We have another kick-ass list for you this time around! What is it about guns that we love so much? Who knows, but they’re cool as hell! Here’s a list of films that celebrate our love for guns, action and violence. These films make gunplay into an art form, which has now been given the name “gun-fu”. Are any of these your favorites? Let’s take a look at our lists, and see if any match up with yours. And there will be blood….
Keith – The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world”.
The Matrix is known for popularizing a visual effect known as “bullet time”, in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera’s viewpoint appears to move through the scene at normal speed. The film is an example of the cyberpunk science fiction genre. It contains numerous references to philosophical and religious ideas, and prominently pays homage to works such as Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Wachowskis’ approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation and martial arts films, and the film’s use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema influenced subsequent Hollywood action film productions.
The Matrix was first released in the United States on March 31, 1999, and grossed over $460 million worldwide. It was generally well-received by critics,and won four Academy Awards as well as other accolades including BAFTA Awards and Saturn Awards. Reviewers praised The Matrix for its innovative visual effects, cinematography and its entertainment. The film’s premise was both criticized for being derivative of earlier science fiction works, and praised for being intriguing. The action also polarized critics, some describing it as impressive, but others dismissing it as a trite distraction from an interesting premise.
The film has since appeared in lists of the greatest science fiction films, and in 2012, was added to the National Film Registry for preservation. The success of the film led to the release of two feature film sequels, both written and directed by the Wachowskis: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The Matrix franchise was further expanded through the production of comic books, video games and animated short films in which the Wachowskis were heavily involved.
David – Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
In the middle of the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) meet when Clyde tries to steal Bonnie’s mother’s car. Bonnie, who is bored by her job as a waitress, is intrigued by Clyde, and decides to take up with him and become his partner in crime. They pull off some holdups, but their amateur efforts, while exciting, are not very lucrative.
The duo’s crime spree shifts into high gear once they hook up with a dim-witted gas station attendant, C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), then with Clyde’s older brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons), a preacher’s daughter. The women dislike each other on first sight, and their feud only escalates from there: shrill Blanche has nothing but disdain for Bonnie, Clyde and C.W., while gun-moll Bonnie sees Blanche’s flighty presence as a constant danger to the gang’s well-being.
Bonnie and Clyde turn from pulling small-time heists to robbing banks. Their exploits also become more violent. When C.W. botches a bank robbery by parallel parking the getaway car, Clyde shoots the bank manager in the face after he jumps onto the slow-moving car’s running board. The gang is pursued by law enforcement, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (Denver Pyle), whom they capture and humiliate before setting him free. A raid later catches the outlaws off guard, mortally wounding Buck with a gruesome shot to his head and injuring Blanche. Bonnie, Clyde and C.W. barely escape with their lives. With Blanche sightless and in police custody, Hamer tricks her into revealing C.W.’s name, who was up until now still only an “unidentified suspect.”
Hamer locates Bonnie, Clyde and C.W. hiding at the house of C.W.’s father Ivan Moss (Dub Taylor), who thinks the couple—and an ornate tattoo—have corrupted his son. The elder Moss strikes a bargain with Hamer: In exchange for leniency for the boy, he helps set a trap for the outlaws. When Bonnie and Clyde stop on the side of the road to help Mr. Moss fix a flat tire, the police in the bushes open fire and riddle them with bullets. Hamer and his posse then come out of hiding, looking pensively at the couple’s bodies.
Keith – Bad Boys (1995)
Miami detectives Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) investigate $100 million of Mafia seized heroin, which has been stolen from a secure police vault the previous night. Internal Affairs suspects that it was an inside job with corrupted police officers and threatens to shut down the entire department unless they recover the drugs within five days. Lowrey asks one of his informants and ex-girlfriend Maxine “Max” Logan (Karen Alexander) to look for people who are newly rich and therefore suspects. She gets herself and her best friend Julie Mott (Téa Leoni) hired as escorts by Eddie Domínguez (Emmanuel Xuereb), a former crooked cop and part of the coup. When his French drug kingpin boss Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) and his henchmen Casper, Ferguson and Noah Trafficante arrive, Fouchet executes Max and then has Ferguson kill Dominguez. After witnessing the murder, Julie escapes over the roof.
Although having not met Lowrey because of Max’s relationship with him, Julie will only rely on Lowrey, who is away. Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) forces Burnett to impersonate Lowrey to get Julie to cooperate. After meeting for the first time, Burnett and Julie escape from Julie’s apartment to head to Lowrey’s after Burnett kills Raji, one of Fouchet’s cronies. In Julie’s presence, Burnett poses as Lowrey while Lowrey poses as Burnett. Julie identifies Noah as one of Max’s killers while looking through mugshots. The two cops and then Julie head off to Club Hell, one of Noah’s known hangouts. Though the criminals spot them first, Burnett knocks Casper unconscious during a bathroom fight and thwarts Julie’s attempt to kill Fouchet, while Lowrey kills Noah during a car chase. Burnett, Lowrey and Julie then manage to escape the incident, which is caught on camera by a news helicopter and later seen by Burnett’s family.
Lowrey and Burnett force their old informant Jojo (Michael Imperioli), a former chemist and drug convict who now works at a tire shop, into telling them the location of the chemist who is cutting the stolen drugs. Burnett, Lowrey and Julie return to Lowrey’s apartment, where Burnett’s wife confronts them and blows their cover. Before Julie can run, Fouchet and his gang arrive at Lowrey’s apartment and kidnap Julie. Despite being reassigned and shut down by Internal Affairs as a result, Howard delays the order, giving Lowrey and Burnett more time to retrieve Julie and the drugs. They try again to access Dominguez’s private police database profile by asking a convict “computer whiz” and learn that the administrative girl Francine is Dominguez’s former girlfriend.
After heading to Opa Locka Airport, Burnett, Lowrey and two other Miami detectives (Nestor Serrano and Julio Oscar Mechoso) kill all of Fouchet’s henchmen, including Casper and Ferguson, and rescue Julie. After the airport explodes, Burnett, Lowrey and Julie chase a fleeing Fouchet and bump him into a concrete barrier, but he manages to escape the wreckage. However, Lowrey ambushes him with a gunshot to the leg and finally shoots him dead. During Burnett and Lowrey’s relief in surviving the gunfight, Burnett handcuffs Julie and Lowrey’s hands together and heads home, hoping for some much needed “quality time” with his wife.
David – John Wick, Chapter 2 (2017)
Shortly after the events of John Wick, former hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) tracks down his stolen Mustang at a chop shop owned by Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare), brother of Viggo and uncle of Iosef from the first film. After dispatching Tarasov’s men in a violent fight that heavily damages his car, John spares Tarasov under the auspices of “peace” and returns home. He calls Aurelio (John Leguizamo) to take his car away for repair.
Later, John is visited by Italian crime lord Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio). It is revealed that years ago, to complete his “impossible task”, retire and get married, John asked for a big favor from D’Antonio. The debt is signified by a “Marker,” and D’Antonio now plans to collect, claiming John has come out of retirement. John refuses to return the favor, intending to retire for good, but Santino destroys his home with a grenade launcher as a warning.
Winston (Ian McShane), the owner of the Continental hotel in New York City, reminds John that if he rejects the Marker, he will be violating one of the two unbreakable rules of the underworld: no killing on Continental ground, and the Markers must be honored. John meets with D’Antonio, who tasks him with assassinating his sister Gianna D’Antonio (Claudia Gerini) so he can take her seat on the “High Table,” a council of high-level crime lords. D’Antonio sends Ares (Ruby Rose), his personal bodyguard, to follow and keep an eye on John.
In Rome, John infiltrates Gianna’s celebration party and confront her. Faced with death, Gianna chooses to commit suicide. While retreating, John is ambushed by D’Antonio’s men, who intend to kill him and tie up loose ends. After killing most of them, John is pursued by Gianna’s bodyguard Cassian (Common). Their brutal fight is halted when they crash into the Rome Continental. As the two reluctantly share a drink, Cassian vows revenge for Gianna’s death.
After John returns to New York City, D’Antonio opens a $7 million bounty for John’s death, leading to multiple attacks on him. Cassian confronts John once again at the subway. John gets the upper hand, but spares Cassian’s life out of professional respect. Injured and desperate, John seeks help from the underground crime lord Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), whose subordinates treat his injuries and guide him to D’Antonio’s location. John kills D’Antonio’s men, including Ares, but D’Antonio is able to escape to the Continental. D’Antonio makes it clear that he intends to seek indefinite refuge there, and John, despite Winston’s warning, shoots and kills D’Antonio.
