Escape and evasion

His films like Heat and Collateral obsessively explore characters caught between pursuit and evasion, creating tense cat-and-mouse narratives where escape becomes both physical and psychological.

His crime thrillers such as Bob le Flambeur and Le Cercle Rouge center on meticulously planned escapes and the constant threat of capture, establishing the existential tension of evasion.

Reed's films like The Third Man and Odd Man Out feature protagonists trapped in labyrinthine urban landscapes desperately seeking escape from forces closing in around them.