History DeconstructedTrope / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman'' deconstruction RemarriedToTheMistress. Charles [=McCarter=] planned to do this with his mistress, Brenda, whom he had an affair with for years and even two children. Charles kicked his wife Helen out of their house on their 18th anniversary, justifying it, and the two of them were miserable; he's sick of treating Brenda this way, and Brenda is the mother of his two children. And because Helen signed a prenup, Charles doesn't have to support her financially and can kick her out of the house, though eventually, he agreed in court to support her mother at the senior citizen center. However, when Charles is shot and taken to the hospital, Brenda reveals her true colors when she asks the doctor to take him off of life support, justifying it by saying she doesn't want Charles to live as a cripple, but it's clear that she's after his money he doesn't want to take care of him. However, because Helen was still technically married to Charles, she had power of attorney and told the doctors to keep him alive. Brenda just straight up abandons Charles, takes as much money as she can, and leaves with their two children. Charles was in denial and demanded to know where Brenda and his children were as Helen was taking care of him; Helen, losing patience with him, informed Charles that Brenda left him for dead and as for his children, she wanted to have children with him, but because of the stress of their marriage, she had two miscarriages. Later, Helen informs Charles that Brenda took all his money, so all his servants left and took some of his things with them. Charles eventually accepted that Brenda never loved him and that he was mistaken in treating Helen the way he did. He apologized to Helen for his actions, with her forgiving him, and Charles accepted that Helen had moved on to another man.

* ''Film/ProjectX'' deconstructs the WildTeenParty trope. High school seniors Thomas, Costa, and J.B. (with their other friend Dax filming everything) throw a birthday party with the intent of finally becoming popular and getting laid, but the party winds up spiraling out of control, resulting in property damage and people getting hurt. It ends with Thomas being indicted on six different charges, Costa awaiting the results of three paternity tests, J.B.'s parents convincing the judge that he's special needs and can't stand trial (leaving him to have to ride on the short bus for the rest of high school), and Dax under investigation for the disappearance of his parents.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' deconstructs NotAfraidToDie. It's noted Bruce doesn't fear death, and this is precisely why he can't escape [[HellholePrison the Pit]] the first two times he tries. He only manages to escape the third time by harnessing his fear of dying ''in the Pit, helpless to save Gotham'', said fear spurring him to succeed. The blind prisoner even explains to Bruce at length why lacking the fear of death isn't a strength as he assumes.
-->'''Blind Prisoner''': How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible, without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death?
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** ''Film/ManOfSteel'':
*** The film deconstructs NighInvulnerable by showing that those with his gift still adhere to the laws of physics. For example, when Superman and his two Kryptonian adversaries were hit by Gatling guns, they followed the laws of conservation of energy and mass, and the bullets knocked them back a distance, but they were still durable enough to come out relatively unscathed. Also, when Superman held up a falling oil derrick, he was strong enough to hold it and durable enough to not be crushed but the steel floor wasn't, thus he fell through.
*** It also deconstructs InvincibleHero. There's nothing stopping the villains from being invincible as well, especially since they're of the same super-powered, invincible species. Plus, put an invincible hero and an invincible villain against each other, you have a fair fight, more or less.
** ''Film/Shazam2019'':
*** Billy is determined to [[IWillFindYou reunite with his missing mother]], going great lengths to find her while getting in trouble with the law and continually running away from foster families who had happily taken him in. [[spoiler: He does find her ... but he becomes disappointed with the reunion he had expected to have, as his mother reveals she had knowingly abandoned him when he was three, due to the stress of being a single mother with no support. And despite being found by her lost son, she shows him zero affection and makes no attempt to want to be a part of his life now.]]
*** It also deconstructs DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou. [[spoiler: Marilyn]] claimed they loved [[spoiler: Billy]] and only abandoned them because they wanted the best for them. But it's telling that [[spoiler: Marilyn]] coldly brushed off any physical affection from their child and they didn't properly hand custody over to the state (where [[spoiler: Marilyn]] could visit [[spoiler: Billy]] anytime), revealing [[spoiler: Marilyn]] cared more about unburdening themselves as a parent than [[spoiler: Billy]]'s wellbeing.
*** It also deconstructs the OnlyThePureOfHeart trope. Shazam has vowed to make sure that his successor will be pure of heart after the last champion turned evil, but he's completely unable to find a human who's pure-hearted enough to meet his standards even after decades of testing countless children. Not only that, but one of these children was so emotionally devastated by basically being told by Shazam that he wasn't a good enough person that he grew up to be the embittered villain Silvana who tells Shazam that he'll never find someone pure of heart and also that telling a vulnerable, impressionable child that they're not worthy enough to be special is needlessly cruel. Ultimately, Shazam is forced to settle for the best candidate he has, Billy, who isn't pure of heart and initially uses his newly-acquired powers in selfish ways but eventually develops into a hero who proves to be worthy of his powers.
* The WorldOfSnark trope that's been an enjoyable staple of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' is facing its own deconstruction from rival-produced ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' and ''Film/SuicideSquad2016''. Both films have wise-cracking comic-book characters as their protagonists, but instead of being heroes they're amoral mercenaries with personality disorders. When they take a pause during life-threatening situations with dozens of potential casualties to say or do something funny, it's used to show how sociopathic they are (but is still PlayedForLaughs).

