Best & Worst executed character death in each film?

Execution of character deaths, ie how the character was killed. Favorite and least favorite of each film please. You can include various options but also specify the one which you thought was best/worst. Mine:

Jurassic Park
Best: Muldoon. Not only because of the flawless execution of the scene itself but because it was foreshadowed by Grant in the beginning. The great hunter used tactics against lions and clearly had not learned anything of their behavior.
Worst: Jophery. It was good, and iconic death of course but since there are only 5 choices in the film you've got to choose somebody. Also, the novel portrayed the start death scene bit more mysteriously and gruesomely.

The Lost World
Best: Dieter. Compies are fun, Dieter is fun, and the way this was portrayed was fun. It was satisfying to see him taking a grip of those little bastards, and at the same time it was also satisfying to see those bastards annihilate him.
Worst: In the long grass there's that nameless black guy who starts yelling and staring the air even before the raptor jumped to attack him. It's so poorly done

Jurassic Park III
Best: Cooper because it was uber quick and served a purpose for the plot. But it wasn't anything to write home about really
Worst: Udesky, boring and foreseeable death itself, but the worst bit was the stupid 'trap' the raptors supposedly made afterwards. And that awful shot of one of them snapping his head to it's jaws, the effect looks terrible.

Jurassic World
Best: Masrani. Just as with Cooper in JP3 it wasn't that great, but it's not like there was anything better in offer here. Anyway, I suppose it's kind of interesting to have character dying to something else than dinosaur bite, and also they didn't just slap the death of their arses but showcased that it was kind of his own doing with the helicopter piloting insist. It sort of resembles the helicopter scene in Die Hard with agents Johnson & Johnson.
Worst: I honestly don't remember most of them, and the ones I do remember were bland and boring, but I guess the one that does bring to mind is Hoskins's death. The raptor CGI looked even more terrible than usual and it was also unsatisfying end to his character, execution didn't work.

JP

Best: Gennaro. Humorous and the dude got what he deserved for leaving two kids. Plus was he gonna wait there like 3 days or perhaps forever while help did or did not come?
Worst: Arnold, liked the character and he is completely glossed over. His death in the novel was awesome too.

TLW

Best: I guess Eddie. Hated seeing him die but it is unique, serves a purpose and did what it was supposed to for the audience.
Worst: Ajay or Carter. Ajay didn't get the respect his character deserved, like Arnold. Carter just because of the lack of options. Maybe I should pick Ajay.

///

Best: Udesky. Just cuz.
Worst: Cooper. Set up 70 minutes more of this because he was selfish SOB.

JW
Best: Hoskins. Character stunk and didn't have to listen to him anymore. Plus he poked the bear.
Worst: Fat dude watching the pen or Zara. Dragged that out. One drop and then chomp was all that was needed.

JP

Best: Muldoon. An iconic death, and perfectly set up the Raptors as intelligent, yet extremely vicious.

Worst: Arnold. A significant character that was killed off screen. Really don't think that was fair to the character,

TLW

Best: Eddie. He went out a hero, and was literally wishboned by two Rexes. Doesn't get more epic than that.

Worst: Ajay. Another important character killed off screen. This one was even worse than Arnold in JP though, because Ajay's death was what finally pushed Roland over the edge.

JP3

Best: Cooper. It wasn't great, but there aren't many options in JP3.

Worst: Juvenile T. Rex. You don't kill the goddamn T. Rex.

JW

Best: Masrani. Masrani seemed to feel responsible for the Indominus, so he took it upon himself to try and stop it, and although he failed, it made for a pretty epic death scene.

Worst: Echo and Delta. Two of the four members of Owen's raptor squad were given very unceremonious deaths, and considering how important they were to the story, their deaths should have been given more attention.

At least they didn't die off screen.

I actually really enjoyed Arnold's (lack of) death. It was just like in Jaws with Ben Gardner's off screen disappearance, and just like with Ben when they go investing it in spooky circumstances they find his remains. You know Ben's head, Arnold's arm... so it's not "just off-screen" but extended.

But anyway obviously the original intention was to have Sam Jackson dying on-screen, but the hurricane (allegedly) messed up that plan. IMO, thankfully, to me it had more impact as off screen fate. As much as I liked the original version in the book.

By the way Tyrant Lizard, I don't think dinosaurs are characters

Mistral wrote:

By the way Tyrant Lizard, I don't think dinosaurs are characters

I suppose not. The JP3 thing was just the Rex fanboy in me speaking up. Udesky gets my vote as the worst "character" death from JP3. The "trap" was stupid, and I actually enjoyed Udesky as a character far more than anyone else in JP3, with Grant being the obvious exception.

