Even Evil Has Standards/Film: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Please read the instructions/trope description on the [[Even Evil Has Standards|main page]] before adding anything.

 

* In the sequel to ''[[The Lion King]]'', Zira's own followers defected to Simba after Zira [[Moral Event Horizon|threatened to kill her own daughter]] for refusing to participate in Zira's second attack thanks to Kiara and Kovu's speech.

** This scene in the original:

** Also in the original, the [[Mooks|hyenas]] become resentful of Scar's reign after he drives the Pride Lands into ruin and starvation. And after Scar is overthrown by Simba, the hyenas, having been inadvertently betrayed, use this as an opportunity to get back at him for it and satisfy their hunger all at the same time.

** {{spoiler|The mayor}} despite being willing to {{spoiler|Rango and Beans in a tank to drown}} tries to tell off Rattlesnake Jake for threatening to strangle Beans to death in his office. Also, {{spoiler|the mayor's secretary Angelique}} looked visibly horrified when {{spoiler|Rango and Beans were put into the tank to drown}} despite clearly not liking Beans.

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mirage might be willing to lure supers to their deaths, but when kids are on the plane targeted by missiles, she starts to have second thoughts.

** Also, the fact that Syndrome was willing to let Mr. Incredible kill her (out of anger) even though he couldn't do it.

** Then they do it anyway to the title character, mainly because they're too scared to refuse the Coachman's proposition after ''that''.

* The main plot of ''[[Megamind]]'' features the titular villain becoming good to stop a villain he created from destroying the world.

 

 

== Live-Action Film ==

* In ''[[Demolition Man]]'', the psychotic criminal Simon Phoenix would be a [[Complete Monster]] if not for the fact that he utterly fucking ''hates'' his employer, Doctor Cocteau, his belief in [[The Evils of Free Will]], the fact that he has turned Southern California into sissy-land, and the utter restrictiveness of it all. The only reason he doesn't kill Cocteau at first is because he has a mental block preventing him from doing so, {{spoiler|and he gets around it by ordering a [[Mook]] to kill Cocteau. [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]].}}

* Tony "[[Scarface]]" Montana, gangster and druglord, refuses to kill [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|women]] and children, and only kills "People dumb enough to fuck with him".

'''Léon:''' No [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|women]], no kids, that's the rules. }}

* Played straight by Simon Gruber, the villain in ''[[Die Hard With a Vengeance]]'', who plants fake bombs in Manhattan schools to distract the police from his daring Federal Reserve Bank robbery. Notice McLane's surprise and Simon's candid response on the quotes page.

** The opening song "Shiver My Timbers" also says, in regard to Captain Flint and his crew, "The Devil himself would have to call them scum!".

* In the 1939 film version of ''[[Beau Geste]],'' Rasinoff, a Russian recruit of the French Foreign Legion, tells the Geste brothers he knows their sadistic Sergeant Markoff from a prison camp in Siberia, where Rasinoff was an inmate. Markoff was a guard at the camp but was "exiled for cruelty."

* In several ''[[James Bond]]'' movies, Bond works with a "criminal" who, despite being involved in murder, extortion, protection rackets, female slavery, smuggling, etc., is a good guy because he doesn't deal in drugs.

* The [[Big Bad]] in ''[[The Rock]]'', it turns out, {{spoiler|was bluffing. Though his second-in-command thought he wasn't...}} Before the actual takeover, he's seen telling two children to tell their teacher they have to go back to the school Right. Now.

* In ''[[Tombstone]],'' one of the Cowboys drops his red sash and falls in with the Earp brothers after someone fires a gun into the Earp household, nearly killing one of the brothers' wives; he flat-out states that attacking defenseless women was something he simply couldn't stomach.

* ''[[In Bruges]]'' plays with this trope. Two hitmen are sent to cool their heels in Belgium after one accidentally shoots a small boy during a hit. Their boss then {{spoiler|tells the other one to kill him -- the boss is a family man who loves his children and would sooner kill himself than live with the knowledge he'd killed a child, and then he does indeed kill himself due to having blown the head off of a dwarf dressed as a child.}} There's also a scene of negotiations between in which they decide how best to move their gunfight to a place where a pregnant woman will not be endangered.

