No one wants the hero to die in the end, and everyone wants a happy ending.
Those are the general audience expectations for a movie.
Most people will hate a movie simply because the writers defied those rules.
But, every now and again, an awesome movie appears that kills off the hero at the end
and gets away with it.
It hurts, of course, to see the hero die.
It's inevitable to feel sad, maybe even depressed about it, but somehow the death of the hero
made sense within those awesome movies and required us to work through the emotions of
the story.
I'm Mike with List25 and Be sure to go get some tissues because here are 25 Awesome Movies
Where The Hero Dies.
Oh and it should go without saying, but *SPOILER ALERT*
25.
Reservoir Dogs This tense movie by Quentin Tarantino unfolds
gradually with plenty of flashbacks and reveals all leading up to a bloody, surprising, but
inevitable ending with our brave undercover cop protagonist getting gunned down.
24.
Psycho When a secretary embezzles 40,000 dollars
and hits the road at the beginning of this film, the last thing we expect is for her
to get brutally stabbed to death in the shower.
Yet, that's just the first of many surprises to come in this classic black-and-white thriller.
23.
Gladiator Things don't turn out too great for Maximus
at the beginning of this film.
His life is turned upside down, his wife and child are murdered, and he's forced to become
a gladiator.
By the end, he's able to taste sweet revenge but not before succumbing to his wounds and
traveling through the wheat fields of Elysium.
22.
The Departed Scorcese knows how to make a great gangster
film, and this movie is no exception.
Though, the sudden and violent shoot-out at the end, resulting in the killing of the main
characters hits you where it hurts; it almost couldn't have ended any other way in retrospect.
21.
Alien 3 Ellen Ripley was able to survive the Xenomorphs
in Alien and Aliens, but alas, in Alien 3 she succumbed after being impregnated and
killing herself by falling into a vat of hot liquid, believing she'd killed all the aliens
in the process.
Sadly, this tragic yet poetic end to a great character was undercut by the unfortunate
follow up - Alien: Resurrection.
20.
The Shining Jack Torrance is an author who needs a little
peace and quiet to get his book completed, so he takes his family to an empty hotel to
see it through.
Unfortunately for his family, rather than writing the book, he goes insane and brutally
attacks them.
While hunting down his son through a garden maze in a blizzard, he freezes to death.
19.
Pay It Forward Trevor McKinney wanted to make the world a
better place and is empowered by his teacher to do it through the Pay It Forward system.
The young child's golden heart and innocence make his death at the end a bitter pill to
swallow.
18.
Cool Hand Luke In this movie, the titular hero fights the
man all the way to his death.
After saying, "What we got here is a failure to communicate," the authorities gun him down
straight through a window.
He's put in a car and the last thing we see is his head flopping to the side with a slight
smile.
17.
Donnie Darko It's no secret this is a mind-bending movie.
I'll try to simplify it.
Donnie believes he has to sacrifice himself to stop the impending apocalypse.
So, of course, at the end of the movie, he dies.
16.
Pan's Labyrinth This film reaches the tragic end of Ofelia
being murdered by the very terrifying villain Vidal.
But, as a result, she travels to the fantasy world where she becomes a queen.
15.
Burn After Reading This dark comedy by the Coen Brothers doesn't
exactly have a hero, but in its case, Chad Feldheimer is probably the closest thing to
it.
While hiding in a closet, Harry Pfarrer, gets spooked and accidentally guns Chad down.
It's a violent and surprising end for the naive and goofy character.
14.
The Hateful Eight If you're a character in a Tarantino movie,
you'll likely not make it out alive.
This is especially true of The Hateful Eight.
Trapped in a cabin and surrounded by a bad blizzard, Major Marquis Warren and Sheriff
Chris Mannix receive mortal wounds but don't let that stop them from seeking revenge against
Daisy.
13.
V for Vendetta V's primary goal is to inspire an uprising
against a brutal totalitarian regime.
He wishes to be a symbol of resistance rather than a crime-fighting vigilante.
So, after he completes his quest for vengeance, he dies in the arms of Evey.
12.
Insomnia In this film, Will Dormer receives a fatal
gunshot wound and dies in the arms of co-police officer Ellie Burr.
Before he dies, however, she's about to destroy evidence incriminating him and he tells her
not to, saying, "Don't lose your way."
It's a powerful ending for a complicated hero.
11.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day In this amazing science fiction action movie,
the Terminator sent back to kill John Connor now has been sent back to rescue him from
an even more powerful cyborg.
When his mission is completed, the Terminator slowly descends into a vat of molten steel
while giving a thumbs up.
10.
Philadelphia Andrew Beckett hires homophobic lawyer Joe
Miller to fight for him in court over a wrongful dismissal suit after Beckett's company fires
him for having HIV.
In the end, Beckett wins the case but succumbs to his disease.
9.
The Prestige After finding a way to copy himself with an
invention by Nikola Tesla, Robert Angier uses it to perform a deadly magic trick where his
copies are killed in a tank of water.
His rival, Alfred Borden finds out about it and kills Angier.
8.
Into the Wild Based on a true story, this movie follows
Emory University graduate and top student Christopher McCandless as he gives away his
$24,000 savings and hitchhikes into the Alaskan wilderness with little preparation.
His adventures lead him to an abandoned bus where he lives until he dies.
7.
Titanic This tragic love story that needs no introduction
follows poor painter Jack Dawson as he falls in love with the very wealthy Rose.
We all know as the Titanic sinks, try as they might, Jack freezes to death in the cold Atlantic
waters.
6.
Saving Private Ryan In this film, after D-Day, Captain Miller
is given the insurmountable task to go into enemy territory and find and rescue a soldier,
Private Ryan, after all his brothers have died in battle.
The hope, of course, is for Miller and Ryan to make it back successfully, but unfortunately,
Miller doesn't make it, dying in the last battle.
5.
12 Monkeys When the world population is mostly wiped
out by disease, James Cole is tasked with going back in time to figure out how it happened
and how to stop it.
Of course, we find out the whole thing is in a time loop.
At the end of the story, adult Cole is shot to death while Young Cole watches.
4.
Braveheart When his bride is murdered for assaulting
an English officer, William Wallace starts a revolt against English King Edward I.
We all wanted to see Wallace crush the English King under his foot in this film and might
have even been tricked into thinking that was going to happen until reality set in and
the truth came to light.
Wallace is tortured to death while screaming, "Freedom!"
3.
Life is Beautiful A harrowing story of a father and his son
being thrust into the Holocaust, Guido tries to protect his son from the horrors with will,
humor, and imagination.
Sadly, by the very end, we hear him being gunned down by a Nazi soldier.
2.
Million Dollar Baby After training to become a professional boxer,
Maggie ends up paralyzed in a hospital bed.
She asks her coach to turn off the machines and end her life.
He eventually accepts her request.
1.
Children of Men In a post-apocalyptic and infertile world,
Theo Faron agrees to escort a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
By the end, both he and the woman are in a small rowing boat out in the water.
Sadly, he's been shot in the stomach and dies in the boat before the woman is rescued by
another larger vessel called "Tomorrow."
So, what's your favorite movie in which the hero dies?
Let us know in the comments below, or tweet your answer to us @List25.
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