Casino Royale (2006, UK)

The 21st film in the Bond series, considered a reboot of the series-franchise, was also the first Bond film featuring blonde Daniel Craig as the 007 agent.

Bond's partner, blackmailed HM Treasury Financial Action Task Force agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) was thought to have betrayed her fellow agent James Bond (Daniel Craig), although it was later revealed that she was attempting to save Bond's life and the life of her French Algerian boyfriend.

She had withdrawn winning poker funds from a Venice bank located at St. Mark's Square. Bond trailed her through the streets of Venice, and saw her meet up with bad-guy Gettler (Richard Sammel) and another man in a courtyard and hand over the funds. When Bond showed himself, the three fled (Vesper was taken as hostage) as two other men with machine-guns opened fire. Vesper was in a locked cage-elevator in the building when Bond fired on large floating pontoons to flood the lower part of the building and to escape the gunfire.

The building began to crumble and sink into the canal as the firefight progressed. Bond attacked and sent one of the two goons into the flooding water, as Gettler vainly reached for the briefcase which fell off a ledge into the cascading water, and then accidentally wounded his own man (battling with Bond) before the collapsing elevator crushed him. The second goon fell into the water and drowned. The third henchmen struggled against Bond, and was electrocuted with a live electric cable to the heart. Gettler was killed when Bond shot him in the right eye with a nail gun.

As Bond tried to save Vesper, she apologized, and willingly locked herself in the iron cage, just before it plunged into the water below the disintegrating building. She knew that her betrayal and treachery couldn't be excused, and she kissed Bond's hand to remove the guilt associated with her inevitable death.

He couldn't save her life as she was trapped and drowned in the long, drawn-out and tearjerking scene. Although he eventually freed her from a watery grave and took her to the surface (atop the collapsed building) and administered CPR, it was too late. Mr. White watched the tragic death from afar, and then walked off with the briefcase containing $120 million.

During a debriefing with M (Judi Dench), Bond learned what had led to Vesper's 'betrayal':

She had a boyfriend, a French Algerian. They were very much in love. He was kidnapped by the organization behind Le Chiffre. And they blackmailed her, threatening to kill him unless she cooperated.

Bond bitterly and coldly reflected back about Vesper's manipulative treason: "The job's done and the bitch is dead," before discovering Vesper had actually tried to save him. And she had left him a clue in a text message on her cell phone.

M hypothesized that Vesper had also made a deal to spare Bond's life in exchange for the money. He learned the identity of her blackmailer in a cellphone text message that she had left for him ("For James, Mr. White") with White's phone number (# 3926222431), and realized that she didn't betray him. She had actually revealed the identity of the treacherous mastermind (behind the plot to fund terrorism).

Crank (2006)

In the ending of this non-stop, urban action/thriller, hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) grappled against rival gangster/hitman Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo) in a helicopter before they both were propelled into the air above Los Angeles.

After Chev broke Verona's neck during the fall and floated away from him, incredibly he had just enough time to reach for his cellphone and call his girlfriend Eve's (Amy Smart) answering machine. He told her apologetically in the film's last lines that he was sorry for breaking his promise to come back:

Hey, doll. Looks like I let you down again. Seems like all my life, I've just been going, going, going. I wish I'd taken more time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. I guess it's too late for that now. You're the greatest, baby.

The conversation was heard above the 1975 hit tune Miracles ("If only you believe like I believe, baby, We'd get by") performed by Marty Balin of The Jefferson Starship.

In the next instant, his body smashed into the top of a car moving through an intersection, and he bounced high up into the air. A moment later, his face (and body off-camera) smacked into the pavement, close to the camera. His nostrils flared slightly, two heartbeats were faintly heard, and he blinked his eyes - before the screen turned to black.

The Departed (2006)

Best Director-winning Martin Scorsese's viciously-violent Best Picture tale concluded with a bloody denouement in which almost all of the leading big-name cast members were killed (mostly by a single-gunblast to the head) - some abruptly and by complete surprise as they joined the 'departed'.

• Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) was thrown over the side of a six-story warehouse building.
• Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), the decadently-evil gangland chief, was shot a few times in the chest by syndicate informant and 'mole' in the Special Investigation Unit Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) during a botched cocaine-deal in Sheffield.
• Mr. French (Ray Winstone), Costello's right-hand man, committed suicide with a gunblast beneath his chin when also caught in the sting and trapped in a burning car.
• Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a police 'mole', was killed by the second mole in the police force Barrigan (James Badge Dale) as he emerged from an elevator. This death occurred after a rooftop confrontation in which Costigan arrested Sullivan.
• Colin Sullivan entered his Beacon Hill apartment and was shot to death by Queenan's assistant Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg).

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Similar to the other films in this series of macabre black comedies, there were many fateful deaths. Characters would die a horrible death because they had earlier cheated the Grim Reaper.

In this film, the second sequel after films in 2000 and 2003, lucky survivors exited a dangerous rollercoaster ride, the Devil's Flight, that killed everyone because of Wendy Christensen's (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) premonition of disaster. There were a number of inventively grisly deaths of the ten survivors in this film.

