SPOILER WARNING: From the shocking and unexpected kills in Martin Scorsese's The Departed to the fight till' your last breath moments in Lord of The Rings, these are the ten of the most epic death sequences that cement everlasting, cinematic badass-ery.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio – The Departed
When I first saw Leonardo DiCaprio take a bullet point blank to the face in Marty Scorsese's absolutely amazing The Departed, I couldn't believe what had happened. The entire sequence was edited perfectly and showed that nobody is safe, including the main character of a film. Viewers were on the edge of their seats, assuming that DiCaprio was en route to victory after grabbing the sly Matt Damon but that quick elevator ride ended in one of the most shocking deaths ever filmed.
The stunned look on Damon's face is priceless as his partner casually escorts him out of the elevator after blasting DiCaprio's head to pieces. Viewers who saw that for the first time were in awe of what had just happened and Damon's expression and subsequent cover-up kills topped off what is no doubt one of Scorsese's best films and one of the greatest crime movies of all time.
9. Bill Murray – Zombieland
Bill Murray's quick appearance in this zom-com is one of his most memorable roles ever. After our group of survivors stumble upon Murray to discover that he's in fact still alive and hiding from the zombie apocalypse in his home, we're treated to a hilarious Ghostbusters roleplay session and a roundtable of pot smoking with Woody Harrelson.
What comes next though is one of the funniest scenes in movie history as Murray decides to trick Jesse Eisenberg by pretending to be a zombie and surprising him. After a quick reflex and killer instinctual draw, Eisenberg takes his shotun after thinking a zombie had made its way into the home and blasts Murray. The actor doesn't die right off the bat and even apologizes saying, "It's alright". The sequence steals the entire film and will go down as a classic for years to come.
8. Brad Pitt – Burn After Reading
The Cohen Brothers are known for their complete and utter disregard for saving their characters. This couldn't have been truer in their dark comedy Burn After Reading when viewers were treated to Brad Pitt's smirking face being blown completely off by a terrified George Clooney. After Pitt's annoying but enigmatically dimwitted gym trainer hides in a closet after it's resident (The Cloon) unexpectedly comes home, nobody could have guessed what would happen next.
As Clooney gets dressed, Pitt stands still in the closet trying to be as quiet as possible before Clooney opens the closet door, screams, and proceeds to shoot a smiling, overly confused Pitt at point blank in the forehead. Everything happens so fast in this scene, it's hard to take in what the hell just happened and Clooney's literal quick-fire response to the events are absolutely hilarious. This is by far my favorite scene in the film and a testament to the Cohens' beloved but disturbing sense of humor.
7. Sean Bean - Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of The Ring
The joke is that actor Sean Bean dies in absolutely every project he's in. Whether he's being ripped in half by horses in Black Death or stampeded by cows, Bean is seemingly destined to be killed in everything he's in. But none of those deaths are as memorable as his redeeming fight to the bitter end in the first of Peter Jackson's epic fantasy trilogy.
After attempting to steal Frodo's ring of power, Bean was on the verge of completely turning into the film's most dangerous antagonist. That all changed when he realized what he had done was wrong and he ended up defending the hobbits by fighting to the death against the terrifying orc soldiers in a showdown that steals the film. After taking repeated arrows to the chest, Bean refuses to go down and continues to battle his enemies, sword in hand, in what is no doubt one of the most epic deaths ever filmed. His passing is heartbreaking and showed audiences that even morally ambiguous characters can be remembered as heroes.
6. Matthew McConaughey – Reign of Fire
The bearded, bald, tribal tatted McConaughey may have been a walking gruff voiced cliché in this dragon apocalypse film, but the absolutely bats*** crazy way his character dies here is beautiful. The movie starred Chistian Bale as a timid leader, trying to keep his colony of survivors alive after dragons ravaged the planet. Then one day, a US fleet of soldiers led by McConaughey enter the area and convince Bale to stand up and fight instead of hide.
