10 Most Brutal Movie Beatings

4. Drive

Our unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling) arrives as something of a shining knight; protecting young mother Irene (Carey Mulligan) from the men hunting down her husband (Oscar Isaac). Naturally, this only draws attention to himself. The net draws ever closer, to the point where the threat suddenly appears on his very doorstep. Standing in an apartment elevator with Irene, he catches sight- the slightest of glimpses- of a gun barrel glinting in a stranger's jacket pocket... He steps in towards Irene for a long and languorous kiss, before turning around, grabbing the stranger's head and slamming it into the elevator doors. The man has no time to react before he's pushed into a corner. There, the Driver kicks him and stomps on his head. Repeatedly. After a sickly squelch, the camera briefly shows the extent of the damage; a head squashed like a grape. Irene cowers, reeling from the realisation that the man who saved her life is as much a monster as those who pursued them. The lift doors open, she takes a backwards step outside and silently, but shivering, walks away.