The 25 Best Movie Weapons Ever

We take a look at the 25 best movie weapons ever.
Best Movie Weapons

Along with a stylish outfit and iconic personality, a signature weapon completes an action hero’s persona. A character’s weapon says a lot about them. For many, the weapon is part of their characters, for others, the weapon distracts from how uninteresting they are. Nevertheless, signature weapons have evolved greatly throughout film history spawning varieties of functions and style. We’re excited to figure out which is the best movie weapon.

So what constitutes a good movie weapon? Let’s break it down. We’ll evaluate each weapon based on three criteria: power, versatility, and cool-factor.

Power: How much damage and destruction can you inflict with this weapon? Does it slice? How well does it dice? Does it blow stuff up? Can you beat people with it?

Versatility: Does it have long and short range capabilities? Can they help you fly or open teleportation channels? Does it do more than one thing?

Cool Factor: How cool does it look? How iconic is it? Does it complete an outfit? Does it elevate its wielders cool points?

Each category has a max score of 4, and each weapon will be ranked on its cumulative score. Of course, subjectivity is in full effect here, but using these criteria we’re sure we can rank the best movie weapons. Here are the 25 best movie weapons.


Hattori Hanzō Katana – Kill Bill

A long, gracious sword, Beatrix is a killing machine with this weapon in hand. The sword slices and dices, but it loses points because it doesn’t do much else. But does it need to? It obviously pales in comparison to weapons like the lightsaber or Stormbreaker, but it is very cool and holds its own as a classic piece of cinematic memorabilia.


Chainsaw Hand – Evil Dead Franchise

A chainsaw may very well be the most effective zombie killing machine. How do you improve this zombie killing machine, you may ask? Easy, make the chainsaw a part of yourself. Ash Williams is clearly on another level of innovation and we’re all blessed to witness it. Obviously, the chainsaw hand is really only great at destroying the evil dead, and we’re perfectly okay with that.


Captive Bolt Gun – No Country For Old Men

Anton Chigurh’s cattle gun is an innovative, frightening way to murder motorists or open up locks. Although Chigurh only uses this weapon once on a victim, it still sticks out to many as a horrifying murder device. Chigurh scores extra cool factor points for innovation and pure intimidation.


Noisy Cricket – Men in Black

Sometimes big things come in small packages and this is certainly true for Agent J’s signature weapon. The noisy cricket scores big points in power because of the massive energy blasts it produces but loses points in versatility because it would be difficult to use in all situations. It also loses points because it looks ridiculous.


Phaser – Star Trek

Phasers are cool. They’re basically just space guns, but what distinguishes them from other space blasters are its multiple abilities beyond killing. Along with taking down villainous aliens like the Borg or Klingon, phasers are also capable of stunning less dangerous offenders and are able to be used as tools to heat things up. Phasers are among the first space blasters ever and they’re sure to stay for a long time.


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Pierce Singgih: Lover of coffee, the emdash, and General Hux. Journalism student at Biola University in Los Angeles.