This of course leads to a final showdown where Bale is forced into confrontation with the dragon queen in a rundown shell of a city. After taking off his shirt, because that's what McConaughey does dammit, he begins to climb a gigantic ladder and take shots at the massive dragon with his crossbow loaded with explosive arrows. After he fails at taking down the beast, he makes his last stand atop the tower, hoists his battle-axe and leaps directly into the face of the dragon. It would have been awesome if he axe-killed the dragon right? But yeah, he was eaten to death in mid-air instead. It was a very wicked way to go and helped save what was a mediocre film with one giant axe-wielding leap.
5. John Travolta – Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's criminal underground masterpiece saved John Travolta's career. The veteran had been on the downswing during the early 90's until he was cast as a heroin shooting, sleaze-dancing hitman in Tarantino's finest hour. What made the movie so memorable is it's masterful script and quote-crazy dialog, but inbetween the lines, audiences were treated to some shocking and much unexpected character demise.
When Bruce Willis walks into his apartment to retrieve his gold watch, he thinks he's in the clear after realizing that no thugs are in the area after he screwed over a mob boss. That is – until after he plugs a pop-tart in and notices a silenced semi-automatic machine gun casually placed on the kitchen countertop. Looking around confused, Willis picks up the gun and hears a toilet flush.
Standing ready and aimed, Willis sees a dimwitted Travolta walk out of the bathroom and proceeds to fire a ridiculous amount of bullets into the hitman as his poptart shoots from the toaster. The end result is a blood splattered bathroom where Travolta's memorable character lay dead beside the toilet as a result of his own stupidity. It's a shocking, funny and brutal reminder that Tarantino isn't playing around.
4. Buck The Gorilla – Rise of The Planet of The Apes
Although Andy Serkis' portrayal of the mighty ape Caesar will be remembered most from this absolutely stunning prequel and one of 2011's finest films – it was Buck the silverback gorilla's sacrificial war-jump that climaxes the movie. After the Golden Gate Bridge became the battle ground between ape and man during the closing moments of Rise of The Planet of The Apes, it began to look bleak for the primates when a helicopter equipped with a machine gun began circling the area and decimating the defenseless animals.
When Caeser ends up getting caught in the crossfire, his enforcer of his newfound ape army shoves the mighty leader aside and begins to beat his chest and roar. After getting riddled with bullets, Buck charges towards the low-flying helicopter, leaps off the bridge and smashes into it. Buck is now flailing his massive arms inside the spiraling out of control chopper before it smashes into the bridge in a fiery mess. Caeser pulls Buck out of the wreckage as the gorilla warrior delivers his final breath holding his leader's hand. Buck's demise may have been tear-jerking, but what a bad-ass way to go.
3. Al Pacino – Scarface
It may be the most played out sequence of dialog ever, as viewers are constantly treated to awful jokes involving "Say hello to my little friend", but the original scenes are far from a laughing matter. After a coked out Pacino is left cornered in his office while rebels invade his home, the drug fueled and enraged crimelord preps for battle by loading his machinegun, fully equipped with a grenade launcher for kicks.
As the rebels reach the doors to his office, Pacino drops the line in question and blasts a grenade at the door, sending his enemies flying. As the smoke begins to clear, our cocaine fueled anti-hero walks out and begins machine-gunning what remains of his foes. Pacino repeatedly takes several bullets and never slows down once, even screaming at one point, "I take your bullet!". It all ends though when a slow walking retro shades wearing assassin comes up behind Pacino and blasts him in the spine with a shotgun, sending the drug kingpin to the water below ending one of the most violent and epic gun battle climaxes ever filmed.
2. Nicolas Cage – Kick-Ass
Nicolas Cage has been in a lot of bad movies the past few years. But because he's been in every second film ever made the past five years, he inevitably wanders into something brilliant, that he can fully embrace his 'crazy' in. The comic adapted Kick-Ass is just that film. Playing a costumed vigilante who trains his 12-year-old daughter to be a killer, Cage is in his essence here. He comes off as both dorky and terrifying when we're shown his full murderous capabilities in the warehouse scene shown through a teddy bear cam.
