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Some film characters' actions can get [[What an Idiot!|so dumb]], one might wish for the directors to re-write the script in order for the character to get it "right".▼
▲Some film characters' actions can get [[What an Idiot|so dumb]], one might wish for the directors to re-write the script in order for the character to get it "right".
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* In ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark
* In ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'', the band Russel writes for is down a member and they promised an all-black group.<br />'''You'd expect''': Russel to try to convince the club to let a white guy sing.<br />'''Instead''': he sings in blackface, predictably leading to a fight when this secret is found out.
* Rarely does [[What an Idiot!]] actually work. ''[[Tin Cup]]'' is one of these cases, where Kevin Costner won't listen to Cheech Marin's advice to play the ball conservatively, and then loses a golf tournament when he doesn't.
** ...although after Jean Van Der Velde in the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie lost by doing almost the exact same thing, it seems that either truth is stranger than fiction, or we shouldn't expect as much of fictional characters as we do.
* In [[Batman (film)|the 1989 version of ''Batman'']], when the otherwise [[Genre Savvy]] Joker takes Vicki Vale up the cathedral to escape and says 10 minutes... before the helicopter arrives.<br />'''You'd expect''': The Joker to call his goons again and get the chopper to the top ASAP, since it took him 5 minutes.<br />'''Instead''': He dances with Vale waiting for the chopper and giving Batman time to beat the heck out of him.
** This leads to the helicopter arriving and Joker taking off when Batman ties a gargoyle to his leg.<br />'''You'd expect''': The Joker to make a signal to the pilot to move to the chapel where the fall wouldn't be dangerous, or simply let go and hang around on the wall for the police to get him.<br />'''Instead''': He looks stupidly up at the ladder, tries to go along with escaping which causes the gargoyle to pull him down to his death. Really, it's hard to blame this act of stupidity on Batman.
* ''[[Minority Report]]'', where a cop who is racing to prevent a murder. He is armed with foreknowledge imagery of the crime, but it stymied when confronted with a row of identical houses.<br />'''You'd expect''': He would turn out a siren, loudspeaker, or simply shout out that the police were outside of the building.<br />'''Instead''': He takes several seconds to figure the one detail that was different about the correct house, then quietly races into the building to surprise the murderer.
** Far more importantly, when that same future-viewing device shows him and several coworkers that he will commit a murder himself, along with a heaping helping of details including the exact time, he runs. I'll grant him that, since the machine saying you will commit a murder is by itself enough to get you arrested and indefinitely cryogenically frozen with apparently no trial. However, what he does next is totally nonsensical.<br />'''You'd expect''': He would stay the hell away from wherever the murder was supposed to take place, and continue staying away until twenty minutes before it was supposed to happen, then take a taxi over to headquarters and show up three minutes before he's supposed to kill someone in a completely different location and say "Look, I'm here, not killing anyone, and you didn't have to arrest me for me not to kill someone. Therefore I'm not guilty." Or some variation of the above, the main part being that he avoids doing it and uses the fact that he didn't do it as evidence that he isn't a murderer.<br />'''Instead''': Convinced this was a plot to frame him, he goes all-out trying to find out who's responsible, committing many illegal acts. When at the end of the time limit he realizes he is standing outside the very building his future victim is in, charges in and confronts the guy, who turns out to just be a very bribed man who then ''uses'' Anderton to commit [[Suicide
** [[Egregious]] security errors on the part of the headquarters. Access is controlled via retinal scan.<br />'''You'd expect''':
* ''[[Election]]'' sees a paranoid teacher put in charge of counting the votes in the class election. Much to his horror, he sees that his least favorite student Tracey Flick has won, but the election was [[Decided
* ''[[
** Also in ''[[
* This seems to be the only reason that [[Psycho for Hire]] Anton Chigurh from the film ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' is able to kill anyone at all, and it may be possible that a supernatural ability to [[Too Dumb to Live|instill crushing stupidity in otherwise fairly savvy people]] is why he's done as well as he has. This ranges from garroting a deputy who forgets he has a gun, pulling over and shooting at literally point blank range an old man who may or may not be from the area and know the man who was supposed to be driving. This is while surveying the corpses of a half dozen of their men. You'd think they'd be a little wary.
* ''[[In Time]]'' is a science fiction movie about a dystopian future where money is replaced by the years of a person's life; rich people can potentially live forever, while the poor are literally living from paycheck to paycheck. The protagonist - Justin Timberlake's character - manages to con said rich folks out a million years of that time, and sets about trying to use it to help the poor, [[Just Like Robin Hood]].<br />'''You'd expect''': Sure, charity is great, and with ''a million years'' to share, 10,000 members of the underclass could be safe and comfortable for a century. Not much in the long run, but you could ''really'' make a difference if you kept a few centuries for yourself.<br />'''Instead''': He gives the ''whole thing'' to charity, leaving nothing for himself. Seeing as this was a million years of ill-gotten gains, our generous - yet pretty dumb - hero spends the rest of the movie on the edge of death, with his own time constantly at risk of running out. Makes for a thrilling and exciting story, but nonetheless, one with an avoidable plot.
* In ''[[Passenger 57]]'' -- which, overall, makes perfect sense if it's intended to take place in a parallel universe where [[Idiot Plot|everyone is an utter moron]] -- one of the best moments comes when the Hero's Girlfriend is fighting one of the henchmen near the open luggage door of a moving airplane. She's about to fall out the door, clutching at the henchman's pant leg; he reaches desperately for his rifle, lying a few inches away. Finally he gets his fingers on it, gets it in his grip...<br />'''You'd Expect:''' he might consider, you know, ''shooting'' her.<br />'''Instead:''' he turns the gun around, and hits her with the butt. Guess who ends up falling out of the plane?
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has so many it could take up a page.
** In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' Obi-Wan discovers that Anakin has turned to [[The Dark Side]], fights him and ends with having him without legs and one hand, burning, and sliding into a river of lava.<br />'''You'd think''': That he'd kill him, or at least wait for him to die. Or try to save him, somehow. It would be smarter and probably closer to Jedi morality to do so.<br />'''Instead''': He leaves him to a painful death. And has to deal with the consequences. <br />'''Author's Saving Throw''': The novelization at least tries to explain this as 'Obi-Wan sensed the Emperor's shuttle approaching and knew that he had to leave right that second or else Darth Sidious would see his departure and be able to follow him and Padme leaving.'
