oudeis on 15/4/2006 at 19:05

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(No, this is Not a 'worst internet accident video' thread. I have no taste for such grotesqueries.)

EDIT- SPOILERS LIKELY


We've already covered (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104353) Fight Scenes, but what are the great Death scenes? For those of you who are wondering, this topic was prompted by rewatching "Blade 2" several times over the past week, which in addition to some absolutely kickass violence has two of the better passings I can recall.

So what, in your mind, are the most memorable demises ? They can be either just comeuppances or terrible tragedies, grievous or simply brutal- your choice.

* Blade 2: The deaths of Nomak and Nyssa- Nomak was such a badass that you couldn't help but like him, but when he forces Blade's sword through his own heart- "It... Strange- It hurts.. No more"- he became a tragic figure, poignant and pitiable. And when Blade carries Nyssa out into the coming dawn- "Let me die as a vampire"- and the score swells as she immolates was pure beauty.


* Hamlet (Branagh): The Funeral of Ophelia, Hamlet's ending- I was osmotically familiar with the play, but had never actually seen it, and I had always been of the impression that Ophelia's death was treated more as a plot point than anything else. Watching Branagh's adaptation hammered home how wrong I was. Laertes' grief was so powerful it was painful to watch, especially when he threw himself into her coffin- "Hold off the earth for a while!", and I literally can still hear Hamlet's agonized cry of "I LOVED Ophelia!" ten years after seeing it. You got such a terrible sense of what a useless waste her death was that you wanted to climb into the screen and strangle Claudius for setting it in motion. Hamlet's death wasn't the waste of an innocent that Ophelia's was, though still grievous, and when he implores Horatio to live, and speak the truth of his passing- "What a wounded name shall live behind me!" you were almost as compelled by his command as Horatio.


* Conan: Valeria's fall, the pyre- "Keep me... warm"- "He is Conan, a Cimmerian; He can't cry". The hate in Conan's face when he turns his gaze back at Doom's fortress could have burnt the sun itself. Add to this 'Thorgrim gets the point' and 'Rexor learns the riddle of steel the hard way'.
-- "Do you want to live forever?".


* Platoon: the death of Sgt. Elias- Willem Dafoe, treacherously shot by one of his own, running for the departing choppers with the enemy in hot pursuit. The agony of despair in his face when he is left behind was almost too much to bear. You have rarely felt as much savage satisfaction as when Charlie Sheen machine-gunned the butcher Barnes.


* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Khan's pyrrhic strike, Spock's sacrifice- If there has ever been a greater villain than Khan in any movie I can't think of him. The scene with the eels makes me want to vomit to this day. Yet, when it came down to it, the man really knew how to make an exit. Kirk's reaction to Spock's version of the 'Kobayashi Maru' test was the best (and possibly the only good) acting Shatner has ever done- "No...".


* The Fly (remake and original): The Web/Brundlefly's final appeal for mercy- Two modern classical tragedies. Heddison's piping terror and Brundlefly's mute request need no description.


* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Li-Mu Bai succumbs to the poison, Jen-Yu (Zhang Ziyi) atones for her sins- "I will never be a lonely spirit" , Jen relates the legend of the boy who flew to her lover.


* Mad Max: justice gets served on Johnny the Boy- "The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel". The Toecutter had a more spectacular exit but watching the fire burn towards the gas can was 180 proof vengeance.


* To Live and Die in L.A.: Rick Masters punishes betrayal- Willem Dafoe shooting another man in the groin is one of the worst things I've seen in a movie. It's neither tragic nor deserved but fuck me was it memorable.


* Blade Runner: Rutger Hauer's self-eulogy- "I've... seen things... you people wouldn't believe."


* Escape from New York: The President teaches the Duke about diplomatic etiquette- "You're A-NUMBER WAAAANNN!!!!"


* Godzilla: Even though he was supposed to be the bad guy, watching him get vaporized by the oxygen destroyer was pretty sad.


* Point Break: The Bodhi checks out HIS way- Patrick Swayze walks the talk when he proves "It's not tragic to die doing what you love". So well done it survived even Keanu Reeve's acting.

oudeis on 15/4/2006 at 19:15

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apologies- l presumed all the movies l listed [or that would have been/will be mentioned] were either old enough or popular enough that everybody had already seen them.

piln on 15/4/2006 at 19:41

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Wow. Spoiler heaven.

Anyway:


THRONE OF BLOOD


that is all.

Ko0K on 15/4/2006 at 20:13

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I don't think I can appreciate the death of a character without first looking at the development of the said character. That said, I thought Peter Jackson did a great job with "King Kong." It didn't have to be 3 fricking hours, but I had no trouble relating to Kong's character, despite the fact he was done by CG. The death scene itself inspired a range of emotions besides sadness, but the bottom line is that he brought out more than I would expect from "just a dumb animal."

APMeehan on 15/4/2006 at 20:40

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That scene in Irréversible.