10 Greatest Pre-Kill Movie Lines
Rubbing salt in the wounds before the final nail in the coffin.
It is no mean feat putting the finest of finishing touches on one's cinematic kill with a verbal death sentence truly worthy of remembrance.
However, when a character happens to get it just right, said kill line often may live long past the legacy of the film in which it was delivered, divulging into an indispensable staple of pop culture that everyday people somehow find themselves uttering without even realizing where they got the expression. Unfortunately for the actors involved, the flamboyant manner in which many of these deaths occur often overshadows what was a superbly witty final repartee.
Nevertheless, several iconic performers have gone down in the annals of cinematic history as the ultimate connoisseurs of the art of the pre-kill dialogue; Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis make up but a few of the illustrious members of this storied ice-cool club of silver screen killers. There is an ineffable art to delivering an unforgettable final soundbite to an adversary just before inflicting the fatal blow, and the aforementioned trio are just a sprinkling of the celebrated performers who made an inimitable final sign off an integral part of their cinematic repertoire.
Sit back and enjoy a selection of the most immortal lines preceding kills of epic proportions that film history has to offer.
10. "You Once Were A Vegan... But Now You Will Be Begone!"
The contrived nature of Scott's hilarious attempt to rhyme "vegan" with "begone" as he dispatches Evil Ex Number 3 is conceivably the perfect reflection of the whimsically ludicrous nature of 2010's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Having discovered he is in the middle of a fight for his life, where he must battle the sinister former partners of his new girlfriend Ramona Flowers, Scott manages to get past the first two Exes before running into a seemingly invincible new adversary; Todd, Scott's ex-girlfriend Envy's new vegan bassist boyfriend, who incidentally happens to possess telekinetic powers as a result of his "veganity".
Todd trounces Scott in a bass guitar battle with the help of his otherworldly powers but barely has time to gloat before Scott tricks him into drinking half-and-half. The Vegan Police burst onto the scene and relieve Todd of his powers for what is revealed to be his latest infraction of the vegan "code". Did you know chicken wasn't vegan? Allegedly, neither did Todd. His newly mortal form is left cowering before a triumphant Scott, who issues the unforgettable parting shot.
"You once were a ve-gone... but now you will be begone!"
The confused Todd barely has time to mumble "vegone?" before Scott headbutts him so hard that the bassist dissipates into a large pile of coins. An superb, side-splitting pre-kill line, that lives long in the memory for its utterly ridiculous nature and exemplary execution.