** Anakin goes to see Master Yoda after having a terrible dream (possibly a premonition) about Padme suffering and dying.<br />'''You'd Expect''' that the wise and compassionate Master Yoda would explain the nature of self-fulfilling prophecies and recommend that Anakin not go to dangerous extremes even to do something so noble as save the people he cares about. At the very least, he would say something to placate him. Something like, "Always in motion is the future. Do not be reckless."<br />'''Instead''' Yoda quite callously tells Anakin to let go of ''everything he loves,'' never mourning their loss or even ''missing'' them. As a result, Anakin stops listening to the Jedi and starts listening to Palpatine.<br />'''To Be Fair:''' Anakin never actually tells Yoda ''who'' he's worried about dying, and Yoda obviously does not suspect Anakin of strong emotional attachment to anyone outside the Jedi Order or else he'd already have had Anakin up for disciplinary action. And Yoda's advice would have made far more sense if Anakin had been talking about fear of losing another Jedi like his best friend Obi-Wan in the war, as in 'emotionally accept the possibility that your fellow soldier who is facing combat service alongside you might get hit and prepare yourself to face that ahead of time'.
** Palpatine in Episode 6. Luke Skywalker has defeated Vader and about to get in the finishing kill, cementing his transition to the dark side.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Palpatine to stand and watch, wait until after the killing blow, and ''then'' start making speeches to Luke to make sure he doesn't relapse to the light side.<br />'''Instead:''' He basically says "Good, good, kill Vader and then your transition to the dark side will be complete!", Luke realizes [[What Have I Become?|what he has almost become]] before it's too late, and he and Vader kill Palpatine.
** ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'': Jango Fett instructs an assassin to kill Padme Amidala, using a flying droid that can open a hole in her bedroom window.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' This droid would fire a bomb into Padme's room, then self-destruct to eliminate any connection to the assassin. There's no need for subtlety: everyone knows that somebody wants Padme dead due to an earlier assassination attempt.<br />'''Instead:''' Jango gives the assassin a couple of venomous creatures to place in Padme's room; they linger there long enough for Obi-Wan and Anakin to sense them and kill them. The droid then flies back to the assassin, giving the Jedi a lead. Lampshaded thoroughly in [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0226.html this] ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' strip.
** '''You'd Expect:''' That Obi-Wan would put a tracer on the robot that tried to murder Padme that way he and Anakin can get to a really fast floating car and then apprehend the assassin.<br />'''Instead:''' Obi-Wan jumps out the window and latches onto the droid all the way to the assassin. Not only could he have miscalculated his jump and die from the lose of air alone from a jump that high, but also this leaves Anakin to get a car and somehow find and catch up to Obi-Wan during the Coruscant equivalent to rush hour at night. And let's remember that Obi-Wan is struggling to hold on considering how his only means of survival is a goddamn floating sphere that's avoiding any random car that could not see it and hit straight into it. Because of Obi-Wan, he and Anakin couldn't just track the bounty hunter and sneak up on her and take her down, he alerted her because she say him randomly holding onto her droid a million miles up in the air causing her to run like hell and trying to escape into a sports bar. Sure Obi-Wan does manage to get her in the end but this entire chase scene ended in Jango Fett killing the only lead to the people that wanted to Padme. If Obi-Wan didn't jump out that window he would not only have a lead on Jango and the Separatist's base but he would know right away to tell the Jedi Council that Jango could have valuable information. As such they would capture Fett and interrogate him and get all the information he knows: Dooku having control over the clone and droid army's and that Palpatine was the SITH LORD!!! The simple act of Obi-Wan thinking for half a second and putting a tracer on an assassin's droid (a feat that he surprisingly had enough brain cells to do with Jango Fett's ship) could have not only save billions of lives and ending a galactic war but ALSO PREVENT THE EMPIRE FROM EVER RISING TO POWER AND ENSLAVING OR KILLING ANYONE WHO SO MUCH AS HIDE A COUPLE OF DROIDS!!!
** The Empire after the battle of Endor. Death Star 2.0 went kaboom, Palpatine is toast, and Vader is now a Force Ghost hanging out with his old pals Obi Wan and Yoda.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Someone in the Imperial ranks with the brains and ambition would say to themselves, "Hey look, a power vacuum, this is my big break." and then seize this golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the new Grand Poobah of the galaxy.<br />'''Instead:''' Nobody even bothers to step up to the plate. The Galactic Empire crumbles, The Rebels celebrate their victory by dancing with a bunch of midgets in teddy bear suits, and millions of people who were [[Star Wars]] fans up to this point take a header into the nearest wall. <br />'''Legacy Continuity''': In the now not-canon EU, the problem actually turned out to be ''too many'' contenders stepping up to the plate, leaving the Imperial remnants fractured into small enough pieces that the New Republic could handle them one at a time. Well, except for Thrawn, but he died.
** Vader and the crew of his Star Destroyer have captured the Rebel Blockade Runner with Princess Leia and the stolen Death Star plans aboard. An imperial gunner and his commanding officer detect a jettisoned escape pod with no life readings aboard.<br />'''You'd Think:''' They'd blast the pod just to be on the safe side, or at least have it tractor-beamed into an empty cargo bay and send in some Stormtroopers to check it. After all, data is not alive. Leia could have thrown the plans inside and jettisoned it for the Rebels to find later.<br />'''Instead:''' The officer orders the gunner to just let it go. [[Flat What|Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.]] (and yes, I know, if they had handled things intelligently, it would have been a short movie.) <br /> '''To Be Fair:''' Pretty much every military force, real-world and fictional, has a policy against shooting at things without either it shooting at you first or being given a specific order to. So if anybody's the idiot in this scene its the fleet commander (Lord Vader) for forgetting to tell his gunners 'If anything tries to leave here without specific permission, vaporize it'.
** Admiral Motti boasts that the Death Star with its giant, planet-killing laser cannon is "the ultimate power in the universe." Vader admonishes the Admiral for such hubris by saying "the power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Motti would smile and nod and avoid saying anything at this juncture that might piss off the Dark Lord of the Sith.<br />'''Instead:''' He kicks things off by insulting Vader and his religion right in front of everyone in that meeting room. That alone was highly uncalled for and would very likely get you fired in real life. As if he hasn't already committed an act of monumental douchebaggery at this point, he then insinuates that Vader is incompetent because he has yet to "conjure up the stolen data tapes or find the Rebels' hidden fortress." He's only saved from being telekinetically strangled to death when Grand Moff Tarkin orders Vader to stop.<br />'''Worse Yet:''' Darth Vader is the Emperor's personal loyalty enforcer in a brutal totalitarian Empire where the concept of 'due process of law' is a threadbare joke. Tarkin, due to his own high status, is the only person in the room Vader ''couldn't'' have condemned to death on a whim. Forget being seven feet tall with a laser sword and the ability to strangle Motti with his mind, Motti should still have been legitimately terrified of offending Vader even if he was an armless midget in a wheelchair.
* ''[[Signs]]:'' There is a species of aliens for whom water is a lethal acid.<br />'''You'd Expect''' that these aliens would stay far away from a planet that has a 70% water surface. Or, at the very least, they'd stay in their advanced interplanetary spaceships for the duration of the invasion, or they'd wear some sort of environmental suits to protect from the deadly acid that exists in gaseous form in the air and frequently falls from the sky. <br />'''Instead''', the aliens invade water-soaked Earth, on foot, naked.
