The ultimate act of self-sacrifice, there's nothing like a good last stand to get hearts pounding and the audience out of their seats. There's something inimitably romantic about the notion of laying down one's life when confronted with certain death, a courageous refusal to simply lie down and surrender, despite all hope seemingly being lost in the face of impossible odds. Accordingly, it's hardly surprising that these high-stakes, drama-rich sequences make for excellent cinema, with some of the best movies of all time utilizing an evocative last stand to great effect.

There's no set form to a perfect final stand. They've been successfully used across different genres, from the finest war movies of all time to the best sci-fi movies ever made. In some cases, the cavalry arrives to save the day at the last minute, but other last stands can end in considerably more tragic circumstances. From noble instances...