Bad Boys II (2003)

Director Michael Bay's (with producer Jerry Bruckheimer) loud and explosive buddy cop action film was the sequel to the earlier hit Bad Boys (1995).

Its two stars were wise-cracking Miami narcotics officers/detectives investigating the illicit drug trade in Florida:

• Mike Lowrey (Will Smith)
• Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence)

In one of the many action-packed destructive scenes with a high body count, the detectives found themselves in a minefield just outside the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay.

During a shoot-out, nasty Cuban drug-dealer kingpin Hector 'Johnny' Tapia (Jordi Mollà) held a gun to the back of Lowrey's head and taunted him about how they were standing on Cuban soil just outside the domain of the US Navy ("They can't help you. You're staying in Cuba").

Marcus rescued Mike with a skillful headshot to Tapia's skull. The gunshot was depicted as a slow-motion Matrix-like shot of a speeding bullet whizzing past Mike's head and entering the center of Tapia's forehead.

When he fell dead and backwards onto the sand of the minefield, the upper-half of Tapia's body was blown up by a land mine and his grisly body parts were sent flying into the air behind Mike (who was still standing with his arms up). He yelled to his partner:

Now that's how you supposed to shoot! From now on, that's how you shoot! lt take a dysfunctional motherf--ker to bust somebody in the head like that. That's some dysfunctional s--t.

Final Destination 2: You Can't Cheat Death Twice (2003)

In the second of a series of films noted for their ingenious, inventive and abrupt death scenes, this sequel featured a premonition of a deathly highway pile-up of cars on Rte. 23 caused by an 18-wheeler truck carrying logs - sensed by Kimberly "Kim" Corman (A.J. Cook). Seven survivors of the tragedy began to die:

1. Evan Lewis (David Paetkau) - impalement (in eye) by sliding metal fire escape ladder while attempting to escape apartment fire
2. Tim Carpenter (James Kirk) - chasing pigeons caused a construction worker to drop a heavy glass panel, crushing him - see description below and pictures (right)
3. Nora Carpenter (Lynda Boyd) - with tangled hair, elevator doors slammed on neck, crushing her head and decapitating her
4. Kat Jennings (Keegan Connor Tracy) - while driving, the SUV tire burst and it skidded off road, where a long PVC pipe in a load of metal poles was propelled into the back of the head rest; the triggering of her airbag during rescue efforts forced the back of her head into the end of the sharp pipe, impaling her skull
5. Rory Peters (Jonathan Cherry) - Kat's dead hand dropped a cigarette, triggering a chain reaction when gas ignited; the fiery explosion hurled a fence barbed wire towards Rory and sliced his body into three pieces
6. Eugene Dix (Terrence C. Carson) - leaked oxygen was sparked in his hospital room, leading to his death by incineration in a gas explosion
7. Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) - incinerated in the same explosion as Eugene (see above)
8. Brian Gibbons (Noel Fisher) - (additional death) an explosion of barbecue grill blew him into pieces

Evan Lewis	Nora Carpenter
Kat Jennings	Rory Peters

The most spectacular was the second one - the blunt-force, crushing death of widowed mother Nora Carpenter's (Lynda Boyd) 15 year-old son Tim (James Kirk), the youngest of the survivors. He was killed by a falling sheet of very thick plate glass that was accidentally dropped directly onto his head, causing blunt force trauma and crushing.

The gory Rube-Goldberg type accident, a fatal and predestined coincidence, was caused when he ran at a flock of pigeons. They flew up and startled a construction worker, who flipped a crane's switch, which released the heavy pane of glass directly onto him.

Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)

In Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent epic action film, the Bride (Uma Thurman) sought deadly pursuit and revenge against four other members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad or DiVAS who had wronged her, by dispatching with several of them. Her former assassin partners, now arch-enemies, had attempted to murder her and her unborn child on her wedding day four years earlier.

Her first target was suburban housewife Vernita Green / Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox), where they fought in the living room and kitchen of her Pasadena, CA home, until Green's young daughter Nikki arrived home from school.

When Vernita attempted to shoot the Bride with a concealed handgun through a box of KABOOM breakfast cereal, the Bride retaliated for the betrayal and hurled a knife into her chest, and she died on the floor.

As the Bride wiped blood from the blade, she turned and told the young daughter that it wasn't her intention to openly kill the child's mother:

"It's not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it. Your mother had it coming. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting."

Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)

The film's centerpiece was a highly-choreographed confrontation between two combatants:

• The Bride (Uma Thurman), a vengeful assassinatrix
• O-Ren Ishii / Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu), a sword-wielding Yakuza leader

They fought each other in the snowy garden of the House of Blue Leaves nightclub after the Bride had dueled against O-Ren's psychotic, mace and chain-swinging teen schoolgirl bodyguard assassin, Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), and had bloodily defeated her entire army of black-suited Yakuzas (the Crazy 88 fighters).