The next day, Winston tells John that the bounty on him has been doubled and sent to assassin all over the world. For killing on Continental ground, thanks to Winston’s influence, instead of being executed, John is excommunicated and loses all access to underworld resources. Winston delays announcing John’s contract one hour to give him a head start, and gives him a Marker for future use. Before leaving, John tells Winston that he will kill all who comes after him. John, now quite paranoid, flees while eyeing bystanders suspiciously. The film ends with John and his dog on the run.
Keith – Wanted (2008)
In Chicago, 24-year-old Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) works at a dead-end desk job with an overbearing boss, takes anti-anxiety medication for panic attacks, and has an unfaithful live-in girlfriend who cheats on him with his friend and colleague, Barry (Chris Pratt). One night at the pharmacy, Wesley is told by a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie) that his recently murdered father was an assassin, and the killer, a man named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann), is now hunting him. Cross and Fox engage in a shoot-out with hi-tech guns. Wesley panics and runs into the parking lot followed by Cross who steals a truck and attempts to run Wesley down. Fox flips Wesley into her car and then calmly executes a spectacular escape.
Wesley awakens in a mysterious factory surrounded by Fox and other fellow assassins. The group’s leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), forces Wesley at gunpoint to shoot the wings off of several flies buzzing around a trash can, which he does, much to Wesley’s shock. Sloan explains that Wesley’s panic attacks are actually the untrained expression of a rare ability that allows Wesley’s body to distribute massive amounts of adrenaline, granting superhuman strength, speed, and heightened perception. He reveals that Wesley’s father, as well as Cross, were members of the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins that maintains balance in the world. Sloan wants to teach him to become an assassin so that he may help them kill Cross.
Wesley awakens the next morning in his apartment, quickly stashing the gun Sloan gave him (which belonged to his father) in his toilet. He then discovers that his bank account now contains several million dollars. Filled with new confidence, Wesley snaps in a public outburst against his boss before picking up his keyboard and hitting Barry in the face with it as he leaves. Fox arrives while Wesley is outside looking at newspaper headlines that he is wanted by police over the previous night’s shooting.
Wesley begins training as an assassin under Fox’s tutelage, studying under different specialized assassins (the Butcher teaches knife fighting, the Gunsmith teaches marksmanship, and the Repairman teaches endurance and hand-to-hand combat). Frustrated by his lack of progress and the brutality of the training, Wesley insists to Sloan he is ready, but is denied going after Cross. Fox, overhearing Wesley complaining, beats him until he admits he does not know who he is. Sloan tells Wesley about his father, and how he was betrayed by Cross. Reinvigorated with new purpose, Wesley begins to take his training to heart and starts to excel. Sloan then shows him the Loom of Fate, which gives the names of future targets through errors in the fabric. Those whom the Loom identifies will apparently create evil and chaos in the future, but only Sloan can see and interpret the messages. After his first assassination, Wesley tells Fox that he is questioning whether the Fraternity is right. Fox tells him about how her father was burned alive by a hired killer who had been targeted by the Loom weeks beforehand, but a Fraternity member had failed to pull the trigger.
After several missions, Wesley returns to his old apartment to retrieve his father’s gun. He soon has a shootout with Cross, wherein Wesley accidentally kills the Exterminator, a Fraternity member he had befriended. Cross shoots Wesley in the shoulder. Sloan grants Wesley’s wish to avenge his father and sends him after Cross—but then secretly gives Fox a mission to kill Wesley, saying that his name had come up in the Loom, as well. Analyzing the bullet that hit Wesley, it is discovered that it was manufactured by a man named Pekwarsky. Wesley and Fox capture Pekwarsky, who arranges a meeting with Cross. Wesley faces Cross alone on a moving train. Fox steals a car and crashes it into the train, causing a derailment. After Cross saves Wesley from falling into a ravine, Wesley fatally shoots him. Before dying, Cross reveals that he is Wesley’s real father. Fox confirms this, and explains that Wesley was recruited because he was the only person Cross would not kill. Fox points her gun at Wesley, but he shoots the glass under him and falls into the river.
Wesley is retrieved by Pekwarsky, who takes him to Wesley’s late father’s apartment (which is located just opposite to his own) and explains that Sloan started manufacturing targets for profit after discovering that he was targeted by the Loom of Fate, and he did not tell the Fraternity members that they were now nothing more than paid killers. Cross discovered the truth, went rogue, and started killing Fraternity members to keep them away from his son. Pekwarsky departs, stating that Wesley’s father wished him a life free of violence. Wesley, however, decides to kill Sloan after discovering a secret room containing all of his father’s weapons and schematics to attack the Fraternity.
Wesley launches a single all out assault on the Fraternity using explosive rats (a tactic he learned from the Exterminator), killing a majority of them in an explosive gun battle. Upon entering Sloan’s office, he is surrounded and reveals Sloan’s deception. Sloan reveals that all of the assassins’ names had come up in the weaving, and that he had acted to protect them. He gives the members a choice: kill themselves, per the code, or kill Wesley and maintain their power over the world. As the Gunsmith and others prepare to kill Wesley, Fox curves a bullet around the room, choosing to follow the code and kill everyone. She throws her gun to Wesley before being killed by her own bullet. Wesley pursues Sloan to the now destroyed Loom chamber, but Sloan manages to escape.
Afterwards, Wesley checks his bank account and sees that Sloan has seized his funds, leaving Wesley broke again. A man is seen at Wesley’s desk much later. Sloan appears and points a gun at the back of the man’s head. The man turns around and is revealed to be a decoy. Sloan sees an “X” on the floor, and, shocked, says, “Oh, fuck”, and is killed by Wesley using a long-distance bullet. Wesley states this is him taking back control from his life before turning to the audience and asking “What the fuck have you done lately?”
David The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world”.
The Matrix is known for popularizing a visual effect known as “bullet time”, in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera’s viewpoint appears to move through the scene at normal speed. The film is an example of the cyberpunk science fiction genre. It contains numerous references to philosophical and religious ideas, and prominently pays homage to works such as Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Wachowskis’ approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation and martial arts films, and the film’s use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema influenced subsequent Hollywood action film productions.
The Matrix was first released in the United States on March 31, 1999, and grossed over $460 million worldwide. It was generally well-received by critics,and won four Academy Awards as well as other accolades including BAFTA Awards and Saturn Awards. Reviewers praised The Matrix for its innovative visual effects, cinematography and its entertainment. The film’s premise was both criticized for being derivative of earlier science fiction works, and praised for being intriguing. The action also polarized critics, some describing it as impressive, but others dismissing it as a trite distraction from an interesting premise.
The film has since appeared in lists of the greatest science fiction films, and in 2012, was added to the National Film Registry for preservation. The success of the film led to the release of two feature film sequels, both written and directed by the Wachowskis: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The Matrix franchise was further expanded through the production of comic books, video games and animated short films in which the Wachowskis were heavily involved.
Keith – Predator (1987)
A spacecraft flies near Earth and deposits a bright object which enters the atmosphere. In the Val Verde jungle, Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer and his six-man team, consisting of operators Mac Elliot, Billy Sole, and Blaine Cooper, demolitions and explosives expert Jorge “Poncho” Ramírez, and radioman Rick Hawkins, are tasked by the CIA with rescuing an official held hostage by insurgents. CIA agent and liaison Colonel George Dillon, a former commando and an old friend of Dutch’s, is assigned to supervise the team despite Dutch’s reservations.
The team discovers the wreckage of a chopper and three skinned corpses, whom Dutch identifies as members of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit he knew personally. They reach the insurgent camp and kill the soldiers, including a Soviet intelligence officer searching through secret CIA documents. Confronted by Dutch, Dillon admits the mission was a setup to retrieve intelligence from captured operatives and that the dead unit disappeared weeks earlier in a failed rescue. After capturing a guerilla named Anna, the group proceeds to extraction, unaware that they are being tracked with thermal imaging by an unseen observer.
Anna escapes and is chased by Hawkins, but they are ambushed by the creature. It spares Anna but kills Hawkins and drags his body away. Dutch organizes a manhunt, during which Blaine is killed by the creature’s plasma weapon. An enraged Mac initiates a firefight which wounds the creature, revealing luminescent green blood, but fails to draw it out. The unit regroups and questions Anna, learning that their stalker is a creature locals call “el demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres”, the demon who makes trophies of men.