** '''You'd Expect''' that aliens advanced enough to conquer interstellar travel would be somewhat intelligent, or at least technologically superior to humans.<br />'''Instead''', these aliens are unarmed, are outmatched by baseball bats and glasses of water, and are outsmarted by ''closet doors''.
** Finally, '''you'd expect''' that these hydrophobic creatures would finally be repelled in a scheme that makes use of the planet's prodigious water supply.<br />'''Instead''', news reports say that the invasion is repelled in the ''deserts'' of the Middle East.
* At the end of ''[[Night of the Living Dead]],'' Ben goes upstairs to investigate the sound of gunshots and sees a rag-tag group of vigilantes and local policemen blasting away the few remaining zombies.<br />'''You'd Expect''' Ben to shout to the militia for help and come on out to meet them.<br />'''Instead''' he stares out the window in a rather emotionless fashion, whereupon a pair of rednecks see him in the window, think he's a zombie, and shoot him, after taking a noticeable amount of time to line up a headshot that he could have easily gotten out of the way of before said redneck pulled the trigger.
* ''[[Jumper (
* ''[[Iron Man (
* In ''[[Scream (
** In ''[[Scream (
* ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
** In the setup for that scene, Mrs. Lovett tells Sweeney to be patient as he plots his revenge. "Soon, love, soon/Hush, love, hush" and all that.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Sweeney would understand that she's advising patience in ''waiting for Turpin to fall into his grasp.''<br />'''Instead:''' When Turpin ''does'' fall into his grasp that very day, he takes her advice to heart and spends a few minutes giving the guy a proper shave and singing about pretty women, leading to the scene above. "You told me to wait!" he snarls in the next song. Um, yes, Sweeney, she told you to wait for Turpin to come to you, ''not'' to waste time once his throat was finally under your blade! He should have been dead and packed away in the crate long before Anthony arrived!
* In the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' movie, the hotshot pilot feels the best course of action was to activate the self-destruct mechanism in order to destroy the alien-infested ship.<br />'''You'd expect:''' He'd get clear of the blast radius first.<br />'''Instead''' he sets off the destruction of the ship while they're right next to it, and rather than [[Acrophobic Bird|fly up and away]] from the exploding ship, he travels ''along'' it. This cripples the ship and leaves them stranded on a planet. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice job Joey]]. To add insult to injury, he self-righteously justifies it to the father despite the screw up being his fault.
* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', the Joker is in the cargo hold of a ship, burning down money. The police know he's there and are going to deploy a squad to capture him. Then they hear that the Joker's going to blow up a hospital in an hour.<br />'''You'd Expect''': That they'd send some men to evacuate hospitals or disarm the bombs in them, storm the ship, incapacitate the Joker and thus end the madness.<br />'''Instead''': They abort the operation, send every policeman to evacuate the hospitals and let the Joker walk away, which almost causes the complete collapse of Gotham into anarchy.<br />'''Except''': Locking the Joker up the first time didn't work out so well last time and besides, they needed all the men they could get to evacuate the hospitals.
** Police procedure as a whole suffered just so the Joker could be scary. Seriously, Leaving the Joker with a single guard, unhandcuffed and not locked up? One thing among many.<br />'''You'd Expect''': that a city police department up against a madman who uses dynamite would deploy a bomb unit at ''some'' point in time. Hell, even bringing one in from another city would be much cheaper than REBUILDING AN ENTIRE HOSPITAL.<br />'''Instead''': [[Holding Out for
* In the ''Transformers Generation 1'' movie, Megatron is stalling Optimus so he can grab a gun to shoot him while Optimus is busy [[Evil Gloating|talking instead of executing him]]. Hot Rod sees this and tries to stop Megatron.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Hot Rod shoots the gun, shoots Megatron in the back, or yells at Optimus "He's going for a gun!"<br />'''Instead''': He tries to tackle pound-for-pound one of the strongest and most dangerous Decepticons in the series, who easily overcomes him, thereby giving Megatron an Autobot shield from which be can blast Optimus with ease without fear of retaliation. Optimus dies as a result.
* ''[[Star Trek
** The baddies want Picard. The good guys beam him over, and the transporters promptly fail. They do, however, have an prototype emergency transporter.<br />'''You'd expect:''' The good guys to beam over a bomb, use the independent transporters in the shuttles, have Data/a security team with a tech on it take a shuttle and hack their way in, or replicate the emergency transporter.<br />'''Instead:''' Data ''jumps'' for the enemy ship, finds Picard, slaps the transporter on him, then dies in the most pointless [[Heroic Sacrifice]] ever.
* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (
* ''[[Burn Hollywood Burn]]'': A director has seen his film recut by the studio behind his back. He's embarrassed about the finished product and wants to have his name taken off it. The studio heads agree to let him be credited under the standard Director's Guild pseudonym Alan Smithee. The only problem is, the director's ''real name'' is Alan Smithee.<br />'''You'd expect''': Smithee would change his own name. After all, what kind of reputation could you possibly enjoy when your name is already synonymous with failure?<br />'''Instead''': Smithee steals the only existing print of the film and holds it hostage. When the studio refuses to allow him to recut the film the way he wants it, he burns it. Smithee is committed to an insane asylum, and the studio ends up making a profit anyway when they produce a documentary about how Smithee went crazy.
** After Smithee burns the master print of the film, the studio panics, and is left wondering that to do, especially in view of the fact that the film cost $200m.<br />'''You'd expect''': That the studio would try as best they can to reassemble the film from the various other takes and alternate camera angles that are inevitably created as part of the filming process.<br />'''Instead''': Apparently Smithee was ordered only to do one take of ''every single scene in the film'', because actors are jerks and don't like performing more than one take of any given scene. As a result, they end up planning to sell the trailer as the actual film, until they come up with the "documentary" idea.
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** The raptors are trying to get in, and Ellie and Grant are struggling to hold the door closed, the gun just out of reach. Lex is busy fixing the park's computer system, and Tim is there with nothing to do.<br />'''You'd expect''': He gets the gun for them, or at least helps hold the door.<br />'''Instead''': He stands there cheering on his sister, completely ignoring their cries for the gun.<br />'''However''': Tim's been what, fried, hit, knocked around, limping, almost eaten like three times? Surprised he's not a quivering wreck on the floor. He's also ten.
* In the ''[[Phantom of the Opera]]'' film, Raoul bests the Phantom in a duel.<br />'''You'd expect''': He takes advantage of this moment, either by running him through with his sword or by knocking Erik cold and having someone fetch the Paris police to cart him off to jail.<br />'''Instead''': Immediately goes home to plan a [[Zany Scheme]] to catch the Phantom, leaving the Phantom lying there in the snow.
* ''[[Batman and Robin (
'''In that case''' all she'd have to do is spit in his mouth, since presumably the venom is present in her saliva.
