Films With The Highest Body Count

For those interested in such things, the films with the highest body count are worth having a quick look at.

Firstly though, lets have a brief look at the phrase body count. It usually means that the total number of people that fall – killed – in combat are added together and provide a confirmed kills number. At best, this is only usually an estimate.

Some call this the butchers bill and in movies, body counts will vary from one silly plot to the next. Obviously, in putting a list together of films with the highest body count, you might want to exclude ones that involve the end of the world – such as 'I am Legend' and 'Knowing' – as these will win every time.

But lets have a quick look at those that can boast high body counts, without entailing the destruction of mankind in one cataclysmic blow.

In a chart of five, first up would have to Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. This trilogy can claim to have a bloodbath in each of its episodes and the estimated body count in this part is calculated at 836. Of course, it’s all about good triumphing over evil, and so what if nearly one thousand souls perish in the process. Some might feel sorry for the Orcs, as they inadvertently steal the show on a number of occasions, but as long as the Hobbits make their wearisome way to the jewellers shop to hand back that ring, all’s right in the end. Whether Tolkein quite envisaged such a massacre, will be forever argued by purists and film buffs, but it makes for good cinema.

Second place is Kingdom of Heaven. This focuses on the away matches conducted by the Europeans in the Middle East during the time of the crusades. It was not a pleasant time for both sides and the body count is a not too unconservative 610. You might have expected more, given the obvious animosity of the two sides and some very poor referring decisions.

Third place goes to the movie that tries too hard to create a machismo atmosphere. The 300 might have been tough and brave, and told not to cry at a young age when the chocolate sauce had run out, but their gurning and posturing as grown-up Spartans would more than likely cause an opposing army an attack of the giggles, rather than the shakes. Body count is 600, although mostly down to boredom.

Fourth in the chart is Troy and again, as with 300 and Kingdom of Heaven, these re-interpreted classic tales are reduced to slightly effete tales of daring-do. Take Brad Pitt and his sword wielding circus act. Historians point out that a man of his stature – no matter how crafted and poised – would be unlikely to be even able to lift a sword forged in those ancient times, nevermind swing it around like he was auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent.
But this doesn’t seem to have affected the body count and it has a decent enough kill ratio of some 572 souls.

Last, and not least, at number five, is sushi swashbuckler The Last Samurai. Even though it doesn’t promise much with Scientologist Tom Cruise swapping Maverick for Nathan Algren (say that after a few Saki’s), it actually delivers on a number of fronts. Algren falls in love with many things Japanese, including the wife of the bloke he killed. But what saves this movie from a sharp intake of breath, is fine performances from top Japanese actors who obviously revelled in showing off their culture and being paid American dollars to do so. Body count 558 and not all down to those shimmering swords. Unsportsmanlike behaviour with a few canons and Gatling guns upped the kills.

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