That night, Mac mistakes a wild pig for the creature and kills it. In the confusion, the creature steals Blaine’s body, leading Dutch to realize their enemy uses the trees to travel. The next day, an attempt to trap the creature fails, leaving Poncho injured. Mac and Dillon pursue the alien but it outwits and kills them both. It catches up with the others, killing Billy and Poncho and wounding Dutch.
Realizing the creature does not target unarmed prey because there is “no sport”, Dutch sends Anna to the helicopter unarmed. The creature pursues him through a river, causing its cloaking device to malfunction. Though the creature is only a few feet from Dutch, he does not see him and moves on. Dutch realizes that mud covering his body is masking his heat signature from the creature’s thermal sensor.
While the creature removes the spinal columns from the bodies, Dutch crafts traps and weapons and lures the creature with a war cry. He disables its cloaking device and inflicts minor injuries, but is cornered. Acknowledging Dutch as a worthy foe, the creature discards its mask and weapon and engages him in hand-to-hand combat. Dutch is almost beaten but crushes the creature under a counterweight. As the creature lies dying, Dutch asks “What the hell are you?”, but it simply repeats the question in garbled English before activating a self-destruct device, echoing Billy’s laughter as the countdown begins. Dutch takes cover just before the self-destruct device explodes in a mushroom cloud. He is picked up by his commander, General Phillips, and finds Anna in the helicopter.
David – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)
During the American Civil War, mercenary Angel Eyes interrogates former Confederate soldier Stevens, whom Angel Eyes is contracted to kill, about Bill Carson, a fugitive who stole a cache of Confederate gold. Stevens offers Angel Eyes $1,000 to kill Baker, Angel Eyes’s employer. Angel Eyes accepts the contract, and kills Stevens as he leaves. Angel Eyes returns to Baker for his fee, then shoots Baker, fulfilling his contract with Stevens. Meanwhile, Mexican bandit Tuco Ramírez is rescued from three bounty hunters by “Blondie”, who delivers him to the local sheriff to collect his $2,000 bounty. As Tuco is about to be hanged, Blondie severs Tuco’s noose by shooting it, and sets him free. The two escape on horseback and split the bounty in a lucrative money-making scheme. They repeat the process in another town for more reward money. Blondie grows weary of Tuco’s complaints, and abandons him penniless in the desert. A vengeful Tuco tracks Blondie to a town being abandoned by Confederate troops. As he prepares to have Blondie hang himself, Union forces shell the town, allowing Blondie to escape. Following an arduous search, Tuco recaptures Blondie and force-marches him across a desert until Blondie collapses from dehydration. As Tuco prepares to shoot him, he sees a runaway carriage. Inside is a delirious Bill Carson, who promises Tuco $200,000 in Confederate gold, buried in a grave in Sad Hill Cemetery. Tuco demands to know the name on the grave, but Carson collapses from thirst before answering. When Tuco returns with water, Carson has died and Blondie, slumped next to him, reveals that Carson recovered and told him the name on the grave before dying. Tuco, who now has strong motivation to keep Blondie alive, gives him water and takes him to a nearby frontier mission to recover.
After Blondie’s recovery, the two leave in their Confederate uniforms, only to be captured by Union soldiers and remanded to the POW camp of Batterville. At roll call, Tuco answers for “Bill Carson,” getting the attention of Angel Eyes, now a disguised Union sergeant at the camp. Angel Eyes tortures Tuco, who reveals the name of the cemetery, but confesses that only Blondie knows the name on the grave. Realizing that Blondie will not yield to torture, Angel Eyes offers him an equal share of the gold and a partnership. Blondie agrees and rides out with Angel Eyes and his gang. Tuco is packed on a train to be executed, but escapes.
The iconic Mexican standoff, with Tuco seen on the left, Angel Eyes in the middle, and Blondie on the right. The scene is accompanied by Ennio Morricone’s “The Trio”.
Blondie, Angel Eyes, and his henchmen arrive in an evacuated town. Tuco, having fled to the same town, takes a bath in a ramshackle hotel and is surprised by Elam, a bounty hunter searching for him. Tuco shoots Elam, causing Blondie to investigate the gunshots. He finds Tuco, and they agree to resume their old partnership. The pair kill Angel Eyes’s men, but discover that Angel Eyes himself has escaped.
Tuco and Blondie travel to Sad Hill, now held by Union troops on one side of a strategic bridge against the advancing Confederate troops. Blondie decides to destroy the bridge to disperse the two armies to allow access to the cemetery. As they wire the bridge with explosives, Tuco suggests they share information, in case one person dies before he can help the other. Tuco reveals the name of the cemetery, while Blondie says “Arch Stanton” as the name of the grave. After the bridge explodes, the armies disperse, and Tuco steals a horse and rides to Sad Hill to claim the gold for himself. He finds Arch Stanton’s grave and begins digging. Blondie arrives and encourages him at gunpoint to continue. A moment later, Angel Eyes surprises them both. Blondie opens Stanton’s grave, revealing just a skeleton. Blondie states that he lied about the name on the grave, and offers to write the real name of the grave on a rock. Placing it face-down in the courtyard of the cemetery, he challenges Tuco and Angel Eyes to a three-way duel.
The trio stare each other down. Everyone draws, and Blondie shoots and kills Angel Eyes, while Tuco discovers that his own gun was unloaded by Blondie the night before. Blondie reveals that the gold is actually in the grave beside Arch Stanton’s, marked “Unknown.” Tuco is initially elated to find bags of gold, but Blondie holds him at gunpoint and orders him into a hangman’s noose beneath a tree. Blondie binds Tuco’s hands and forces him to stand balanced precariously atop an unsteady grave marker while he takes half the gold and rides away. As Tuco screams for mercy, Blondie returns into sight. Blondie severs the rope with a rifle shot, dropping Tuco, alive but tied up, onto his share of the gold. Tuco curses loudly while Blondie rides off into the horizon.
Keith – Rambo: First Blood, Part 2 (1986)
A year into his sentence, former commando John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is visited by his old commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna). With the war in Vietnam over, the public has become increasingly concerned over news that a small group of US POWs have been left in enemy custody. To placate their demands for action, the US government has authorized a solo infiltration mission to confirm the reports. As one of only three men suited for such work, Rambo agrees to undertake the operation in exchange for a pardon. He is taken to meet Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), a bureaucratic government official overseeing the operation. Rambo is temporarily reinstated into the US army and instructed that he is only to photograph a possible camp and not to rescue any prisoners or engage enemy personnel, as they will be retrieved by a better equipped extraction team upon his return.
During his insertion, Rambo’s parachute becomes tangled and breaks, causing him to lose most of his equipment, leaving him with only his knife and a bow with specialized arrows. He meets his assigned contact, a young intelligence agent named Co-Bao (Julia Nickson), who arranges for a local, river pirate band to take them upriver. Reaching the camp, Rambo spots one of the prisoners tied to a cross shaped post, left to suffer from exposure, and rescues him against orders. During escape, they are discovered by Vietnamese troops and attacked. When a gunboat manages to catch up, the pirates betray them out of fear. Rambo gets the POW and Co-Bao to safety, destroys the boat with an RPG-7, and kills the pirates. When Rambo calls for extraction, the helicopter is ordered to abort by Murdock, who claims Rambo has violated his orders.
Co-Bao escapes, but Rambo and the POW are recaptured and returned to the camp. There, Rambo learns that Soviet troops are arming and training the Vietnamese. He is turned over to the local liaison, Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) and his right-hand man, Sergeant Yushin, for interrogation. Upon learning of Rambo’s mission from intercepted missives, Podovsky demands that Rambo broadcast a message disavowing the POWs. Meanwhile, Co infiltrates the camp disguised as a prostitute and comes to the hut in which Rambo is held captive. Rambo at first refuses to cooperate, but relents when the prisoners’ lives are threatened. Instead of reading the scripted comments, Rambo directly threatens Murdock. He then subdues the Russians with Co’s help and escapes into the jungle. They kiss, and Rambo agrees to take Co back to the United States. However, a small Vietnamese force attacks them, and Co is killed. An enraged Rambo kills the soldiers and buries Co’s body in the mud.
