10 Coolest Movie Weapons Ever

“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials” – Mao Zedong. Though I am not a supporter of Mao’s ideology, I cannot help but agree with him. Men maketh weapons, weapons doth not maketh men. What I mean is, the impact of a weapon to a great extent relies on the individual using it, and no amount of artillery can make you invincible if you do not possess the quality to impose your authority through it. Most characters throughout the course of cinematic history have been handed a wide variety of weapons, that constitute an essential part of their characterization and reflect a lot about their personality and views. A weapon in drama is a companion, to tell you the truth.

Sometimes they are ignored for the dramatic havoc they ensue or the actors operating them, but they are a work of technical genius. They explore the creativity of the production designers, and the most popular ones have their own identity in the form of deliveries while using them or the sounds associated with them. No matter how big or small their appearance is, they are loved by fans and those people never miss a chance to mention it in a situation that demands their use. So without any further stalling, here is the list of coolest and best movie weapons ever.

10. Cherry Darling’s Leg Gun (Planet Terror)

For people who aren’t aware, Robert Rodriguez can be described as Tarantino’s half brother, sharing his love for stylish violence. Rodriguez’s violence though is very explosive compared to Tarantino’s and this is on full display in the zombie movie ‘Planet Terror’ a.k.a Grindhouse. When Cherry Darling’s leg gets torn off by a zombie, a modified M4 Carbine with a M203 grenade launcher attachment is attached to her thigh. She then proceeds to blow the man who tries to rape her and the zombies to smithereens. This is no doubt, one of the best human modifications we have watched and though the idea reeks of B-grade action features, the implementation is quite terrific.

9. The Noisy Cricket (Men in Black)

Th Noisy Cricket. A gun that has more impact than a hand grenade, and a recoil worse than the largest shotgun. When Jay is given a tour of the MIB Headquarters, Agent Kay hands him a small microcosmic gun, and warns about its power. Jay remains unimpressed and so are the audiences, but this totally takes a 180 degre turn when the rookie fires it at the villain. The explosion destroys a whole segment of a shop and the sidewalk, while its recoil sends Jay flying through the length of the shop. Frankly speaking it would have been more effective if Jay would have just pointed his back towards the villain and fired The Noisy Cricket in the other direction, during the chase.

Read More: Best Movie Monologues of All Time

8. Ash’s Chainsaw (Evil Dead 2)

“Hail to the King, baby!” Ash Williams is probably one of the coolest characters of all time. Every line uttered by him and every action of his is ingrained in most horror enthusiasts’ brains, though it is advisable to not replicate them. When his hand gets possessed by the spirit that makes his life a mess, Ash does the unthinkable. He chops his hand and replaces it with a chainsaw and then proceeds to mow down the reanimated corpses that torment him and the others. I have excluded the “boomstick” from ‘Army Of Darkness’ because, simply put, nothing beats the original.

Read More: Best Drug Movies of All Time

7. M41A Pulse Rifle (Aliens)

“I wanna introduce you to a personal friend of mine. This is an M41A Pulse Rifle. Ten millimeter, with over-and-under thirty millimeter pump-action grenade launcher.” Ellen Ripley is considered to be the most badass female character in film history, and the makers of ‘Aliens’ handed her the M41A Pulse Rifle. With the addition of the flamethrower, even the Alien queen couldn’t stop her. It was the staple gun for the U.S Army in the franchise, and was designed by James Cameron himself.

Read More: Best Holocaust Movies of All Time

6. Captive Bolt Gun (No Country For Old Men)

The Coen Brothers and Javier Bardem combined to give us an unforgettable sociopathic killer in the form of Anton Chigurh. He is always ahead of the curve and adds a pinch of craftiness in his kills, which makes him a highly intimidating figure. Though the shotgun he uses later on in the movie was quite menacing, it is this weapon of his that gives us a nice little shock during the beginning. Captive Bolt Guns are used to stun animals before they are slaughtered and do not require ammunition, and his utilization is jaw-dropping and horrific.

5. T800’s Shotgun (Terminator 2: Judgement Day)

How would a handgun look in the hands of a 7 time bodybuilding world champion? No wonder, Cameron had to get in a double sawed off shotgun into the picture. T 800 or ‘The Terminator’, as he is commonly known was known for his unstoppable and unbeatable approach to an assigned task. A WMD, he could turn anything into a weapon and though he doesn’t use this 12 gauge lever-action M1887 Winchester shotgun for a considerable amount of time, the scene with Arnie cruising on his Harley and comfortably using the gun warrants a place on this list!

4. Freddy Kreuger’s Glove (Nightmare On Elm Street)

“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, four, Better lock your door. Five, six, grab a crucifix. Seven, eight, Gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, Never sleep again….” – Freddy Krueger

Freddy Kreuger is a beloved movie villain. With a soft spot for sly humor, in addition to his unrelenting and theatrical killing style, he has given slashers a new definition and elevated them from paltry horror to nightmare-ish stuff. His weapon is often confused for claws, but it is indeed a handglove that he uses to slice and dice his victims. Though revenge is Krueger’s strongest weapon, he never lets it transform into rage, and keeps it clutched into his right fist. To truly understand the viciousness of his glove, you need to look at the kills in the series.

3. Hattori Hanzo Sword (Kill Bill)

“I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut.” Hattori Hanzo

Tarantino is a huge fan of Sonny Chiba. For people who aren’t aware, he borrowed Chiba’s lines in ‘The Bodyguard’ for the famous “Ezekiel 25:17” monologue in ‘Pulp Fiction’. So it wasn’t really surprising when he cast Chiba as the legendary sword maker Hattori Hanzo in ‘Kill Bill’. Crafted by the sword maker’s desire for vengeance and graced by plenty of Black Mamba’s own, the sword did not shy away from slaughtering the Crazy 88 and O-Ren Ishii effortlessly.

Read More: Best Pirate Movies of All Time

2. The .44 Magnum (Dirty Harry)

“You gotta ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” Followed by a smirk, that would put Satan to shame.

The .44 magnum was the most popular gun during the 70s because of the unstoppable boom in the crime genre, but it owes most of that publicity to Clint Eastwood a.k.a Dirty Harry. In Leone’s ‘Dollars Trilogy’, Eastwood had already professed his love for handguns, but it was in ‘Dirty Harry’ that he handled it with such stupefying assertiveness. After rummaging through the ruins of the South, Eastwood took on the antihero role with an inspector’s badge. He was judge, jury, executioner and the .44 magnum was his scythe. No other character has had such an influence over his weapon, and with a few lines Eastwood made the small handgun even more effective than a machine gun.

Read More: Best Violent Movies of All Time

1. The Light Saber (Star Wars)

“The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword” – ‘The Sword of Doom’

When George Lucas remade Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Hidden Fortress’, he did not just copy whatever he could lay his hands on. Carrying on with his stupendous creativity after ‘THX-1138’, he crafted a whole new world around it, improvising every aspect to create the most iconic franchise of all time, ‘Star Wars’. One striking introduction was that of the light saber. Kurosawa, like other Japanese directors was infatuated by the ways of the samurai and their swords. Lucas took Kurosawa’s sword and dipped it into his inter-galactic fantasy and the portrayal of a connection between a user and his weapon was the first of its kind in mainstream cinema. The moment audiences laid eyes on Luke Skywalker holding the metal baton like object and then unveiling the shining rod of energy, they couldn’t hold back their admiration. The Battle of the Skywalkers in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ gave light saber fighting a whole new dimension, in terms of a visual and audible experience.

10 Best Movie Weapons of All Time