The Greatest Deaths in Cinematic History

1. Rambo

Burmese Jeep Driver - By far the new king of spectacular cinematic deaths. After commandeering a Jeep with a mounted machine gun, Rambo points the huge calibre weapon at the driver and lets rip, resulting in an explosion of innards and one less mouth to feed for the Burmese military.

2. Total Recall

Escalator Guy - Some unsuspecting commuter is ruthlessly gunned in the back by several different men when used as a human shield by Arnie.

3. RoboCop

Emil Antonowsky - This henchman gets splashed by 'toxic waste' and quite simply begins to melt uncontrollably. He meets his final demise when hit by a truck which liquifies him on impact.

4. The Godfather

Sonny Corleone - The highlight of the film. Heir to the criminal empire, Sonny suspects nothing as he pulls up to a toll both on the freeway. Seconds later rival henchman appear in every booth and surrounding car and spray him with machine gun fire from their faithful Tommy Guns.

5. Starship Troopers

Shujumi - A psycho trooper goes postal on the battlefield and is swiftly ended by the arachnids. Pretty much the first human to die on the attack on Klandathu.

6. Resident Evil

One - The commando team leader meets a hilarious demise at the hands of a laser grid which dices him. He would have survived had he taken a few steps backwards.

7. Seven

Victim of Lust - The prostitute. You never see her die, but the inferences of how she must have met her demise turn your stomach.

8. Platoon

Sgt. Elias Grodin - One of the most iconic poses in history, let alone cinema. Grodin is finally defeated and sinks to his knees after seeing the evacuation helicopter leave without him. Brutally betrayed by his own squad, he makes it back against all odds to the landing zone but is finally overcome by the chasing hoardes.

9. Troy

Hector - After a superb scripted fight, Achilles manages to get the better of Hector - the people's champion. It doesn't end there for the poor man as he is dragged behind his chariot across the desert and initially denied a proper burial.

10. Sin City

Yellow Bastard - The sick paedophile pervert who finally meets a deserved end when Hartigan punches his face into nothingness. Superb.

11. The Fly

Seth Brundle - A prolonged and ultimately tragic and painful death for the brilliant scientist, who after everything, fails in his desperate attempt to return to a human and ends up fused with components of his transportation machine. A shotgun blast to the head finishes the deal.

12. Reservoir Dogs

Hapless Cops - Two ordinary cops respond to reports of a heist and are utterly annihilated by Mr White before they even get a chance to leave their car.

13. The Last Samurai

Katsumoto - During a heroic last stand, Katsumoto managed to overcome hundreds of men in a rifle regiment, thunder through the reserves in a dashing cavalry charge, breeze past incoming cannon fire and is only stopped by revolutionary technology - a gattling gun on the battle field. Even then, he gets so tired of killing other people, he decides that he has to kill himself.

14. Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

Injecting Henchman - After a gruelling battle with Ting, he is knee dropped with such ferocity that he smashes through a wooden platform, which is then crushed under the head of a giant statue. Jaw dropping.

15. The Passion of the Christ

Jesus Christ - Probably the longest death scene ever. The lord and saviour is repayed for his saving of humanity by being gruesomely tortured and crucified. No pleasing some people.

16. Fargo

Carl Showalter - Something we've all dreamed of doing to Steve Buscemi at some point - killing him with an axe and then feeding his remains through a wood chipper.

17. Scarface

Tony Montana - It's how I want to go. In a coke-fuelled psychosis, Montana picks up his faithful M16 assault rifle - with underslung grenade launcher - and obliterates half of an invading army of gangsters who are hell bent on killing him. He finally succumbs to a hail of bullets and it blown from his balcony into a pool below. Heroic!

18. Equilibrium

Brandt - One of the biggest tools in recent years, Taye Diggs' character is the ultimate suck up who - after preparing himself for an ultimate battle with Preston - is instantly killed by one lightning quick slash from his opponent.

19. The Marine

Angela - Cena takes no prisoner as he breaks into the passenger door side of a juggernaut, grabs this girl by the hair, then throws her into the path of an oncoming bus. Hilarious stuff.

20. Desperado

Navajas - Wearing a grimace that could destroy the Berlin wall, Navajas fills El Meriachi with knives before being rudely interrupted by hired goons in a heavily armoured car. He annihilates about four more bad guys before meeting his demise.

21. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Denethor - A beautiful death. Denethor manages to set himself on fire, run screaming through the higher echelons of Minas Tirith and then throw himself off of the top of the city. Rib tickling.

22. My Girl

Thomas J. Sennett - McCauly Culkin gets stung to death by bees and everyone on the planet without a Y chromosome cries. Gave me a fear of bees throughout most of my childhood, until science cured that irrationality!