Using his weapons and guerrilla training, Rambo systematically dispatches the numerous Soviet and Vietnamese soldiers sent after him. After barely surviving a barrel bomb dropped by Yushin’s helicopter, Rambo climbs on board, and throws Yushin out of the cabin in a brief but intense fight, and takes control. He lays waste to the prison camp and kills all of the remaining enemy forces before extracting the POWs and heading towards friendly territory in Thailand. Podovsky, pursuing in a Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship, shoots them down and moves in for the kill. Having faked the crash, Rambo kills him with a spare rocket.
Returning to base with the POWs, Rambo, after using the helicopter’s machine gun to destroy Murdock’s office, confronts the terrified man with his knife demanding that Murdock rescue the remaining POWs. Trautman then confronts Rambo and tries to pacify him. An angry Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. The film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance while his mentor watches him.
David – The Wild Bunch (1969)
In Texas in 1913, Pike Bishop (William Holden), the leader of a gang of aging outlaws, is seeking retirement with one final score: the robbery of a railroad office containing a cache of silver. They are ambushed by Pike’s former partner, Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), who is leading a posse of bounty hunters hired and deputized by the railroad. A bloody shootout kills several of the gang. Pike uses a serendipitous temperance union parade to shield their getaway, and many citizens are killed in the crossfire.
Pike rides off with Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine), brothers Lyle (Warren Oates) and Tector Gorch (Ben Johnson) and Angel (Jaime Sánchez), the only survivors. They are dismayed when the loot from the robbery turns out to be a decoy: steel washers instead of silver coin. The men reunite with old-timer Freddie Sykes (Edmond O’Brien) and head for Mexico.
Pike’s men cross the Rio Grande and take refuge that night in the village where Angel was born. The townsfolk are ruled by Gen. Mapache (Emilio Fernández), a corrupt, brutal general in the Mexican Federal Army, who has been ravaging the area’s villages to feed his troops, who have been fighting—and losing to—the forces of revolutionary Pancho Villa. Pike’s gang makes contact with the general. A jealous Angel spots Teresa, his former lover, in Mapache’s arms and shoots her dead, angering Mapache. Pike defuses the situation and offers to work for Mapache. Their task is to steal a weapons shipment from a U.S. Army train so that Mapache can resupply his troops and appease Col. Mohr (Fernando Wagner), his German military adviser, who wishes to obtain samples of America’s armaments. The reward will be a cache of gold coins.
Angel gives up his share of the gold to Pike in return for sending one crate of the stolen rifles and ammunition to a band of rebels opposed to Mapache. The holdup goes largely as planned until Deke’s posse turns up on the very train the gang has robbed. The posse chases them to the Mexican border, only to be foiled again as the robbers blow up a trestle spanning the Rio Grande, dumping the entire posse into the river. The pursuers temporarily regroup at a riverside camp and then quickly take off again after the Bunch.
Pike and his men, knowing they risk being double-crossed by Mapache, devise a way of bringing him the stolen weapons without him double-crossing them. However, Mapache learns from the mother of Teresa that Angel embezzled a crate of guns and ammo, and reveals this as Angel and Engstrom deliver the last of the weapons. Surrounded by Mapache’s army, Angel desperately tries to escape, only to be captured and tortured. Mapache lets Engstrom go, and he returns to rejoin Pike’s gang and tell them what happened.
The director sets up the climactic gun battle sequences at “Agua Verde” (the Hacienda Ciénaga del Carmen).
Sykes is wounded by Deke’s posse while securing spare horses. The rest of Pike’s gang returns to Agua Verde for shelter, where a bacchanal celebrating the weapons transfer has commenced; they see Angel being dragged on the ground by a rope tied behind the general’s car. After a brief frolic with prostitutes and a period of reflection, Pike and the gang try to forcibly persuade Mapache to release Angel, barely alive after the torture. The general appears to comply; however, as they watch, the general cuts his throat instead. Pike and the gang angrily gun Mapache down in front of hundreds of his men. For a moment, the federales are so shocked that they fail to return fire, causing Engstrom to laugh in surprise. Pike calmly takes aim at Mohr and kills him, too. This results in a violent, bloody shootout—dominated by the machine gun—in which Pike and his men are killed, along with many of Mapache’s troops and the remaining German adviser.
Deke finally catches up. He allows the remaining members of the posse to take the bullet-riddled bodies of the gang members back and collect the reward, while electing to stay behind, knowing what awaits the posse. After a period, Sykes arrives with a band of the previously seen Mexican rebels, who have killed off what’s left of the posse along the way. Sykes asks Deke to come along and join the revolution. Deke smiles and rides off with them.
Keith – Shoot ‘em Up (2002)
At a bus stop in a rough part of town, a drifter named Smith (Clive Owen) sees a pregnant woman fleeing a hitman. Following them into a warehouse, Smith murders the hitman by stabbing him in the face with a carrot. As more thugs arrive, the woman starts to give birth, and Smith is forced to deliver the woman’s baby during a shootout. Pursued by head assassin Karl Hertz (Paul Giamatti), the woman is shot and killed, forcing Smith to narrowly escape with the newborn.
Leaving the baby in a park, Smith hopes someone will adopt the child, only for a passing woman to be killed by a shot from Hertz’s sniper rifle. Realizing Hertz is trying to kill the baby, Smith saves him, and attempts to leave him with a lactating prostitute named Donna (Monica Bellucci); despite his pleas, she refuses. Hertz arrives at the brothel shortly after and tortures Donna for information, only for Smith to return and kill Hertz’s henchmen.
Taking Donna to his hideout, Smith realizes that the baby (who he names Oliver) stops crying when he hears heavy metal music, leading him to conclude his mother lived near a heavy metal club. Followed by Hertz, Smith is then forced to shoot his way out of his hideout, before he and Donna head to a nearby club. Heading above the club, they discover an apartment containing medical equipment and two dead pregnant women; Smith concludes the women were all impregnated with a specific man’s sperm so they could birth matching bone marrow donors.
Hiding in a motel room, Smith and Donna are attacked by masked men during sex, Smith realizes his assailants’ weapons are all “Hammerson” models unavailable to the public. Before he pursues this clue, Smith takes Donna and Oliver to a war museum, and hides them in a M24 Chaffee tank. Infiltrating the Hammerson factory, Smith witnesses Hertz and Hammerson in conversation about how they do not want the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms repealed by the next President, and notices Hammerson owns a German Shepherd called Duchess. Smith booby-traps the entire facility, allowing him to kill the thugs and escape.
Smith soon notices an article on Senator Harry Rutledge (Daniel Pilon), a presidential candidate campaigning for stricter gun laws. Smith deduces Rutledge has cancer and requires a bone marrow transplant, which is why he had surrogates impregnated with his sperm, and why Hertz and Hammerson want Oliver dead. If the infants die, the Senator will not receive a donation and will be unfit to run as President. Smith tells Donna to leave town, before Smith contacts one of Rutledge’s henchmen to request an appointment. Meeting aboard a plane, the Senator confirms Smith’s suspicions, only for Smith to notice dog hair on his trousers.
Discerning the hair belongs to Duchess, and that the Senator struck a deal with Hammerson, Smith takes Rutledge hostage, only for Hertz and Hammerson to appear. Escaping from Hertz, Smith kills the Senator and leaps from the aircraft with a parachute. Killing several pursuing henchmen, Smith is shot and, after safely landing, soon collapses due to his injuries. Smith subsequently awakes in Hammerson’s mansion. Hertz tortures Smith, breaking his fingers to learn where he sent Donna and Oliver. As Hertz prepares to cut Smith’s eyes, Smith manages to break free and kill several thugs. Cornered and struggling to use his gun, Smith places live rounds between his broken fingers and, by detonating them using a fireplace, shoots and critically wounds Hertz. As Smith and Hertz both grab pistols and struggle to kill each other, Smith manages to fire first and kill Hertz.
Boarding a bus with Duchess, Smith soon stops at an ice-cream parlor, where he finds Donna working as a waitress while watching Oliver. The film ends as a group of amateur armed robbers enter the parlor; his hands in bandages, Smith shoots them by using a carrot to pull the trigger.
David – Aliens (1986)
Ellen Ripley is rescued after drifting through space in stasis for 57 years. She is debriefed by her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation over the destruction of her ship, the USCSS Nostromo; they are skeptical of her claims that an Alien killed the ship’s crew and forced her to destroy the ship.