* In ''[[Con Air]]'', Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom may be the epitome of evil, but he draws the line at rape, and even warns serial rapist Johnny 23, "If your dick jumps out your pants, you jump off this plane."

* ''[[The Whole Nine Yards]]'' has hired hitman Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski refuse to divorce his former wife because, dammit, he believes in those vows ("til death do we part").

* In the [[Adam Sandler]] Remake of ''[[The Longest Yard]]'', Caretaker (Chris Rock) explains it like this to Paul Crewe (Sandler) in the Prison Cafeteria.

'''Caretaker:''' Oh I ain't saying you did or you didn't. All I'm saying is that you could have robbed banks, sold dope or stole your grandmother's pension checks and none of us would have minded. But shaving points off of a football game, man, that's un-American. }}

* Speaking of Adam Sandler, who can forget this [[Crowning Moment of Funny|classic line]] from ''[[Little Nicky]]'':

"...Well maybe not ''that'' horrible, but still pretty bad." }}

* In ''[[Vantage Point]]'', the terrorists driving an ambulance carrying the kidnapped President swerved to avoid hitting a girl crossing the road, flipping the ambulance, foiling their plot, and getting killed in the process. They had no qualms with killing throughout the movie, just not a child.

* In ''[[Snatch]]'', Bullet Tooth Tony, a tough guy who is ruthless when it comes to killing or torture is reluctant to hurt a dog when asked to cut it open to retrieve a diamond it swallowed.

** Possibly a subversion. Tony is reluctant and voices disapproval over the act "It's not a fucking tin of baked beans, what do you mean open him up?!" he does eventually start to do it. The dog's life gets saved from Tony (and his boss Avi) mostly because someone else in the room admits that he has the diamond, and the dog didn't eat it.

* The titular ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'' have no qualms whatsoever about robbing a bank of thousands of dollars, and most of them feel only a vague dislike (yet no hesitation) for shooting innocent bystanders out of their way in the escape from the heist, but watch how they react to someone refusing to throw in a dollar for the waitress's tip at a restaurant. In fact, in keeping with the recurring theme in Tarantino's works of honor among thieves and scoundrels they seem to have a whole, elaborate code of ethics all their own which they euphemistically refer to as "professionalism".

** Both White and Pink also display antipathy against Blonde for going on an unprovoked killing spree inside the jewellery store once the alarm went off. In Pink's case it seems like more [[Pragmatic Villainy]] (shooting someone who's not in your way is just more jail time if they catch you), but White seems to take the killing of "real people" personally.

'''Mr. Pink:''' If that. }}

** It's implied in the script that Hans Landa's reasons for sparing Shanonna in ''[[Inglorious Basterds]]'' is due to this trope, as he apparently has personal moral problems with killing someone when their back is turned.

* In ''Five Minutes to Live'' (aka ''Door-to-Door Maniac''), a young Johnny Cash (yes, THAT [[Johnny Cash]]) stars as a cruel, sadistic robber/murderer. Near the end of the film, he has a standoff with the police and {{spoiler|he believes that they accidentally killed his child hostage (they didn't, the kid was just playing dead). Cash's character immediately becomes enraged and starts firing wildly at the police, screaming at them for having dared to kill a child. When he's gunned down, his last words before dying are "they killed a kid".}}

* ''[[Flyboys]]'' features a dogfight around the middle of the movie. One of the men of the squadron is shot down but manages to land safely. He is then strafed and killed by a German flyer. When the pilot comes back up with the rest of his squadron, the Red Baron... er, [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|Black Falcon]], who led the attack, shakes his head. It's justified, considering that he had a book of morals that he thought all Germans should follow. Attacking downed pilots who can't fight back was one of them. Another example is a dogfight almost immediately after that part. One of the pilots, Rawlings, manages to stick with the Black Falcon through a series of evasive maneuvers, even when the Falcon attempts to lose him by flying right over a church. Rawlings is able to stick with him, and though his gun jams, the Falcon spares his life because [[Worthy Opponent|he was good enough to not lose him.]] In this case Falcon is less "evil" and more on the opposite side, but is still shown as having stricter standards than his comrades.

