Hitmen are hired guns, or people whopaint houses for a living, that kill off undesirable people for their paying clients. Contract killing is an illegal agreement performed in exchange for profit or another form of compensation. While dealings are kept hush-hush and exclusive, the life of hitmen is a lonely road, one that puts their lives at risk. Murders are harder to trace and associate with the hiring party, making the hitman a direct suspect.
Hitmen work under rules of secrecy yet muddy the waters of the criminal underworld. As a part of organized crime, a misnomer is that they arepegged as serial killers. The hitman has no emotional incentives (which creates this label) so their services are never personal and strictly business. Movie hitmen get entangled in complicated ties that they cut, resorting to deadly force.
10Vincent - Collateral (2004)
Collateralstars Tom Cruise as Vincent, a hitman who takes a cab driver hostage as he completes a contract killing spree in California. As he disposes of his targets, the LAPD follow his trail. All of his victims are connected to his client, and Vincent’s sloppy work has made him a target. The cab driver jeopardizes the hitman’s mission by throwing his briefcase of leads into traffic. Vincent, instead of retrieving the hit list again from his informant himself, he has the cab driver pose as him to get them.
The last target is lost when the cab driver overpowers Vincent in a shootout, leading to the hitman’s death. For a hitman, Vincent gets hit more than he makes hits.
9Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega - Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fictionfollows hitman Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta, and his partner in crime Jules Winnfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson, performing a contract killing. They narrowly survive the ordeal and question retiring from the business. They get a hostage out of the situation, but Vincent accidentally shoots the hostage in their car in broad daylight. Later, he is tasked with protecting his boss' wife, but indirectly leaves heroin out, which she overdoses on.
The last mistake Jules makesis leaving his gun unattended when he uses the bathroom at his target’s house, where he is killed. His mindset was out of the killing business, which led to his downfall.
8Arthur Bishop - The Mechanic (1972)
The Mechanicfollows Charles Bronson as Arthur Bishop, who is known as a mechanic. Working for a secret agency, he is forced to live alone and the stresses of the job give him an emotional breakdown. After Arthur is contracted to kill one of the organization’s leaders, he attends his funeral, where the leader’s son grows interested in becoming a mechanic. Steve trains him, but receives backlash from the agency, seeing this act as a violation of his one rule.
Arthur enjoys the company, but learns that his boss' son has poisoned him. Preparing for the worst,Arthur made a contingency planin case he died. At his home, the son claims his Ford Mustang as his own until a trigger primes the car to explode with the son in it.
7Jason Bourne - The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Bourne Supremacyhas Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin who is framed for an internal government attack on Russia. Agents of his defunct CIA program Operation Treadstone are trying to terminate him, as his happenings are unknown to him due to his amnesia. Bourne cleans up loose ends and tracks down the culprits despite the blur in memory.
He successfully gathers evidence against his perpetrators and leaves his gun behind for the two criminals to decide their fate. Bourne also learns his true identity before returning to his birthplace and closing his case.
6Richard Kuklinski - The Iceman (2012)
The Icemanis about real-life hitman Richard Kuklinski, played by Michael Shannon. Kuklinski lives a double life as a family man anda degenerate contract killer. Brought on by his father’s abuse from when he was a child, Kuklinski exhibits irascible and violent outbursts that affect his home life. After his killings become few and far between, leading to endangering his family and his arrest, his identity and career as a hitman is revealed and ended at the same time.
Related:Best Serial Killer Movies Based on or Inspired by True Stories
5Anton Chigurh - No Country for Old Men (2007)
No Country for Old Menfollows Javier Bardem as hitman Anton Chigurh, who searches for a money drop in a Texas desert. The money was abandoned after a drug deal gone wrong and confiscated by a Vietnam War veteran. Anton uses a tracking device to find the stolen briefcase, as well as a bolt pistol for quick kills and stealthy entries. His misanthropic sense of dualism and choices through arbitrary yet ruthless coin tosses make him an unpredictable hitman.
Related:Movies and Shows Where You Root for a Murderer, Ranked
4Agent 47 - Hitman (2007)
Hitmanstars Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, a boy chosen and trained by the Organization to become a hitman. His methods are precise, clean, and undetectable. He is a master of disguise, hand-to-hand combat, firearms, and demolitions. When the Organization uses 47 as a political pawn to win a plutocracy with the Russian government, the hitman makes quick work of turning the tables.
3Robert McCall - The Equalizer (2014)
The Equalizeris Robert McCall, played by Denzel Washington, a former U.S. Marine and CIA intelligence officer who now works in a hardware store and lives a quiet life. He meets a sex worker at his local diner, who is later hospitalized by her brothel keeper. Robert attempts to buy her freedom, but the man he asks, and the men he killed, work for a Russian crime syndicate. He uses his background in weapons, research, and investigation to exact vigilante justice.
2Leon - Léon: The Professional (1994)
Léon: The Professionalis a hitman from New York played by Jean Reno. Léon is an immigrant who had a promising future as a family man until the woman he loved was killed. Now he works for the Italian mob, emotionless and militant in his contract killings. He later adopts and befriends a little girl in his apartment building after her family is killed by crooked cops due to her father using the drugs he was hiding for them. His heart is softened by her innocence and maturity, redeeming Léon for the life he never had.
1John Wick - John Wick (2014)
John Wickhas Keanu Reeves as a hitman whocomes out of retirementafter the Russian mafia steals his car and kills his dog, a gift from his deceased wife. John is a weapon specialist and his methods are relentless. He aims for the head first, trading equally fatal blows, meeting every challenger with precision and focus. John Wick is not a man to be trifled with, be it for a car or a dog.