The exomoon LV-426, where the Nostromo encountered the alien eggs, is now home to the terraforming colony Hadleys Hope. When contact is lost with Hadleys Hope, Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany Burke and a Colonial Marine unit to investigate the disturbance. Traumatized by her encounter with the Alien, Ripley initially refuses, but she relents after experiencing recurring nightmares about the creature; she makes Burke promise to destroy, and not capture, the Aliens. Aboard the spaceship USS Sulaco, she is introduced to the Colonial Marines, their commanding officer Lieutenant Gorman, and the android Bishop, toward whom Ripley is initially hostile following her experience with the traitorous android Ash aboard the Nostromo.
A dropship delivers the expedition to the surface of LV-426, where they find the colony deserted. Inside, they find makeshift barricades and signs of a struggle, but no bodies; two live facehuggers in containment tanks in the medical lab; and a survivor, a traumatized young girl nicknamed Newt who used the ventilation system to evade capture or death. The crew uses the colony’s computer to locate the colonists grouped beneath the fusion powered atmosphere processing station. They head to the location, descending into corridors covered in Alien secretions.
At the center of the station, the marines find the colonists cocooned, serving as incubators for the Aliens’ offspring. When the marines kill a newborn Alien, the Aliens are roused and ambush the marines, killing and capturing several. When the inexperienced Gorman panics, Ripley takes control of their vehicle and rams it through the nest to rescue marines Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez. Hicks orders the dropship to recover the survivors, but a stowaway Alien kills the pilots, causing it to crash into the station. Ripley, Newt, Gorman, Burke and the remaining marines barricade themselves inside the colony command center.
Ripley discovers that Burke deliberately sent the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship where the Nostromo crew first encountered the Alien eggs, believing he could become wealthy by recovering Alien specimens for use as biological weapons. She threatens to expose him, but Bishop informs the group of a greater danger: the power plant was damaged by the dropship crash, and will soon explode with the force of a 40-megaton thermonuclear weapon. He volunteers to crawl through several hundred meters of piping conduits to reach the colony’s transmitter and remotely pilot the Sulaco’s remaining dropship to the surface.
Ripley and Newt fall asleep in the medical laboratory, awakening to find themselves locked in the room with the two facehuggers, which have been released from their tanks. Ripley triggers a fire alarm to alert the marines, who rescue them and kill the creatures. Ripley accuses Burke of releasing the facehuggers so that they would impregnate her and Newt, allowing him to smuggle the Alien embryos past Earth’s quarantine, and of planning to kill the rest of the marines in hypersleep during the return trip so that no one could contradict his version of events. Before the marines can kill Burke, the electricity is cut and Aliens assault through the ceiling. Hudson, Burke, Vasquez and Gorman are all killed and Newt is captured.
Ripley and an injured Hicks reach Bishop in the second dropship, but Ripley refuses to abandon Newt. The group arrives at the processing station, allowing a heavily armed Ripley to enter the hive and rescue Newt. As they escape, the two encounter the Alien queen in her egg chamber. Ripley destroys the eggs, enraging the queen, who tears free from her ovipositor. Pursued by the queen, Ripley and Newt rendezvous with Bishop and Hicks on the dropship. All four escape moments before the station explodes with the colony consumed by the nuclear blast.
On the Sulaco, the group discover the Alien queen stowed away on the dropship’s landing gear. She emerges and tears Bishop in half. The queen advances on Newt, but Ripley clashes with her using an exosuit cargo-loader and expels it through an airlock into space. Ripley, Newt, Hicks and the badly damaged Bishop enter hypersleep for the return trip to Earth.
Keith – Terminator 2 (1991)
In 1995, John Connor is living in Los Angeles with foster parents. His mother Sarah Connor had been preparing him throughout his childhood for his future role as the Human Resistance leader against Skynet – the artificial intelligence that will be given control of the United States’ nuclear missiles and initiate a nuclear holocaust called “Judgment Day” on August 29, 1997 – but was arrested and imprisoned at a mental hospital after attempting to bomb a computer factory. Skynet sends a new Terminator, designated as T-1000, back in time to kill John. The T-1000 is an advanced prototype made out of mimetic polyalloy (referred to as “liquid metal”) that gives it the ability to take on the shape and appearance of almost anything it touches, as well as knives and other stabbing weapons. The T-1000 arrives under a freeway, kills a policeman and assumes his identity. Meanwhile, the future John Connor has sent back a reprogrammed T-800 (Model 101) Terminator to protect his young counterpart.
The Terminator and the T-1000 converge on John in a shopping mall, and a chase ensues after which John and the Terminator escape together on a motorcycle. Fearing that the T-1000 will kill Sarah in order to get to him, John orders the Terminator to help free her. They encounter Sarah as she is escaping from the hospital, although she is initially reluctant to trust the T-800. After the trio escapes from the T-1000 in a police car, the Terminator informs John and Sarah about Skynet’s history. In addition, it would create machines that will hunt and kill the remnants of humanity. Sarah learns that the man most directly responsible for Skynet’s creation is Miles Bennett Dyson, a Cyberdyne Systems engineer working on a revolutionary new neural net processor that will form the basis for Skynet.
Sarah gathers weapons from an old friend and plans to flee with John to Mexico, but after having a nightmare about Judgment Day, she instead sets out to kill Dyson in order to prevent Judgment Day from occurring. Finding him at his home, she wounds him but finds herself unable to kill him in front of his family. John and the Terminator arrive and inform Dyson of the future consequences of his work. They learn that much of his research has been reverse engineered from the damaged CPU and the right arm of the previous Terminator. Convincing him that these items and his designs must be destroyed, they break into the Cyberdyne building and retrieve the CPU and the arm. The police arrive and Dyson is shot, but he manages to trigger several explosives, destroying the lab and his research while sacrificing himself. The T-1000 relentlessly pursues the surviving trio, eventually cornering them in a steel mill.
The T-1000 and the Terminator engage in physical combat, with the advanced model severely damaging its adversary. The T-800 is seemingly shut down until its emergency back-up system brings it back online. The T-1000 nearly kills John and Sarah until the T-800 appears and shoots it into a vat of molten steel with an M79 grenade launcher, destroying it. John tosses the arm and CPU of the original Terminator into the vat as well. As Sarah expresses relief that the ordeal is over, the Terminator explains that to ensure that he is not used for reverse engineering he must also be destroyed. It asks Sarah to assist in lowering it into the vat of molten steel, since it is unable to “self-terminate”, although John begs the Terminator to reconsider his decision. It bids them farewell as it is lowered into the vat. The Terminator gives a tearful John a final thumbs-up as it disappears into the molten steel and shuts down. Sarah looks to the future with hope, musing that “if a machine … can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.”
David – Robocop (1987)
In the 2040s, Detroit, Michigan is a dystopia and on the verge of total collapse due to financial ruin and a high crime rate. The mayor signs a deal with the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP), giving it complete control of the underfunded Detroit Police Department. In exchange, OCP will be allowed to turn the run-down sections of Detroit into a high-end utopia called “Delta City”, which will function as an independent city-state free of the United States.
OCP senior president Dick Jones proposes replacing the police with the ED-209 enforcement droid. At its first demonstration, however, ED-209 malfunctions and gruesomely kills a board member. Bob Morton, an ambitious employee, uses the opportunity to introduce his own experimental cyborg design, “RoboCop”. To Jones’s anger, the company chairman approves Morton’s plan. Meanwhile, police officer Alex Murphy arrives at his new precinct following an OCP-directed transfer where he is introduced to his partner Anne Lewis. On their first patrol, they chase down a gang led by the ruthless criminal Clarence Boddicker, tailing them to an abandoned steel mill. When he and Lewis get separated, Murphy is caught and fatally injured by Boddicker’s gang just before Boddicker himself executes the helpless cop. Morton selects Murphy for the RoboCop program and replaces most of his body with cybernetics, except for his brain and part of his digestive system.
RoboCop is given three primary directives: “Serve the public trust, Protect the innocent, and Uphold the law”, as well as a classified fourth directive that Morton does not know of. He single-handedly and efficiently cleans Detroit of crime, earning Morton a promotion to vice president. Enraged, Jones hires Boddicker to murder Morton in his home. Meanwhile, Lewis realizes that RoboCop is really Murphy, and tells him his real name. RoboCop begins to remember past events from his life and returns to his former home, only to find that his wife and son have moved away. He connects to the police database, looks up Murphy’s entry and discovers Boddicker’s gang, who were responsible for his death.
