I have this specific scene in my mind, and the idea that I’ve seen it in several movies, but I can’t pin it down.
The scene is this: The main villain is sitting in his office or lair or something, usually mid-way into the movie, and talking to a (this is crucial) previously unintroduced character, ordering said character to kill or capture the hero/s of the movie. Then, some time later, while the heroes are on their way, they will run into this “assassin” character that we saw earlier. Usually it’s spaced out just enough so that the audience will forget about the “assassin” character that has been on the heroes’ trail, and it will be kind of unexpected when they are stopped. (This assassin character usually gets killed, of course.)
I think there may have been an instance of this in one or more Star Wars movies. Like, when Darth Vader is talking to his officers and he says, “General Veers, prepare your troops for surface assault” or something, and then later we see Veers with the Walkers attacking. That’s not quite the best example of this I can think of, but it’s one example.
Also, though I hardly remember the movie at all, I recal in Shrek 2 the evil king orders a Puss-in-Boots cat character to kill the heroes, and then we don’t see Shrek encounter the cat until later on in the movie and it’s kind of a surprise.
I swear I must have seen a billion movies where this happens. Any others?
I just remembered another one: David Lynch’s Wild At Heart, where the evil Mexican villain sends out this weirdly-tall, creepy woman to kill Johnny Farragut.
The “assassin” character is usually really distinctive looking and quirky.
It doesn’t quite turn out like the bad guys hoped, but there’s Boondock Saints, where they bust Il Duce out of prison to go after the title characters.
Oh yeah, and in the very underrated Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead…Steve Buscemi’s character Buckwheat (I think that’s his name, although he’s credited as something else in the credits.)
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Cloris Leachman’s character in High Anxiety dispatches a henchman to kill Mel Brooks’ character (of course she does, but I mean in the manner as described in the OP).
The various Pink Panther movies (well, the Sellers ones, I haven’t suffered enough brain damage to sit through the Steve Martin version) typically involve this element; assassins sent after Clouseau.
Sort of, but not quite: Alfred Hitchcock’s THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (the one with Jimmy Stewart) has a guy knock on Jimmy Stewart’s hotel room door, the camera zooms in to his face, he says something like “Oh, sorry, wrong room.” Then later he’s the hired assassin and in with the kidnappers.
Flushed Away. The Toad send his cousin Le Frog to recover the all important Master Cable from our plucky heroes. The ensuing confrontation is the funniest scene in a badly underappreciated movie. I mean, c’mon! A French kung-fu frog assassin voiced by Jean Reno? Genius!
…oddly you missed the one form the same movie where Vader assembles the Bounty Hunters to go and capture the heroes. Pretty much exactly what you describe except for “no disintegrations”.
Bourne Identity. You see all the assassins getting activated for duty by Chris Cooper. Clive Owen in Barcelona, the spiky haired guy in Rome, and another guy in Munich.
Clive Owen gets called away to kill the guy Bourne was originally supposed to, so you see him again right away and again later at the farmhouse.
The guy from Rome you don’t see again until he swings through the door of Bourne’s apartment and they have that fight with the pen.
The guy from Munich you don’t ever see again until the next movie. It’s safe to say I’d forgotten about him by then.
Yes, yes, yes!! This was one of the ones that was lingering at the back of my mind, believe it or not, as an example of what I mean. I watched that movie a lot as a kid and always thought the Huntsman was one of the most badass characters ever.