10 Even More Best "I'm Dead And I Know It" Movie Moments

These movie characters had time to process their impending deaths.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Paramount

You won't find many major movies that don't feature death of some kind - it's something which comes for all of us eventually and is therefore universally relatable across every imaginable demographic.

A cinematic death scene can be flippant and ridiculous or bleak and depressing, but whatever the mood, there's nothing quite like a movie death where the victim knows they're imminently due to have their big meeting with the Grim Reaper.

The latest entry in our series of "I'm dead and I know it" articles chronicles yet more characters who had enough time to mentally process the fact their goose was cooked, with their fear and perhaps their perverse amusement displayed on-screen for the audience to savour.

Whether villains about to deservedly meet their maker or heroes who went down swinging, these characters met their ends with a range of unforgettable emotions, from blind panic to admirable dignity and even completely insane pleasure.

Needless to say, few who've seen these movies will ever forget the looks on these characters' faces as they rode an express train to the grand existential abyss...

10. Nuke To The Gut - Broken Arrow

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Fox

John Woo's famously trashy mid-90s actioner Broken Arrow wraps up with the fittingly bombastic demise of antagonist Major Vic "Deak" Deakins (John Travolta).

In the final battle, Deakins and hero Captain Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are fighting over a remote control which can arm or disarm Deakins' stolen nuclear warhead, which happens to have been stashed onboard a train.

In the end, Hale beats Deakins down and grabs the remote, which he uses to deactivate the nuke mere seconds before the train carriage housing the nuke crashes into the halted carriage in front of it.

The impact cause the disarmed nuke to be catapulted forward with incredible force, giving Deakins just enough time to stand to his feet as he realises what's about to happen.

As the nuke travels towards him like a bullet, he smirks knowingly, seeming to take some sick satisfaction in how thoroughly he's been hoist by his own petard.

The impact of the nuke would surely kill Deakins instantly, but to rub salt in the wound he's catapulted into a bunch of flaming barrels, causing him to explode in what is truly one of John Woo's "John Woo-iest" scenes.

 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.