Defensive Failure: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Rock]]'': Just after Goodspeed and Mason's Navy SEAL teammates are all drawn into a trap and killed, Goodspeed tries to stop Mason from leaving Alcatraz Island by pulling his pistol on him. Mason replies that [[Defensive Failure|Goodspeed doesn't have what it takes to kill him]], and also remarking [[Not with the Safety On, You Won't|"Besides, the safety's on"]], before grabbing the gun away.

* A rare good-guy/good-guy example occurs in ''[[Independence Day]]'', as Major Steven Hiller is climbing into a helicopter to go look for his girlfriend:

'''Hiller:''' ''Just tell 'em I hit you.'' (the [rather large] NCO looks insulted as Hiller takes off.) }}

* In ''[[The Sound of Music]]'', Rolf becomes a Nazi soldier, but proves unable to kill Captain Von Trapp:

* Parodied in ''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1'', where a character seizes up and -rather than merely trembling- begins to convulse in an exaggerated manner, wagging his pistol in every direction. Said character, by the way, is played by ''[[Samuel L. Jackson]]''.

* Played straight in [[The Ref]]. In it, [[Denis Leary]] gets distracted, leading to the son of his two hostages grabbing his gun and demanding that Leary untie his parents or he'll shoot. However, Denis knows the kid's not a killer, and starts moving towards the kid. When the phone rings and momentarily distracts the son, Leary simply takes the gun back.

* Subverted at the end of ''[[Vibes]]''. Nick ([[Jeff Goldblum]]) has the [[Big Bad]] held at bay with an M-16.

'''Nick''': [[Blatant Lies|Sure, lots of times. I was captain of the Automatic Weapons Team in high school.]]<br />

'''Dr. Steele''' ''(starts inching forward)'': Don't lie to me. You wouldn't know how to use that thing if you tried.<br />

* [[Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' - Martha has an enemy at gunpoint who says she doesn't have the nerve to fire - she replies that nervous people with guns are not a safe combination, and asks him if he wants to risk it.

** And reversed in an earlier episode. The Doctor is holding a man at gunpoint. He being the Doctor, he handles it differently when the man starts getting nervous...

'''Doctor''': If you want, just hurry up. }}

** But played straight in "Utopia" when Chantho won't shoot Professor Yana even though it's pretty clear at that point that he's {{spoiler|become The Master.}}