10 Movies Where You Want The Villain To Win

Returning to Los Angeles for this stylish Michael Mann crime thriller, Collateral follows a hitman, Vincent, who forcibly hires a brusque cab driver to lift him from hit to hit. Less of a paper trail than Uber, we suppose. This nocturnal masterpiece stars a very on-form Jaime Foxx as said cab driver and a brutally efficient Tom Cruise in a role so against type he’s virtually unrecognisable.

Frequently cited as one of Cruise’s best performances (if not the best), the eponymous hitman, whilst at first devastatingly charismatic becomes harder and harder to relate to as the film progresses. The problem is, Vincent is just so unbelievably good at what he does. As such, we form a grudging respect for the character.

Vincent gets into dangerous situations amongst gangsters and crooks, even somewhat seducing a jazz musician he loves into telling him stories, despite the knowledge he’ll have to murder him too. It’s all the more impressive when our killer seems to make it out of every scrape virtually unscathed. The nightclub scene in particular is a masterclass in set-piece filmmaking.

Despite a fatalistic view of the world - and killing people off a list like he was just doing his weekly shop - Vincent is professional and persuasive. Through Cruise’s immaculate performance and Mann’s wire-tight direction, we’re persuaded that Vincent deserves to somehow make it to morning alive, as long as Foxx’s character does too.