9. The Body Bag - Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty was marketed with the tagline "The Greatest Manhunt In History." Sure, it sounds somewhat hyperbolic until you realise that the movie is all about the search for Osama Bin Laden. Jessica Chastain takes the reins as CIA agent Maya, who's tasked with gathering intelligent so she can find out where Bin Laden has took to hiding in the months - and subsequently years - after 9/11. The movie itself depicts her quest to track down the world's most wanted man in extensive, exhausting detail, and as the minutes tick by, we begin to understand just how tough Maya's job is - especially when the trail keeps going cold, and Bin Laden continually evades her grasp. But then, following a terrifying raid sequence on what Maya believes to be Bin Laden's compound, she finds herself standing next to a body bag. All she has to do is confirm that it's her man. Her face tells us, of course, that it is, and that her mission is finally over. Satisfaction guaranteed.
8. The Bride Kills Bill - Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)
The second Tarantino entry to make the list, further proving the motormouthed director's talents for bestowing several truly satisfying moments on his audience. And this one comes at the very end of what is a long and very bloody tale of revenge, in which the Bride, as played by Uma Thurman, sets out to wreak vengeance upon her former associates, after they shot and left her for dead on her wedding day. The leader of those associates? Bill, an assassin, like the Bride, and her former love. After we witnessed the Bride's roaring rampage of revenge, then, in which she dispatches those who wronged her, one by one, it's safe to say that by the time we get to Bill, the tension has reached a breaking point. After a lengthy discussion, the Bride dispatches Bill using a masterful and very badass technique. But the reason this moment proves so satisfying isn't because Bill is killed - it's because the Bride, after her epic quest, is afforded some closure, and there's a sense of mutual understanding - love and affection, even - between the master and his former student.