* ''[[Superman Returns]]'': Lois Lane is investigating a story about a blackout which seems to have spread from a specific location.<br />'''You'd expect''' she'd do some research into who lives there before barging into the house, or tell somebody, ''anybody'' where she was going, or at least drop off her ''five year old son'' somewhere else before going there.<br />'''Instead''' she goes in without telling a soul, and gets herself and her five year old son held hostage by Lex Luthor.
** In the original ''Superman'', Lex Luthor has set into motion his plan to sink California into the sea using a nuclear missile aimed at the San Andreas Fault, and has incapacitated Superman both with Kryptonite and by sending a second nuclear bomb in the opposite direction. When he reveals that the second target is Hackensack, New Jersey, his girlfriend Ms. Teschmacher protests that her mother lives there.<br />'''You'd expect''' he would lead her out of the room, handcuff her to something and then maybe go back and watch Superman die.<br />'''Instead''' he shrugs her off, and leaves them both alone and unmonitored. Five minutes later, she's saved Superman from the Kryptonite and he's escaped through the ceiling, on his way to foiling the plan.<br/>'''To Make Things Worse:''' Once his plan ''does'' fail, Lex should probably have been halfway to some country with no extradition treaties. Instead, he's still in the same subterranean base where the Man of Steel confronted him the first time, about to feed Teschmacher to some pack of unseen beasts. Naturally, Superman breaks in, saves her, and nabs Luthor, who might as well have just called the police and ask to be arrested.
* ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'': Although R. Lee Ermey defined the [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] trope with his character Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, the climax at the end of the first half of the film proves that he was a failure in the end. Take "Pvt. Pyle"'s suicide, where Joker finds him in the bathroom, holding his rifle, and has it fully loaded. His loud shrieking of the Marine Corps Prayer garners the attention of GySgt. Hartman.<br />'''You'd expect''' that, upon discovering that the mentally shattered Pyle is holding a fully loaded rifle, he would get a hold of some military police to come and defuse the situation.<br />'''Instead''' Hartman taunts and speaks down to him ''more'', even when it's clear that the guy needs ''serious'' help. But after asking him, [[Famous Last Words|"What is your major malfunction, numbnuts? Didn't mommy and daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?!"]], Pyle guns down Hartman.
* ''[[
* ''[[District 9]]'': Aliens come to Earth, malnourished and unguided. They're taken from their ship, set up in a temporary camp which degenerates into a slum, and are constantly exploited by the private corporation responsible.<br />'''You'd Expect''' That the governments of the world would take an interest in preventing the abuse of these aliens, considering that they're 1) sapient and at least as intelligent as us and 2) capable of building technology that makes us look like cavemen in comparison. They're also bigger and probably a fair bit stronger. Clearly, treating them badly will not end well for us, in the long run.<br />'''Instead''' The private corporation turns the aliens into slaves in everything but name. They're restricted in where they can eat, where they can work (and what work they can do), and forced to live in slums. Their unhatched eggs are confiscated and destroyed. They are subject to being evicted from their dwellings without notice. They are required to take on human names, speak English (or understand it, anyway), and abandon any trace of their own culture. ''These requirements are published on the company's website'', where anyone can go look them up. The world's governments apparently don't give a crap, and are instead placated by the nifty new gadgets that the company is turning out.
* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'': Shosanna has just shot {{spoiler|Zoller}} a few times, only for him to stir shortly afterwards.<br />'''You'd expect''' her to go ahead and finish the damn job.<br />'''Instead''' she shows something approaching regret and tries to go to his side. End result, she gets filled with lead from the victim's sidearm. <br />'''To Be Fair:''' There are many real-world examples of domestic violence incidents (remember, the person she shot is the guy she's been dating for several weeks) where the assailant ''actually has'' gone straight from 'murderous rage' to 'weeping over the injured party in remorse' as soon as the adrenaline wore off and it sank in that yes, the person they were just trying to kill is in pain. So while her behavior entirely qualifies for this trope, its hardly unbelievable.
* ''[[Resident Evil]]: Apocalypse:'' The S.T.A.R.S. sniper is sitting on the roof of a sporting goods store, picking off zombies, with headshots, at his leisure. He's even good enough to pop the head of one sneaking up on the [[Ethnic Scrappy]]. Then, [[Giant Mook|Nemesis]] shows up.<br />'''You'd Expect''' that, as an experienced, competent sniper who seems to have realized that the monsters wandering around the city only die with headshots, he'd put one of those high caliber bullets through the Nemesis' skull.<br />'''Instead''': He shoots him dead center in the chest, and is ''shocked'' that he doesn't go down. So he shoots him ''again'' in the '''same exact spot'''. Nemesis blows him up before the sniper can get a third shot off, and then proceeds to slaughter all the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. officers.
* In ''[[Taken (
** Later in the same film, the girls, including the protagonist's daughter, are being auctioned off as sex slaves. One of the buyers finds <s>Liam</s> Bryan holding him at gunpoint and demanding he buy a girl who, yes, turns out to be his daughter. Bryan is caught, and [[Tap
* In ''[[Absolute Power (
** Later, Dennis finds out that she's not dead and he goes to the hospital to finish the job. He's in her room with a syringe full of poison. <br />'''You'd Expect:''' That Dennis is going to put the poison directly into her IV line, killing her fairly instantly and allowing him a quick getaway.<br />'''Instead:''' He's fooling around with her arm, trying to find a vein to inject the poison into. He is quickly caught by Clint Eastwood and killed with the same poison.
* In ''[[Indiana Jones and
** Similarly, in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* The backstory to ''[[
* ''[[Avatar (
** Speaking of which...<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Jake not to be so so blatant in his logs and also to have a quiet private word with the Na'Vi chief at some point before the deadline, so he could thoroughly and without haste explain the state of things and probably work out a solution.<br />'''Instead:''' He makes his announcement in the worst possible moment, when it's all but too late to do anything, and after he'd antagonized both the Na'vi by stealing a bride from one of the tribe's most influential members, and his own command by wrecking that logging machine.
** There's also the ridiculous case where Colonel Quadritch confronts Jake in the empty room, telling him the experiment is essentially over, and he's gotten Jake the money and guarantee for the surgery to fix his legs. Jake refuses to end the experiment, and gives every single sign, clear as the sun in the desert, that he's gone native and will be a thorn in their side when it comes to trying to remove the Na'vi from their tree-place.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' The Colonel to pick up on this, and forcibly eject Jake from the project, or put him under watch, or lock him up temporarily, or even refer to the above "you'd expect" example!<br />'''Instead:''' He ''completely ignores'' these signs, basically pulling the Yoda on Anakin from Episode III, then acts shocked when Jake goes native. Or maybe he was just pretending not to notice, honestly wanted to give the poor kid in the wheelchair another shot, or was just happy to try and kill him. There's a moment when he gives Jake a long look; he almost certainly knew ''something'' was up.
** Also, when the scientists are trying to convince the corporate executives not to destroy the Tree of Voices, they talk about how the plantlife on Pandora forms a massive neural network.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' They'd drop the technobabble and put it into terms these guys can understand and respect like: It's an organic computer the size of a fucking planet, do you have any idea how much money that's potentially worth?<br />'''Instead:''' They focus on how spiritually significant it is to the Na'vi, which prompts the executives to dismiss it as a bunch of hocus-pocus and hippy crap.
