Friday, February 26, 2010

Rambo: First Blood Part II - Exploding Arrow


Rambo makes his escape through a creek at the base of a waterfall when a Vietcong sergeant spots him. The solider turns and fires his automatic weapon at Rambo completely missing him. Once he runs out of ammo, he, for some odd reason, gives his weapon a final glance of confusion before tossing it and grabbing his handgun. Rambo comes out from behind the rocks with a look of confidence and slowly pulls out an explosive tipped arrow. Realizing that he is in trouble and a horrible shot, the sergeant runs away as Rambo aims his bow. The soldier turns and fires a final desperation shot before Rambo releases the arrow. The projectile pierces the sergeant's chest and explodes, sending a mess of blood and guts flying through the air.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Robocop - Clarence Boddicker Gets Plugged In


This movie just keeps on giving, from the Toxic Waste Guy to ED-209, another great death scene. As Robocop is pinned beneath a heap of rubble, Boddicker grabs a sharp metal spike and impales our hero through the chest. Clarence gets in real close for a final taunt when Robocop extends his pointy mainframe USB connector and stabs Boddicker in the neck. As Robocop pulls out the spike, a giant wad of blood splatters on his chest. Boddicker staggers backwards, clutching his neck as blood squirts out of his jugular.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Léon: The Professional - A Gift from Mathilda


Léon(Jean Reno) sneaks out of the apartment disguised as a wounded ESU officer. As he almost walks out of the building unoticed, Stansfield(Gary Oldman) silently sneaks up behind him and shoots him. With his dying breath, Léon places an object in Stansfield's hands, and tells him it's "from Mathilda". Opening his hands, it's a grenade pin. Stansfield rips open Léon's vest to discover several grenades strapped to his chest. Stansfield lets out a brief and final quip, "Shit" right before a massive explosion incinerates him.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dirty Harry - Unlucky Punk


Bad guy Scorpio(Andrew Robinson) takes a young boy hostage in a last attempt to escape. Harry(Clint Eastwood) pretends to be willing to surrender, then shoots Scorpio in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The boy escapes and Scorpio looks up to see Harry standing over him, gun drawn he recites his famous speech.

I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow you head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

Unlike the bank robber in the earlier scene, Scorpio tries his luck and, laughing maniacally, grabs for his gun. Before he can fire, Harry blasts him in the chest, propelling Scorpio into the water.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Book of Eli - Fight Scenes


This scene sets the tone for the violence and gives us a glimpse of how amazing the action sequences are. Sure Mila Kunis was cringe-worthy and the ending was a little cheesy, but the film was beautifully shot with a cool setting reminiscent to the classic game Fallout. Then there's that little issue of the religious overtone, "too preachy" some say, well lets put it this way: The film is about a Christian causing unnecessary violence over a material possession that turns out to be meaningless in the end........makes sense to me.

Eli(Denzel Washington) arrives in a ramshackle town run by Carnegie(Gary Oldman). He is soon harassed by Carnegie's book searching henchmen. As the gang surround Eli, he recites a line from Genesis then proceed slice his way through them with his machete. The camera rotates around the fight as heads are decapitated and bodies are impaled in a visual orgasm of violence.

It's been announced that the Hughes brothers are now in control of the live-action adaptation of Akira. I am always against remakes, but since it is a reworking of the manga and NOT the Anime, I am OK with this. Akira Part 1 is on course to be released in 2011 and Part 2 in 2012.

Akira remake news

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Rapid Fire - Electrocution-Train Double Kill


After Showdown in Little Tokyo, Brandon Lee signed a three-picture deal with 20th Century Fox. Unfortunately Rapid Fire was the only movie he completed with them. In the film, Brandon plays the character of "Jake Lo" (his father Bruce Lee played the character "Billy Lo" in Game of Death). Jake is an art student who witnesses a mob hit and finds himself caught between two feuding drug lords. Many of the fight scenes were choreographed by Lee himself, who incorporated elements of his father's Jeet Kune Do fighting style. He even pays homage to Jackie Chan, whom he admired, by incorporating key moves from the films Police Story and Dragons Forever in some fight scenes. Rapid Fire did not disappoint with the action, in the climax of the film Jake catches up with bad guy Tau on the tracks of the Chicago 'L' train. The fight graduates from fists to metal poles as a train comes barreling down the line. As Tau gets the upper hand and pins Jake to the track, Jake manages to knock Tau off of him and narrowly miss the speeding train. As Tau falls back, the metal pole in his hand touches the third rail and electrocutes him. The shock throws Tau on the other set of tracks where he gets hit and killed by the 'L' train. We call that the old electrocution-train combo.

Kiss of the Dragon - Kiss of the Dragon


When the title of a film is derived from an excruciatingly painful death scene, it deserves recognition(well at least on this site it does). At the end of the movie we learn exactly what the "Kiss of the Dragon" really is. Liu(Jet Li) punctures inspector Richard(Tchéky Karyo) in the back of the neck with an acupuncture needle at a "very forbidden" point. The puncture itself is called "Kiss of the Dragon", where all the blood in the body rushes to the head and floods the brain causing side effects of quadriplegia and bleeding from the victim's eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils. Priceless!

SCENE AT 3:15
Rumor has it the technique actually exists. On the DVD commentary Bridget Fonda says she asked her acupuncturist during filming about it. Will you have convulsions and bleed out your eyeballs? Meh....probably not, but one can always dream.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

License to Kill - Henchman gets Decompressed


License to Kill manages to deviate itself from the previous Bond films and give us a few surprises. One being the villain, Franz Sanchez. He has no interest in global political domination, he just wants to get filthy rich selling his cocaine. Sanchez is also one of the few Bond villains that actually look like they can kick Bond's ass in a fistfight and have the balls-or should I say "cojones"- to do it.

License to Kill also had a darker tone where the death scenes were just more brutal and violent. In this clip, Bond manages to frame one of Sanchez's henchmen, making him appear disloyal. Sanchez loses it and throws Krest into a hyperbaric chamber. Sanchez increases the pressure inside the chamber to a critical point, then tears the air tube open with an axe causing rapid decompression. Krest's head expands then explodes in a bloody mess, splattering his brains all over the door window.

Krest is the first henchmen to be killed by his boss due to Bond's crafty scheming rather than directly by Bond himself. Tricky bastard.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Passenger 57 - Always Bet on Black


Former police officer John Cutter(Wesley Snipes) and international terrorist Charles Rane(Bruce Payne) engage in a prolonged fistfight 35,000 ft in the air. Just as the bad guy gets the upper hand the cabin door explodes outward, giving our hero a chance to gain the advantage with a few kidney punches. As Cutter and Rane continue to fight, they head closer to the open cabin door. Cutter gives Rane a couple kicks to the groin weakening his grip. A final kick to the face sends Rane through the door, where he falls a very long way to his death.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Hurt Locker - Thompson's Death Scene


When the explosion goes off we get a few shots in slow motion of the shockwave ripping through the ground and an old abandoned vehicle. The blast is dusty and grey in contrast from the gorgeous reds and yellows we usually see in movies. The explosion is enormous and Thompson can't out-run it. The shockwave from the blast pulverizes the sergeant, crushing his vital organs, killing him. His death establishes the high stakes his successor will have to go through in the film. "You are now in the kill zone."