We don’t typically associate Tom Cruise with villainy. For much of his career, the man, the myth, the legend has enjoyed heroic roles in films such as Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, and War of the Worlds while occasionally venturing into morally ambiguous territory in Eyes Wide 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 more of an antihero than an outright villain, while Les Grossman, the profanity-spewing, balding producer of Tropic Thunder, is merely a corporate stooge in dire need of a moral compass.
Indeed, it took Cruise over two decades to dive head-first into the other side of the pond, resulting in perhaps his most nuanced work to date. Following a string of box office successes, Cruise teamed with legendary director Michael Mann for the thriller Collateral, in which he portrayed Vincent, a ruthless hitman who forces Jamie Foxx’s lowly cabbie, Max, to drive him to various “appointments” around Los Angeles.
Adorned in a slick suit and sporting steely grey hair, Vincent is the epitome of evil. He wanders the Earth searching for victims, kills without hesitation, and conceals his shame behind a flimsy philosophy drenched in faux nihilism. He’s basically the Devil, rising from the netherworld to claim his victims, relishing every opportunity to display his incredible power.
Cruise disappears into the role, burying his trademark charisma underneath a steely-eyed facade that gradually unravels the more he regards Max as more than another notch in a long list of victims. His transformation takes time, but Vincent eventually finds a touch of humanity before his demise.
When we first meet him, Vincent is barely human. His attempts at conversation feel forced and artificial. He behaves the way he thinks ordinary people behave, spouting the same nonsense he likely vomited on previous victims a dozen times before. His words feel more like a corporate mission statement designed to alleviate guilt. After all, if the world is filled with disconnected, miserable people, what’s the harm in killing a few?
Eventually, Vincent bribes Max with substantial cash to be his driver for the night. Reluctantly, the cabbie agrees, too blinded by the almighty dollar to consider the strangeness of the situation until it lands on the hood of his car.
Vincent refuses to accept responsibility. “I didn’t kill him,” he says, “the bullets and the fall did.” Tom Cruise ensures Vincent remains slightly aloof and disconnected. When he comes out of the building, he doesn’t panic and appears more concerned with possible passersby than Max, a man he regards as weak and inconsequential. Vincent bosses Max around, forcing him to help with immoral tasks like hiding dead bodies and lying to cops.
In a terrific scene, Vincent chews out Max’s boss, a moment that infuses our dastardly killer with a sense of humanity. He may commit murder without remorse, but he cannot stand by and watch another human being being taken advantage of. It’s a unique character quirk, and Cruise allows Vincent to savor the moment, casting a fleeting glance at Max before exiting the car.
Later, Vincent returns to the cab to find a group of street thugs running off with his briefcase. Here, we see our hitman at his most ruthless, using his gun to murder the two men without hesitation. Cruise trained hard for the role, ensuring that Vincent’s actions felt like “an extension of the character.”
As typical, Cruise’s hard work and dedication pay dividends, particularly during the now-iconic club shootout sequence. Dripping with Mann’s signature neon-lit style, the scene gives Vincent a stage to demonstrate his extraordinary professionalism and impeccable skills. Of course, Mann takes it one step further by giving the killer a heroic moment, allowing him to save Max while shooting a knowing glance in his direction.
The scene only works if we fully buy into Cruise’s character. Thankfully, the actor rises to the challenge, crafting a terrifying, albeit oddly likable, assassin colorful enough to root for.
Another great scene arrives earlier in the picture when Vincent halts his mission long enough to visit Max’s sick mother. There’s a terrific beat where Vincent, always distant, suddenly snaps to attention when the old woman delivers him a compliment. Vincent relishes this view of ordinary life and chastises Max for not enjoying it more. Slowly, we see the human underneath the robotic exterior. Cruise never fully opens up but instead provides glimpses of Vincent’s true persona.
The best scene in the entire film features Vincent and Max verbally tearing each other apart. Max, for his part, hits a nerve when he asks Vincent a simple question: what drives you? Vincent explains that life is meaningless, using Max as the ultimate example of unfulfilled potential. “What the fuck are you still doing driving a cab,” he snaps, noting that Max will never call the girl he met in the opening scene and will likely never achieve his dreams of owning a limo company. In truth, both men are full of shit, but it’s this clash of ideologies that makes Collateral such a thrilling cinematic experience.
Naturally, this war of attrition comes to a head when Max discovers that Vincent’s final target is the girl from the opening scene, played by Jada Pinkett Smith. Driven by a newfound purpose, Max races to save her while Vincent pursues, his focus more muddled than before.
In his final moments, Vincent is no longer an unstoppable machine but a flawed, even tragic figure who loses himself while fleeing from domesticity. Ironically, he ends up in the exact situation he fought so hard to avoid, dying alone on a train, likely to go unnoticed for hours.
In Vincent, Tom Cruise crafts a character unlike any in his astonishing oeuvre. Many of his characters are complex or at least flawed in a way that makes them relatable. Yet, Vincent is more subtle, a hard-hearted murderer who ultimately melts into a pathetic soul. Max may be the hero of Collateral, but secretly, we’re all rooting for Vincent to ride off into the sunset.
Oddly, Jamie Foxx earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, while Tom Cruise’s performance was snubbed entirely. Interestingly, Foxx won the Best Actor award for Ray, beating Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), and Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby). Personally, I think Cruise could have replaced Depp, DiCaprio, or Eastwood in the Best Actor category. While his performance may not surpass Foxx’s in Ray, it deserved more recognition than it received.
Vincent remains one of Tom Cruise’s most complex and layered performances, showcasing his versatility and talent in darker, more nuanced roles. It’s a shame he returned to his typical heroic characters because he was really good at playing bad.