I stand by my selections in JW though, as the raptors were almost presented as "characters". They were given names, and, as an audience member, I did grow somewhat attached to them as the film progressed, and it kind of irked me seeing two of them getting unceremoniously killed off.

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Mistral wrote:

By the way Tyrant Lizard, I don't think dinosaurs are characters

I suppose not. The JP3 thing was just the Rex fanboy in me speaking up. Udesky gets my vote as the worst "character" death from JP3. The "trap" was stupid, and I actually enjoyed Udesky as a character far more than anyone else in JP3, with Grant being the obvious exception.

I stand by my selections in JW though, as the raptors were almost presented as "characters". They were given names, and, as an audience member, I did grow somewhat attached to them as the film progressed, and it kind of irked me seeing two of them getting unceremoniously killed off.

Alright works for me

Regarding the Ajay thing, why it doesn't work like it did with Arnold to me was because we hardly knew him. He had almost no lines and was more just a background character than hanged with Roland. As kid I actually mistook him for Ludlow at times lol. The only sequence where he had any meaningful dialogue was cut altogether from the film. So when he died off-screen I didn't really care about it, even if it impacted Roland later on.

But anyway as a death I still think the stupid black guy jump attack and some others were worse, because they meant even less than Ajay. People we didn't know or care about, just random meat.

Jurassic Park
Same as you.
The Lost World
Best: "The Unlucky Bastard", as he is called in the credits. You know, the citizen who was killed during the San Diego incident? The way he died was just so epic to me. He made the mistake of separating from the crowd, letting the bull snatch him. Like really, he nailed the F*cker.
Worst: Carter, when he was stomped by the female tyrannosaur. Wasn't very intense. Didn't seem as painful as it should've.

Jurassic Park ///
Best: Cooper, the most vanilla kill of the movie.
Worst: Nash, the animatronic work was so lame, CGI would have worked better in that situation.

Jurassic World
Best: That worker during the indominus escape, the guy who hid behind the truck. That scared the crap outta me when the Indominus Rex clamps down on him in theaters. The DVD release must've been changed though, the chomp wasn't as fast or impactful.

Sorry for hijacking my own thread with off-topic but:

RaptorLover0823 wrote:

Worst: Nash, the animatronic work was so lame, CGI would have worked better in that situation.

I would say the Spino animatronic was probably the single greatest piece of equipment they had in all 4 movies but it was shot, edited and lighted terribly most of the time, and especially in that Nash death scene. Which is a big shame as if done properly it could have been as cool as the Queen in Aliens. So I would not have used CGI for that Nash scene (or any other really except where CG was the only option, like Spino running) but just shot the robotics properly. Not rushed and drunk like they seemingly ended up doing.

The only scene where the animatronics really show their true value is the river scene, which is dark and therefore hides their poor efforts. Also the Spino robotics had excellent water resistance and capability for underwater stuff, which is not what the old T-Rex animatronics could handle. But then again the scene is half ruined with Barnie and Paul Kirby's stupid plan, so full potential impact isn't there either.

Stan Winston must've been bit embarrassed by the end result, of a masterpiece he and his team had crafted. Although he seems proud here in this marketing PR piece:

Jurassic Park

Best: Muldoon; amazing build up from the moment he and Ellie go their separate ways, to the actual hunting part, him holding his position to shoot and finally... "Clever girl!", the screeching Raptor and Muldoon's screams, obscured by the bushes, also heighten the horror aspect of that amazing and iconic scene.

Worst: Jophery's death; not a bad death scene at all but it is undercut slightly by Peck's dual close-ups, shouting "SHOOT HER!" which sounds like he's shouting "SHOOTER!", which in turn became an easily quoted meme.

The Lost World

Best: Dieter Stark being slowly chased down, hunted and finally torn apart by voracious Compies. The way they surge over the log and we cut away to the blood filling the stream as he screams his last was top notch horror by implication!

Worst: Ajay, all we hear are his screams in the distance, but he was really short changed in the final cut of the film.

Jurassic Park III

Best: Not much to choose from, but I'm going with Cooper simply because of his panicked and hysterical state just before the plane collides with the Spinosaur chomping down on him.

