10 Greatest ‘One Shot’ Scenes In Movie History

A personal inclusion, this, and one made to incredibly loud protests from my more learned colleagues. I'll tell you what I told them though "f**k off lads, it's Nicholas Cage".

For all Birdman might have pioneered the one-take-that's-not-actually-one-take-but-definitely-looks-like-it's-one-take, 1998's Snake Eyes opening scene just went for the approach of writing the thing like a 12-minute long unbroken introduction, without really worrying about how it would look on screen. The cuts here are not, strictly speaking, good, but as I've already mentioned: "f**k off lads, it's Nicholas Cage".

Tracking us through the Atlantic City Arena (not Vegas, as is commonly misinterpreted), Cage walks the backstage area ahead of a boxing match running into all manner of colourful characters. He collects debts, places wagers, gives his number to some women, answers 100 phone calls, and, after finally sitting down for the fight, is a bystander as a high-profile senator is assassinated by a sniper's bullet.

It's not great but, remembering that this is 1998 and feautures zero visual effects, it was about a decade ahead of its time.