** There are deposits of unobtainium large enough large enough to float mountains.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' someone would point out that these are probably both larger and easier to get to than the chunk under Home Tree. Since the natives don't notice that the research team is hanging out up there, they apparently all that important to them either.<br />'''Instead:''' No one pays any attention to the fact that there are the equivalent to entire mountains of gold. <br />'''Then Again''': There is an obvious logistical complication in mining a floating mountain when the stuff you want to dig out of the ground is the thing that makes the mountain float in the first place. Also, an amount of heavy rock that is practical and cost-effective to move with heavy mining trucks is not necessarily practical or cost-effective to move with helicopters.
* ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'', as you might expect, has tons of these, but here's the most obvious. After being captured by the Psychlos for slave labor, the hero, Jonny Goodboy, manages to kill one of the guards with his own gun. He runs away, but quickly gets caught by the alien leader, Terl, and brought back to where the guard was shot. Incapable of believing that a "man-animal" would ever be capable of handling a gun, he forces a guard to hand Jonny his sidearm to prove that he's harmless. Jonny promptly shoots the guard dead.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' After seeing Jonny shoot a guard before his very eyes, and having indirect evidence of him doing the same to another, Terl immediately has him killed. He's obviously dangerous and will only cause trouble for the Psychlos if he's kept as a slave.<br />'''Instead:''' He just ''tosses him back to the slave-line as if nothing happened'', still completely convinced that the humans are utterly harmless.
* ''[[Transformers (
* ''[[Transformers
** Alice might have as well held a [[Smart Ball]] during that scene when compared against what Sam and co. did in this scene. After they found the Crest of Leadership needed to revive Optimus Prime to defeat The Fallen, the military, who had Optimus Prime's corpse, gave Sam a call, who was at the Great Pyramids, about deciding a place to meet and revive Optimus Prime.<br />'''You'd Expect:'''That they would decide on a good rendezvous point like the Great Pyramids where the heroes were, and there were no Decepticons or witnesses around.<br />'''Instead:''' Everyone decided to go to a nearby populated village where the Decepticons were headed. The result was a huge battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in the middle of a bunch of witnesses, [[Too Dumb to Live|with Sam nearly dying in the cross-fire.]] An [[Epic Failure]] in what was already an [[Idiot Plot]].
▲* ''[[Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (Film)|Transformers Revenge of the Fallen]]'': Alice, {{spoiler|a Decepticon Pretender masquerading as a girl}}, is caught in a... tender embrace with Sam by Mikaela. Disgusted, Mikaela storms out of the room.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Alice waits a while longer before continuing with her true purpose so that Mikaela will not be able to make it back in time if the latter smells a rat. If Sam resists, quickly and efficiently pin him down while raising minimal fuss.<br />'''Instead:''' When Sam does resist, Alice spends some time throwing Sam around. She also let Sam get off the bed at all. The noise alerts Mikaela, who is able to get back in time to help him.
▲** Alice might have as well held a [[Smart Ball]] during that scene when compared against what Sam and co. did in this scene. After they found the Crest of Leadership needed to revive Optimus Prime to defeat The Fallen, the military, who had Optimus Prime's corpse, gave Sam a call, who was at the Great Pyramids, about deciding a place to meet and revive Optimus Prime.<br />'''You'd Expect:'''That they would decide on a good rendezvous point like the Great Pyramids where the heroes were, and there were no Decepticons or witnesses around.<br />'''Instead:''' Everyone decided to go to a nearby populated village where the Decepticons were headed. The result was a huge battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in the middle of a bunch of witnesses, [[Too Dumb to Live|with Sam nearly dying in the cross-fire.]] An [[Epic Failure]] in what was already an [[Idiot Plot]].
* ''[[Space Mutiny]]'': When all the main engineering crew of the ''Southern Sun'' announce their intention to join in the titular mutiny in a meeting amongst themselves, one of the engineers, Parsons clearly isn't on-board with the whole plan. The other engineers mock Parsons, but don't actually act overly hostile towards him.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Parsons to sit out the meeting, maybe indicate that he would be amenable to joining in the mutiny, then go and alert the ship's commanders.<br />'''Instead''': He openly accuses the other engineers of mutiny and treason, and announces his intention to report them... and is then shocked when they turn on him and kill him horribly.
** Later on, one of the bridge crew, Lamont receives evidence that the mutineers were responsible for the destruction of a shuttlecraft. The ringleader, Kalgan, decides that she must be disposed of.<br />'''You'd Expect''': That in order to take advantage of the fact that the identity of the mutineers is still largely unknown, Kalgan would send some of his loyalists to "escort" Lamont from the ship's disco (don't ask), then dispose of her in a part of the ship he controls.<br />'''Instead''': He sends some of his loyalists, and they escort her to... right outside the disco, where Kalgan shoots her dead in person. Naturally this is heard by several people in the disco, including [[The Hero]], Dave Ryder, who promptly tries to chase Kalgan down. While Ryder fails to actually capture Kalgan, his stupidity ends up giving the good guys direct evidence that the mutiny exists, and that Kalgan is one of the ringleaders.
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* ''X-Men 3'': Scott starts hearing Jean's voice in his head, calling his name.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' That, being the leader of the team, he would (at the very least) go talk to someone about it, especially Xavier (who would be able to read his mind and figure out what's going on).<br />'''Instead:''' He secretly packs a bag, blows off Logan (who tries to help him) and goes off to Alkali Lake by himself. There, he accidentally(?) awakens Jean/Phoenix, who then proceeds to {{spoiler|de-atomize him}}. As if acknowledging Scott's actions, no one mentions him for the rest of the film. [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]] and [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]], indeed.<br />'''Corollary:''' Prior to the events of the film (and the trilogy), Xavier implanted a series of mental mindblocks in Jean's mind to prevent a latent personality (Dark Phoenix) from taking over.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' That anytime over the last twenty-plus years, Xavier would have at least mentioned this information to Jean for her own safety. Not even when she's brought back to the school from Alkali Lake does he bother to come down and see her (when she's feeling conflicted about her identity) and try to restore the mindblocks. Instead, he's ''teaching a class''.<br />'''Instead:''' Jean, more pissed off than ever, takes up residence at her old home, and Xavier willingly walks in (with Magneto, no less) to try and reason with her. It ends [[Anyone Can Die|about as well as you would expect]].
*** Also in the third movie, Magneto wants to kill the mutant whose DNA is being used to create the anti-mutant serum, who is located on Alcatraz Island. Magneto, in a stupendous display of power, ''lifts the freaking Golden Gate Bridge'' to get to Alcatrazz.<br />'''You'd Think:''' that since Magneto wants to kill this particular mutant, and doesn't really care about civilian casualties incurred in the process, that while he was lifting an object hundreds of feet in the air that weighs over 1000 tons, he'd just drop it on their heads or turn it into a blizzard of shrapnel to tear every living being on the island into shreds.<br />'''Instead:''' he uses it to form a bridge, marches across it and digs in for a long, difficult, and unsuccessful siege of the place.