Eventually Cage's character, Big Daddy, gets captured and tied to a chair alongside our geeky teen hero Kick-Ass himself. While the two are being tortured nearly to death, Cage's on-screen daughter shows up and saves the day by systematically eliminating all of the mobsters. Cage ends up shouting code-word strategic commands to Hit-Girl, even while he's slowly set on fire. While Hit-Girl takes down each remaining enemy, Cage's screams can be heard in the background, transforming the entire sequence into one of the most memorable performances of the actor's entire career. As he eventually passes, viewers are treated to the 'good-crazy' Nic Cage they all know and love in the spirit of Face-Off.
1. Kevin Bacon - Sleepers
The number one death on this list gives me chills every time I watch the sequence of events unfold. After spending nearly all of his run-time as a security guard at a home for troubled children too young for jail, Bacon shines in his most evil performance ever. Playing an abusive, perverse and molest-tastic guard, we're shown Bacon's continuous abuse of these poor kids from Hell's Kitchen until the day they finally get released.
Flash forward a bunch of years later, we're shown two of the kids all grown up as they enter a bar in New York. One of the men takes a trip to the washroom and notices a disheveled Bacon sitting in the back eating his food alone. As actor Ron Eldard walks into the bathroom, all of his horrible memories of abuse come back to him as he washes his face and looks in the mirror. The song Witchi Tai To plays in the background and adds to the scene in an amazing way as all of this tension comes to a head.
After Eldard and his friend, played by Billy Crudup confront their former abuser in the bar, they face their fear for the last time and proceed to shoot Bacon in the groin, chest, arms and eventually the forehead. The unraveling of violence has never felt so satisfying as Bacon meets his bloody end after putting on the most evil performance of his entire career. It is the most satisfying scene of revenge that I have ever seen in a film and that is why it is my top choice.
source
10. Leonardo DiCaprio – The Departed
When I first saw Leonardo DiCaprio take a bullet point blank to the face in Marty Scorsese's absolutely amazing The Departed, I couldn't believe what had happened. The entire sequence was edited perfectly and showed that nobody is safe, including the main character of a film. Viewers were on the edge of their seats, assuming that DiCaprio was en route to victory after grabbing the sly Matt Damon but that quick elevator ride ended in one of the most shocking deaths ever filmed.
The stunned look on Damon's face is priceless as his partner casually escorts him out of the elevator after blasting DiCaprio's head to pieces. Viewers who saw that for the first time were in awe of what had just happened and Damon's expression and subsequent cover-up kills topped off what is no doubt one of Scorsese's best films and one of the greatest crime movies of all time.
9. Bill Murray – Zombieland
Bill Murray's quick appearance in this zom-com is one of his most memorable roles ever. After our group of survivors stumble upon Murray to discover that he's in fact still alive and hiding from the zombie apocalypse in his home, we're treated to a hilarious Ghostbusters roleplay session and a roundtable of pot smoking with Woody Harrelson.
What comes next though is one of the funniest scenes in movie history as Murray decides to trick Jesse Eisenberg by pretending to be a zombie and surprising him. After a quick reflex and killer instinctual draw, Eisenberg takes his shotun after thinking a zombie had made its way into the home and blasts Murray. The actor doesn't die right off the bat and even apologizes saying, "It's alright". The sequence steals the entire film and will go down as a classic for years to come.
8. Brad Pitt – Burn After Reading
The Cohen Brothers are known for their complete and utter disregard for saving their characters. This couldn't have been truer in their dark comedy Burn After Reading when viewers were treated to Brad Pitt's smirking face being blown completely off by a terrified George Clooney. After Pitt's annoying but enigmatically dimwitted gym trainer hides in a closet after it's resident (The Cloon) unexpectedly comes home, nobody could have guessed what would happen next.