RoboCop tracks down Boddicker to a cocaine factory and after a battle, threatens to kill him. Panicked, Boddicker admits his affiliation with Jones, verbally triggering RoboCop’s law-abiding programming. RoboCop arrests Boddicker and turns him over to the police. He then confronts Jones and attempts to arrest him, but begins to shut down. Jones reveals that he planted the fourth directive, which prevents RoboCop from arresting any member of OCP’s executive board. Jones explains his larger goal of taking over OCP, and confesses to Morton’s murder before activating his personal ED-209 to destroy RoboCop. During the ensuing battle, Jones calls the police claiming that Robocop has malfunctioned and gone rogue. Robocop manages to escape ED-209, but is soon cornered by heavily armed police units and is heavily damaged. Lewis helps RoboCop escape, and takes him to the abandoned steel mill. As RoboCop repairs himself, he and Lewis discuss his former life.
Under pressure by OCP and fearing their replacement by RoboCop, the police go on strike. Jones frees Boddicker and supplies his gang with anti-tank rifles and a tracking device to hunt down RoboCop. The gang converge on the steel mill, where RoboCop is able to kill most of them. Boddicker eventually subdues RoboCop, but he’s stabbed in the throat by the same, killing him.
RoboCop heads back to OCP headquarters, where Jones is presenting his improved ED-209 to the board; RoboCop states Jones’ guilt of murder and explains that he cannot intervene due to the fourth directive. He plays a recording of Jones’ confession, exposing his role in Morton’s murder along with his sinister plans. Jones retrieves a nearby handgun and takes the chairman hostage, demanding a helicopter. The chairman verbally fires Jones from OCP, thus releasing RoboCop from the fourth directive. RoboCop repeatedly shoots Jones, who crashes through a window and falls to his death far below. Grateful, the chairman says, “Nice shooting, son, what’s your name?”, to which RoboCop smiles and replies, “Murphy.”
Keith – Starship Troopers (1997)
In the 23rd century, Earth has become a space-faring civilization. While colonizing new planets, humans have encountered an insectoid species known as Arachnids or “Bugs”, with their home being the distant world Klendathu. The bugs appear to be little more than savage, unrelenting killing machines, though there are suggestions that they were provoked by the intrusion of humans into their habitats.
In the Federation, citizenship is a privilege earned by performing such activities as military service, which grants individuals opportunities prohibited to basic civilians. John “Johnny” Rico, his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez and best friend Carl Jenkins attend high school in Buenos Aires. Fellow student Isabel “Dizzy” Flores is in love with Rico, but he does not reciprocate. They all enlist in the Federal Service after graduation, despite Rico’s parents disapproving of military service and wanting him to enroll at Harvard University instead. Carmen becomes a spaceship pilot assigned to the battleship Rodger Young, while mentally-gifted psychic Carl joins Military Intelligence. Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry expecting to be with Carmen, but is surprised to find Dizzy, who deliberately transferred to his squad to be near him.
At Mobile Infantry training, Career Sgt. Zim trains the recruits. Rico is later promoted to squad leader after showing initiative and quick thinking during training exercises and befriends Ace Levy. He later receives a Dear John letter from Carmen, as she desires a career with the fleet and now serves under Rico’s high-school-sports rival, Zander Barcalow. Following a live-fire training incident that kills one of Rico’s squad and causes another to quit out of guilt, he is demoted and flogged. He resigns and calls his parents to ask them if he can return home, but the call is cut off when an asteroid, supposedly launched by the Arachnids, obliterates Buenos Aires, killing his family and millions of others. Rico rescinds his resignation and remains with the Infantry as an invasion force is deployed to Klendathu.
The first strike on Klendathu is a total disaster, with hundreds of thousands of casualties. Rico is severely wounded in the leg and mistakenly classified KIA, causing Carmen to believe he is dead. Rico, Ace and Dizzy are reassigned to the ‘Roughnecks’, an elite unit commanded by Lt. Jean Rasczak, Rico’s former-high-school teacher. Rico is promoted to Corporal after destroying a Tanker Bug and impressing Rasczak. He also finally reciprocates Dizzy’s love for him. The Roughnecks respond to a distress call from Planet “P”, where they discover an outpost that has been devastated by Bugs. The distress call ends up being a trap and the Arachnids swarm the outpost. Rico, now Acting Sergeant, euthanizes a mortally wounded Rasczak after a buried Bug bites off his legs, and after a Bug stabs Dizzy in the torso she dies in Rico’s arms as they are rescued by Carmen and Zander. Rico and Carmen reconnect and encounter Carl, now a high-ranking intelligence officer, at Dizzy’s funeral. Carl reveals that there is a reason to believe an intelligent “brain bug” is directing the other Bugs and has been learning how to fight against humans. He field-promotes Rico to Lieutenant and gives him full command of the Roughnecks, ordering the infantry to return to “P” and capture the brain bug.
As Rico’s Roughnecks join the mission, the Fleet encounters unexpectedly heavy fire from the Bugs and Carmen’s ship the Rodger Young is destroyed. The escape pod carrying Carmen and Zander crashes into the Bug tunnel system near Rico. Unknowingly guided by a psychic suggestion from Carl, Rico takes Ace and Sugar Watkins into the tunnels to rescue both. They find Carmen and Zander surrounded by several types of Arachnids including the Brain Bug, which had used its proboscis to pierce Zander’s skull and eat his brain. Before it can take Carmen’s brain she cuts off the proboscis with a knife Zander gave her. Rico threatens the Bugs with a small nuclear bomb, which the Brain Bug is able to recognize and allows them to leave. Arachnids pursue them and Watkins is mortally wounded, sacrificing himself by detonating the bomb to kill them while the others escape. After returning to the surface, they find that former Sgt. Zim, who had requested demotion to private so that he could serve at the front, has captured the Brain Bug. Carl congratulates Rico and tells him and Carmen that the humans will soon be victorious, now that Military Intelligence can study the brain bug, which Carl reveals through a psychic scan is afraid. A propaganda clip is shown starring Carmen (now a captain commanding a battleship), Ace and Rico as model servicemen, encouraging viewers to enlist.
David – Die Hard (1988)
On Christmas Eve, NYPD Detective John McClane arrives in Los Angeles. He aims to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly, at the Christmas party of her employer, the fictional Nakatomi corporation. McClane is driven to the party by Argyle, an airport limousine driver. While McClane changes clothes, the party is disrupted by the arrival of a German terrorist named Hans Gruber and his heavily armed team: Karl, Tony, Franco, Theo, Alexander, Marco, Kristoff, Eddie, Uli, Heinrich, Fritz, and James. The group seizes the tower and secures those inside as hostages, except for McClane, who manages to slip away.
Gruber singles out Nakatomi executive Joseph Takagi, and says he intends to teach the corporation a lesson for its greed. Isolated from the hostages, Gruber interrogates Takagi for the code to the building’s vault and reveals that his endgame is to attempt to steal $640 million in bearer bonds in the vault, with terrorism merely being used as a distraction. Takagi refuses to cooperate and is murdered by Gruber. McClane, who had been secretly watching, accidentally gives himself away and is pursued by Tony. McClane manages to kill Tony, pocketing his weapon and radio, which he uses to contact the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). As Sgt. Al Powell is sent to investigate, Gruber sends Heinrich and Marco to stop McClane, who kills them both. Powell arrives and is greeted by Eddie, who is posing as a concierge; he finds nothing strange about the building. As Powell turns to leave, McClane drops Marco’s corpse onto his patrol car to get his attention. Powell summons the LAPD, who lays siege to the building. McClane steals Heinrich’s bag containing C-4 explosives and detonators.
James and Alexander use anti-tank missiles to knock out a SWAT Greyhound armored car, but before they can finish its destruction, they are killed when their building floor is blown up by C-4 that McClane dropped. Holly’s coworker Harry Ellis attempts to mediate between Hans and McClane for the return of the detonators. McClane refuses to return them, causing Gruber to murder Ellis. While checking explosives attached to the roof, Gruber is confronted by McClane. Gruber passes himself off as an escaped hostage and is given a gun by McClane. Gruber attempts to shoot McClane but finds that the gun is empty. Before McClane can act, Karl, Franco, and Fritz arrive. McClane kills Fritz and Franco, but is forced to flee, leaving the detonators behind.
