10 Most Memorable Hammer-Wielding Movie Characters

These guys probably get some awkward looks at the hardware store.

Django Unchained Leonardo DiCaprio Calvin Candie
TWC

Movie violence is predominantly focused around guns and knives, from the goriest R-rated horror films to the oddly bloodless killing of today's PG-13 blockbusters. Anyone who has watched their fair share of violent movies has seen countless people leaking blood from gunshot wounds and dozens of people hacked down with blades of various lengths.

It's always more interesting when movie characters decide to take a slightly different tack for their weaponry. Improvised firepower adds a frisson of uncomfortable danger, as opposed to the desensitisation many cinemagoers feel when a character pulls out a gun. The most prominent of these weapons is a hammer, which is the film character's weapon of choice for inflicting horrible blunt force trauma.

There's something identifiable about a hammer. Very few people in a movie audience will know what it feels like to be shot, but almost everybody has inadvertently hit themselves on the finger with a hammer at some stage in their life. This makes the violence easier to relate to and, therefore, even more horrifying than the most elaborate bloodletting of something like the traps in the Saw franchise.

So, from comic book heroes to the most hateful of villains, the hammer pops up frequently throughout the history of cinema, whenever characters are in need of a bop on the head.

10. Ramona Flowers (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)

Django Unchained Leonardo DiCaprio Calvin Candie
Universal Pictures

Mary Elizabeth Winstead finds herself sidelined for much of the action sequences in Edgar Wright's crazy comic book adaptation. It's Michael Cera, as the eponymous Scott, who is forced to square off against Ramona's litany of evil exes. There is, however, a notable moment in which Ramona joins the fray in order to ward off her former lover Roxy, when Scott refuses to hit a girl.

As she prepares for battle, Ramona wields a comically enormous CGI hammer, rendered using the film's entertaining 8-bit game aesthetic. The hammer proves to be more of a defensive tool for Ramona to protect herself against Roxy and it's ultimately chucked out of a window, where it lands in such a way that it feels like a clear homage to another, comic book themed entry on this list.

While the hammer Ramona uses is not a major part of her character, it's an arresting and fun visual image for one of the movie's stranger fight scenes. When a battle culminates in a knee-tickle induced, fatal orgasm, there's very little a hammer can do to make an impact.

Contributor
Contributor

Freelance film journalist and fan of professional wrestling. Usually found in a darkened screening room looking for an aisle seat and telling people to put away their mobile phones. Also known to do a bit of stand-up comedy, so I'm used to the occasional heckle.