The most memorable death scene was of the first two survivors who were fated to die while positioned next to each other in two tanning beds:

• Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons), blonde
• Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe), brunette

When Ashlyn announced that she had forgotten her iPod, Ashley reminded her that the tanning salon had CDs. When Ashley reached for a CD, she unwittingly loosened the wall bracket supporting the wooden shelf/board. They both took off their tops and reclined in the beds, when Ashlyn asked: "Why are you wearing underwear?", Ashley responded: "Simon gets off on tan lines." They were keeping rhythm to the song: "Love Rollercoaster."

Due to Rube Goldberg circumstances, the falling CD shelf trapped them inside the side-by-side tanning beds. They were electrocuted and literally barbecued (or incinerated) alive when caught inside by a falling CD shelf/board. Their two similarly-positioned coffins also rested side by side at their funeral.

Frankie Cheeks	Lewis Romero
Erin Ulmer	Perry Malinowski

A summary of the inventive and grisly deaths:

1. Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons) (the first of two survivor deaths) (see above and right)
2. Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe) (the second of two survivor deaths) (see above and right)
3. Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton) - when rammed from behind at a drive-thru, his head was truncated and splattered by the fan belt's cooling motor fan as he sat in his convertible
4. Lewis Romero (Texas Battle) - a malfunctioning weight-lifting machine with double-weights crushed and decapitated him
5. Erin Ulmer (Alexz Johnson) - in a hardware store, he suffered an accidental nail-gun head-shooting
6. Perry Malinowski (Maggie Ma) - at a fair, a flagpole launched by a rope from a runaway horse caused an impalement through her back. Her body fell forward and slowly slid down the pole to the ground
7. Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche) - a falling cherry-picker crane platform crushed and bi-sected him to death. Before he died, he believed he was invincible and called out: "I'm not gonna die! It's you, Wendy! YOU'RE DEAD!"
8. the trio of deaths of the last three survivors was caused by an out-of-control subway train:

• Julie Christensen (Amanda Crew) - 8th (obliterated by train wheel)
• Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman) - 9th (crushed between train and tunnel)
• Wendy Christensen - 10th (hit by train, off-screen)

The Lives of Others (2006, Germ.) (aka Das Leben der Anderen)

In a heart-breaking scene in this acclaimed German socio-political drama and character study set in the 1980s, distressed Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) committed an unnecessary suicide.

She ran in front of a truck after she thought she had betrayed her lover, celebrated and successful East German Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).

She had revealed the location of Georg's incriminating red-ribboned typewriter that he had used to author an anonymous, anti-establishment article (ironically about suicide in East Germany) for West German magazine Der Spiegel.

Her death was made even more tragic and unnecessary by the fact that conflicted but sympathetic "guardian angel" secret police Stasi survelliance agent Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) had become emotionally drawn to the couple.

As a result, he had just before secretly removed the typewriter from under the apartment's doorsill - to protect her and Dreyman.

Georg suffered severe anguish over her bloody death in the street.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Sp./Mex./US) (aka El Laberinto del Fauno)

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's adult fantasy-drama was set in the period following the Spanish Civil War. Its main character was a strange young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who was possibly the mythical princess of an underground kingdom.

She was given the third of three life-threatening tests or tasks by menacing and mythical faun Pan (Doug Jones), to prove that she was the true princess. Pan told Ofelia to bring her newborn brother to his elaborate stone labyrinth to be presented to him, and she was told that she must shed the blood of an 'innocent.' Assuming that the 'innocent' was her brother (recently born to her remarried mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) who died in childbirth), she refused to harm the baby.

However, at the labyrinth, she was unexpectedly shot in the stomach by malevolent, sadistic and brutal Spanish fascist Captain Vidal (Sergi López) - her adoptive father, who wanted the baby. Although dead, she had unwittingly fulfilled the test with her own blood - when it dripped down from her bloody hand and opened the portal. Pan spoke the final words of the film, in voice-over:

"And it is said the princess returned to her father's kingdom. That she reigned there with justice and a kind heart for many centuries. That she was loved by her people. And that she left behind small traces of her time on Earth, visible only to those who know where to look."

She had indeed proven that she was the princess, reincarnated in the final scene, within the underground fairy kingdom, where her mother Carmen/Queen and her actual father, the underworld King (Federico Luppi), were seated on high thrones. Her father spoke to her:

"You have spilled your own blood rather than that of an innocent. That was the final task and the most important."

She was invited to sit by her father's side, and applauded as the long-lost Princess Moanna, whose soul had returned.

Saw III (2006)

The sadistic Saw horror films were composed of a string of deadly games constructed for hapless victims.

In this second gory sequel, Danica Scott (Debra Lynne McCabe) was kidnapped because she had been the only witness to 8 year-old Dylan Denlon's accidental car death. But she had refused to help in any way, and she fled the scene. She was considered an 'ice-hearted' female for not testifying against killer Timothy Young (Mpho Koaho).

