The Hit List is a 2011 American action thriller film directed by William Kaufman. The film stars Cuba Gooding Jr., with a supporting cast of Cole Hauser, Jonathan LaPaglia and Ginny Weirick.
Allan Campbell (Hauser), a man who has suffered a Humiliation Conga of a day, goes to a bar to drown his sorrows. While there,he meets Jonas Arbor (Gooding), who claims to be a Professional Killer. In a drunken moment of bonding, and believing that Arbor is joking, Allan provides him with a list of five people he wishes were dead. Allan thinks no more about it until the people on his list start turning up dead. Detective Neil McKay (LaPaglia) investigates and Allan becomes his prime suspect. No longer believing the events to be a practical joke, Allan must set out to put a stop to the killings before it is too late for his wife, who happens to be the last name on the list.
Tropes
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: The police report that after shooting Gates in the stomach, his killer allowed him to writhe around in agony on the floor for an hour before finishing him off.
- Astronomic Zoom: Opens with an astronomic zoom into Seattle as 'SEATTLE,WA' is typed on to the screen.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: Or milk, in this case. After Gates is shot in his kitchen, his blood mingles with milk spilled on the floor.
- Car Fu: Jonas runs down Brian Felzner before getting out of the car and shooting him.
- Danger Takes a Backseat: After Gates is murdered, Allan tries to phone Brian Feltzer, the next name on the list, to warn him. Unable to reach him, Allan jumps in his car, intending to drive to where Brian-is to warn him in person. However, Jonas is waiting in the back seat of Allan's car and claps a gun to Allan's head before explaining that now he has started killing, the only way for Allan to stop him murdering all five people on the list will be for Allan to kill him.
- Dead-Hand Shot: When Arbor shoots Gates, the camera shows the glass of milk Gates was holding hit the floor and shatter, and the Gates' hand outstretched hand landing in the spilt milk.
- Doomed New Clothes: Just before going into an important meeting with his boss, Allan spills coffee over his pristine white shirt, forcing him to borrow a shirt from a coworker.
- Enemies List: Jonas gets Allan to write down a list of five people he would like to see dead on a napkin; offering to kill them for him, starting with #5. Allan, drunk and assuming that Jonas is joking, does so.Only when the fifth name on the list—his boss—is murdered does he realise that Jonas was serious.
- Extremely Short Timespan: A little over two days. The film starts late at night as Jonas decides not to complete his current contract and goes off to murder O'Bannion. The following day Allan suffers his Humiliation Conga and meets Jonas in a bar that night. The next day Jonas starts killing the people on Allan's hit list. The siege at the police station occurs that night, and the film end on the aftermath the next morning.
- Flashback Nightmare: : The film opens with Jonas having a flashback nightmare about his service in Desert Storm.
- Humiliation Conga: Allan Campbell, a man desperate for a promotion to escape the clutches of a Loan Shark, spills coffee on his shirt just before his meeting with his boss. In the meeting, the boss gives the promotion to an annoying Jerkass with less seniority whom Allan believes stole his idea. Heading home, he finds his wife screwing his best friend. Then he heads out to a bar to drown his sorrows, where he meets a mysterious stranger who offers to kill five people for him..
- Incurable Cough of Death: Jonas Arbor suffers from a cough throughout the film that is a symptom of a terminal illness he contracted from exposure to depleted uranium ammunition during his military service.
- Loan Shark: Allan is in hock to loan shark Dom Estacado, who becomes name #3 on Allan's hit list.
- Look Both Ways: Brian Felzner backs away from Allan and steps into the street,where he is immediately run down by Arbor.
- Mugged for Disguise: Arbor murders the two police officers sent to collect Mike Dodd, then steals the uniform from one of them and poses as a cop to ambush Dodd.
- My God, What Have I Done?: This is Allan's reaction upon realising that Jonas was serious about murdering the five people on his 'hit list' and has started doing so.
- Professional Killer: Jonas Arbor is an assassin for an unnamed government black ops agency. Suffering from a terminal illness, he goes off-reservation and starts killing targets of his choosing.
- Punk in the Trunk: Jonas leaves Mike Dodd's body in the trunk of the police cruiser he parks outside the station, rigged with a bomb set to go off shortly after the trunk is opened.
- Suicide by Cop: Jonas Arbor's systematic murder of the people on Allan Campbell's hit list is intended to goad Allan into killing him: telling Allan that the only way he will stop is if Allan stops him. He has plenty of opportunity to allow the actual police to kill him, but he is fixated on Allan being the one to kill him.
- Title In: Opens with an Astronomic Zoom into Seattle as 'SEATTLE,WA' is typed on to the screen. When the action jumps to Washington,D.C.','WASHINGTON, D.C.' is typed on the screen. The action then shifts back to Seattle for the rest of the film.
- Trail of Blood: Jonas tracks Allan and Sydney through the police station by following the blood trail from Sydney's wounded leg.
