The assassin is a figure who holds an unwavering appeal for cinema. Assassins keep the nastiness at arm’s length; they give the impression of a job well done. This mythical figure goes as far back as Alan Ladd in the 1942 noir thriller This Gun For Hire; the combination of the romance of the loner, and the inbuilt guarantee of violence, is irresistible.
A slight variation on the formula gives us a fairly recent phenomenon—that of the dormant assassin who hides his gun-sight under a bushel, or who may not even know the sharp-shooting skills that she possesses.
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