Blindspotting: 5 Times Miles Was A Bad Friend (& 5 Times Collin Was)

Miles (Rafael Casal) and Collin (Daveed Diggs) are best life-long friends, but when the audience meets them Blindspotting they’re beginning a turbulent time in their friendship.

Miles is content with his life and the life that he and his best friend have always had, but after getting out of jail, Collin doesn’t feel the same. This new and major dynamic shift in their friendship is where a lot of their issues stem throughout the indie film.

10 Miles: Holding Collin Back

An overgeneralization of Miles and Collin’s friendship when Blindspotting begins is Miles is content with his current life with his girlfriend (Jasmine Cephas Jones), their son, and hanging out with his best friend, Collin. After being in jail, Collin finds that he wants more from his life and trying to live an all-around happier and healthier life. He finds himself stuck in a loop after being released from jail and doesn’t want to make the same mistakes he was making, but he finds it difficult to get out of the loop with Miles around.

9 Collin: Not Helping Miles When He Got In A Fight

Miles gets into a fistfight at a house party and calls out to Collin to help him. Collin doesn’t step in and feebly yells at the guy to get off of his best friend. At this point in the film, Collin is tired of having to constantly look after Miles when he gets himself into trouble and wants to move on from the mistakes he made before going to jail. He still could have attempted to break up the fight instead of leaving his friend to fend for himself.

8 Miles: Not Paying Attention To Collin

Miles seems to be content with his life and doesn’t realize that Collin might want to make some changes in his life after being released from jail. This is obvious to the audience and even to his ex-girlfriend Val, but Miles seems oblivious and doesn’t understand why Collin would want to change anything about their life together.

7 Collin: Not Communicating With Miles

Although it’s obvious to the audience that Collin begins to get uncomfortable with Miles’ actions, he never actually talks to him about it until everything blows up after the house party they attend. Being Collin’s best friend, Miles probably should have noticed there was something off about Collin, but either way, it could have gone down differently if Collin had communicated with Miles about his feelings.

6 Miles: Buying A Gun Illegally

Right before Collin’s probation is done Miles decides to illegally buy a gun from a mutual friend while they’re hanging out in his car. Collin objects because he doesn’t want to get in trouble or be connected to the crime at all, he only has a few days left of probation after all. Miles laughs it off, makes the transaction, and jokes about it by taking it out when Collin begs him to keep it hidden. Collin laughs about it, but it’s a pretty bad move to dismiss your best friend’s concerns and risk getting him thrown back in jail.

5 Collin: Bottling Up His Emotions About The Shooting

After Collin witnesses a white police officer shooting a black man, Miles asks him if he’s doing okay. Collin brushes it off and says he’s fine, but he is haunted by the event through various nightmares and terrified of the police wondering if he’ll be next.

Instead of talking to his best friend about it he keeps everything to himself and is struggling because of it.

4 Miles: Unable To Control His Temper

Collin has to constantly calm Miles down and tries his best, but is sick of having to take care of him all the time. Miles stays on guard and is always looking for a fight. From honking at a bystander and getting them into trouble at work to starting a fight at a house party and pulling a gun on their friend’s partner, Miles needs to continually prove himself and does through expressing his anger.

3 Collin: Pulls A Gun On The Cop

When Collin comes face to face with the cop who he saw shoot a black man in the back as he was running away he pulls a gun on him. Miles realizes that they’re at the cop’s house and runs downstairs to check on Collin only to see him have a gun on him.

He tries to calm him down, but Collin doesn’t listen and gives a speech to the cop with elevated prose to express his justifiable rage. It’s the first time the audience sees Miles attempting to calm Collin instead of the other way around.

2 Miles: Getting Mad At Collin For Refusing To Lie For Him

In an incredibly tense scene Miles and Ashley’s son finds Miles’ gun and almost shoots himself. Collin is done with having to take the blame for Miles’ irresponsible behavior and Miles gets mad at him for it. They get into an argument and Collin brings up that he continually told Miles it was a dumb idea to buy a gun and unsafely bring it back home where his son could get to it.

1 Collin: Leaving Miles After An Argument

After the house party Miles and Collin get into the biggest argument the audience has seen. Throughout most of the movie, they’ve been seen together until Collin decides to walk away. Miles is confused that his best friend is walking away even though they’ve had a big blow-up argument they’ve not fully talked things out and yet Collin is walking away.

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