I have not seen this movie but just this scene shows that Jamie Foxx was able to turn over the situa

From a reader: vacation rentals miami I loved the movie Collateral, starring Tom Cruise as Vincent the hitman and Jamie Foxx as the largely hapless cab driver, particularly this clip . Here s the set up: Maxx is a cab driver with dreams of owning his own limo service. vacation rentals miami He s been driving his taxi for 12 years, telling himself all the while that he is planning and saving money, awaiting the perfect time to start his own business. When Vincent gets into the backseat of his cab, Maxx assumes he s just another fare. He is of course dead wrong. Vincent forces Maxx to act as his driver, ferrying him to various locations around vacation rentals miami LA to kill everyone on his to-do list. In this scene, Vincent and Maxx have just escaped a hectic shoot out at a nightclub. Vincent has killed the 4th of the 5 victims on his hit list and Maxx attempted to escape during the melee with the help of detective Fanning. Just when it seemed as if Maxx and Fanning would make it, Vincent shoots the detective, thinking he was doing Maxx a favor. As you will see, Maxx has an epiphany of sorts after being confronted with Vincent s harsh but truthful views. I really vacation rentals miami liked this movie. The performances were terrific. vacation rentals miami Contrasting Fox s passive everyman with Cruise s uber disciplined sociopath made for a thematically interesting dynamic. The scene was, in a nutshell, an insightful look at how sociopaths see empaths better than they see themselves. I wonder though, is Vincent really a sociopath or is his career choice simply an inevitable result of his philosophical nihilism? Not that it matters to any of his victims.
I haven t seen the film but I read the isolated scene as an ode to Nietzsche s Birth of Tragedy . Sure, Nietzsche was talking about the ancient vacation rentals miami Greek tradition, vacation rentals miami but I too see all dramatic tragedy [as] an art form that transcend[s] the pessimism and nihilism of a fundamentally meaningless world. Personally I liked this modern interpretation of turning vacation rentals miami thoughts of disgust at the horror and absurdity of existence into imaginary constructs which permit living to continue. vacation rentals miami To my mind there were also traces of Sartre s Being or Nothingness in it: Man s existence is absurd because his contingency finds no external justification. His projects are absurd because they are directed toward an unattainable goal ( the desire to become God [Vincent] or to be simultaneously the free For-itself and the absolute In-itself [Maxx]. As for Vincent being a sociopath or not, I can t say, although it certainly heightens the drama of the film to believe so. But would an existentialist vacation rentals miami empath view a non-existential empath similarly? I think so, but they would most likely see it as cruel and unnecessary to tell them. Reply Delete Anonymous January vacation rentals miami 24, 2011 at 3:34 AM
I did enjoy the movie a while back. I couldn t tell you why, but it was rather surprising when Max diagnosed his fare lol. It s a bit tough to go against the grain on this one but I can t count Fox as an every man as you do, and it s too easy to accept Vincent as a sociopath. Fox s character seems just as detached as Vincent, hence the whole injection of the fate mumbles in the script. I see them a bit more as diametrically vacation rentals miami opposed although there s much light left from that on the big screen. Look at how well they work together? Look at the changes in Max not because of the world, not because of manipulation, but only because of Vincent s short presence in his boring life? Reply Delete HavenNyx January vacation rentals miami 24, 2011 at 5:35 AM
I imagine being in that line of work would deaden your responses to certain situations, but on the flip side, you have to have a certain predisposition in order to be drawn to, and accept unconditionally that line of work to begin with. Being predisposed with less empathy towards a victim, seeing them as nothing more than a target, not a person probably needs to be already instilled in a person. The repetition of the act though probably makes each subsequent hit all the more easy. Densitizing the hitman to the next target, vacation rentals miami and the next, etc. Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 5:43 AM
I could agree with that Nyx, but if I were going to branch out too I would argue that one could simply possess empathy and have a disconnect making them disregard it for the most part and see human targets vacation rentals miami as friendly people with everything worth being alive inside and always fail at the caring part. Of course the stigma implies you HAVE to see everyone as puppets, but I don t ALWAYS see people as puppets. What fun would that be? Reply Delete Dormant Sociopath January 24, 2011 at 6:11 AM
