10 Best War Movie Scenes Of All Time
4. Full Metal Jacket - Sniper In Vietnam
While most war movies feature large-scale conclusive battles, Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War masterpiece is more about the duality of mankind and the individual Marine's experiences in the Vietnam War. The film is broken up into two parts, where the first covers the harsh reality of Basic Combat Training, while the other takes place in Vietnam.
Most of the Vietnam scenes showed the Marines' interaction with the locals, their views on the war itself, and a great deal of marching from one place to another. Things don't build up in intensity until the final scene, which centers on a squad of Marines facing off against a single combatant.
The terror Marines faced from a talented sniper was captured brilliantly in this evocative scene that brought about the end of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. The unseen enemy picks off one Marine after the other, drawing more into the killzone with no real indication as to the sniper's location.
As the Marines make their way toward the source of the gunfire, they lose several men, and Kubrick didn't hold back in showing just how gory and terrifying sniper-fire can be. Ultimately, the Marines find and incapacitate the sniper — a young girl.
As she lay injured and dying, Matthew Modine's Joker depicts the film's central premise, the duality of mankind, when he executes the girl, taking the shot just as his "peace" button moves out of sight. At the same time, his helmet prominently displays the words, "Born to Kill."