* In ''Pickup On South Street'', a pickpocket steals a wallet containing stolen microfilm that a ring of communist spies are trying to spirit out of the country. Instead of destroying the film or turning it in to the cops for immunity, he tries to sell it back to the spies for a big payoff. This shocks even his fellow lowlifes, one of whom remarks, "Even in our crummy business, you have to draw the line somewhere."

* In the 1986 film version of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'', sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin) gets a patient named Arthur Denton (Bill Murray). Scrivello's schtick is that he does unnecessary procedures with little to no anesthesia, causing his patients immense pain, which he enjoys. Unfortunately, Denton is masochistic, so Scrivello's tools give him orgasmic pleasure. Disgusted (though he probably just resents the fact that he was robbed of his own sadistic pleasure), Schrivello kicks Denton out of his office. He then says to himself:

* [[Aliens|"I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a Goddamn percentage!"]]

* In ''[[Suicide Kings]]'', Charlie Barrett, an ex-mob boss who once had an enemy and his family fed to their own dogs, is highly offended by someone lying to their friends.

** In the opening scene to the movie, the Joker has his own henchmen killed during a heist on a mob bank [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|as soon as their part of the heist is complete]]. The mobster who tries to fend them off is disgusted with their actions, and reminisces about the good old days when criminals still believed in honor and respect.

** The Chechen, who previously was the most eager to hire the Joker, turns against him upon hearing his next [[Hannibal Lecture]] about how "this city deserves a better class of criminal." Unfortunately, his former men don't have such standards.

* Brazilian horror film icon Zé do Caixão, AKA Coffin Joe in other countries, is a complete sadist whose hideous acts include murder, torture and rape. Surprisingly however, he is utterly disgusted with the idea of violence being used on children, as he believes they are only the gracious thing that mankind has to offer. This even guaranteed him a [[Villainous BSOD]] in one film when he learns that one of the girls he kidnapped and murdered earlier was pregnant.

* Treadstone is supposed to have transformed [[The Bourne Series|Jason Bourne]] into the ultimate assassin, but the climax of the first film reveals that {{spoiler|he failed an assignment because he couldn't bring himself to shoot a father while his kids were watching, possibly because [[Harmful to Minors|killing the man in front of his children would mean that he'd have to kill the kids too because they'd be witnesses]].}} Notably, the second film reveals that he had no such compunction against {{spoiler|killing a target and his ''wife'' and making it look like a murder-suicide.}}

* John Lee in ''The Replacement Killers'' gets himself in trouble with crime leader Terence Wei after developing a conscience in time to prevent him from completing the third assignment, killing a police officer's adolescent son with the officer/father hugging him.

* In ''[[Austin Powers]] In Goldmember'', Dr. Evil, despite having the name "Evil" in his name and also living up to his name, seemed completely disturbed by Goldmember when meeting him in person, once even hesitating in shock, slowly moving towards him and then saying "how about "no!"" when Goldmember asks if he could paint Nigel Power's doodle gold, and was overall disgusted by Goldmember eating his own skin. Similarly, after he, or rather, Scott Evil, kills a Japanese businessman because the latter wanted a bonus, although he starts his evil laugh, he quickly becomes quite disturbed when Scott was more exhilarated by the death, telling him to stop, as it's "creeping [him] out."

'''Dr. Evil:''' Riiiiight. }}

* In ''[[The Man From Nowhere]],'' Ramrowan is happy to slay anyone -- {{spoiler|except young Soo-Mi. Ramrowan not only spares her, but kills one of his comrades and takes his eyes to pass off as hers for proof of the kill. And then, when defeated by Cha, Ramrowan does not reveal his mercy or bargain for his life, which is kind of awesome.}}

* In Mother, Jugs and Speed, Mother asks why a hamburger stand owner always give him his mayonnaise on the side. The owner responds that he's cheated on his wife and beaten his kids; but putting mayonnaise on a hamburger is a sin that Mother alone will have to answer to God for.

