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What an Idiot!/Film: Difference between revisions
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** Similarly, in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'', the [[Big Bad]] of the film, Walter Donovan, makes it to the Grail Chamber, where the true grail and many false grails reside. The immortal knight warns him, "You must choose, but choose wisely, for as the true grail will bring you life, the false grail will take it from you." Donovan definitely seems to take take the warning seriously.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Donovan to ask for more volunteers, like he did at the first booby-trap, and waiting until one of them survives, thus proving the true grail.<br />Alternatively, he's a ''Nazi'' after all, and the knight he's talking to is immortal, so why not just torture the knight indefinitely until he coughs up the secret? (Unless the grail also makes one immune to pain, of course).<br />And if it turns out you must continually use the cup over and over to remain immortal, well, just look for the one with the least dust on it.<br />'''Instead:''' Elsa offers to choose for him, subtly hinting to the audience that she's deliberately choosing the wrong one, and Donovan just decides that it must be the real grail. With [[Body Horror|graphic consequences]].
* The backstory to ''[[Wishmaster]]'' reveals that if someone makes three wishes of a Djinn, it will destroy the barriers between our world and the Djinn's world and allow their kind to overrun the Earth. One such creature grants two wishes to an ancient sultan, the second of which inflicts all kinds of horrible suffering on his subjects. Just as the sultan is about to make a third wish to undo his previous one, the court sorcerer shows up and tells the sultan what will happen if he makes his third wish.<br />'''You'd Expect''' The Djinn to dismiss the sorcerer's accusations as nonsense, and to reassure the sultan into making his third wish.<br />'''Instead:''' He ''admits'' everything the sorcerer is accusing him of, and even goes so far to show the other Djinn that are attempting to break through the now-weakened barriers between the worlds. Naturally the sultan is reluctant to make a wish under these circumstances, and it gives the sorcerer time to imprison the main Djinn inside a jewel.
* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'': The RDA corporation wishes to mine valuable mineral called [[Unobtanium]] on the moon Pandora. In order to get the Na'vi natives to move away and allow them to mine, they set up a program for creating Avatars, which they hope will allow them to infiltrate the Na'vi, earn their trust, and thereby make it easier to get them to move. The protagonist, Jake, ends up infiltrating the Na'vi, earns their trust and becomes one of them within three months, and even ''sleeps with the chief's daughter''. In other words, he's making an incredible amount of progress for what little time he spent.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' The RDA corporation, which is run by stockholders, and which has already poured millions of dollars into the Avatar program, to hold off the bulldozers for a second and ''allow Jake more time to work his magic''. As far as they know, he's managed to earn the chief (and the chief's wife), as well as the chief's daughter's trust. After all, it would be a heck of a lot more expensive to go using big scale bombs and artillery on the forest than to wait a bit longer and possibly have a spy get the village people to move. Especially considering that they already ''invested money'' into the Avatar program.<br />'''Instead:''' They decide (prematurely), and without ''even telling their spy'', that they won't wait any longer, and start bulldozing the forest. Extra idiot points in that they start bulldozing the part of the forest where their spy's ''Avatar body'' (which undoubtedly cost them a lot of money) was... and would've ran over it if his alien girlfriend didn't pull him away, buying him enough time to wake up in the Avatar. His reaction is, predictably, to jump onto the bulldozer and pound on their security camera to get them to stop. Their reaction? Tell him that he "went too far" and "betrayed their trust" by doing that, and [[You Have Failed Me...|promptly lock him up]]. Which causes him to decide to side with the Na'Vi and lead a rebellion.
** 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.
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* In ''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]'', Carter Burke wants to smuggle the Aliens back through quarantine by using Ripley and Newt as hosts for the two surviving Facehuggers in the MedLab.<br />'''You'd Expect''': He would realize that he couldn't possibly move Ripley and Newt's bodies into the dropship alone. The Marines know what facehuggers look like and would absolutely ''not'' help him do so.<br />'''Instead''': He traps Ripley and Newt with the facehuggers, blowing what shreds remained of his cover. He only escaped being executed in the very next scene because the Xenomorphs busted in.<br />'''To Be Fair:''' He would still have Bishop available to help him move the bodies; as an android, Bishop cannot refuse to follow orders from a Company representative. And since Bishop is also the only shuttle pilot they have, the Marines have only two choices: cooperate with Burke or not get a ride home. Admittedly, since Bishop is incapable of using violence on a human being Burke still has no option for 'what if the Marines just decide to shoot me rather than put up with my bullshit'.
* 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.
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** 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: Afterlife]]'', The T-Virus-infected Albert Wesker needs to eat human flesh. He thinks eating Alice's flesh will give him control of the virus. He has all the resources of Umbrella and two of Alice's former allies-turned-mind-controlled-puppets at his disposal.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' He'd use those resources to find Alice, specifically Claire, who knew where Alice was headed, and set a trap for her there.<br />'''Instead''' he gambles on Alice following the radio transmissions to Arcadia. Then when she arrives at Arcadia<br />'''You'd Expect:''' he'd unleash a horde of mind-controlled people to hold her down, or pull out a taser or do something to incapacitate her while he has the element of surprise.<br />'''Instead''' he has a single mook train a gun on her, explains his plan and expects to succeed by beating her in combat.
* In ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]'' Spock's father, Sarek, tells Kirk that Spock's body should have been returned to Vulcan, not left on the Genesis Planet; if they don't retrieve the body, Spock's katra will be stuck in McCoy's head, effectively killing them both.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' That Starfleet, when informed that the Vulcan ambassador is understandably furious that his son's body wasn't returned home according to the rules of their culture, and that an officer's life or sanity is at stake, would fall over themselves to get in touch with the ship that's already in orbit around the Genesis Planet and ask them to take five seconds to beam Spock's coffin aboard.<br />'''Instead''' the admiral flatly refuses to do anything, throwing in a patronising comment about how he doesn't understand 'Vulcan mysticism', and is later amazed when Kirk and co steal the Enterprise and make for the Genesis Planet anyway.
* ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor]]'' -- in the film's prologue, the sorcererss Zi Yuan casts what she claims is an immortality spell on the titular Emperor, but is in fact a curse that will transform him and all his followers into terracotta statues. Before this becomes obvious, the Emperor tells Zi that she will marry him, and threatens to have her lover, Ming Guo, torn apart by wild horses unless she agrees to be his bride. However, Ming shouts out that he's doomed no matter what she does, so there's no point agreeing to marry the Emperor.<br />'''You'd Expect:''' Zi to try and keep the Emperor talking until the curse kicks in and immobilizes him and his followers, then she can free Ming from the horses.<br />'''Instead:''' She instantly refuses, promptly resulting in Ming's grisly death. Moreover, she is severely wounded and nearly killed herself by the Emperor, before the curse ''finally'' takes hold and transforms him and his followers into statues, allowing her to escape.
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