Top 10 Badass Hitmen Movies
Submitted by DangeloGreen on Wednesday, 3 September 200829 Comments
Hitmen- does this word scintillate you? Are you afraid of them or love them. Well whatever be your opinion one cannot deny their significance and deep impact over the cinemas. People are crazy about them and millions of people love them. From THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007), the silver screen appreciated all.
Hitmen are the backbone of many action films where a callous guy usually having no allies run for many and show his massive courage to outshine all. In many movies they do this for money while in some these homicidal mercenaries work for the multitude and in others they are strictly freelancers who are hired by some tycoon. It’s not the most obvious vocation. Yet when the heroes of the new comedy thriller In Bruges – Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) – are introduced as hitmen and we accepted them completely. They go about their business, hiding out in the titular Belgian town after a botched kill. They drink beer, joke and meet women. And then, eventually, Ralph Fiennes arrives as Harry, the hitman-in-chief. And still, we never once say, ‘Hang on! How many hitmen are there in the world?’ This is because movies are so en-amoured by hitmen that, somehow, we are too. We love their deadly authority and their glamour; In short, we love the thrill of power.
In appreciation of Bangkok Dangerous we got an opportunity to reminiscence some of the best hitmen movies that have enthralled the whole world and its people since ages.
10. Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition tells the story of a prohibition era hitman, Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks). Grown as an orphan and taken in by a mob boss, Sullivan becomes hitman to the head of an Irish mob boss in Illinois. After his son becomes a witness to one of his murders, Sullivan finds himself and family targets of a mobster looking to conceal his crimes against their boss, John Rooney (Paul Newman). On the run, the Sullivan’s eventually meet up with an out of town assassin in Perdition, Kansas.
Michael Sullivan is quiet but deadly and different from most hitmen in films, in that he has a family and a social life. And he definitely has to be in the top
09. The Bourne Identity - The Trilogy
Jason was Treadstone’s top assassin, and he remembers not much about himself. He was in a business where skills mean kills and Bourne is up there with the best.
“The Bourne Identity,” an action-thriller so well-paced and conscious of its intentions that it entertains on a lower level without being offensive the audience-an unusual accomplishment in a time when movies seem unable to free action of idiocy.
The film’s formula may be the brilliant brainchild of director Doug Liman, or a fluke accomplishment. Either way, it won us over.
08. The Terminator
This cyborg assassin from the future is intended to be the perfect killer, since he has no feelings, remorse or guilt (or any other emotion) and is programmed not to stop until his quarry is dead. Said quarry is Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), mom-to-be of the man who will rally humanity to rebel against the future takeover by the machines. With a strong built and his shotgun he really has got the power to destroy the world.
7. Nikita
Parillaud’s Nikita was a post-punk revelation when she first hit our screens in Besson’s brilliantly outrageous Pygmalion radix. She began as a heroin addict who was eventually transformed into a sexy killing machine. We like hitmen but this hitwomen definitely made people to admire her. Nikita commits a murder and then this incident changed her whole life from where she morphed to a special operative. With her old life all but erased, Nikita slowly and surely transformed into a deadly assassin, who becomes as proficient with the guns as she was with the needles. Besson oversaw a ineffectual US remake with Bridget Fonda in the title role, but his French femme is clearly ten times cooler than her US counterpart, and definitely has a much sexier accent.
6. The day of the Jackal
Thanks to Fox for his patrician depiction of the mastermind assassin. He managed to bring some chivalrous gravitas to the genre. Fox’s Jackal survives on forged passports, stylish charm and a specialized rifle that can blow up a watermelon at 200 yards. That we know he fails from the start doesn’t matter. That we want him to succeed is more impressive
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September 9th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
You forgot the Assassins, with Stalon and Banderas, and the specialist with Stalon and Stone.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Where is The Eiger Sanction?
September 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
No Love for No Country.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I totally agree with the list of movies, but who the hell wrote the copy? Certainly not someone who speaks English as a first language…
September 9th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Not a bad list, but Collateral (2004) should of gotten at the very least an honorable mention, if not a spot on the list. Pulp Fiction should of not been included, it may have hitmen, but it is not about them.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Lucky Number Slevin?
September 9th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
You totally forgot the brothers from boondock saints.. they may have made their own targets but they were still hitmen in a way and more badass than the rest on this list.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
OMG I cannot WAIT for the Bourne Tri ology! Bourne totally ROCKS
Jiff
http://www.anonymize.us.tc
September 9th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
thank you for making the professional #1. finally some validation!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Where’s Le Samourai? Surely the film that inspired John Woo to make the Killer, and the film he gave to Chow Yun-Fat and said “see this character? I want you to be him” when shooting the Killer… surely it deserves a spot? No one on your list is half the badass Alain Delon is in that film…
And what about Ghost Dog? He was no joke either.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hello?! The Mechanic? Charles Bronson, Jan Michael Vincent. Unbelievable that wasn’t on the list!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Other posters mentioned them already but The Mechanic, Le Samourai, No Country for Old Men, and Collateral were all way better than any of the movies listed here, except for Bourne and Road to Perdition.
This list reads like an honorable mention, and most of this stuff is more on the comedic and fantastical side…a hitman movie should take itself seriously. That’s the nature of a hitman.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Where is No country for old men?
September 9th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Ghost Dog?
September 9th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
A couple of others you missed:
– Ben Kingsley’s character from “Sexy Beast”
– De Niro et al. from “Ronin”
September 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Tom Hanks? Are you kidding? Hollywood’s most over-rated actor in his worst role? Come on, seriously?
September 9th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
The Professional deserves the top spot, but The Mechanic shouldn’t be far behind. I agree that Collateral deserves a spot as well.
You could drop Terminator, and Pulp Fiction; both good movies, but not deserving of a spot on a hitmen list.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I’d say Kill Bill is more “Assassin” than hitman.
The Replacement Killers should be top 3. (#1 on my hit list)
And if Terminator is on the list, then I gotta add Agent Smith in The Matrix. He’s one badass mofo.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
What about Gross Pointe Blanke? John Cusack is funny and deadly in that movie, they even managed to make him look like he can fight, you gotta give props for that!
And Boondock Saints should definitely have made the list as well, unconventional but effective hitmen, and the father is the true badass of the flick.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Hey…
Where’s Grosse Pointe Blank? Martin Blank is easily one of the coolest hitmen in movie history, and proves to be particularly badass to boot.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:56 am
how about the two hot chicks in the movie so close
September 10th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Don’t forget the assassin in man bites dog!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103905/
September 10th, 2008 at 4:43 am
What about Grosse Pointe Blank? It’s probably one of the best film about Hitmen in the history. I have no doublt Leon the profesional is the #1.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH
September 10th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Cosmo in Cold Blooded was a pretty fun hit man as well.
“You’re standing too close.”
September 11th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I’m going to have to second that Grosse Pointe call… What about True Romance?
September 11th, 2008 at 2:45 am
this list is pretty fine although you missed out something…
finally someone validates the professional being the best of the best…
November 25th, 2008 at 5:02 am
haha…just wanna say that Bangkok is not dangerous, very interesting and world number 1 most visiting city. http://bangkoktravelclub.com/
January 4th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
WTF what about boondock saints?