Top 10 Movie Assassins
What is it about one of the world’s darkest and most evil professions that makes it seem so sexy and appealing on the big screen?
Whether it be slow motion shoot-outs, ass kicking kung-fu or just Angelina Jolie strutting around in next to nothing, the silver screen has always been kind to the morally questionable profession of contract killing.
So here it is, a list of the 10 best movie assassins to ever grace our screens…
10 - Michael Sullivan, Road to Perdition
Cold, calculated and - beneath it all - a family man, Tom Hanks makes a surprising turn as Michael Sullivan, a character who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. The final confrontation between Hanks and Paul Newman in the rain-soaked street is an intense and memorable scene and Hanks proves his versatility once again and pulls off the moustache look quite nicely.
9 - El Mariachi, Desperado
This guy is as comfortable behind a gun as he is behind the guitar, and bagging Salma Hayek on the side isn’t bad going either. The character El Mariachi played by Antonio Banderas was also in two other features (although Banderas only played him twice), but Desperado stands as one of the best action films of the 1990s featuring one of the best assassins.
8 - Vincent, Collateral
One of the Cruiser’s best performances and his standout of the last decade, Vincent is an impulsive assassin, going with the flow or whatever. He’ll chuck a fat Angelino out the window without batting an eyelid.
7 - The Jackal, The Day of the Jackal
Neither man nor watermelon stands a chance against this classic cinematic assassin. The role that made Edward Fox a star of the time was played in the remake by Bruce Willis (for some reason with a dodgy bleached haircut). The original remains a cinema classic and handed us one of the coolest cinema villains.
6 - Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men
Striking fear into any heart that lays eyes on his haircut. Anton leaves fate to decide whether to kill his victims or not. Deservedly winning an Oscar for the role, Javier Barden creates one of the greatest villains of all time.
5 - The Bride, Kill Bill
She made slicing through 88 trained samurais look like cutting through butter and managed to make someone’s heart explode by finger-tapping their chest. The Bride is fuelled by bloody vengeance, until she gets all weepy eyed at the end, that is. Still she remains Quentin Tarantino’s best creation.
4 - Martin Q. Blank, Grosse Point Blank
The most relatable assassin on the list, he’s depressed, lonely and stressed. Returning home for a reunion sets things back into motion and being hunted down, he brings out all the tricks to stay alive. John Cusack makes the character effortlessly cool and has unofficially followed up the film with this year’s War Inc, which is apparently a bit rubbish.
3 -T-800, Terminator
It’s not your average assassin that starts off walking around butt naked into biker bars but then this is a robot. Arnie’s most famous role had the Austrian hulk killing anything that moves and, with a near indestructible body, he is probably the hardest to kill on the list.
2 - Jason Bourne, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum
We always thought that Matt Damon was like a Streisand, but he’s rocking the shit in this one! Damon came out of nowhere and smashed us around the face with a book, giving us the best assassin/spy of our generation. Silent and deadly, this guy could kill you with a bit of sticky back tape if he needed to.
1 - Leon, Leon
From start to finish Leon approaches everything with thorough thinking and complete dedication. He doesn’t make things up on the fly like Bourne, Vincent and Sullivan and it wasn’t until Natalie came along that he finally gained a weakness. The hardest, coolest, coldest killer around, Leon is cinema’s best assassin by a long shot.
So what do you think? If it came to be one big tussle between the list who would win?
[story by David A. Scarborough]
Right, let’s get this out of the way early doors.
This list is wrong.
There, I’ve said it. No-one else needs to post now.
THE END
When are you h8rs going to get
with the program? Milton: Office Space.
“because the real hits start on paper”
None of the Bonds? Or even one of their villains? e.g The Man With The Golden Gun, Francisco Scaramanga
Also, I thought in Kill Bill the dialogue addressed the fact the Crazy 88 weren’t in fact 88 in number? Something about it sounding cool.
I nominate keephopeinside. Because he’s doing a fine job of killing me slowly by being a huge dumb retard.
#1 Should be Leon, The Professional
Uh… Chow Yun Fat’s The Killer from the movie of the same name isn’t on this list?
1. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
2. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
3. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
4. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
5. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
6. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
7. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
8.Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
9. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
10. Chow Yun Fat from The Killer.
ummm…jules winnfield??
I was just about to say what happened to Leon from “The Professional”? But then I realized that the name of the movie was different in my country
Agreed, Leon has been one of my favs for the longest time, but I think a truly trained marksman/sniper like Bob Swagger from shooter should have made #2 or been tied with #1. I mean the ability to take out a mark from 900+ yards with surgical precision would make the worst kind of assassin, as the movie shows. If you can see a sniper, it’s because you aren’t his target.
The most creative assassin would be Charles Bronson in The Mechanic. Or maybe his protege, Jan Michael Vincent, at the end of the movie…
Hit Man, Hit man, Hit man and Hit man! Any questions?
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
I just wanted to thank the authors for not putting Agent 47 from “Hitman” on the list. Best assassin in a game? Sure. But the movie character was a ‘tard.
How could Apocalypse Now not be on there?
Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore played by Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight…the best hit chick in cinema
What about Ghost Dog?!
Modern Day Samurai for hire. Awesome.
How could you leave out my role in Best Seller? I was by far, one of the coolest and most collected assassin of all times.
