Contract on the Hitman: Difference between revisions
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A professional killer (most likely a [[Hitman with a Heart]]) suddenly finds himself being hunted by the very organization he works for. Cue a plot line involving him taking out other assassins as he works his way through the ranks trying to find out who wants him dead and why.
Sometimes it's because the assassin wants to quit their profession, leading to [[The Syndicate]] (or [[The Government]], or [[Murder, Inc.|whatever other employers he's working for]]) reminding him, in deadly fashion, that [[Resignations Not Accepted|there's only one way to leave]]. Sometimes it's because his employers don't want to pay him for a crucial job or consider him to have [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness]] or [[You Have Failed Me...|failed them in some manner]], particularly if he refused to do a hit for them that the assassin considered to be [[Even Evil Has Standards|against his principles]] (women and kids are an all time favorite, falling [[In Love with the Mark]] being especially common). Sometimes it's revenge for a past loss or embarrassment at the assassin's hands, or because he or she wants something (or someone) that the assassin has and wants him or her out of the way. But most often, the reason for the '''Contract on the Hitman''' is because the employer doesn't want anything linking the killing that the assassin did back to them, and wants the assassin eliminated because—say it with us, people -- [[He Knows Too Much]].
{{examples}}
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** At least until the sequel.
* The Grammaton cleric John Preston in the movie ''[[Equilibrium]]'' is a highly-trained police officer/executioner for the Fascist theocratic government of a mid-21st century police state. Once he [[Hitman with a Heart|recovers his own emotions]] and realizes what monstrous society has been created in the name of peace and transquility, he [[Heel Face Turn|becomes a rebel himself]] and turns the tables on his former employers, {{spoiler|killing the people send out to kill him and executing the head of the State Church.}}
{{quote|"In the first years of the 21st century, a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew mankind could never survive a fourth; that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law: The Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of [[Humans Are
* Belgian [[Film]] ''[[The Alzheimers Case]],'' also known as ''De Zaak Alzheimer'' and ''Memory of a Killer'' features this after the main character refuses to kill a child prostitute.
* The short film ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100722003238/http://www.spike.com/video/talking-dessert/434948 Talking Dessert]''.
* ''Telefon'' (1977). Charles Bronson plays a KGB agent sent to stop a [[Renegade Russian]] who has stolen a list of [[Manchurian Agent]]s that could be used to start [[World War Three]]. In order to ensure that word won't get out about this cock-up, his superiors order a female American [[Double Agent]] to kill Bronson once his mission is complete. {{spoiler|Fortunately she's smart enought to realise that she'll also get the chop for [[He Knows Too Much|knowing too much]], and the two run off together at the end of the movie.}}
* ''[[In Bruges]]'' is an example where the assassin is targeted because [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: he accidentally killed a child with a stray bullet.
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