Top Ten Suicide Missions at the Movies
AMC Movie List

Top Ten Suicide Missions at the Movies

They're done for. How would you rank these hopeless-mission flicks?

rank title points votes your vote
1 The Dirty Dozen
This motley crew (John Cassavetes and Donald Sutherland among them) mostly gets picked off by snipers in a mission that gets many killed. 312 706
2 300
In this Uber-stylized Zack Snyder pic, Gerard Butler (playing King Leonidas) brings to life the age-old story of the Battle of Thermopylae. 288 758
3 Independence Day
Goofball Randy Quaid gets a moment of serious deliverance as a poor struggling crop duster who sacrifices himself to save humanity. 193 739
4 Armageddon
This pic's final scene, in which Bruce Willis takes one for the team, is one of the ultimate man-signing-up-for-certain-death tropes. 173 731
5 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
When Frodo and Sam set out from the Shire with the fate of Middle Earth in their hands, it's acknowledged that they're unlikely to succeed. 172 722
6 Inglourious Basterds
When Hirschberg and Donowitz head into a cinema where the Fuhrer is, the fact that they're headed for certain death doesn't sway them. 160 726
7 Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Hooting, hollering, and waving his cowboy hat, Major Kong straddles the bomb and hurtles to the ground, making movie history. 68 640
8 Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese's movie is a long, excruciating suicide mission from the first to the last frame, despite how the plot plays out. 61 649
9 Alien ³
Ripley, forced to choose between allowing doctors to observe the alien in her chest or saving humanity, hurls herself into an inferno. 2 624
10 Paths of Glory
The soldiers in this Stanley Kubrick antiwar flick are mere pawns forced to execute a hopeless attack at the behest of corrupt generals. -136 518