You’ve got balls of steel, my friend.
I agree Best Seller should have been in there, but No. 1 has got to be Max von Sydow as Joubert in Three Days Of The Condor.
Joe Turner: “Why?”
Joubert: “I don’t interest myself in “why”. I think more often in terms of “when”, sometimes “where”; always “how much”.”
La Femme Nikita (The Original French Version)
I can’t believe this didn’t make the top 10. It spawned The Professional (Leon). The American movie and spin-offs sucked, but the original French version rocked. I think it was Luc Besson’s first major internationl hit in this genre. If you loved The Professional, you’ll love this.
JULES MOTHER-F*CKING WINNFIELD.
what about the hitman from Sin City?
somebody get the joke police in here to make some fuckin arrests
Quote:
“Theman Says:
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
what about the hitman from Sin City?”
The day I put Josh Hartnett in the top ten of anything other than worst actors, is the day I sell my soul to the devil.
Boondock Saints??????
What about Mr. Goodkat from Lucky Number Slevin? Yeah, shit on Josh Hartnett and all that, but Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) was certainly the epitome of cool assassin.
I do agree with Leon being number one though… And certainly moreso in the original Leon, not the cut up censored version “The Professional” that ended up here in the states.
[...] ahora los villanos son los protagonistas. Esta vez, la gente de heckler SPRAY hizo una lista de los 10 mejores asesinos del cine. ← Anterior | Inicio | Siguiente → Comparte esta anotación [...]
And where is James Bond?
Bleck. First, I am SO tired of No Country. I have not been more unimpressed and thoroughly, utterly unscared of a hitman since Strawberry Shortcake hooked up with Murder Inc.
…and that still isn’t as assinine as a “hitman” carrying around a cylindar tank. Character was so freaking flat…I mean, I guess you could be fairly effective as a wetworker if all your targets are immobolized because they are laughing too hard at the utter douchery that is you.
The rest of the list is passable, I suppose. But all-in-all, this list needs to be put on its knees, a semi put to its head as it begins to quietly weep and hears…
“And shepherds we shall be,
For Thee, my Lord, for Thee.
Power hath descended forth from Thy hand,
That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command.
So we shall flow a river forth to Thee
And teeming with souls shall it ever be.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et SpiritÅ«s Sancti.”
definately leon for #1. coolest death of an assassin by far..
“this.. is from matilda..”
grenade pins? BOOM
What about Jean Reno’s character in “The Professional” that movie is fucking amazing.
Jason Bourne, without a shred of doubt!
I agree with the nomination of ‘the jackal’ but only for the original movie “The Day of the Jackal” since the remake was a travesty of both the book and previous movie.
Long Live El Mariachi!
you guys definitely forgot about Chow Yun Fat in “The Replacement Killers”.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith and also Hitman should be here. WTF? Who picked this weak ass list?
Hey! What about Kevin Spacey? Kayser Soze!!!!
[...] Parece que con el boom del Joker en “Batman: The Dark Knight†ahora los villanos son los protagonistas. Esta vez, la gente de heckler SPRAY hizo una lista de los 10 mejores asesinos del cine. [...]
Clint Eastwood in unforgiven.
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HEY WHAT ABOUT JEAN RENO I THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE LEFT HIM OFF BECAUSE IM A FUCKING MORON WHO CANT READ
[...] Top 10 Movie Assassins: Why are death dealers so damn appealing? (HS) 07.24.08 | Link [...]
[...] moment om films te kijken. Toch is het leuk om te kijken wie nu de hardste film moordenaars zijn. Hecklerspray heeft er 10 op een rijtje gezet. Ik vind die kerel uit “No Country for old men” wel [...]
[...] kills me: Should be titled “absolutely unrelated,” but it’s not. Top Ten Assassin, and of those, three are Texas-based. That I know. Desperado No Country for Old Men Kill Bill Kill [...]
[...] ver filme, seja no cinema ou em DVD. Gosta de filmes de assassinatos? Que tal uma lista feita pelo Heckler Spray com os 10 maiores assassinos do [...]
[...] We reckoned he was involved in one of the best scenes with one of the top ten movie assassins. [...]
+1 vote for “Clint Eastwood in unforgiven.”
Don’t worry…I loved the list and Leon is right where he should be.
Ichi the killer should have been on there…
I can’t believe the movie “Assassins” is not on here, you know, the one with Sylvester Stallone AND Antonio Banderas in it. That should definitely be on this list.
Some thoughts to commentors:
Everyone who said Jean Reno or makes a reference to The Professional, please remember there are 10 items in a “top 10″ list; you obviously missed the last one.
Badasses though they were, Bond, Clint Eastwood, and Keyser Soze were NOT assassins, and are therefore disqualified from the list.
The Hitman was a joke. Really. A bad one at that.
The same goes for Assassins.
Everyone else has valid points. So go and make your own blog, listing this post on your “Top 10 Wrong Blog Posts of All Time”. I’d invite y’all to view my blog (to prove that I back my words with action), but I don’t want your idiocy to bring the quality of my site down.
Boba Fett.
Technically, a bounty hunter, but I’m sure he did a great line in assassinations.
I’m certainly not quite top ten material, but how about an honourable mention for my character in Wanted?