The Bride challenged O-Ren Ishii to a test of deathblows: "Attack me with everything you have." Blood dripped down O-Ren Ishii's foot after she was wounded in the leg during their first volley, and she apologized to the Bride:

O-Ren Ishii: "For ridiculing you earlier, I apologize."
The Bride: "Accepted. (pause) Ready?"
O-Ren Ishii: "Come on."

After a quick flurry of additional sword clashes between the two females, there was:

• a swash of blood across the snow
• a view of a scalp with long black hair flying through snowflakes in the air and landing in the snow
• a closeup of a dropped samurai sword
• another closeup of the face of O-Ren Ishii.

She repeated the name of the legendary sword that had just killed her - Hattori Hanzo:

"That really was a Hattori Hanzo sword."

As she was dying, the camera slowly pulled back and slightly panned up her face to reveal the top of her flattened, neatly-sliced open head.

From a rear view, she sank to her knees, and slowly collapsed dead to her right.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

The closing chapter of Peter Jackson's trilogy of films adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel ended, in part, with the fires of Mount Doom consuming the powerful One Ring.

Treacherous and tormented creature Gollum (voice of Andy Serkis) (originally Smeagol) also died after finally reaching Mount Doom in Mordor with:

• Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), a Hobbit
• Sam Gamgee (Sean Austin), Frodo's loyal friend and companion

Frodo was unable to destroy the Ring (by throwing it into the mountain's fiery molten lava) when he succumbed to its power and put in on his finger, rendering himself temporarily invisible.

Gollum attacked and struggled against Frodo to obtain the Ring for himself. He bit into and severed Frodo's finger to get the Ring, but its cursed power took effect as he celebrated possessing it once again ("Precious").

Frodo revived and wrestled with Gollum who fell backwards to his death into the volcano's Crack of Doom while clutching the Ring to himself. Frodo was saved by hanging onto the cliff's edge.

Gollum's Death (With Ring) in Mount Doom

This ended its awesome dark power - and the power of Sauron, signified by the collapse of the Tower of Barad-dur, shockwaves and earthquakes.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

This first of two sequels continued the previous story of The Matrix (1999).

Heroic superman Neo (Keanu Reeves) chose to save Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) who had entered the Matrix to help. He caught her body before she hit the pavement (the end of his recurring nightmarish dream) in a battle with a Matrix agent. He told her:

"The bullet is still inside."

Neo reached inside of her (within the Matrix) and extracted the bullet lodged in her chest. On board the Nebuchadnezzar, her vital signs showed that she died. However, Neo cradled her head:

"I know you can hear me. I'm not letting go. I can't. I love you too damn much."

He reached into her chest cavity and revived her heart - and then kissed her after she was brought back to life.

She told him:

"I guess this makes us even."

[Note: At the conclusion of The Matrix (1999), Trinity had kissed Neo to bring him back to life.]

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

There were three memorable death scenes in this concluding sequel of the sci-fi action saga, the Matrix Trilogy - a continuing story of the battle to stop the dangerous Sentinel machines and Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving).

The first was on board Neo's (Keanu Reeves) ship the Logos, when Bane (Ian Bliss) revealed himself as a conduit for the rogue Matrix program named Agent Smith (Bane was controlled by Smith in the 'real world').

In an attempt to kill, Bane/Smith blinded Neo during a struggle by cauterizing his eyes with a spliced electrical cable.

Neo could still "see" Bane/Smith ("I can see you") and killed him by decapitating him with a crow-bar, although Bane warned:

"It's not over, Mr. Anderson."

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Neo (Keanu Reeves) was able to sense AI intelligences as fiery objects, while he and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a member of Morpheus' crew, navigated with the Logos craft on to the 'scorched-earth' Machine City.

They found themselves overwhelmed by Sentinels and lost power in an electrical storm.

When they crash-landed, Trinity was lethally injured when impaled. With her one last chance to speak to Neo, she encouraged him to continue on and save Zion without her. Her loving sacrifice allowed Neo to finally end the war:

Trinity: "You will. I believe it. I always have."
Neo (pleading): "Trinity. Trinity, you can't die. You can't. You can't."
Trinity: "Yes, I can. You brought me back once. But not this time. Do you remember on that roof, after you caught me the last thing I said to you?"
Neo: "You said, 'I'm sorry.'"
Trinity: "I wish I hadn't. That was my last thought. I wished I had one more chance to say what really mattered. To say how much I loved you. How grateful I was for every moment I was with you. But by the time I knew how to say what I wanted to, it was too late. But you brought me back. You gave me my wish. One more chance to say what I really wanted to say. Kiss me. Once more...kiss me."