** In ''[[X
** Also in ''X-Men First Class'': Charles Xavier knows everything about Erik Lehnsherr, having read his mind and spoken to him numerous times about the future of mutants and humankind. Erik, being a Holocaust survivor, constantly voiced the view that humans and mutants could not coexist, and that the U.S. government would eventually treat the mutants like the Nazis treated Jews. Then the U.S. and Russian battleships attempt to indiscriminately destroy the mutants with missiles, which Erik catches with his powers and sends back.<br />'''You'd Think:''' Charles would remember Erik's views on mutant and humankind, especially his past as a persecuted minority, and try to phrase his arguments for not declaring war on humanity to the effect of a.) they were outnumbered and vulnerable and b.) Erik was [[He Who Fights Monsters|becoming just like his former enemies in his extremism]]. <br />'''Instead''': he says, "They were [[Just Following Orders]]." To a Holocaust survivor. Who is now a member of yet another persecuted and threatened minority.
* ''[[Asterix|Asterix and Obelix versus Cesar]]'': Having usurped power and obtained a whole cauldron of strength enhancing potion, [[The Starscream]] leads an army of Romans against the reputed rebellious Gaul village.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' that he use the fricking potion! Maybe give some to his legioneers, maybe drink it himself, but use it. After all, obtaining it was a major plot point.<br />'''Instead:''' He just sits there in his command post, clutching the cauldron and ignoring his soldiers' requests for a gulp. Naturally the Romans manage against the Gauls just as well as they usually do, id est miserably, and the Gauls hold them back long enough for the main heroes to find the Phlebotinum and trash the Romans. Oh, and the cauldron of potion ends up spilled on the ground. What a waste.
* ''[[Ip Man]]'': Ip has just destroyed ten Japanese black belts and is rewarded with many bags of rice.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' that he would take the rice and use it to feed his family and people, having made his point and avenged {{spoiler|Master Liu's}} death.<br />'''Instead:''' He just rejects the rice.
* In the very first [[Mothra]] film, an entertainment promoter, upon meeting the tiny Twin Priestesses of the titular [[Physical God]], decides to make them stars in mainland Japan.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' that he'd start with his strong suit: Cutting a (probably unfair) deal.<br />'''Instead:''' the promoter just kidnaps them, leaving himself open to countless criminal charges, with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and enslavement being only the most obvious, then compounds his error by having them perform their sacred music (with orchestral backing!) on live TV. Oh, and he does this in a world where kaiju and other supernatural phenomena are demonstrably real, and quite well-known.
* ''[[Robin Hood (2010 film)]]''. King Philip of France has mustered an army to conquer the English.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' They would land somewhere ''without'' a very high, very level bluff from which England's famous archers have perfect aim towards their troops, and they would ''get the hell out'' once they saw that they were pinned on three sides with archers to the front and cavalry to their left and right flanks, and the sea to their backs. <br />'''Instead:''' They continue right on with the landing, even as their army is being felled in swoops by English longbowmen and subsequently ground into the mud by the cavalry. Whilst some of their men are being crushed to death ''with their own boats''.
* In ''[[Alien (
* In ''[[The Ark of Truth|Stargate: The Ark Of Truth]]'', the IOA comes up with a plan to introduce Replicators into the Ori galaxy, hoping to distract them from their crusade against the Milky Way.<br />'''You'd Expect''': That they would realize how insanely stupid this plan is, especially as the only weapon capable of purging all Replicators from our galaxy was destroyed by the Ori.<br />'''Or:''' They would order the SGC to carry out the plan, allowing for better execution and plenty of safeguards.<br />'''Instead:''' They have their agent carry out this plan without informing the SGC, who at least know how to deal with Replicators.<br />'''Also:''' They program the Replicators to be immune to the anti-Replicator weapons the SGC has, forcing them to fall back on guns, just to ensure that the SGC couldn't stop their plan.
* [[Toy Story (franchise)||Toy Story 3]]: {{spoiler|When Woody, Buzz, and the other toys are on the conveyor belt at the dump, at first they think they're approaching daylight, but it turns out to be an ''enormous'' incinerator, which burns all the trash that falls into it. But they see a ladder which leads upward, and avoids being pushed into it, with a stop button that will halt the conveyor belt if pressed.}}<br />'''You'd expect:''' {{spoiler|That Buzz or Woody themselves would try to climb up the ladder and hit the stop button before it's too late.}}<br />'''Instead:''' {{spoiler|They trust Lotso to climb up it and press it himself. So he does climb up there...only to pointedly ''not'' hit the button, leaving them to die.}}
* In ''[[Mannequin]]'', Johnathan enters the back room of the rival department store and sees his beloved Emmy in a pile of other mannequins on a conveyor belt, about to be fed into a huge shredding machine.<br />'''You'd Think:''' Jonathan would run over to the bright yellow control console, slap that big red EMERGENCY STOP button, and then calmly walk up to retrieve Emmy without having to worry about either of them getting ground into bits.<br />'''Instead:''' He runs up the conveyor without turning off the machine. Sure, after seeing Emmy come to life, the janitor ''hits the aforementioned button Jonathan should have hit in the first place'' and we have a happy ending, but damned if it wasn't a really close call.<br />'''You'd Also Think:''' The janitor would hit the stop button the instant Jonathan jumped onto the conveyor, if for no other reason than to avoid the liability and/or termination of his employment that would follow if something tragic happened.<br />'''Instead:''' He doesn't do jack until ''after'' he sees Emmy come to life. "Okay, let me get this straight Mister Janitor; you couldn't give a crap if some dude gets himself [[Nightmare Fuel|killed in a rather gruesome and messy manner right in front of you,]] but you will hit the emergency button if a hot chick is in danger? [[Sarcasm Mode|Nice,]] ''[[Men Are the Expendable Gender|real]]'' [[Unfortunate Implications|nice]]."
* ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'' and ''[[The Departed]]'', where Yan/Costigan approaches Ming/Sullivan about reinstating his identity after Sam/Costello is dead. When Ming/Sullivan leaves the room, Yan/Costigan notices an envelope with his handwriting on it, realizing Ming/Sullivan is the mole.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Yan/Costigan would, after years of deep undercover work, have a really good poker face, conclude his business with Ming/Sullivan and then quietly inform the other policemen that he's the mole.<br />'''Instead:''' Yan/Costigan immediately runs out like a madman with the envelope in plain view, revealing his hand to Ming/Sullivan who then promptly erases Yan/Costigan's identity from the police database. This leads to a series of events where Yan/Costigan is eventually shot in the face.
