The elevator scene from "The Departed". William Monohan does an incredible job showing us Colin Sullivan's anguish and mental transformation, as Billy Costigan takes him down the elevator. The elevator ticking "down, down, down" coincides with Colin's initial burst of anger and defiance slowly transforming to a desperate realization that what Billy is doing to him is actually worse than death. This brief, almost quiet, exchange precedes quite possibly one of the most brutal, violent, holy-shit-where-did-that-fucking-come-from sequences ever seen in film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b66y1LHixqY BILLY moves COLIN into the elevator and as the doors close looks back at BROWN, still in a Mexican stand-off. COLIN, nose broken, blood masking his face. COLIN I can't wait for you to try to explain this to a Suffolk County grand jury. This is gonna be fun. The indicator ticks. Down, down, down. Colin sobs. COLIN (CONT'D) Just fucking kill me. BILLY I am killing you. The doors open and for a frozen moment BILLY, holding the gun on COLIN, stares out of the car. A LOUD BANG. BILLY is shot through the head. BLOOD sprays the walls, and COLIN is hit by flying blood and matter. BILLY falls, crumpled, on his face, half in and half out of the elevator. The doors try to close...open...COLIN, covered with blood, looks up. BARRIGAN lowers his pistol. COLIN slumps, covered with blood. BARRIGAN uncuffs him. COLIN feels his wrists. BARRIGAN picks up BILLY'S gun. The other elevator doors open and BROWN emerges. He looks into the bloody elevator and down at the dead man. BROWN (holstering his gun) Shit... BARRIGAN raises BILLY'S GUN and shoots BROWN in the head. COLIN stares at him. BARRIGAN Did you think you were the only one he had? Costello was going to sell us to the FBI. It's you and me now. We have to take care of each other. You understand? COLIN All right. Give me that. BARRIGAN casually hands COLIN BILLY'S GUN. COLIN presses the gun against BARRIGAN's forehead and fires.

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" -- Directed by Andrew Dominik -- Screenplay by Andrew Dominik, based on the novel by Ron Hansen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPIivI1K6f0 JESSE proclaims in a sentence that seems composed just for Bob: JESSE: I guess I'll take my guns off for fear the neighbors might spot them. CHARLEY turns from the screen door with vexation on his face. BOB'S thumb twitches as he lowers his hand to his gun. JESSE unbuckles his holsters and lays them on the bed as if creating an exhibit. JESSE focuses on the picture of Skyrocket: JESSE: Ain’t that picture look dusty. He withdraws a furniture duster and climbs a rush-bottomed chair. BOB slinks from the wall and stands between JESSE and his two revolvers. He shakes his fingers like a gunfighter and instructs his brother with scared eyes. CHARLEY steps further into the room and the two FORDS slip out their guns. BOB extends his .44 and cocks it with THREE SOFT CLICKS. JESSE swivels slightly, authentically surprised, reaching for a gun that isn't there. Then BOB FORD'S .44 IGNITES and a red stamp seems to paste itself just behind the outlaw's right ear. His face socks into the watercolor glass. GUNPOWDER AND GUN noise fills the room. JESSE drops from his knees and smacks onto the floor like a great animal, shaking the house with his fall. --------- Not much dialogue going on here, but visually, there are no two-shots in the entire scene. Each character is isolated in their frame, shut off from the others -- much like their emotional states. Of the dialogue that is present, it plays against Jesse's character as presented throughout the film. He couldn't care less about what others thought of him or how things appear. Only when he senses the end is imminent does he take a few moments to concern himself about what he looks like and perhaps even what his legacy may be.

"Munich" Directed by: Steven Spielberg Written by: Tony Kushner, Eric Roth http://youtu.be/s2qh6E0dTEM INT. LOBBY OF ZWAITER'S APARTMENT - LATE AFTERNOON The lobby is dark. Zwaiter opens the front door and steps inside. He juggles his grocery bag and reaches for the light switch. He flicks the switch, and the light's timer starts. Avner and Robert are standing between Zwaiter and the curved staircase. Zwaiter looks at the two men, and they look at him. Everyone's blank for a moment, then: AVNER Are you Wael Zwaiter? ZWAITER Yes? I'm sorry I-- I-- A beat. Zwaiter shakes his head "no," confused. Robert and Avner draw their guns; Avner's gun gets caught momentarily in his belt. Zwaiter is frozen. AVNER Are you Wael-- ROBERT He said yes already, he-- AVNER I didn't hear him say that he-- Zwaiter walks slowly to Avner and puts his hand gently on Avner's gun; he tries carefully to lower it. Robert fires two shots, through the grocery bags and into Zwaiter's chest. Zwaiter looks at Robert, shocked. Then Avner fires, two shots, again through the shopping bags, which Zwaiter continues to hold. Zwaiter screams in pain, then drops to his knees, then falls flat on his face, crushing the groceries in the bag. There's a sound of a bottle breaking; maraschino liquid, green soap, orange soda, grape juice, mixed with dark blood, spill out under Zwaiter. He tries to roll over but can't; he's panting, sobbing. ZWAITER (almost inaudible) La, la. Aiuto, aiuto, please, please... He rolls over onto his back. Robert walks up close and fires another shot right into Zwaiter's chest. Avner does the same. Zwaiter's already stopped moving. Dazed, they each fire again. ---------------------------------------- In the film, the question "Do you know why we're here?" is asked more times than in the script. What I like best about the dialogue, apart from its brevity, is that the centerpiece is a question (always great for drama) and that it says more than any speech possibly could. Jules in "Pulp Fiction" does a lot of talking before killing someone, perhaps because he's such a tenured pro. Avner and Robert, despite their backgrounds, are amateur assassins. Robert seems more calm and focused despite not being the military man that Avner is; the dialogue reflects this. The question Avner asks is revealing. He wants Zwaiter to understand that this isn't some random killing, but he also wants to hear from Zwaiter's own mouth that he knows why he's being killed and understands that he brought it on himself. Avner has a job to do but he wants to return home with his conscience intact. Zwaiter's last words (different from the film) peel back his humanity. If he had laughed maniacally or spouted obscenities it would make his killing go down easier with the audience -- but that doesn't happen. He's a frail, old man in that moment, very human, and no matter the extent of his role in Munich, when his life is taken you feel it.

