Bloodstained-Glass Windows: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Staging an awesome fight scene, be it a shootout or a [[Sword Fight]], a duel or a [[Melee a Trois]], in a ([[Christianity Is Catholic|Catholic]]) cathedral, chapel, or church apparently has something thrilling for the directors, as does any forbidden fruit. And [[Faux Symbolism]]? A shot of Jesus looking mournfully from the [[Creepy Cool Crosses|cross]] upon the bloodshed below certainly is.

 

Also known as the [[Church Shootout]], if it only involves [[The Gunslinger|gunfire and no katanas]]. Compare [[Wedding Smashers]] and [[Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress]].

 

** ''Unlimited Blade Works'' stages a few confrontations there; at least two of them display the stained glass prominently.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* "God only knows", a volume of the European comic book ''SODA'', focuses almost entirely on a gun fight in a church. Which the main character takes part in while suffering from [[Easy Amnesia]] and believing he's a priest.

 

* The final shootout in [[John Woo]]'s ''[[The Killer]]'', with the title character and his [[Cowboy Cop]] ally [[The Siege|holding off a virtual army of assassins]], is probably the quintessential example.

** Woo knows exactly how [[Rule of Cool|utterly cool]] this is when done well. In ''[[Face Off]]'' he had the [[Big Bad]] march onto the scene with arms outstretched and his head bowed providing a bit of [[Ominous Latin Chanting]].

* ''[[Equilibrium]]'' subverts it by having only one shot fired inside a church, but seeing how there were only two extremely [[Badass]] guys involved, a [[Single-Stroke Battle]] wasn't much surprise, which might make this a straight use instead. Furthermore, keep in mind that the character in question {{spoiler|was shot ''by his best friend, through a book of poetry''}}, raising the symbolism to nigh-unbearable levels. And don't forget that both are formally known as Clerics.

* The first major shootout in the present day from ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]'', which has Mariachi blasting up Marquez's men at a church, which starts with the bad guys ventilating the confessional he was in.

* After a shootout inside, the final fight in ''[[The Crow]]'' took place on the roof of a neo-Gothic church, in a rainy night, overlooking the graveyard.

* In all versions of ''[[Prince Caspian]],'' Aslan's How is a sacred underground site built over the Stone Table (on which Aslan was killed). In all versions, it's the battle headquarters for the good guys. In the most recent film version, {{spoiler|the battle plan for the battle after Peter's duel involves ''destroying Aslan's How!'' (It really, um, unlevels the battlefield when that happens...}}

** Er, {{spoiler|The structure over the table, and the table itself are pretty much untouched. Only the handy battlefield outside is undermined.}}

* The climax of ''The Eagle Has Landed'' is a fierce gun battle between German paratroopers and US infantry in a pretty little English country church. During the battle, one of the paratroopers actually begins playing the film's theme music on the organ. And moments before the battle starts the priest (who had been held hostage by the Germans) is dragged kicking and screaming from the place. You know, just to remind the audience that this is a church, in case the spire, altar, pews and stained glass windows weren't enough of a clue to begin with.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** The first one isn't much of a fight, but it does involve a booby-trapped baptismal font that electrocutes a Terminator.

** The second one is an ambush of another Terminator with a crossfire (pun intended) in front of the altar, complete with [[Crucified Hero Shot|Crucified Villain Shot]].

* ''[[General Hospital]]'''s Jason Morgan, Sonny Corinthos and Reese Marshall get into a big one of these against Faith Rosco and her men [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtRECU5j14w here]. Jason even goes [[Guns Akimbo]] at one point during the shootout.

* Episode two of ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'' has Kuuga's true power awakening as he fights a Grongi in a church. Bonus points because the church is [[Battle Amongst the Flames|BURNING]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Resistance]]: Fall of Man'' offended the Church of England by using Manchester Cathedral as scenery (there is a lot of gun crime in the area, so it's a sensitive issue).

* ''[[Time Splitters]] 2'' has a level set in Notre Dame cathedral, complete with zombie priests.

** ''Call of Duty 4'' also has several [[Orthodox Christianity|Russian Orthodox]] churches scattered throughout SAS campaign, such as the one near Prypiat during the mission "All Ghillied Up". Also, in the mission "[[Death From Above]]" you are explicitly forbidden to demolish the church; doing so would violate [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hague04.asp#art27 Section IV, Article 27] of the Hague Conventions.

* Similarly, ''[[World in Conflict]]'' has a level where a bonus objective is to make sure that the church at the top of a hill survives the mission.

* The final battle of ''[[Summoner]]'' takes place in the immense central chamber of the now abandoned Temple of Urath against your [[Enemy Without]] ({{spoiler|you AND him are actually both facets of the same shattered god, Urath, of course}}). For added symbolism, he turns into an [[One-Winged Angel|angel]], [[Not So Different|a simulcrum of you]], and a devil [[Sequential Boss|as the fight goes on]].

** After the battle, you have the option to descend to the secret basement of the temple and {{spoiler|sacrifice yourself and the eight other aspects of Urath in the forge he used for the creation of humanity order in to bring him back to life, which [http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/summoner/screenshots/gameShotId,38702/ doesn't look familiar at all]}}.

* The {{spoiler|seemingly}} last area of ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' involves Gabe descending from the top of an absolutely massive church to the ground floor, killing all the way. When he encounters a large glass window, he [[Super Window Jump|jumps through it]] and resumes killing.

** During the game's prologue, Ashley meets, confronts, and tries to arrest Sydney at the chapel in Duke Bardorba's manor. Then Sydney summons his wyvern, D'Tok, who [[Super Window Jump|crashes through the ornate stained glass ceiling]] to battle Ashley, while Sydney himself [[Super Window Jump|leaps out the stained glass window]] at the far end of the chapel. [[Soft Glass|Neither is injured]] (although, arguably, D'Tok wouldn't have noticed, what with the spears and lances already stuck in his body.)

* ''Godfather''. An important plot twist ends with you and an AI controlled character blasting through the basement of a church.

** ''Allied Assault'' has this twice. In The Nebelwerfer Hunt there's a church with several machine gun nests in the windows you have to clear out, and Rendezvous with the Resistance has a church at the end with a secret passage to [[La Résistance]]'s hideout.

** The [[Game Mod]] ''Tempus Irae'', a third-party total conversion of ''Marathon Infinity'', uses this a lot in Renaissance-era cathedrals (time travel is involved). The scenery was, for the time the mod was released, state-of-the-art.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

** An actual, albeit animated, church fight scene occurs in the later episode "The Wedding Video".

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fight Scene]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]