She gave Neo one last kiss before expiring, when her hand went limp in his. Neo wept over her body.

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Neo (Keanu Reeves) had bargained with the Deus ex Machina, the Machine's intelligence, for peace (an end to fighting in Zion) in exchange for fighting against and eliminating the rogue program Smith (Hugo Weaving) once and for all. He warned:

"The program Smith has grown beyond your control. Soon he will spread through this city as he spread through the Matrix. You cannot stop him. But I can..."

Neo was connected to the Matrix as he fought a monumental battle against Smith, who claimed he could already foresee his victory. He was confident of his newfound powers of precognition that he had appropriated from the Oracle (Mary Alice):

"You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting...This is my world. My world!...Wait, I've seen this. This is it. This is the end...Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo."

Smith was reflecting that the Oracle was speaking the words through him.

[Note: This was the first instance that Smith called him Neo rather than Mr. Anderson.]

When Smith feared it was a trick, Neo replied: "You were right, Smith. You were always right. It was inevitable." Neo had tricked Smith into letting him 'unbalance the equation' - by letting Smith win and accepting his own 'end.'

Smith assimilated Neo with a punch to his mid-section and then asked: "Is it over?" Neo/Smith agreed with a nod. Neo's plugged-in body, back in Machine City, glowed a golden color as it surged in energy that turned to a bright white light - destructively blasting all Smiths into nothingness. Smith complained: "It's not fair."

The Machines had gained control of Smith through Neo's jacked-in body - and destroyed him.

The Source confirmed Smith's deletion: "It is done."

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

In the conclusion of this first film in a series of Pirates films, there was a monumental swordfight duel between two immortal pirates:

• Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)
• Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), an 'undead' pirate

Towards the end of the fight, the last two stolen and bloodied Aztec treasure gold coins (pieces of eight) were dropped in a stone chest on Isla de Muerta by rightful heir Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). Temporarily 'undead' Captain Jack had thrown his own secretly-stolen coin to Will, to deposit for him in the chest, to lift the curse and return himself to being mortal.

Barbossa pulled a gun on Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), but before he pulled the trigger, Sparrow shot 'undead' Barbossa (who thought he was still invincible) in the heart. He told Jack: "Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot." But he was wrong, as Will affirmed while dropping the two coins in the chest: "He didn't waste it." The black-hearted pirate's wound, normally harmless, was now fatal since he had just turned mortal when the curse ended.

Barbossa ripped open his coat and glanced down at his bloody chest wound - he uttered:

"I feel - cold."

As he fell backwards onto the pile of treasures, a green apple rolled from his hand.

Swimming Pool (2003, Fr./UK)

In this psychological thriller by Francois Ozon set in the French countryside, emotionally-unbalanced, and wildly promiscuous publisher's daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) brutally, shockingly and impulsively murdered local waiter Franck (Jean-Marie Lamour).

After a sexy skinny-dip in the pool and providing him with pool-side oral sex, Julie repeatedly smashed his head with a large chunk of concrete as he was kneeling over to dress.

In the unusual ending, British mystery writer Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) helped Julie bury the body and cover-up the crime, by carting away the corpse in a wheelbarrow, and digging an earthen grave to hide it. They noted together:

Julie: "I'm so tired."
Sarah: "Not surprising. It's tiring to kill a man."

And then they burned blood-stained items in a fireplace. Julie suggested that they also burn Sarah's book, because "it could be used as evidence," even though she hadn't read it. Sarah seemed to be the mastermind of the cover-up:

Sarah: "Did you read it?"
Julie: "No, but I just can imagine."
Sarah: "Well, stop imagining, huh? Get yourself to bed. We got work to do tomorrow. Listen, I've thought it over. We have to carry on with our lives as if nothing has happened...It's important for everything to appear normal as it was before...If you do exactly as I say, I don't think there'll be any problems."

Julie obeyed Sarah's advice, considering her an expert on murder:

Julie: "And why should I believe you? Because you write about murders in your books?"
Sarah: "Absolutely."

By the time of the film's twist ending, it appeared that the events of the film were entirely an inventive figment of Sarah's literary imagination!

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

In the third film in the Terminator series, there was a deadly confrontation between:

• T-X or Terminatrix (Kristanna Loken), the first evil female terminator, and Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg killing machine to date
• Terminator (T-850) (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a protector android

In the finale, both Terminators were "terminated" by a massive hydrogen fuel-cell explosion.

The Terminator detonated his last glowing, hydrogen fuel cell in the female T-X's mouth (now with amputated legs and reduced to her metallic skeletal frame), destroying both of them.

He boldly announced: "You are terminated."