"Casino Royale" 2006 Directed by Martin Campbell Neal Purvis ... (screenplay) & Robert Wade ... (screenplay) and Paul Haggis ... (screenplay) Ian Fleming ... (novel) Dryden grabs the pistol, levels it —- Bond still hasn't moved. DRYDEN Shame, we barely got to know each other. He pulls the trigger. Click. Bond holds up the magazine. BOND (with humor) I knew where you hid your gun, I suppose that's something. DRYDEN (has to smile) True. (lays gun down) How did he die? BOND Your contact? BOND Not well. DRYDEN Made you feel it, did he? (sees the truth in Bond's eyes) Well, no worries, the second is— Bond raises his silenced Walther and fires, cutting off the words before they reach Dryden's lips. BOND Yes. Considerably. Bond holsters his weapon and heads for the door.

This particular scene is a bit on the longer side, but it's rather poetic and ripe with subtext (within context of the movie). Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - Written by Charlie Kaufman - based on the autobiography of Chuck Barris. The scene in the movie plays out much differently than is written in the screenplay, but I really liked how the filmed version turned out. Both are assassins and one is the mole who's been picking off fellow assassins until it comes down to the last one: Chuck Barris. This is a battle of wits and they're both duping each other: one is groveling while the other is painting a peaceful *life* together. Patricia even thinks she's outsmarted Chuck as she has with the others who, on first impression, come across as much more astute than he... but it is he who has the last laugh. The scene starts out with him being the poor schlub who can't even self deprecate correctly until he bests his own assassin (with a final NO LOVE in the filmed version). He even lets her think she's won until the bitter end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQtSbf_u5Q INT. UNION OYSTER HOUSE, BOSTON Barris, dressed in a suit, sits with Patricia Watson. He smiles across the table at her. PATRICIA I can't believe you finally left your two-hundred-dollar-a-night cave to see me. I'm honored. BARRIS Y'know, I got a visit this morning from Penny. She's wanted to marry me forever. But she doesn't know who I am, what I've,what I'm capable of. And she can't ever know. So what does she really love? A lie. And I started thinking, Treesh, you are the only woman in the world who truly knows me. I know I've screwed you over in the past, and I'm really sorry. I just want you to know that you're the one I want to be with. I love you, Treesh. Patricia looks at him. Her hard-as-nails demeanor softens. She smiles. Barris smiles and reaches across the table for her hand. EXT. WHARF - NIGHT Barris and Patricia stand looking out at the harbor. BARRIS I hate myself for how I've lived, Treesh. PATRICIA Neitzsche said, "Whoever despises oneself still respects oneself as one who despises." BARRIS I never thought of that. Jesus, I can't even despise myself with any insight. PATRICIA Insane asylums are filled with people who think they're Jesus or Satan. Very few have delusions of being the guy down the block who works at an insurance company. Wonder what that means. BARRIS Y'know, I wanted to be a writer once. I wanted to write something that someday some lesser person would quote. But I never did. I'm the lesser person, Treesh. I never said anything meaningful that wasn't said by somebody else first. I am disposable. I disposed of people and I am disposable.(beat) You look cold. Barris drapes his jacket over Patricia's shoulders. PATRICIA Chuck, what's gotten into you? You're actually acting like a gentleman. Barris kisses her. She lets him. PATRICIA (CONT'D) Well, it's late. I should get going. BARRIS I suppose you still won't tell me where you're staying. PATRICIA No. But I'll show you. She takes his hand. They walk off. INT. PATRICIA'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT Patricia enters followed by Barris. She turns on the light. PATRICIA Drink? BARRIS Sure. Bourbon. Patricia pours some drinks. There are a couple of chairs near the window. Barris sits in one. PATRICIA I've been thinking a lot about you lately, Chuck. BARRIS Yeah? Patricia approaches Barris with the drinks, hands him one. PATRICIA I've missed you. BARRIS You could've fooled me. PATRICIA Well, I've mellowed. Patricia takes Barris by the hand, leads him to the window. PATRICIA (CONT'D) Look. Boston's a beautiful city. We could start over here. A normal person's life. Together. Selling insurance. BARRIS That sounds right. Patricia flops down in the chair that Barris had been sitting in. Barris sits in the chair across from her. Patricia raises her glass. PATRICIA To life. BARRIS To life. Patricia casually slides her hand under the chair cushion. In one swift move, Barris pulls a gun from his ankle and shoots Patricia three times, twice in the head, once in the heart. The force of the bullets has tipped the chair over. Patricia lies sprawled on the floor. BARRIS (bitterly) L'Chaim. Barris stands and looks at Patricia's body. She holds a gun.