Worst: Billy, for the sole reason that it was an awesome death that nobody could have gotten out of alive, it could have been the best in the film itself, and it was completely undone by showing him alive and only barely scratched up. A piss-poor excuse for a fake death. In terms of actual death, though, I'd go for Udesky

Jurassic World

Best: I'll go for Masrani; after going into the field with guns blazing and seemingly getting a grip on the situation, the pained look on his face as his chopper goes down and he realizes this is it helps sell the tragedy of the moment. Wanted to say Hoskins for the satisfaction of it, but it would have been better with an animatronic Raptor.

Worst: Charlie; easily the one Raptor we spent the least time with and most often overshadowed by Blue and even Delta! The shock factor of her death wore off on repeat viewings. At least Delta and Echo died in battle against the I. rex, Charlie was blown to bits while standing still.

Jurassic Park


Best: Mulddon. Really well executed scene, so tense, so beautiful setting in the jungle, you can feel the suspense in the cinematography, the music and the acting.
Worst: There's no bad-executed death in JP. Even Arnold's arm is memorable and effective.

The Lost World


Best: people getting killed by the Raptors in the long grass. It's a well-made sequence, really brilliant and make you realize how that was the Raptor's territory and how man is just a hopeless prey.
Worst: the dog. Poor thing, and I think it wasn't necessary for the scene.

Jurassic Park III

Best: Cooper. It was a cool death, very sudden yet effective. Immediately put you in a feeling of danger as soon as you arrive on the island.
Worst: Udesky. It was too stretched and quite unrealistic if you ask me.

Jurassic World


Best: Latino worker's death. It was the most JP-ish death imo, with anticipation of the scene, random man taken by the big dinosaur and killed behind the foliage.
Worst: Charlie's death. It was badly executed imo.

Mistral wrote:

Sorry for hijacking my own thread with off-topic but:

RaptorLover0823 wrote:

Worst: Nash, the animatronic work was so lame, CGI would have worked better in that situation.

I would say the Spino animatronic was probably the single greatest piece of equipment they had in all 4 movies but it was shot, edited and lighted terribly most of the time, and especially in that Nash death scene. Which is a big shame as if done properly it could have been as cool as the Queen in Aliens. So I would not have used CGI for that Nash scene (or any other really except where CG was the only option, like Spino running) but just shot the robotics properly. Not rushed and drunk like they seemingly ended up doing.

The only scene where the animatronics really show their true value is the river scene, which is dark and therefore hides their poor efforts. Also the Spino robotics had excellent water resistance and capability for underwater stuff, which is not what the old T-Rex animatronics could handle. But then again the scene is half ruined with Barnie and Paul Kirby's stupid plan, so full potential impact isn't there either.

Perhaps I should've clarified that I meant in that scene, not necessarily the whole film.

JP: Best - Muldoon. Worst - None, they were all good

TLW: Best - Eddie Carr. Worst - Dieter Stark, the comical computer blood they added in the creek just looks so bad

JP3: Best - Cooper. Worst - Udesky, the raptor just snaps his neck... Very anti-climatic

JW: Ellis the paddock worker. Worst - Hoskins, was pretty hilarious actually

JP: Best: Gennaro getting eaten off the toilet. Worst: Arnold because he was killed off-screen so we never get to see what actually happens.


TLW: Best: I've got three for this one. First is Dieter being killed by a pack of tiny Compies. Personally, I think he deserved it for hurting the Compies with his cattle prod. Second is the InGen people being killed by the raptors. I liked that scene because we can see what's happening but the people walking through the grass have no idea the raptors are there till it's too late. Third is Ludlow being killed by the baby Rex. This just proves T-Rex can be nasty no matter how young they are. Worst: Ajay, again because he was killed off-screen.


JP3: Best: Cooper being snapped up by the Spinosaurus. Worst: the people in the boat at the beginning because we never see what kills them.


JW: Best: Delta killing Hoskins. Worst: Charlie being blown up by a missile.

Océane wrote:

Best: "The Unlucky Bastard", as he is called in the credits. You know, the citizen who was killed during the San Diego incident? The way he died was just so epic to me. He made the mistake of separating from the crowd, letting the bull snatch him. Like really, he nailed the F*cker.

Do you know who this person is?

Hint: He wrote the script for the movie and for Jurassic Park too, with Crichton.

Lost wrote:

Océane wrote:

Best: "The Unlucky Bastard", as he is called in the credits. You know, the citizen who was killed during the San Diego incident? The way he died was just so epic to me. He made the mistake of separating from the crowd, letting the bull snatch him. Like really, he nailed the F*cker.

Do you know who this person is?

Hint: He wrote the script for the movie and for Jurassic Park too, with Crichton.

He sounds pretty lucky to me