* In ''[[Saw]]'', one of the two prisoners Lawrence needs to answer the cell phone to save his wife and himself and foil the murderer's plot. Unfortunately, courtesy of the sadistic Jigsaw, Lawrence is chained to a pipe and the cell phone in question is lying about 40 cm out of his reach. He has a hacksaw and he's wearing a long sleeved shirt.<br />'''You'd Expect:'''That he takes off his shirt and swings it over the phone. Or that he uses the hacksaw to hook on the phone. Or that the other prisoner uses some object to knock the phone closer to Lawrence.<br />'''Instead:''' Having failed to reach the phone with some stupid box, Lawrence ''does'' takes off his shirt...and then ties it around his chained leg and proceeds to saw it off, instead of the pipe, or the chain, or the cuff. Hacksaws are made to cut metal, after all, not flesh or bone. * [[Face Palm]]* Yes, he was screwed up and in panic. It was still idiotic and furthermore, the other guy wasn't in panic but still he didn't suggest the obvious solution.
** In ''[[Saw]] V'', The players who have been selected turn out to be highly [[Genre Savvy]] when they figure out (early in the film) that closing the door in a room activates the next trap. This, in addition to brainstorming creative solutions to the traps, does a lot to get the audience on their side. Near the end of the film, Brit and Malick (the two remaining survivors) kill a woman named Luba and use her body to provide an electric current to open the door to the final trap. They enter the room and learn that they (and, presumably, all the other survivors
* ''[[Spider-Man (
{{quote|
'''Harry:''' You couldn't tell me that ''before I had my right side of my face blown up?! }}
** Same film. The Green Goblin has just impaled himself on his own glider. As Peter delivers the body, Harry walks in and angrily accuses Spider-Man of killing his father while grabbing a gun.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Peter to web the gun out of Harry's hands, and explain that the Green Goblin killed his father-- it would be truth [[From a Certain Point of View]], the wounds on Norman's body match up with the glider's weapons, and the Green Goblin already has a history of targeting [[Os Corp]] executives! Apologize to Harry for failing to save Norman and leave.<br />'''Instead:''' Peter leaves as fast as he can, leaving his psychologically unstable best friend with the mistaken belief that Spider-Man is responsible for the death of his father.
* In ''[[Highlander II the Quickening]]'', [[Big Bad|General Katana of Zeist]] sends his two goons to kill Connor MacLeod on planet earth. However, [[Dumbass Has a Point]] by saying that MacLeod was banished on earth and from what we see can die of old age anytime.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' General Katana to agree with him and let MacLeod die of old age.<br />'''Instead''' Katana slaps the guy and send him to earth and, of couse, they die returning MacLeod to the immortal phase, thus remaking the gathering, thus obliging Katana to go himself and, of course getting himself killed.
* In ''[[Resident Evil
* In ''[[Star Trek III:
* ''[[The Mummy
* ''[[Star Trek II:
* In ''[[The Last Airbender]]'': Sokka (who has supposedly spent his entire life on ice) sees a shape in the water underneath the ice.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Sokka to realize that if the ice is so thin that he can see the water it is too dangerous to even consider breaking it on his own, and to return to the village for help or at least to try to break after he's moved off that ice. At the very least you would expect him to realize that it's dangerous to have Katara on the same patch of ice and to send her a safe distance away.<br />'''Instead''': He decides to break the ice (which is so thin that he can see the water) near ''his own feet'' and for some reason is surprised when he and his sister (who had no reason to be there) nearly fall into the freezing water.
** Later on: While with the Northern Water Tribe they learn that the Fire Nation is about to launch a massive attack. Logically, the order is given to douse every fire in the city that they can.<br />'''You'd Expect''': The order to be carried out quickly and with minimal fuss.<br />'''Instead''': When the Fire Nation attacks we can clearly see that there are ''at least'' dozens of torches clearly lit with no apparent need for them to be lit. Worse, no apparent effort is ever made to put them or any of the Fire Nation's flaming boulders out!
** What really took the cake was the scene with the Fire Nation prison camp holding the earth benders. On EARTH.<br />'''You'd Expect''': The earth benders to escape as soon as they were "imprisoned". It would've required minimal effort.<br />'''Instead''': The earth benders stay imprisoned for months (maybe longer, it's never made clear) until the [[Mighty Whitey]] heroes come along and give them the worlds most generic and lazy motivational speech.
* ''[[Rise of the Planet of
* In ''[[Sleeping Dogs]]'' at the end main character Smith is cornered by Jesperson and the [[State Sec|Special Police Force]]. He fires at Jesperson, but is obviously not trying, since he rants that isn't this what they want, him to fight them? He defiantly walks away from them while Jesperson angrily tells Smith not to turn his back on him.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Jesperson to just shoot him in the leg, or have his men go grab Smith.<br />'''Instead''': {{spoiler|He fatally shoots Smith after he turns away, ''then'' complains he needs him alive, and even kicks his corpse in frustration. [[Face Palm]]}}.
* [[Feast]] A plan has been devised that requires a corpse to be used as a distraction, and bomb, for the monsters to facilitate an escape plan. Just before the plan starts the 'corpse' regains consciousness, Bozo hesitates while Boss Man decides to continue as planned. The monsters go for the bait before they decide, and they blow her up as planned. Big Man asks if Bozo will agree not to tell the others about Harley Mom being alive.<br />'''You'd Expect''': The guy to say 'sure, no need to burden the others' since it was WAY too late to change the plan either way. <br />'''Instead''': When a distraction presents itself he gets into a fight Big Man [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|that ends in the death of Heroine]]
* In ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', the titular hero, Jim Hawkins, hears a conversation that John Silver, the only one of the ship's crew who gets along with him, will start a mutiny when they find Treasure Planet. However Scroobs, a vicious crew member, taunts him about his friendship with Jim which leads Silver to claim it was just to not get him suspicious, so to not be seen to the rest of the mutinees as his weakness. After the mutiny of the ship, Jim and his partners are trapped on Treasure Planet and John Silver eventually finds them.<br />He goes alone to negociate with Jim outside their hideout. Silver admits he said those things about Jim because if the other mutinees knew about his weakness would result in another mutiny against Silver and will most likely evicerate him and the others. Silver proposes a plan to betray his own comrades and join forces with Jim to find the treasure themselves.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Jim to understand the odds of not siding with Silver and accept his plan. He may even convince Silver to bring along his friends as they can help againts the mutinees. Silver finds his beloved treasure, Jim gets a share of it to rebuild his home, and his friends are A-OK. Everybody is happy.<br />'''Instead''': He still resents him for having said those things about him (or the greed gets the better of him) and rejects the offer. He even goes as far to tell Silver he won't get a piece of [[Big No|HIS]] (Jim's) treasure as he has the map.