I have not seen this movie but just this scene shows that Jamie Foxx was able to turn over the situation and gained control over Tom Cruise. He could well have been a dormant sociopath, which I am, waiting for his prince to kiss. Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 6:18 AM
They got a building down New York City, it s called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, vacation rentals miami I wanted to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York, and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all kinds o mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave me a piece of paper, said, Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604. And I went up there, I said, Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL. And I started jumpin up and down yelling, KILL, KILL, and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, KILL, KILL. And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, You re our boy. Reply Delete HavenNyx January 24, 2011 at 7:17 AM
@Anon (5:51)... I can certainly see that. I often turn off or simply vacation rentals miami lose my empathy for people at times. Especially if I have no prior attachment to them. I m not sure that directly translates into being able to just off them though. But that might just be my own personal morality concering mortality coming into play. Reply Delete Funny Bit January 24, 2011 at 9:09 AM
this discussion is going quite slow. it s time to start the funny bit. How could Dexter make us laugh in that time period between wrapping the victim and dumping vacation rentals miami in the ocean? He could say list: 1. Just the cheek (Medusa?) 2. Stop shivering. I was out of thermal wrap (UKan?) 3. What was I gonna do? (TNP?) 4. This is the last time we meet like this (ME?) 5. You ll always hold a special place in my box (notme?) He could do list 1. One last tap on the genitals Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 9:21 AM
Dormant, you could be somewhat right too, but you re implying a sociopath is invincible and could NEVER lose control except for another socio... I don t discredit any of you at all, don t get me wrong, I am merely implying that most of these thoughts exist inside a box. You could add so much more to them! Reply Delete Anonymous vacation rentals miami January 24, 2011 at 9:56 AM
Did you hear about the guy who started calling himself the Crossbow Cannibal . He killed three prostitutes and got caught. Aren t you supposed to be elusive and fear-inducing to earn yourself a serial killer nickname, having to name yourself is kinda lame. And not so scary. Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 12:34 PM
How silly is this. You think that him being a sociopath vacation rentals miami would heighten the drama, when he s a goddamn hitman. It should be the other way around, dear. At that point in someone s life, it doesn t matter if they re a sociopath or not. I remember watching this movie when it came out. Thought it was decent, but not a special snowflake. Different strokes, I guess. Personally I hate it when the bad guy always seems to get fucked over in the end, especially the sympathetic ones. Not with all movies, just 99% of them. Reply Delete vacation rentals miami Dormant Sociopath January 24, 2011 at 2:31 PM
anon 9:21 said Dormant, you could be somewhat right too, but you re implying a sociopath is invincible and could NEVER lose control except for another socio... Actually no such implication is suggested from what I m talking about. All that is implied is one socio exposure has the possibility to wake up a dormant socio. I ve met five and I am still not awake. I need UKan to wake up. Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 2:48 PM
That s what I thought! Just need someone in the media to say, Three hookers and you got caught? It s not exactly impressive now is it darlin? Genius needs an audience, but he was no genius. Reply Delete Anonymous January 24, 2011 at 2:56 PM
just this scene shows that Jamie Foxx was able to turn over the situation and gained control vacation rentals miami over Tom Cruise. He could well have been a dormant sociopath, which I am, waiting for his prince to kiss. His character was just fighting for survival, the same as anyone would in that situation. You sound like an idiot. Reply Delete TheNotablePath January vacation rentals miami 24, 2011 at 3:23 PM
You re welcome, NTP. Some of us are well-educated vacation rentals miami in rewriting the narrative in a way others (e.g. Medusa) are unable to see. Let me try again: When forced to drive around a car at a socio s gun point causing a well-calculated car accident is the only thing in your control. The beauty of it is that the socio who threatens to shoot is only bull-shitting, for his ass is not driving that car. Reply Delete notme January 24, 2011 at 4:56 PM
The cheese-tastic, spoiler filled vacation rentals miami ending: Max angrily speeds through vacation rentals miami the empty downtown streets and deliberately crashes the cab. Vincent vacation rentals miami takes off on foot before a responding police officer arrives at the wreck and notices the corpse in the trunk. Max spots Annie s profile on the cab computer