Several of cinema's most iconic moments involve an unruly amount of firepower. Some are fast, some are slow, some are stylized, and some are downright exploitative. Ever since Justus D. Barnes fired a pistol directly at the camera in The Great Train Robbery (1903), filmmakers have been infatuated with the engrossment and gore of gun violence.
Classic crime thrillers, Westerns, and war films have long hinged their climaxes on bullet-laden action sequences, and they've only grown more popular in the decades that followed. Nowadays, shootouts are a staple of spectacle cinema. Having evolved alongside audience demand and new filmmaking technology, gunfights have translated to new genres of cinema, appearing in just about every kind of movie one can think of; from actioners and superhero blockbusters to meta-comedies and awards contenders.
8 Scarface (1983) Spawned A New Wave Of Cinematic Violence With Its Staircase Shootout
Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana in Brian De Palma's crime drama Scarface, following the story of a Cuban refugee who moves to Miami and becomes a merciless, homicidal drug lord. Based on the 1929 novel of the same name and serving as a remake of the 1932 film, Scarface initially received negative critical reception due to its excessive, graphic gun violence.
In the time that has passed, Scarface is now considered to be one of the greatest gangster movies of all time. The quote "Say hello to my little friend!" has become a pop-culture staple, ranked 61st on AFI's 'Top 100 Movie Quotes' list. The film's futile and foreboding tone is as terrifying as it is vividly arresting; with a must-see performance from Pacino's potent character, Scarface walks the thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess.
7 Kick-Ass (2010) Combines Unbridled Brutality With Gleeful Profanity
Directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on the comic book series of the same name, Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), an ordinary teenager who sets out to become a real-life superhero in Staten Island, New York. The film co-stars Chloë Grace Moretz as "Hit-Girl", with Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicholas Cage, and Evan Peters rounding out the cast in supporting roles.
Kick-Ass takes the comic adaptation genre to new levels with its visual stylings, gleeful profanity, and brutality. Hit-Girl's famous hallway scene is a clear standout, satirizing the clichés of contemporary action movies with the self-regard of Tarantino's filmography. The sequence succeeds as an ultra-violent, ridiculously entertaining cinematic rush that never falters under its fantasy of perilous and fretful themes.
6 Hot Fuzz (2007) Heats Up With Hilarity And Absurdity
Edgar Wright's buddy cop comedy Hot Fuzz follows two police officers, played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, investigating a series of gruesome murders in a small South West England village. Over 130 action movies were used as inspiration to develop the script (co-written by Wright and Pegg), which latterly landed Hot Fuzz on Empire's 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century, in 67th place.
The film's final shoot-off pays tribute to classic Westerns and actioners, combining the cinematic stylings of Michael Bay with actual style and substance. Never for a second does Edgar Wright lose his creative command, and the film's greatest trademark lies in its ability to instill genuine hilarity alongside absurdly thrilling action set-pieces.
5 Sicario (2015) Saunters In Suspense With Its Mexican Border Scene
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Sicario follows Emily Blunt in the role of Kate Macer, a special agent who is recruited by the U.S. government to bring down the leader of an extremely powerful and brutal drug cartel in Mexico.
Taught with tension and disturbing subject matter, Sicario is full of twists, turns, turmoil, and occasional torture. The film's border crossing scene is an utterly absorbing masterclass in suspense filmmaking, richly detailed with exquisite diversionary tactics that pull viewers into a state of intense anticipation and genuine anxiety.
4 Hard Boiled (1992) Blends Iconic Imagery With Insanity
Directed by John Woo, Hard Boiled follows a cop (Chow Yun-fat) who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers. Joining forces with an undercover detective/hitman (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), they use all means of excessive force to find the ring leaders of the crime family.
Hard Boiled's hospital shootout is one of cinema's most intricate and technically impressive action sequences. In a three-minute single take of uninterrupted insanity, the camera roams through ward floors in a rapidly-paced succession of shelling and free fire — not to mention the unforgettable sight of Yun-Fat's character blasting bad guys away with a gun in one hand and a baby in the other.
3 The Matrix (1999) Changed The Game For Gunfights
Directed by Lana and Lily Wachowski, The Matrix changed the game for action cinema when it hit theaters in 1999. The lobby scene, in particular, reinvented the language of western blockbuster action.
Neo and Trinity, played by Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss respectively, strut in to save their mentor Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), strapped up with guns and ammunition, ready to take down an army. Drawing heavily from wuxia martial arts movies and anime, the sequence channels a kinetic display of superhuman proportions amidst gunfire so heavy that the walls around the protagonists crumble in all the action.
2 Heat (1995) Ignites With An Exhilarating Bank Robbery
Written and directed by Michael Mann, Heat follows a conflict between a career thief and a Los Angeles detective, all while depicting their professional relationships and personal lives. Featuring an ensemble cast led by Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, the film also stars Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, and Jon Voight in supporting roles.
Heat's bank robbery sequence is an impressive feat of filmmaking. Its intensity can be credited to Mann's dedication to developing every character who places their finger on a trigger; for De Niro’s crew, the audience collectively hopes that no single stray bullet hits a civilian — and for Pacino’s police unit, there's an uncertainty to whether or not they'll shoot to kill.
1 Django Unchained (2012) Spills Barrels Of Blood In Its Final Firefight
An American-revisionist-Western written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained features an ensemble cast of actors including Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, and Don Johnson. The film follows Django (Foxx), a slave who trains under the mentorship of a German bounty hunter (Waltz), with the objective of reuniting with his wife (Washington).
Django Unchained's 'Candyland' sequence is stylistically daring and unflinchingly gory. It’s not so much the staging of the shootout that makes it so memorable, rather the scene's ability to elicit genuine catharsis from the audience. After two hours of observing Calvin Candie spew racism and hatred onto humans he views as objects, Dr. Schultz shoots him in the chest with a concealed pistol. It’s a tremendously satisfying release that unfolds into one of the greatest (and goriest) revenge sequences of all time — with plenty of blood, guts, and glory. The shootout serves as an homage to Spaghetti-Westerns and Blaxploitation cinema, heightened by Tarantino's signature dialogue atop some truly terrific performances.