I'm a big fan of people getting hit by buses in movies. I think every movie should end as such. For most of them, it would at least improve the take-away feeling of the film. My opinion of One Day is as positive as it is because of (spoilers) this very thing happening, and then the movie continuing on for another twenty minutes while everyone is sad. Just think how When Harry Met Sally... might have been if, as they left the New Year's Eve Party, BAM the 12:15 to Ogdensburg continues to seed misery in it's wake.

So, a 12 minute long compilation of people getting smacked by buses is right up my alley. And not just buses, but cabs, pickups, tractor trailers and all manner of movable object. What is fascinating is that they are all fundamentally the same. There is no originality in the structure of the sequence, across the board. No director has ever apparently thought of a way to subvert the cliches in the plot device. Person goes into traffic, turns back, gets hit, person watching stands dumbfounded while the crowds rush in.

The only variations are in the manner of impact, of which there are four: the hard hit, where the human body is contrusted of some kind of aerospace material and remains whole; the grind, where the focus cuts immediately to the dragging of whatever the victim was riding when they were hit; the survivor, a small fraction of those where the car suffers more damage then the victim (hello, Constantine); and the balloon, the sort of impact that makes it very clear that humans are little more then a pizza pocket.

For the record, my favourite here, and in any movie ever, is Brad Pitt getting pin-balled between sedans in Meet Joe Black.

Via The Mary Sue.