.
Max destroys Tom's laptop, which contains lists and addresses to kill. The whole plan was ruined by him!
Some people think it's unreasonable for Ah Tang to not kill the driver like this.
In fact, killing the driver is really unreasonable - things have been destroyed, and killing the driver can only vent his anger, but it will not help. Ah Tang is a fairly calm and principled killer. What he thinks about is how to complete the task. If he can't complete it, how can he hide his eyes from the public and retreat. On the other hand, if you kill the driver, you will admit that you have failed, and he is a man who never admits that he has failed.
He wants to keep the driver.
On the one hand, it is to borrow the driver to ask for directions, let him go to the gang to get the information again, and test the customer's reaction. If the customer is angry and kills the driver, it means that the business is bad, and there is no need for Ah Tang to continue; if the business continues, he still needs a scapegoat to perform the old routine of "borrowing a knife to kill" to cover up his identity. In either case, the slain driver is believed to be Tom himself.
This is what he excels at for many years: calm, adaptable, and safety first. This incident made him furious, but he still held back, but this incident also strengthened his idea of using Max as a scapegoat. If the driver did not resist later, he would be dead.
The director arranged another fateful joke in the hospital. The killer and the police met unexpectedly in the elevator, and they also talked to each other a few times - sometimes what you want is so close to you, but you don't know it. Looking at the 4 bodies, the police found that the killer's marksmanship was very characteristic: always two shots in the chest and one shot in the forehead. (This is a detail, and it is also the habit of the killer Ah Tang, and later in the dance hall.)
In the gang boss's territory, the driver encountered a life-or-death juncture. The boss was very dissatisfied with his loss of the list and almost killed him. Max's potential for adaptability has also been stimulated - when you are still ignorant and timid in the face of great danger, you are doomed. This scene fully shows that the driver himself is not a benzene person, Ah Tang really underestimated him. (Did we also underestimate ourselves a little bit, we thought, that's how we should be)
Having been through this, drivers have started to change a bit. He's in a deep sleep, showing signs of being awake and confident (as can be seen by the way he walks out of the boss's turf). However, when he re-entered the taxi, he still had to succumb to Ah Tang's control. Because Ah Tang said that if he doesn't obey, he will kill his mother.
While going to the ballroom to kill another person, a wolf appeared on the road. Very strange and sudden, A Tang and the driver were speechless for a while, staring at the wolf. The wolf hurried through the streets at night alone. The wolf is a mirror, reflecting the living conditions of the two people in the car. They all have a similar feature: loneliness.
To Ah Tang, he was too smart and capable, he saw through everything, and felt that everything in this indifferent world was untrustworthy, and he could not have friends; to the driver, he was busy at the bottom of the society to make a living, There is no time to meet other friends, and he is too timid to have the courage to change everything in front of him. Both of them fell into deep contemplation...
The battle at the ballroom fully demonstrated the professional quality of Ah Tang playing the killer, which was amazingly high - making full use of the environment, hitting more with less, breaking down one by one, being agile and shooting like a god... ...in short, any admiration word you can imagine can't be overstated. I would like to give the director the same appreciation. This battle is a classic, and similar films are rarely seen. That team of cops did nothing because they picked the wrong target in the first place.
I really like the part about killing people in the ballroom: how many people are dancing in the dim lights and loud music, and don't know anything about Tommy killing people around - how many people are sleepy in this world, yes Turn a blind eye to the life-or-death events that are so close at hand? Brother Atang was in a no-man's land, neatly and neatly, cleaning up the bodyguards around him one by one. His confident eyes were like a leopard walking into a flock of sheep.
Here I have to mention the capable police detective. From the clues at the beginning, he judged that what happened this night was very strange. He was level-headed and kind-hearted, believing that the driver was just an innocent scapegoat, and wanted to find out the real culprit and rescue the driver. However, he still died, so suddenly and silently, right at the door of the ballroom, he was shot through the heart by Ah Tang.
Has he made any mistakes in the professional field? According to the information he has, and his position (if he was the commander, the situation would be very different, unfortunately he is just a little police detective), can you find out what loopholes in his actions? In the same situation, who can do better than him?
