You knew one of the God of War games had to be in here, and as much as I ALMOST went with the Poseidon battle, this scene beats it, and for scope, pretty much beats any game ever (no need to bring up Asura’s Wrath to me, I know. Apples and oranges, people). I think the running theme you will see on this list is the fact that, in almost every scene I bring up, the protagonist is facing some kind of mortal danger. Or in this case, insurmountable odds. You are very much a bug going up against the Titan in God Of War III, and you find yourself breathlessly wondering how Kratos (and ultimately, you) are going to get out of this situation.
And honestly, how you get out of it is one of the selling points of the scene. Why? Because in ten seconds time, the impossible becomes possible. Suddenly, the death you were just staring in the face becomes you, and you reap this giant beast’s soul, while destroying its body. Again, when was the last time you were awed by something of this scope in a film? The problem when filmmakers try to do scenes like this is that, once again, it all ends up looking plastic and fake. From the animations to the creature, it just never seems palpably real. And those moments pull you out of the film, because of how fake it all looks.
But here, seeing Kratos almost getting squished between those two giant fingers, you just feel panic. On top of that, how come animations in movies are so clunky and unrealistic, and animation in games is freaking perfect? You watch Frodo fighting the cave troll from Lord of the Rings, and you laugh now. It looks like a PlayStation game. Like the movie you were watching suddenly became Roger Rabbit, filled with animated character. It doesn’t work, and it is another reason why I think gaming is edging ahead. Because, in gaming, it DOES work.
Why can’t current Hollywood films inspire these feelings in us? When we want scope, they give us some shiny, explode-y, Michael Bay shit, and it just doesn’t work.