10 Awesome Movie Gunfights You've Probably Never Seen

3. The Mall Standoff (The Mission)

Johnnie To's classy action film from Hong Kong sees a group of expert killers being hired as bodyguards for a Triad boss who's been targeted for assassination. Unfortunately due to a messy rights issue The Mission has never been given a proper release on DVD or Blu-ray so it's a hard film to track down, but its well worth the effort to seek out. It contains some of the most tense shootouts captured onscreen, with the highlight been a standoff in a closed down mall. The killers launch a surprise attack on the Triad boss and have the team boxed in and surrounded. Now the thrill of this scene isn't that it has a high bodycount or relentless gunfights, but it comes from seeing how extreme professionals respond under pressure. They don't panic or try to run; they stand their ground and wordlessly cover each other's backs. There are long bouts of sweaty silence as the opposing teams simply wait each other out, seeing who will risk taking a peek or firing off a shot first. It's like a game, where impatience or slow reflexes will result in instant death. And the tension is only heightened by To's no frills direction and the sleek cinematography. Apparently a Hollywood remake was mooted a few years ago with director Peter Berg at the helm, but it's hard to imagine an American version capturing the taut suspense found here. They'd need to stick a few explosions and maybe a CGI dinosaur in there too.