As Clooney gets dressed, Pitt stands still in the closet trying to be as quiet as possible before Clooney opens the closet door, screams, and proceeds to shoot a smiling, overly confused Pitt at point blank in the forehead. Everything happens so fast in this scene, it's hard to take in what the hell just happened and Clooney's literal quick-fire response to the events are absolutely hilarious. This is by far my favorite scene in the film and a testament to the Cohens' beloved but disturbing sense of humor.
7. Sean Bean - Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of The Ring
The joke is that actor Sean Bean dies in absolutely every project he's in. Whether he's being ripped in half by horses in Black Death or stampeded by cows, Bean is seemingly destined to be killed in everything he's in. But none of those deaths are as memorable as his redeeming fight to the bitter end in the first of Peter Jackson's epic fantasy trilogy.
After attempting to steal Frodo's ring of power, Bean was on the verge of completely turning into the film's most dangerous antagonist. That all changed when he realized what he had done was wrong and he ended up defending the hobbits by fighting to the death against the terrifying orc soldiers in a showdown that steals the film. After taking repeated arrows to the chest, Bean refuses to go down and continues to battle his enemies, sword in hand, in what is no doubt one of the most epic deaths ever filmed. His passing is heartbreaking and showed audiences that even morally ambiguous characters can be remembered as heroes.
6. Matthew McConaughey – Reign of Fire
The bearded, bald, tribal tatted McConaughey may have been a walking gruff voiced cliché in this dragon apocalypse film, but the absolutely bats*** crazy way his character dies here is beautiful. The movie starred Chistian Bale as a timid leader, trying to keep his colony of survivors alive after dragons ravaged the planet. Then one day, a US fleet of soldiers led by McConaughey enter the area and convince Bale to stand up and fight instead of hide.
This of course leads to a final showdown where Bale is forced into confrontation with the dragon queen in a rundown shell of a city. After taking off his shirt, because that's what McConaughey does dammit, he begins to climb a gigantic ladder and take shots at the massive dragon with his crossbow loaded with explosive arrows. After he fails at taking down the beast, he makes his last stand atop the tower, hoists his battle-axe and leaps directly into the face of the dragon. It would have been awesome if he axe-killed the dragon right? But yeah, he was eaten to death in mid-air instead. It was a very wicked way to go and helped save what was a mediocre film with one giant axe-wielding leap.
5. John Travolta – Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's criminal underground masterpiece saved John Travolta's career. The veteran had been on the downswing during the early 90's until he was cast as a heroin shooting, sleaze-dancing hitman in Tarantino's finest hour. What made the movie so memorable is it's masterful script and quote-crazy dialog, but inbetween the lines, audiences were treated to some shocking and much unexpected character demise.
When Bruce Willis walks into his apartment to retrieve his gold watch, he thinks he's in the clear after realizing that no thugs are in the area after he screwed over a mob boss. That is – until after he plugs a pop-tart in and notices a silenced semi-automatic machine gun casually placed on the kitchen countertop. Looking around confused, Willis picks up the gun and hears a toilet flush.
Standing ready and aimed, Willis sees a dimwitted Travolta walk out of the bathroom and proceeds to fire a ridiculous amount of bullets into the hitman as his poptart shoots from the toaster. The end result is a blood splattered bathroom where Travolta's memorable character lay dead beside the toilet as a result of his own stupidity. It's a shocking, funny and brutal reminder that Tarantino isn't playing around.
4. Buck The Gorilla – Rise of The Planet of The Apes
Although Andy Serkis' portrayal of the mighty ape Caesar will be remembered most from this absolutely stunning prequel and one of 2011's finest films – it was Buck the silverback gorilla's sacrificial war-jump that climaxes the movie. After the Golden Gate Bridge became the battle ground between ape and man during the closing moments of Rise of The Planet of The Apes, it began to look bleak for the primates when a helicopter equipped with a machine gun began circling the area and decimating the defenseless animals.