FBI agents arrive and take command of the police situation outside, ordering the building’s power be shut off. The loss of power—as Gruber had anticipated—disables the vault’s final lock. Gruber demands that a helicopter arrive on the roof for transport, and the FBI prepare to double-cross him by sending helicopter gunships to take down the terrorists. However, McClane discovers that Gruber’s true intention is to detonate the explosives on the roof, thus faking the deaths of his men and himself so they can escape with the bearer bonds, a plan that would also kill the hostages. Meanwhile, Gruber sees a news report by intrusive reporter Richard Thornburg that features McClane’s children, and deduces that McClane is Holly’s husband. The criminals order the hostages to the roof, but Gruber takes Holly with him to use against McClane. McClane defeats Karl in a fight, kills Uli, and sends the hostages back downstairs before the explosives detonate, destroying the roof and the FBI helicopter.
Theo goes to the parking garage to retrieve their getaway vehicle but is knocked unconscious by Argyle, who had been trapped in the garage throughout the siege. A weary McClane finds Holly with Gruber and his remaining men, and knocks Kristoff unconscious. McClane surrenders his machine gun to spare Holly, but then distracts Gruber and Eddie by laughing, allowing him to grab a concealed pistol (still with two bullets) taped to his back. McClane shoots Gruber in the shoulder and then kills Eddie with his final shot. Gruber crashes through a window, and while he momentarily saves himself by grabbing Holly’s watch, McClane removes it and Gruber falls to his death.
McClane and Holly are escorted from the building and meet Powell in person. Karl emerges from the building disguised as a hostage and attempts to shoot McClane, but is gunned down by Powell. Argyle crashes through the parking garage door in the limo. Thornburg arrives and attempts to interview McClane, but is punched by Holly. McClane and Holly are then driven away by Argyle.
Keith – Aliens (1986)
Ellen Ripley is rescued after drifting through space in stasis for 57 years. She is debriefed by her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation over the destruction of her ship, the USCSS Nostromo; they are skeptical of her claims that an Alien killed the ship’s crew and forced her to destroy the ship.
The exomoon LV-426, where the Nostromo encountered the alien eggs, is now home to the terraforming colony Hadleys Hope. When contact is lost with Hadleys Hope, Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany Burke and a Colonial Marine unit to investigate the disturbance. Traumatized by her encounter with the Alien, Ripley initially refuses, but she relents after experiencing recurring nightmares about the creature; she makes Burke promise to destroy, and not capture, the Aliens. Aboard the spaceship USS Sulaco, she is introduced to the Colonial Marines, their commanding officer Lieutenant Gorman, and the android Bishop, toward whom Ripley is initially hostile following her experience with the traitorous android Ash aboard the Nostromo.
A dropship delivers the expedition to the surface of LV-426, where they find the colony deserted. Inside, they find makeshift barricades and signs of a struggle, but no bodies; two live facehuggers in containment tanks in the medical lab; and a survivor, a traumatized young girl nicknamed Newt who used the ventilation system to evade capture or death. The crew uses the colony’s computer to locate the colonists grouped beneath the fusion powered atmosphere processing station. They head to the location, descending into corridors covered in Alien secretions.
At the center of the station, the marines find the colonists cocooned, serving as incubators for the Aliens’ offspring. When the marines kill a newborn Alien, the Aliens are roused and ambush the marines, killing and capturing several. When the inexperienced Gorman panics, Ripley takes control of their vehicle and rams it through the nest to rescue marines Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez. Hicks orders the dropship to recover the survivors, but a stowaway Alien kills the pilots, causing it to crash into the station. Ripley, Newt, Gorman, Burke and the remaining marines barricade themselves inside the colony command center.
Ripley discovers that Burke deliberately sent the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship where the Nostromo crew first encountered the Alien eggs, believing he could become wealthy by recovering Alien specimens for use as biological weapons. She threatens to expose him, but Bishop informs the group of a greater danger: the power plant was damaged by the dropship crash, and will soon explode with the force of a 40-megaton thermonuclear weapon. He volunteers to crawl through several hundred meters of piping conduits to reach the colony’s transmitter and remotely pilot the Sulaco’s remaining dropship to the surface.
Ripley and Newt fall asleep in the medical laboratory, awakening to find themselves locked in the room with the two facehuggers, which have been released from their tanks. Ripley triggers a fire alarm to alert the marines, who rescue them and kill the creatures. Ripley accuses Burke of releasing the facehuggers so that they would impregnate her and Newt, allowing him to smuggle the Alien embryos past Earth’s quarantine, and of planning to kill the rest of the marines in hypersleep during the return trip so that no one could contradict his version of events. Before the marines can kill Burke, the electricity is cut and Aliens assault through the ceiling. Hudson, Burke, Vasquez and Gorman are all killed and Newt is captured.
Ripley and an injured Hicks reach Bishop in the second dropship, but Ripley refuses to abandon Newt. The group arrives at the processing station, allowing a heavily armed Ripley to enter the hive and rescue Newt. As they escape, the two encounter the Alien queen in her egg chamber. Ripley destroys the eggs, enraging the queen, who tears free from her ovipositor. Pursued by the queen, Ripley and Newt rendezvous with Bishop and Hicks on the dropship. All four escape moments before the station explodes with the colony consumed by the nuclear blast.
On the Sulaco, the group discover the Alien queen stowed away on the dropship’s landing gear. She emerges and tears Bishop in half. The queen advances on Newt, but Ripley clashes with her using an exosuit cargo-loader and expels it through an airlock into space. Ripley, Newt, Hicks and the badly damaged Bishop enter hypersleep for the return trip to Earth.
David – Hard Boiled (1992)
In a tea house in Hong Kong, Officer “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun-fat) and his partner Benny (Bowie Lam), attempt to arrest a group of gun smugglers while they are making a deal. After an ambush from another gang member, a fierce gun battle breaks out. The gangsters are defeated but with several police officers badly wounded, and Benny is killed. Tequila, seeking revenge, decides to kill the gangster who ambushed them, rather than arrest him. This angers his boss, Officer Superintendent Pang (Philip Chan), who wanted the gangster alive to testify. Tequila is ordered off the case.
Elsewhere, a high-ranking assassin, Alan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), works for Triad boss “Uncle” Hoi (Kwan Hoi-Shan). Alan murders a fellow member of Hoi’s gang, who had been working for Johnny Wong’s (Anthony Wong) rival syndicate. Wong is impressed by Alan’s skill and attempts to recruit him. Alan reluctantly turns against Hoi when Wong conducts a raid on Hoi’s arsenal at a warehouse. At the warehouse, Wong’s men kill Hoi’s workers and destroy his stock. When Hoi arrives, Wong demands Alan kill Hoi, which he does, along with the rest of Hoi’s men. Just then, smoke grenades explode and Tequila attacks. Alan covers Wong’s escape as Tequila battles and kills most of the gangsters. In the end Tequila, finds himself confronting Alan face to face in the smoke, with guns to each other’s heads. Tequila tries to shoot Alan, but is out of ammo. Although he is free to kill Tequila, Alan slowly lowers his gun and walks away.
At the police station, Pang confirms that Alan is actually an undercover cop. Tequila tracks Alan down to his sailboat to try to make sense of the situation, but the two are ambushed by the remnants of Hoi’s gang. Tequila and Alan manage to kill their attackers just before Wong arrives, which allows Alan to keep his cover. Wong realizes that one of his gangsters named Foxy (Tung Wei), is an informant for the police. Foxy is beaten at the docks by Wong’s henchman Mad Dog (Philip Kwok) in front of Alan and Wong. In front of Wong and Mad Dog, Alan then shoots Foxy in the chest, although he has secretly placed a cigarette lighter in Foxy’s breast pocket earlier to prevent the shot from being fatal. Foxy finds Tequila at a jazz bar and informs him that Wong’s armory is in the nearby Maple Group Hospital. As Tequila takes Foxy to the hospital, Wong finds out Foxy is alive and sends Alan to kill Foxy, as well as sending Mad Dog separately to cover Alan. At the hospital, Alan confronts Tequila, demanding to know the whereabouts of Wong’s arsenal. While Alan and Tequila are distracted, Foxy is killed by Mad Dog.
Alan and Tequila discover a hidden passage in the hospital leading to Wong’s arsenal. They are confronted by Mad Dog, who engages them. Wong arrives at the hospital and has all the patients, police officers and staff taken hostage. After fighting their way to the main lobby, Alan and Tequila liberate the kidnapped patients and police officers. Pang evacuates the lobby while police detective Teresa Chang (Teresa Mo) goes to the maternity ward to organize evacuating the babies. Alan and Tequila continue fighting gangsters until finding Mad Dog. While Tequila goes to assist Chang with the babies, Alan and Mad Dog find themselves in a standoff with a group of patients caught in the middle. They slowly put their guns down and offer the patients safe passage, until Wong appears and shoots them all. An enraged Mad Dog shoots Wong’s gun out of his hand. Wong shoots and kills Mad Dog while Alan escapes.
