Ever watch a film and just do a double take at something odd that was happening? Where you have no choice but to seriously consider why the writers decided to include it in the movie? Well just for fun, here are four instances where I felt that way.
1.
Above is a scene from the Bond film Casion Royale where Mads Mikkelsen’s character absolutely needs the money he just lost out in a poker game against Bond. In order to get it, he decides to torture him, and this is where things get strange. The first indication that this is not going to be a conventional torture scene is when a thug cuts a hole into the bottom of a small chair, and just as you’re beginning to process where this scene is going, the other thugs strip Bond and toss him onto that same chair. At this point things are made absolutely clear. The torture itself is Mads Mikkelsen swinging a large rope around and using it as a flail to strike Mr. Bond’s testicles over and over again until he gives him what he wants. What this was supposed to be was an exotic and fresh torture scene, how it actually plays out is like some odd sadomasochistic foreplay between two men who like to roleplay. Despite being the very mature adult that I am, I couldn’t keep a straight face throughout my original viewing of this which completely took me out of the movie. To this day, it still remains as the most memorable scene in any Daniel Craig Bond film, but perhaps that’s due to the numerous spoofs people have made of it…
2.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the most unintentionally sexual scene in action movie history. If you think the scene before was charged with homoeroticism, then you haven’t seen anything yet. It takes place in Judge Dredd and is between Stallone’s character and the prerequisite 90’s over the top action villain. Reminiscing on their past together and why they had a falling out, this villain comes off more like a dejected lover than an actual nemesis. Without kissing, nudity, or any sort of overt show of desire this scene becomes charged with a ton of sexual energy. The way they look into each other’s eyes, the breathiness of their voices, the emotion coming from this villain after feeling betrayed… Unsurprisingly it comes across as more than a little out of place.
3.
Meet Joe Black is an odd movie. It feels as if it takes itself very seriously, but it also has scenes like this one. Brad Pitt getting bumped off by two cars like a ping-pong ball (a badly CGI’d ping-pong ball more accurately) is incredibly jarring to say the least. I mean, as a longtime Friends fan I have an obligatory duty to hate Brad Pitt, but even that could not save this scene from leaving me utterly confused. Don’t get me wrong though, watching Brad Pitt get killed is still fun, there is just a better alternative for it.
4.
What can one say is the oddest thing about this scene from Spider-Man 2? Is it the out of place triumphant music that happens at the beginning? Is it the dumb blank stare Peter gives his girlfriend within the unstable warehouse? Is it the over the top scream he lets out? Or perhaps it’s the contorted face he makes said over the top scream in? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter, because this scene killed the already tenuous grasp on my ability to keep from laughing out loud during. The second the first decibel of that scream reached my ears, I lost all control.
Alright, there you have it. I hope this improved your day, and if it did, I really hope you seriously think about why footage of Daniel Craig having his balls whipped had that effect.
PS: I was going to include the pie scene from Spider-Man 3 on the list, but then I realized adding anything from Spider-Man 3 to a list about weird movie scenes is basically cheating.