In a particularly grisly and horrible scene dubbed the 'Freezer Room Trap,' she was forced to endure an appropriate torturous death in the freezer locker, with a door sign reading: "Face Your Fears." Her arms were shackled to prevent her from running away.

She was stripped nude and strung up by her wrists in the frigid, walk-in freezer locker. The key that could free her was hanging behind a set of frozen pipes, although the inoperable lock was covered in ice.

During her torture, a cold mist was sprayed or showered from nozzles on vertical poles at her sides onto her naked body as she hung there. Eventually, she became encased in a thin sheet of ice that killed her before she could be saved.

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Director David R. Ellis's Internet-hyped action thriller had the tagline: "Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the Fright."

In the film's unlikely premise, witness Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) - who had seen a brutal murder committed by LA crime gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) - was being escorted to Los Angeles to testify against him. Surfer and dirtbike racer Jones was put on an LAX-bound 747 plane and escorted for protection by FBI Agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson).

The plot was set in motion when Kim's sabotage plan began - a crate full of venomous snakes placed in the cargo hold was released mid-way through flight. [Note: About two-thirds of the snakes seen in the movie were either animatronic or computer generated, although some were real.]

One frisky couple was attempting to join the 'mile-high' club in one of the plane's restrooms:

• Kyle Cho (Taylor Kitsch), a long-haired pot-smoker
• Kelly Mack (Samantha McLeod), a busty blonde

They smoked pot (after deactivating the smoke detector), and undressed themselves to make love in the cramped quarters, when the snakes were released. From one snake's POV, it looked down through the hole (where the smoke detector had been removed), sensed the heat-emanating couple, slithered into the restroom and began to strike. The milk snake first attached itself to Kyle's throat, then another snake targeted Kelly's right breast nipple.

[Note: This was an in-joke -- the mis-named snake was the subject of a widely-mistaken belief that it attached itself to a cow's udders and sucked out milk.]

Lethal Snake Bites on Neck and Breast of Restroom Couple

Many other passengers were attacked by various vipers and other snakes emerging from under their seats, from the oxygen mask deployments, and many other places. A tally counted approximately 31 kills of people and almost four dozen snake deaths.

Another memorable human death was of a 'Man Bitten on Penis' (Matt Baker) in the restroom while he was urinating - and admiring himself in the mirror. He was unaware that a snake was coiled in the toilet, and was bitten in the groin ("Get off my dick!"). As he lept away and thrashed around, he cracked the back of his head on the mirror, crashed against the wall, and slithered down (with a blood trail) as he died.

300 (2006)

Director Zach Snyder's hyper-stylized, comic-bookish, computer-generated epic war film was narrated by the Spartan warrior/storyteller Dilios (David Wenham).

He told about legendary and fearless Spartan ruler-warrior King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) who fought an heroic last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae, c. 480 B.C. King Leonidas led 300 brave, incredibly-buffed, all-volunteer Spartan warriors (seeking a "beautiful death") against thousands of invading Persian soldiers, commanded by the giant Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro).

The film's climax was the momentous scene of the moving, spiritual operatic ballet of death of King Leonidas of Sparta on the battlefield during the three-day long battle - he was the last survivor of the 300 Spartans, who had refused to surrender.

He called out in his final breath to his wife Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), pledging his love to her:

"My Queen! My wife. My love..."

Arrows Targeting King Leonidas Blackened the Screen

He raised his arms to the side, as he was assailed by hundreds of arrows that blackened the screen with the sheer number of projectiles.

The next scene opened on the beautiful, sad face of his wife, receiving the news of her husband's death.

Venus (2006, UK)

Director Roger Michell's daring comedy-drama told of an unlikely, evolving relationship between:

• Maurice Russell (Peter O'Toole), an aging and dying septuagenarian
  [Note: The revered actor Peter O'Toole received his 8th Academy Award nomination for his role (although he lost).]
• Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), aka "Venus," a precocious teenaged girl (nicknamed after she posed nude for an art class)

The old, lustful, charismatic, has-been actor Maurice was accompanied to his boyhood beach home in Kent at Whitstable (after many years) by his platonic, teen-aged love interest Jessie. She helped him as they walked along the beach shoreline where the water was breaking. Although he admitted he was tired, he told Jessie he would "carry on."

He requested that she take off his boots ("Will you?"), even though the water was frigidly cold ("It was always bloody cold"). She took off the sock and shoe of his right foot and helped support him as he dipped it into the cold water. He laughed joyfully as he felt the sensations.

[Note: Metaphorically, Venus was born from the sea, and Jessie would literally meld into Venus as an accomplished nude model in the film's closing scene.]

Afterwards, they rested on the wooden breakwater structure, when he told her: "Now, we can really talk." As he rested his head on her right shoulder, he quietly died.

A Poignant and Quiet Death

When she discovered he had passed away, she panicked ("Maurice, wake up!"), and then left him alone to seek help and make a phone call, as the camera slowly panned around to the right and came to rest on a view of the water.