The Top 10 Best Movie Mercenaries
These Movie Mercenaries Want You To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.
Luckily for audiences, movie mercenaries will do anything for the right price. I saw “luckily” because usually, that means lots of gunfights, explosions, and fists flying. That’s why I’ve decided to pull together a list of the best movie mercenaries of all time. Now, in order to qualify for this list, the characters have to be former military, spies, etc, Who are working for the all mighty dollar now (no “legitimate” ties to government organizations). They can either be good guys or bad guys, but they have to be taking a job for the money initially. A change of conscience or taking vengeance on an employer that betrayed them will also count. I’ve decided not to include assassins on this list since a mercenary is technically just a soldier for hire. Also, I’ll be including groups on here as well as individuals. The end result is a list of characters that you definitely don’t want to bounce a check with, but if you’re in trouble, they just might be the best help you can hire.
10. Agent M. Kruger- Elysium
Kicking off this list of movie mercenaries is Sharlto Copley’s psychotic Agent M. Kruger from Elysium. He’s definitely not one of the good guys, and a brief glimpse at his record shows that he’s done some pretty horrible things, including (but not limited to) war crimes. A sleeper agent working for the Civil Cooperation Bureau as one of their top soldiers of fortune, Kruger has a team of his own that adopted “a goat” as their insignia since it’s believed to be a pet of the devil. That should give you some idea as to the mentality of the men that serve under him. Highly skilled and with a slew of mental issues (including paranoia, antisocial personality, and anger management issues), Kruger is a man who takes his job personally and refuses to give up, even if his adversary is packing a badass mech suit.
9. Rambo- Rambo
Speaking of highly trained soldiers with mental issues, did you know that Rambo actually served as a mercenary in his fourth film, Rambo? The film shows an aging John Rambo in Thailand trying to live in peace after years of bloodshed. When a group of Christian aid workers is kidnapped by a ruthless warlord, he joins a team of mercenaries heading upriver to rescue them. Of course, Rambo doesn’t want any trouble and only accepts payment to transport the mercs in his boat, but once he sees just how outmatched they are against the Thai militia, he reluctantly swings into action. I’m sure we can all guess what happens next as he brutally picks off the soldiers one by one. While he’s not a full-time soldier of fortune, this “incident” is enough to earn Rambo a spot on this list of movie mercs.
8. Mallory Kane- Haywire
Who says the best movie mercenaries are all men? One of the toughest of all time just so happened to be played by former MMA fighter, Gina Carano. Steven Soderberg gave her a starring role in his thriller, Haywire that features an elite soldier working for a private intelligence firm. Kane starts the film out serving as muscle for the organization before they make the stupid mistake of trying to betray her. Being a certified badass, Kane doesn’t take this lying down and instead works her way through an army of other mercs as she tries to find out why her former employer wants her dead. No matter who they send after her, Mallory knocks them down and keeps on coming. It just goes to show that you should never judge a block ops mercenary by their gender.
7. Sam- Ronin
So far the movie mercenaries on this list have been the kind to go into a situation with guns blazing. However, some jobs require a more surgical approach. That’s where former CIA operative, Sam comes in. He and several other mercs are hired by a mysterious employer to retrieve a special briefcase. They’re not given much more to go on other than that, but it becomes clear from the get-go that Sam’s skills are perfectly suited for this kind of mission. He knows how to keep a low profile, has the intelligence to quickly analyze any situation, is good in a fight, and a devil behind the wheel. Considering how good he is at his job, anyone would be a fool to double-cross him. Well, a lot of movies wouldn’t happen if smarter people were in charge, and that’s just what happens in Ronin, which proves pretty unfortunate for the bad guys.
6. Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer and his Team- Predator
The first squad of movie mercenaries to earn a spot on this list is Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer’s Rescue team. Dutch’s team is initially called in by the CIA to help rescue hostages in the middle of a Central American jungle. Well, the CIA isn’t exactly the most trustworthy intelligence agency in the world, and it’s soon revealed that they aren’t the only ones in the jungle. Despite being made up of a ton of big-screen tough guys, like former WWE wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Sonny Landham, his team is picked off by one of the scariest aliens to ever appear on the big screen, the Yautja. Unfortunately for the titular “predator,” Dutch happens to be one hell of an alien killer and puts all his skills to use taking on the intergalactic big game hunter. While Dutch is definitely one of the best movie mercenaries of all time, I also want to give a shout out to Adrian Brodie’s Royce from Predators.