Tequila finds the last baby in the maternity unit, and carries it to safety while fighting off the last of the gangsters. Alan and Tequila meet up again and are confronted by Wong, who has programmed bombs to blow up the building. Alan pursues Wong as Tequila escapes the hospital with the last baby, the hospital exploding around him. Outside, Wong suddenly appears holding Alan at gunpoint. After watching Wong humiliate Tequila, Alan grabs Wong’s pistol. In a struggle, Alan shoots himself through the stomach giving Tequila enough time to shoot Wong dead. Later at the police station, Pang and Tequila burn Alan’s police file. Alan sails away from Hong Kong in his boat.
Keith – John Wick (2014)
After John Wick (Keanu Reeves) loses his wife Helen to an unspecified illness, he receives a puppy named Daisy, per Helen’s instructions, to help him cope with her death. He connects with the puppy and they spend their day driving around in his vintage 1969 Boss 429 Mustang. At a gas station, he encounters a trio of Russian gang members whose leader, Iosef (Alfie Allen), insists on buying his car, but John refuses to sell it. The mobsters follow John to his home that night, knock him unconscious, steal his car, and kill Daisy.
Iosef takes the Mustang to a chop shop run by Aurelio (John Leguizamo) to have the VIN changed. Aurelio recognizes the car and, upon learning that Iosef stole it from John, punches him before throwing him out of his shop. John visits Aurelio, who tells him Iosef is the son of Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), the head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York City. Viggo, informed by Aurelio of Iosef’s actions, beats and berates Iosef, explaining to him that John Wick was his best assassin, nicknamed “the Boogeyman.” When John wanted to retire for Helen, Viggo gave him an “impossible task:” killing all of his competitors in a single night. John succeeded, establishing the Tarasov syndicate.
Viggo tries to talk John out of seeking retribution, but John silently refuses. Viggo sends a twelve-man hit squad to John’s house, but John kills them all and has the bodies professionally removed. An unsurprised Viggo places a $2 million bounty on John and personally offers the contract to Marcus (Willem Dafoe), John’s mentor. John seeks refuge at the Continental Hotel, which caters exclusively to the criminal underworld and permits no business on its premises. Viggo doubles the bounty for those willing to break the rules to kill John at the Continental.
John learns from Winston (Ian McShane), the Continental’s owner, that Viggo has Iosef protected at his nightclub, the Red Circle. John enters the Red Circle and kills his way to Iosef, but Iosef escapes. John retreats to the Continental to treat his wounds. Ms. Perkins (Adrianne Palicki), an assassin and former acquaintance of John’s, sneaks into John’s room to kill him, but he is warned by a watching Marcus. John subdues Perkins after a brutal hand-to-hand fight and forces her to reveal the location of Viggo’s front.
John travels to the Little Russia church which serves as Viggo’s front and destroys Viggo’s cache of money and blackmail material. When Viggo and his team arrive, John ambushes them but is subsequently captured. Viggo taunts John for thinking he could leave his old life behind. Marcus intercedes to allow John to break free, and John then catches up to Viggo and forces him to give up Iosef. John travels to Iosef’s safe house and kills him.
Perkins sees that John and Marcus have been in contact and tells Viggo, who has Marcus tortured and killed in his home. Viggo calls John to report the killing, planning to have Ms. Perkins ambush John. Perkins, however, is called to a meeting with Winston, who has her executed for breaking the Continental’s rules.
Winston calls John to inform him that Viggo is planning to escape by helicopter, and John races to the harbor, killing Viggo’s remaining henchmen before engaging Viggo in a fistfight on the dock. Viggo pulls a knife and John allows himself to be stabbed, giving him the opportunity to disarm and finally kill Viggo. Wounded, John stops at a waterfront animal clinic to treat his wound and takes with him a pitbull puppy which was scheduled to be euthanized. John and the dog walk home on the boardwalk where he had his last date with Helen.
David – Scarface (1983)
In 1980, Cuban refugee Antonio “Tony” Montana (Al Pacino) arrives in Miami, Florida, where he is sent to a refugee camp with his best friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) and their associates Angel (Pepe Serna) and Chi-Chi (Ángel Salazar). The four are released from the camp in exchange for assassinating a former Cuban government official at the request of wealthy drug dealer Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), and they are given green cards. They become dishwashers in a diner.
Frank’s henchman Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) gives the group the opportunity to purchase cocaine from Colombian dealers, but the deal collapses. Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw, while Manny and Chi-Chi rescue Tony and kill the Colombians. Suspecting that Omar betrayed them, Tony and Manny insist on personally delivering the recovered drugs and money to Frank. During their meeting, Tony is attracted to Frank’s girlfriend Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer). He and Manny are hired to work for Frank.
Months later, Tony visits his mother Georgina (Míriam Colón) and younger sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), of whom he is fiercely protective. Disgusted by his life of crime, Georgina throws Tony out. Manny comments on Gina’s beauty before being warned by Tony to stay away from her. Frank sends Tony and Omar to Bolivia to meet with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar). Tony negotiates a deal without Frank’s approval, angering Omar, who leaves to contact Frank. Sosa claims that Omar is a police informant and then has Tony witness as a beaten Omar is hanged from a helicopter. Tony vouches for Frank’s organization, so Sosa agrees to the deal, parting with a warning that Tony should never betray him.
Back in Miami, Frank is infuriated by Omar’s demise and the unauthorized deal struck by Tony, prompting Tony to establish his own organization. At a nightclub, corrupt detective Mel Bernstein (Harris Yulin) attempts to extort money from Tony in return for police protection and information. Tony angers Frank further by openly pursuing Elvira in the club. Gina is also there, and Tony notices her dancing and being groped by a man. Hit men attempt to assassinate Tony, but he escapes from the club. Tony, Manny, and Chi-Chi go to Frank’s office, certain that his former boss sent both Bernstein and the assassins. At gunpoint, Frank confesses to his involvement and begs for his life, but he and Bernstein are killed.
Tony marries Elvira and becomes the dealer of Sosa’s supplies. He builds a multimillion-dollar empire, living in a vast, heavily guarded estate. By 1983, however, Tony becomes paranoid as he and Elvira excessively consume cocaine. His money launderer demands a greater percentage, while Manny grows resentful of Tony taking sole credit for their success. A sting by federal agents results in Tony being charged with money laundering and tax evasion. Sosa offers to use his government connections to keep Tony out of jail, but only if Tony first assassinates a journalist intending to expose Sosa. Later, Tony pushes Manny and Elvira further away by publicly blaming the former for his arrest and the latter of being infertile because of her excessive drug use. He travels without them to New York City, where Sosa’s henchman, Alberto, plants a bomb on the journalist’s car. However, the intended victim is unexpectedly accompanied by his wife and children, so Tony calls off the mission. Alberto insists on continuing, but Tony kills him.
Tony goes looking for Manny and Gina who are now married. After killing Manny, Tony returns to his mansion, where he buries his face in a large mound of cocaine. While Sosa’s men invade the mansion and kill Tony’s men, a drugged Gina accuses Tony of wanting her for himself and wounds him. One of Sosa’s men then kills her and is killed by Tony. After failing to open the door for Chi-Chi who is killed upon arrival, Tony turns a grenade-launcher-equipped M-16 on Sosa’s men, mowing down many. Tony is repeatedly shot, but continues to fight until he is fatally shot from behind with a shotgun. His body falls into a fountain below, in front of a statue reading “The World is Yours.”
And there you have it, my fine people. Our Top 10 Shoot ’em up movie list! What are your thoughts on these lists? We’d love to know. If you loved this list, we have a bunch of other lists in our archives! Hop on over there, and check out some more. Do you want to hear more about our opinions and reactions? Click on over to podcastunlimited.com, and look through our archives for episode 96, where will discuss this at length. Check out our sister blog for our list of Honorable Mentions. Until next time, this is the engineer signing off! As Robocop once said, “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me!”
“When they kick at your front door,
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head,
Or on the trigger of your gun?”
– The Clash, “The Guns of Brixton (The Editor)