Seven Great Movie Deaths

My wife and I watched Lord of the Rings the other day, an act that spurred a debate on great movie deaths. A year or so ago, we came up with a list of dramatic deaths in movies we liked, so I decided to blog about it today.

As I started to put the list down, I realized most of these deaths involve some kind of noble sacrifice. Thus, I have concluded that a noble sacrifice makes for a great movie death.

Leonidas, 300 - Gerard Butler is awesome in this movie, a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae via Frank Miller's graphic novel 300. Somehow, this movie is both glitzy and gritty at the same time, but the star of the show is Butler's Leonidas. In the end, he refuses to bow before Xerxes, unleashing a final act of defiance that just misses its mark. Leonidas goes down in a blaze of glory (translation: arrows that blot out the sun), a strong character made legendary by sacrificing himself for his people.

Boromir, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Sean Bean is awesome. This is a verifiable fact. NOT an opinion, people. Boromir's death in The Fellowship of the Ring may be the best movie death in history. Here's Boromir, the flawed warrior who tried to take the One Ring from Frodo, rising to protect Merry and Pippin. He takes an arrow to the chest, and it looks like it's all over.

Not so fast!

Through sheer will, Boromir comes to his feet time and time again, taking a few Uruk-hai with him in the process. The odds are too great for him to survive, and the hobbits are eventually kidnapped. Still, Boromir manages to redeem himself, holding on long enough to part on good terms with Aragorn.

Katsumoto, The Last Samurai - This is a beautiful end. Katsumoto, branded a rebel by a government looking to modernize, dies in battle. Mortally wounded, he wants to end it to the Old Way, and does so with help from his friend and ally, Nathan Algren. The two formerly bitter enemies share a dramatic moment on the battlefield, and as the light leaves Katsumoto's eyes, he utters: "Perfect. They are all...perfect."

Almost better is this exchange during the ending:

Emperor: Tell me how he died.
Nathan Algren: I will tell you how he lived.

Maximus, Gladiator - Of course, the scheming Commodus tries to rig the final fight against the general who became a slave who became a gladiator. As he did in nearly everything, Commodus fails miserably, meeting his own death at the hands of Maximus. But Maximus Decimus Meridius still suffers mortal wounds.

After slaying the emperor, the gladiator makes a few simple requests, saying, "Quintus! Release my men. Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated. There was a dream that was Rome. It shall be realized. These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius."

Shortly after that, Maximus collapses, finds himself wandering in a wheat field, and reunites with his departed family.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars - Darth Vader is "only a master of evil," and Obi-Wan Kenobi warns his former friend, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

As the old friends duel, Obi-Wan spots Luke Skywalker. A smile passes over his lips as he cedes the fight to his former apprentice. Obi-Wan is down, but not done. And the galaxy far, far away has a new hope.

Rorschach, Watchmen - Rorschach's dogged pursuit of the truth ends with an unnerving revelation: the World's Smartest Man, Ozymandias, has committed wholesale slaughter in a misguided attempt to save the world.

Misguided? Perhaps, but it's effective. Ozymandias accomplishes exactly what he set out to do, but Rorschach wants to tell people the truth.

"Never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon," the masked avenger says.

Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan realize they have a problem; if Rorschach talks, the world will never band together. And so Rorschach, reserved to his fate, removes his mask and stares down Dr. Manhattan.

"So what are you waiting for? Do it."

And with that, Rorschach is no more.

At least he left behind a journal.

Spock, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Spock's end in Wrath of Khan is simply amazing. Two friends get a final moment together, even though a wall separates them. The Vulcan has sacrificed himself to save the crew of the Enterprise, finding a way to win an impossible situation at an unimaginable price.

"Ship out of danger."

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"I have been and always shall be your friend."

And so Admiral Kirk loses his best friend, reminding us all that, "of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most...human."

Writing sacrifices

Writing involves blood, sweat, and tears. Mostly tears, really. I cry a lot.

But seriously, in order to write often and effectively, I've had to make some tweaks in my lifestyle. One of the biggest cop-outs wannabe writers fall victim to is the myth of "I don't have enough time to write." This excuse, which is right up there with "writer's block" in its absurdity, is often complete bunk. Yes, there are days when it's hard to find time to write, but most of the time, it's a question of desire and commitment.

I haven't sacrificed all that much--I know there are writers out there who've sacrificed much, much more than I--but I have given up a few things in order to maximize my writing time.

The Xbox 360. I've always been a big fan of video games. They're a fun diversion, but they're also a gigantic time suck. I found myself investing way too much time and effort on them. I play on occasion, but I'm no longer involved in any big multi-player events or anything like that. The Xbox is mostly used for Netflix these days.

Fantasy sports. When the NFL season starts, I'm usually the guy with three different teams. One year, I ordered a sweatshirt with the logo for my fantasy football team on it. I'm a big-time fantasy sports guy. But fielding a good team means researching, setting lineups, and scanning the waiver wire. I went cold turkey last football season. I didn't even fill out a March Madness bracket. I'm not sure whether I should be proud or weep uncontrollably.

Television. My DVR is usually full of shows that haven't been watched. After noticing this, I cancelled several programs with scheduled recordings. I've been spending so much time writing, I haven't had time to keep up with most shows (not even, lamentably, "Chuck"). I keep a few series on reserve and do watch some shows, just not as many as I used to.

Time with friends. Here's one I'm not proud of. I have become so consumed with writing in the last year that I haven't planned many activities with my friends. They're just as busy as I am, yet I haven't planned a dinner date or a movie or anything like that. It's probably a good thing for them, anyway...if we were to get together, I'd probably just talk about writing all the time...

Reading. Since I was a kid, I've been a ravenous reader. Unlike my wife, who's somehow capable of juggling three books at once, I'm usually a got-one-book-gotta-finish-it type. My reading has slowed to a crawl since putting a greater emphasis on my own writing. On the plus side, I've read a lot of short stories.

The Flying Trapeezius. A few friends and I started a blog back in 2005 that often lampooned sports, movies, pop culture, and other stuff we love. At the beginning of the year, I started shifting the focus of TFT toward my writing pursuits. I started to dominate TFT with writing-based content and decided it was time to go my own way. I spent the past weekend trying out a new blog design and making my own author blog where I'll pretty much do everything I did on TFT.

Sleep. My prime writing hours tend to be after I get home from work. Once I get on a roll, I don't want to stop. Some nights, I write from midnight till 4 or 5 in the morning. I end up going to bed and getting several hours of sleep without feeling very refreshed; on occasion, I get up early and start writing right away.

What about you? What have you had to give up in order to free up time for writing?