Professional Killer: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'':

** Martin Q. Blank.

*** This trope is also parodied and subverted, as Marty [[Sarcastic Confession|tells everyone he knows that he's an assassin]] but nobody takes him seriously except his psychiatrist.

** Jeremy Grocer is also an assassin. Felix LaPoubelle, Steven Lardner, and Kenneth McCullers, on the other hand, are all hitmen.

* Jet Li's character in... well, ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Hitman]]'' lives an extremely unglamorous life. He rooms with three other bottom-feeder hitmen/thugs, dorm style. To get a job, they essentially have to find an agent to essentially ''advertise'' them as skillful. And even Jet Li's agent is a bottom feeder. The only character with the style of an assassin is the "Killing Angel" who starts the mess of the movie to begin with, and he's not even doing it for the money. {{spoiler|He's a vigilante cop.}}

* In ''[[The Mechanic]]'', Charles Bronson's character trains a young man to also become an assassin.

* Willi Cicci in ''[[The Godfather]]'' parts I and II. As he tells the Senate subcommittee in Part II he was a soldier or "button" for the Corleone family. "When the boss says push a button on a guy, I push a BUTTON."

* Jef Costello, lead character of Jean-Pierre Melville's ''[[Le Samourai]]'', is in most respects an assassin--[[Badass in a Nice Suit]] at all times, extremely suave, highly disciplined and cunning--but other elements of the type are either absent or subverted: he barely speaks, and when he does it's only about the most pragmatic concerns; he lives in a two-room dump of an apartment with the paint peeling off the walls and only his pet bird (who also doesn't talk) for company. His only concerns are practicing his craft with the utmost professionalism and perfection, and maintaining an exacting sense of honor...especially when {{spoiler|his employers try to have him killed at the payoff for being spotted by a witness leaving the scene of the job and being brought in by the police for questioning.}}

* ''[[The Tournament]]'' is about [[Department of Redundancy Department|a tournament]] where [[Professional Killer|Professional Killers]] and soldiers fight each other to the death to win a lot of money, all for the amusement of decadent, rich people. The movie portrays both [[Hitman with a Heart|sympathetic killers]] who genuinely want to quit their business as well as [[Ax Crazy]] [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].

* Joubert, the freelance Alsatian killer in ''[[Three Days of the Condor]]''. Always polite, even to the extent of giving the protagonist a lift to the train station when he no longer has a contract against him.

'''Joubert''': Oh, no. It's quite restful. It's almost peaceful. [[Neutral Evil|No need to believe in either side, or any side.]] There is no cause. There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision. }}

* Angel Eyes in ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' is a soulless mercenary who hunts down and executes targets for [[Only in It For the Money|the money]]. He's portrayed as an utterly cold-blooded sociopath who doesn't so much as bat an eye while having a man tortured in front of him, extorts money from prisoners of war, and always sees a job through to the end once he's been paid.

* [[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]] is an Assassin.

** In the opening of the 2006 ''[[Casino Royale]]'' M laments that Bond doesn't demonstrate the required professionalism:

'''M:''' Any thug can kill. I need you to take your ego out of the equation. }}

** Odd that Bond always seems so cool, he is described in the novels as simply a "blunt instrument wielded by dolts in high places".

* In "Johnny Mnemonic," a Yakuza assassin comes after Johnny. He looks like a humble little Japanese tourist, but he's actually a vat-grown super-assassin who ultimately tangles with [[Action Girl]] Molly Millions. Interestingly, he's painted like a hitman when Molly recounts Johnny's fate in ''[[Neuromancer]]''. She states that the Yakuza's first killer was all speed and flash, a rather typical affair. The second killer they send, however, was like a monk, who walked right through all of Johnny's traps and defenses like they were air.

* Master Chiun and Remo Williams from the ''Destroyer'' series are both assassins, even if Remo's attitude and style fits more in line with that of a hitman.

* The Mongols go up against the historical Assassins in the third ''[[Conqueror]]'' book. They're certainly stylish and cool, but still come off as evil.

* John Clark in [[Tom Clancy]] novels is a government assassin, a highly trained [[Cold Sniper]]. In ''Without Remorse'', he decides to [[Vigilante Man|apply his skills on a free agent basis]] to a vendetta against several local criminals, both the criminals and the police comment on the differences between the way he commits a murder and the way Mafia hit men would carry it out.

* In the last two books of the [[Time Scout]] series, a small horde of these follow a few of our heroes through a number of time strings.

* [[The Phantom of the Opera]]: In the original book by Gaston Leroux, according to the Persian, Erik, the titular phantom, [[Backstory|did this as part of his work for the Sha-in-Sha]]:

* The ''[[Dragaera]]'' series features a number of professional assassins, including Vlad Taltos, Cawti and Mario Greymist.

* [[Belisarius Series]]: Range from thugs-for-hire to martial arts experts comparable to Ninja.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'':

** The Sniper and the Spy are assassins; the Spy is an especially stereotypical example, with his [[Tuxedo and Martini|fine suit and upper-class mannerisms]]. The Sniper is a bit more down-to-earth.

** As shown above, Sniper's parents consider their son to be option 2.

*** It's ironic that he actually notes the difference between a "crazed gunman" and an assassin, [[Fridge Brilliance|considering that psychologists don't distinguish between the two nowadays.]]

* Thane Krios in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is the most feared and deadly assassin in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe.

** And he has something to say about all those other 'professionals' you've fought.

** ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' gives us Kai Leng, an evil cyber-enhanced assassin who works for Cerberus, and is a [[Hero-Killer]] who offs several fan-favorites {{spoiler|including Thane, if he's still alive in that game}} with a [[Katanas Are Just Better|shirasaya blade]]. It is immensely satisfying when you finally kill him {{spoiler|with your own omni-blade}}.

* ''[[No More Heroes]]'':