He is still dead. What did he lose?
All I can say is that he lost luck.
Many people questioned the scene where Ah Tang was killed in the subway at the end. If you can accept the detective's death, then why can't you accept it, Ah Tang also lost by luck in the end?
In fact, there are many places in the film that can be questioned. This film can have many branches and many possible endings. The director and screenwriter showed us the one they thought was the most meaningful ending. If the film is made into a big cliché in ordinary people's thinking, why bother to watch this film specifically, if you can't just look at the old police and gangster films?
Back to the story.
Ah Tang kills the cop and starts to make the driver angry. It can be said that the people killed before have nothing to do with the driver Max - and the policeman Fanning, who cared about Max and believed that he was innocent, was killed by Ah Tang right in front of him. But Ah Tang still felt that he saved the driver himself, besides, the death of a person is not worth mentioning at all: "The universe is a million nebula composed of hundreds of billions of stars, and a little dust in one moment - that It's us, buried in space. The police, you, me... who cares?" Tom said.
He can't even care about himself, which is also the sadness in Ah Tang's heart. Although he is very capable and rich, he is lonely. In this world, he could not find anything to care about and rely on.
This is because these two types of people have different world views, and people with different world views can never really communicate.
Max began to hate Atang, including his philosophy of life.
The two naturally quarreled. Tom bluntly pierced Max's disguise: "One day? One day my (your) dream will come true? One night you will wake up and find that you have achieved nothing - it will only pass you by It never happened, and all of a sudden your years are gone. It hasn't happened, and it never will, because you were never ready to do it!"
"You'll hold it back in your memory and get into your baby Taxi. For the rest of your life, be hypnotized by daydreams. Don't tell me about murder, maybe all you did was pay the Lincoln RV deposit. Or that girl, you wouldn't even call her Why the hell are you still driving a taxi?"
How many mediocre people live like this?
These words woke Max like lightning!
After a long silence, he replied, "Because I've never had the courage to face myself, I've tried, I've tried to get out of the trough, but it was a doomed attempt."
At that moment, He has been forced to face the naked and bloody reality: he will never be successful in his life! No matter emotionally or morally, he hated this Tom, who had caused so much pain to himself and others, and he was determined to die with Tom. When the speeding car accelerated, he felt a sense of revenge: Are you better than me? Now that everyone is holding on to their deaths together, you also have a moment when my destiny is in my hands!
In fact, the climax of the whole play appears and completes here. What follows is irrelevant.
At the moment when the driver decided to die with Ah Tang, he was reborn. For this, he should also thank Ah Tang. Ah Tang is a lightning in his life, illuminating all the roads and letting him see exactly what kind of person he is and what kind of state he is in.
Such is the strangeness of life, that it only reveals its splendor when it is near death.
Are you living the same life? Not knowing what you're doing, you try your best to escape the truth of your life and use all kinds of excuses to numb yourself. You lament that life has not given you a chance, but when the opportunity presents itself, do you have the courage to face it, and are you willing to pay that price to become a new you? Can you really take risks for love?
Atang finally failed. I think it was the director's arrangement that when Ah Tang died, the helplessness of people under fate could be reflected. He died in the icy subway, just sitting like that, as Ah Tang said at the beginning: the body travels around the city with the subway, no one will know. Nobody will care.
You can question the unreasonable arrangement or dislike the ending. As I have said repeatedly, if you have to question this film, you can find too many "irrational" places: if it wasn't Max who was looking for it in the first place, if the fat man didn't fall, if Max escaped or was killed, if Then the police killed Brother Tong... There are too many possibilities, what is reasonable? Max just crashed the car and was dizzy, so he could grab the policeman's gun, is that reasonable? He could have just been hit and killed! Brother Tom is playing without a fuss in the dance hall, but others don't hit him at all, is it reasonable?
The ending doesn't matter, you and I are just passing by. The important thing is that the director conveyed the meaning he wanted to express well in the film - do you have the courage to face the truth and survive?
View more about Collateral reviews