* In ''Prizzi's Honor'', Irene Walker, an assassin, plans out a hit that involves distracting a bodyguard by tossing a baby (actually a doll) and getting him to catch it while she pulls out her gun in the meantime. When the plan is carried out, the bodyguard ignores the "baby" and immediately pulls out his own gun. Afterward, Irene comments that this behavior was disgusting, since if it had been a real baby, it would have been crippled.

* In ''The Skulls'', the [[Big Bad]] who has been terrorizing the film's protagonist expresses disgust at a co-conspirator's choice of a lover, even while freely admitting to his own extramarital activities, "Good lord, man, she's only ''19''"!. He then uses the information to blackmail him when the other man also displays this trope and develops a conscience about the horrible things they've done.

* From ''The Petrified Forest.'' Duke Mantee, world famous killer and gangster, thinks Alan is a rat for telling Gabrielle's grandfather to "die and do the world some good." ''"Talkin' to an old man like that..."''

'''Penguin''' (grabbing an umbrella and shooting him): No! It's a lot "uh"! }}

* Jason believes this about {{spoiler|Robert}} in ''[[Mystery Team]]'', making a speech about how he doesn't have it in him to kill teenagers. {{spoiler|He has it in him}}

* In ''All Through the Night'', when gangster/gambler Gloves Donahue ([[Humphrey Bogart]]) confronts Nazi Franz Ebbing (Conrad Veidt), they have the following exchange:

'''Gloves Donahue:''' It's clear you're screwy. I've been a registered Democrat ever since I could vote. I may not be Model Citizen Number One, but I pay my taxes, wait for traffic lights, and buy 24 tickets to the Policeman's Ball. Brother, don't get me mixed up in no league that rubs out innocent bakers. }}

* The following immortal exchange from ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'':

'''Aunt Abbey:''' Yes, I did! But you don't think I'd stoop to telling a fib?! }}

** Bill's brother is willing to admit that they crossed the line when they tried to assassinate The Bride. Though he also hold her accountable for breaking Bill's heart.

* In ''[[The Social Network]]'', Mark felt that Sean's treatment of Eduardo after the latter {{spoiler|gets fired from the company}} as going too far. He was also disgusted when he heard that {{spoiler|Sean was partying and doing drugs with underaged interns.}}

* In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: The Curse Of The Black Pearl'', one of the legends about the pearl is that it's captain was "so evil that [[Hell]] itself spat him back out." Though, of course, this turned out not to be true.

* In ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'', even the sociopathic Otto seems put off by Ken's plan to kill an old lady. Although his main motivation is that he wants her alive so that her eyewitness testimony will keep George incarcerated, his statement "wasting old ladies isn't nice" possibly suggests that he considers such an act below his standards.

* In ''[[Smokin Aces]]'', hitman and [[Torture Technician]] Pasquale Acosta is forced to kill the hotel's Chief of Security in order to get to his mark, Buddy Israel. Despite ruthless torture being Acosta's main gimmick, he goes out of his way to kill the Chief painlessly, and holds and comforts him as he dies, all because the Chief was not the person he was hired to kill. Acosta even tells the Chief to close his eyes before he dies, so his killer's face won't have to be the last thing he sees.

* ''[[Unforgiven]]'': At the very end of the movie, William Munny brutally kills several men, but when a [[Writers Suck|writer]] asks him who did he chose first, (in an effort to romanticize the brutal events that Munny committed) he rejects him by threatening with death. All the players in the movie were eager to justify their [[Disproportionate Retribution]] but Munny: He knows that he did evil things once and he’s doing evil things now, and that for that he will go to hell. He will not try to hide that from himself or anyone else.

* In ''[[Small Soldiers]]'' the Commando Elite may be homocidal war toys but they were also programmed with the personalities of heroic, loyal, brave and honourable soldiers. Chip Hazard in particular is an excellent leader. Which means they ''just won't give up.''

* Played straight in ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' when the priest saves Zorg from choking, for which he agrees to spare the priest's life.

** Maybe he's just following rule 68 of the [[Evil Overlord List]].

 

{{reflist}}