* In ''[[
** Even the first movie has it when Triton angrily blasts Ariel's treasures ''all because she said she loved Eric''. When he's finished, he visibly looks sad about upsetting her.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Triton to swim up to her and apologize, and maybe have a heartfelt moment.<br />'''Instead''': Triton just swims away after that, leaving her to cry. This gives Ursula's minions a chance to exploit her emotional vulnerability, leading to her making an impulsive [[Deal
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
* In ''[[Camp Nowhere]]'', [[Only Known
* ''[[Max Payne (
** Another one when Max blocks the door leading to the storage room while in pursue.<br />'''You'd Expect''': The Aesir police will have to use the bottom floor to get to the other side.<br />'''Instead''': They just blew up the door, giving Max the chance to escape with the smoke. [[Awesome Moments|Good thing Bravura calls them out for that]].
* [[Deep Impact]]: President Tom Beck knows a killer chunk of space rock is going to hit Earth and secretly builds underground cave shelters for America's best and brightest. This leaves the matter of everyone else in the country...<br />'''You Would Think:''' He would talk with his top men and at least give everyone else a list of suggestions on how they might improve their odds of surviving the disaster. Even if it was just a lot of "Duck And Cover" bullcrap, it would be better than nothing. Plus, he knew the rock was going to hit the East coast, so he could just tell the Americans to head westward.<br />'''Instead:''' He pretty much tells the rest of America he's written them off as not worth saving and that he's just going to save his own ass those of the elite. The meteor final falls, causing far less damage then anticipated. Beck, in all likelihood, will not be reelected considering how many people will be righteously pissed off at him.
* ''[[
* ''[[Mr. Bean|Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie]]'' has the titular character being chased by the police for pulling out a "gun", which it's his right hand. When the leading police said "everyone on the floor, now!", Bean also goes down, but the lady near him said "Not you, sweetie" because she knows he's their target.<br />'''You'd Expect''': To ignore what the lady says.<br />'''Instead''': Being Bean, he just follows her word, allowing the police to point their guns at him.
* [[Face Off]]: Sean Archer has destroyed the engine of the plane that his [[Arch Enemy]], Castor Troy, would try to escape Los Angeles. The pilot told him about it.<br />'''You'd Expect''': Castor would have to accept it, and let the pilot live so that he can fly it again.<br />'''Instead''': He just kill the pilot. Too bad he doesn't know how to fly it and ended up crashing it to a hangar.
* ''[[Madea's Family Reunion]]'', Nikki Grady explains about the bus incident, and it’s dealt with. <br /> '''You’d Expect''': The bully does a background check to see who has custody of Grady, or at least, don’t make an attempt. <br /> '''Instead''': He yells Grady's guardian, saying “SHUT UP, OLD LADY”. One problem… the legal guardian is none other than [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHE5gxmvEQ8 Mabel “Madea” Simmons]!
* In the climax of ''[[The Karate Kid]]'', it seems likely Johnny will be facing Daniel in the final match. But before the semi-final match starts, where Keese’s second-best student Bobby is to fight Daniel, Keese tells Bobby to strike Daniel in the knee, a blatantly illegal move that will cause Bobby to be disqualified but likely cripple Daniel, making Johnny the winner by default.<br /> '''But why?:''' Keese is actually ''not'' being an idiot yet, he's being very smart - in a very evil way. Let’s be honest here, Keese is an arrogant jerk, and the only reason he agreed to tell his students to stop bullying Daniel is so Johnny could humiliate him in this very tournament. But now, after watching the ease in which Daniel defeats the preliminary opponents, his confidence in Johnny's ability to defeat Daniel is wavering. Keese is not only a [[Sore Loser]], he is a ''preemptive'' Sore Loser <br /> '''And Then...''' When Johnny is actually able to fight the final match due to Miyagi’s use of an Okinawan pain suppression technique, Keese starts to reach for the [[Idiot Ball]]. He still does not learn and is still defiant that he will ''not'' lose, reputation be damned. He orders Johnny to use a sweep to Daniel’s injured leg (not illegal, but clearly not ethical) a move that horrifies even Johnny and causes the spectators to see Keese and his dojo for the bunch of hooligans they are. And it doesn’t work, Daniel wins anyway, humiliating Keese far worse than he would have had Keese not decided to cheat.<br /> '''But it Gets Worse:''' One could say that Keese’s only other option at that point was a forfeit, but the true application of this Trope occurs at the beginning of the second film (taking place only a few minutes after the end of the second). After the now humiliated and furious Keese lambasts and assaults Johnny, Mr. Miyagi intervenes and orders him to stop, only for the now-angrier Keese to pick a fight with him. Miyagi refuses to sink to Keese’s level, effortlessly dodging the villain’s blows, causing him to put his fist through glass (twice!) scarring him badly and humiliating him in front of his - soon to be former - students. And worst of all, he is still regretting his dumb move more than three decades later, as when he appears in ''[[Cobra Kai]]'', his hands are still badly scarred.
* In ''[[Wonka]]'', Slugworth's Chocolate Cartel has an iron grip on the city due to extorting or bribing many accomplices, including the crooked hotel owner Ms. Scrubbit and her accomplice Bleacher. At one critical part of the plot, the pair poisons Wonka’s products with yeti sweat [[Squick| (Yuck!)]] which causes his customers’ hair to grow uncontrollably, change its color (green, blue, orange or pink), and also turn the victims’ skin the same color, causing a riot where Wonka’s store is burned down. In the climax, however, Wonka and Noodle get ahold of Slugworth’s private ledger, exposing his crimes and that of his accomplices to the whole town. <br />'''You’d Expect:''' [[Oh Crap]] we still have that Yeti Sweat! Quick, destroy the evidence! Dump it down a drain or something!<br />'''Instead:''' These two [[Stupid Crooks]] decide to ''[[Eat the Evidence| drink the evidence]]'', completely forgetting what it did to Wonka’s customers. When the police break in, they are not fooled at all when they see Bleacher with green skin, a green beard and green hair each four feet long and Scrubbit with a bright red version of the same [[Girls with Moustaches| (including the beard!)]] and the two are hauled to jail in the most humiliating fashion.
* ''[[Sleepy Hollow (film)|Sleepy Hollow]]''; The Headless Horseman is not the typical unholy abomination. He ''is'' an unholy abomination, yes, but [[Dragon-in-Chief| being a servant]] of the true [[Big Bad]] he only targets the victims he is instructed to kill, and leaves everyone else alone. This hit list does ''not'' include Bram van Brunt, an arrogant aristocrat who takes it upon himself to slay the demon and prove himself a hero. When he attempts to do so (using a shotgun no less, a weapon that rarely works on ghosts), the Horseman just shoves him aside and continues on his way.<br />'''You’d Expect:''' Bram, seriously, you proved you’re a big tough guy just by standing up to this monster, now RUN! This is an immortal demon you’re dealing with, your weapons are worthless against him, and he’s giving you a chance he didn’t give his other victims… ''RUN!'' Or even better, just slowly walk away, it isn’t worth it!<br />'''Instead:''' Brom will not back down, throwing a knife at the fiend… And now said fiend is angry. The fight goes about as well as one would expect, the Horseman curb-stomping the foolish noble and cutting him in two.
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