To Kill A Giant: Nathan Jones
Some actors, whether they be male or female, are just more physically designed to die at the hands of an action star than others. Guys like Robert Z’dar and Bolo Yueng have made careers out of playing bad guys by their sheer presences on screen. Nathan Jones could be mentioned in the same sentence as those two when you take into account how many fantastic actors have ended his life. Every great hero needs a great villain….to kill. And what better way to show that your hero is an unstoppable badass than to have him kill a man who stands 6’11” and weighs 360 lbs.?
Death by Brad Pitt – Troy (2004)
There may not be a bigger movie star on planet Earth during the year of 2004. Pitt was pretty much on the cover of every celebrity magazine for about 10 years after plowing his way through the elite hotties of Hollywood and when he took on the role of arguably the most famous warrior of all time (Achilles) in the film Troy you just knew there were going to be an insane amount of eyes on the product. Enter Nathan Jones. The massive Australian freak of nature towered over the bronze-looking Pitt. He dwarfed the actor and his golden locks and it’s nearly impossible to look at the pair without wondering exactly how long Pitt would last in a fight with Jones before his head was ripped clean off. Of course, Pitt was the star and Jones was the gigantic unknown guy so it only takes a few seconds for Pitt’s Achilles to do a sworded Superman punch on Jones, jamming his short sword about 18 inches into his neck and torso. Ballgame for Jones’ character.
Boned to death by Tony Jaa – The Protector (2005)
Nathan Jones makes 99% of humanity look small in comparison but it was almost laughable in 2005’s The Protector when he stands off against star Tony Jaa. But Jaa has been making a career out of kicking and kneeing the piss out of people so there wasn’t much chance for Jones in this one either. Hell, his main job in every movie is to beat up the hero and then die gloriously. Every hero would be lucky to have a Nathan Jones-like character to narrowly defeat. The Protector is most well-known for that long uncut fight scene but the showdown between these two ended after Jaa used a pair of elephant bones to batter the big man to death.
Kung Fu hurts but doesn’t always kill – Fearless (2006)
Hercules O’Brien has to be one of the greatest name in the history of cinema. Nathan Jones plays the excellently named and massively muscled “white devil” who stands across the ring from the legendary Chinese character Huo Yuanjia. Jet Li plays the aforementioned Yuanjia and delivers some of his best action on screen since his initial trip from China to the US. Unlike the other films on this list, Fearless doesn’t feature Jones dying but it’s certainly an unforgettable character in the career of the big man.
Death by Rattlesnake – The Condemned (2007)
The Condemned is a very underrated action flick with loads of great fights, cool uses of wrestling moves, and tasty one-liners that will satisfy the desires of any true action fan. Nathan plays a character similar to others over his career; massive guy who easily kills people. All of that, of course, comes to an end when he meets our hero. This time he crosses paths with Stone Cold Steve Austin and lets just say that it doesn’t end well for my man Nate.
Death by Fantasy Creature – Conan the Barbarian (2011)
Jones has a face only a mother could love in the recent reboot of the legendary Robert E. Howard character Conan. This version probably comes closest to the origins of the character but somehow missed pretty bad at the box office. It wasn’t from lack of action as the film features the star Jason Momoa, recently off his work on Game of Thrones, killing more people than the common cold. Nathan Jones is unrecognizable as the villainous Akhun but delivers an almost impromptu fight scene (it was very quickly choreographed) that showed off his skills at both fighting and dying .
What else? Death by Vehicle – Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Fury Road made about every ‘best of’ list of 2015 for a reason. It doesn’t pull any punches, take many breaks, or waste much time. It’s too busy showing the characters facing off against each other and the really terrible environment that they’re left with. The saddest part about the Mad Max series is that the survivors are now stuck living in such a shitty world. Congratulations. Fortunately for Nathan Jones’ character, he won’t be suffering due to the extreme heat much longer because dying in a car crash is par for the course when it comes to bad guys in a Mad Max movie.
