14. Leone "Léon" Montana - Léon: The Professional
Like George Miller with Mad Max, Luc Besson's approach to revealing the hitman hero in The Professional (also known as Léon) also plays with the use of close ups and silhouettes to build up the excitement before revealing the face. Jean Reno delivers perhaps his finest performance as Léon, a seemingly simple-minded yet thoroughly effective assassin for the Mafia who ends up taking a young girl into his care after her parents are murdered by corrupt police officers. You see his special set of skills in great detail in the opening scene as he takes out one armed henchman after another in real stealth before finally, as his target backs into the shadows, his face emerges from the dark, knife sliding around his target's neck.