So this has happened several times when I’ve tried to put lists together, but I never expected this particular “Hit List” to get delayed this many weeks. October showed up faster than I thought, and well, its really the only month a year I spend dedicated to Horror movies, but hey, these things happen. Unfortunately, we can safely say that my efficiency is not as strong as some of the guys on this list.
But, I do on occasion have a penchant for some tenacity, and so this week we’re finally getting back to the list, and we’ll just try to play this by ear. Maybe we’ll end up having to get back to this list once a month or something, but who knows? At any rate, with Halloween behind us and some bad ass killers on the way, like Bond and Tom Cruise in Valkyrie, it seems like the right time to keep on with this particular list.
So, so far on the we’ve had,
20. The Professor, played by Clive Owen – The Bourne Identity
19. Alex, played by William H. Macy – Panic
18. Terry Tsurugi, played by Sonny Chiba – The Streetfighter
17. Maguire, played by Jude Law – Road to Perdition
16. Hanada Goro, played by Jo Shishido – Branded to Kill
15. El Mariachi, played by Antonio Banderas – The Mariachi Trilogy
14. Jaws, played by Richard Kiel – The Spy Who Loved Me
13. The Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Terminator
And without further ado…
12. Red Grant, played by Robert Shaw – From Russia with Love
“The first one won’t kill you; not the second, not even the third… not till you crawl over here and you KISS MY FOOT!”
Robert Shaw’s Red Grant may actually be the most underrated of all of Bond’s villains. It’s funny, because when you watch From Russia with Love, you’re absolutely transfixed with him as a bad guy. The problem is, when you’re thinking about Bond Villains as a whole for the series, I feel like Grant kind of gets lost in the shuffle because the series’ over the top villains, such as Jaws and Oddjob. It’s too bad, because seemingly everywhere he goes in his 007 appearance, Shaw’s Grant leaves a wake of death and destruction. It’s scary really when you think about Grant’s death toll in this movie, as no one on either side of the Cold War seems safe from his wrath.
Despite his stature not really matching up with Connery’s, he’s completely imposing when the two meet up also. You’ve seen Grant dispatch so many victims up to this point, that it seems wholly plausible that he could take out Bond here, and the two have what is probably the best fight of the entire series. Shaw’s best work though, is throughout the early portions of the movie, as Grant shadows Bond through Istanbul, killing all in his path without saying a single word.
11. Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon – The Bourne Trilogy
“She wouldn’t want me to… That’s the only reason you’re alive.”
I think that if I was just doing a list of Action heroes, especially modern ones, I think that Jason Bourne might actually be a little higher on this list. Here’s the thing, by the time we actually get to meet Jason Bourne, he’s a former assassin, instead an actual hitman. That’s not to say that he’s not completely awesome at killing folks, he just has to be put against the wall to do so. I still felt like he needed to be included though, because he really is a supremely bad ass efficient killer. Apparently no amount of bad guys, security or government funds can actually stop Jason Bourne from doing exactly what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it, and at the end of the series, we get someone that’s too human to get higher on this list, but someone so bad ass I couldn’t completely keep him off either.
10. Jules, played by Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
“There’s a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.
I been sayin’ that sh** for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherf***** before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some sh** this mornin’ made me think twice. Now I’m thinkin’: it could mean you’re the evil man. And I’m the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. I’d like that. But that sh** ain’t the truth. The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be a shepherd”
Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules may actually be the most often quoted killer in the history of cinema. Thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s brilliant, movie-changing script, characters such as Jules, Vincent, Butch and Marcellus Wallace are all pop culture icons now, and Jackson’s Jules may just be the most iconic of the whole bunch. I think despite John Travolta’s Oscar Nomination, its really Jules that people remember more than any other character from the movie, probably because Tarantino gives him the best lines in the entire flick, and would continue to do so for Jackson in QT’s Pulp Fiction follow-up, Jackie Brown as well.
Seriously, no one probably benefits more from a Tarantino script more than Samuel L. Jackson does, and the actor plays it up completely to the hilt here. We’ve seen hitmen have crisis of faith before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one be more philosophical about it. Sure, at first its all just stuff he says to be cool before smokes some fool, but when we actually see Jules start to believe in miracles and doubt his life path, we get drawn deeper and deeper into this movie, and it never really lets go.
9. Martin Q. Blank, played by John Cusack – Grosse Pointe Blank
“Oh, the reason I called… Could you find out who else is in town? I’ve made two spooks and a ghoul already, so if they’ve double-booked the job, and/or they’re going to kill me, I’d like to know. If you could find that out, that’d be great.”
Speaking of crisis of faith, what we’ve got here is the standard issue, awesome John Cusack down on his luck and love character, he just so happens to be a hitman. We get to see Blank do his thing early on, and it doesn’t go as well as he’d like, mostly because he’s starting to doubt his occupation and grow a conscience. At the behest of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he goes back to his home town to attend his high school reunion, work some things out emotionally, and also try and fulfill a job while he’s at it. All conscience problems aside though, when the chips are down and another killer comes after Blank and his new love interest, we get to see probably the most bad ass side of John Cusack ever to be onscreen. Well, except maybe the Tim Robbins killer in High Fidelity.
8. Vincent, played by Tom Cruise – Collateral
“Okay, look, here’s the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we’re into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, sh** happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it.”
Yes, Tom Cruise is crazy, but other than last year’s Lions for Lambs, the man has been the most consistently entertaining mega star of the last decade. The guy has absolutely been on fire, and one of the best roles he’s had is professional killer, Vincent in Michael Mann‘s Collateral. The man is supremely efficient, even changing his plans on the fly and never missing his intended target, whether its on the run or in a crowded nightclub. It helps that Mann puts him in sequences that absolutely make him look like a juggernaut when it comes to taking down dudes, whether he’s breaking the necks of hoods or shooting muggers, two in the heart, one in the head. Despite being a soldier, a samurai, and secret agent, Cruise has maybe never looked this bad ass, and maybe never will again.
See you guys next week with our finale…