When Caeser ends up getting caught in the crossfire, his enforcer of his newfound ape army shoves the mighty leader aside and begins to beat his chest and roar. After getting riddled with bullets, Buck charges towards the low-flying helicopter, leaps off the bridge and smashes into it. Buck is now flailing his massive arms inside the spiraling out of control chopper before it smashes into the bridge in a fiery mess. Caeser pulls Buck out of the wreckage as the gorilla warrior delivers his final breath holding his leader's hand. Buck's demise may have been tear-jerking, but what a bad-ass way to go.
3. Al Pacino – Scarface
It may be the most played out sequence of dialog ever, as viewers are constantly treated to awful jokes involving "Say hello to my little friend", but the original scenes are far from a laughing matter. After a coked out Pacino is left cornered in his office while rebels invade his home, the drug fueled and enraged crimelord preps for battle by loading his machinegun, fully equipped with a grenade launcher for kicks.
As the rebels reach the doors to his office, Pacino drops the line in question and blasts a grenade at the door, sending his enemies flying. As the smoke begins to clear, our cocaine fueled anti-hero walks out and begins machine-gunning what remains of his foes. Pacino repeatedly takes several bullets and never slows down once, even screaming at one point, "I take your bullet!". It all ends though when a slow walking retro shades wearing assassin comes up behind Pacino and blasts him in the spine with a shotgun, sending the drug kingpin to the water below ending one of the most violent and epic gun battle climaxes ever filmed.
2. Nicolas Cage – Kick-Ass
Nicolas Cage has been in a lot of bad movies the past few years. But because he's been in every second film ever made the past five years, he inevitably wanders into something brilliant, that he can fully embrace his 'crazy' in. The comic adapted Kick-Ass is just that film. Playing a costumed vigilante who trains his 12-year-old daughter to be a killer, Cage is in his essence here. He comes off as both dorky and terrifying when we're shown his full murderous capabilities in the warehouse scene shown through a teddy bear cam.
Eventually Cage's character, Big Daddy, gets captured and tied to a chair alongside our geeky teen hero Kick-Ass himself. While the two are being tortured nearly to death, Cage's on-screen daughter shows up and saves the day by systematically eliminating all of the mobsters. Cage ends up shouting code-word strategic commands to Hit-Girl, even while he's slowly set on fire. While Hit-Girl takes down each remaining enemy, Cage's screams can be heard in the background, transforming the entire sequence into one of the most memorable performances of the actor's entire career. As he eventually passes, viewers are treated to the 'good-crazy' Nic Cage they all know and love in the spirit of Face-Off.
1. Kevin Bacon - Sleepers
The number one death on this list gives me chills every time I watch the sequence of events unfold. After spending nearly all of his run-time as a security guard at a home for troubled children too young for jail, Bacon shines in his most evil performance ever. Playing an abusive, perverse and molest-tastic guard, we're shown Bacon's continuous abuse of these poor kids from Hell's Kitchen until the day they finally get released.
Flash forward a bunch of years later, we're shown two of the kids all grown up as they enter a bar in New York. One of the men takes a trip to the washroom and notices a disheveled Bacon sitting in the back eating his food alone. As actor Ron Eldard walks into the bathroom, all of his horrible memories of abuse come back to him as he washes his face and looks in the mirror. The song Witchi Tai To plays in the background and adds to the scene in an amazing way as all of this tension comes to a head.
After Eldard and his friend, played by Billy Crudup confront their former abuser in the bar, they face their fear for the last time and proceed to shoot Bacon in the groin, chest, arms and eventually the forehead. The unraveling of violence has never felt so satisfying as Bacon meets his bloody end after putting on the most evil performance of his entire career. It is the most satisfying scene of revenge that I have ever seen in a film and that is why it is my top choice.
source