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' deconstructs the team's initial TeethClenchedTeamwork that occurred in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and continued in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. While the Avengers were able to work together, they never fully trusted each other or worked out their initial grievances. All of this made it much easier for politics [[spoiler: and Zemo]] to drive a wedge in and break them apart.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' deconstructs EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. [[spoiler: Ego, Peter's father]] genuinely fell in love with [[spoiler: Meredith]] but their evil goals was still their ultimate ambition, leading them to [[spoiler: willingly give Meredith a brain tumor to kill her and stop himself from returning to Earth.]] This is also the case with [[spoiler: Peter]] whom he liked and bonded with. But once [[spoiler: Peter]] rebelled against him, he had no problem [[spoiler: using Peter as a living battery]]. In fact, the only reason why he bonded with [[spoiler: Peter]] is because the latter possessed the same powers as himself, making them useful. [[spoiler: Ego's other children weren't so lucky.]]

* BigBrotherInstinct is deconstructed through Charles and Raven in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''. Despite having good intentions about being concerned about his foster sister, Charles inadvertently becomes overprotective of her and denied Raven the chance to embrace her true appearance and abilities, as well as obliviously ignore her crush on him. This led to her turn to Erik as a mentor and love interest and eventually join him in his cause against humanity.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderfulPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing because of his horrifically traumatic childhood, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and/or himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering severe brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy Eventually accepting that Kayleigh will be better off if she never knows him]], Evan goes back one last time to when he first met her, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes his life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] and the only way they'll be happy is without his damaging influence. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they could also time travel and chose to sacrifice themselves for similar reasons.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderfulPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing because of his horrifically traumatic childhood, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and/or himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering severe brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy Eventually accepting that Kayleigh will be better off if she never knows him]], Evan goes back one last time to when he first met her, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes his life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] and that they'll all be better off without his damaging influence. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they could also time travel and chose to sacrifice themselves for similar reasons.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderfulPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing as a result of his traumatic childhood, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering severe brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. Eventually accepting that Kayleigh is better off without him, he goes back one last time to when he first met her, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes Evan's life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and that Kayleigh will never be happy in any timeline where he's alive]]. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they were also time-travelling martyrs.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderfulPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing as a result of his traumatic childhood, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering severe brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. Accepting that he, his friends, and his loved ones will never be happy if he keeps altering the past, he goes back one last time to when he first met Kayleigh, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes his life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and that Kayleigh will never be happy in any timeline where he's alive]]. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they were also time-travelling martyrs.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderfulPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing and traumatizing, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering worse and worse brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. Accepting that he, his friends, and his loved ones will never be happy if he keeps altering the past, he goes back one last time to when he first met Kayleigh, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes his life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and that Kayleigh will never be happy in any timeline where he's alive]]. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they were also time-travelling martyrs.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous and ''cruelest'' deconstructions of ItsAWonderPlot. Evan Treborn's life is ''incredibly'' depressing and traumatizing, and all of his friends and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, are all worse off than before he met them. When Evan discovers [[MentalTimeTravel he can time travel by reading his old journals]] (an ability he inherited from his father), he repeatedly attempts to change the past for the better, only to make things even worse for his loved ones and himself. On top of that, Evan starts suffering worse and worse brain damage as a result of his RippleEffectProofMemory kicking in [[MySkullRunnethOver and the new timelines' memories coexisting with his older ones]]. Accepting that he, his friends, and his loved ones will never be happy if he keeps altering the past, he goes back one last time to when he first met Kayleigh, scaring her so they never become friends and fall in love, which completely fixes his life and everyone else's. The director's cut is even worse; there, Evan realizes that '''[[DoomMagnet he]]''' [[DoomMagnet is the reason everyone's lives are so miserable]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and that Kayleigh will never be happy in any timeline where he's alive]]. So he goes back to when he was in his mother's womb and ''[[BetterIfNotBornPlot strangles himself with his umbilical cord]]''. And judging from his mother having two miscarriages before Evan, it's strongly implied that they were also time-travelling martyrs.

* Unusually for a spy movie, the ''Film/JamesBond'' film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' [[LuddWasRight deconstructs]] the concept of BigBrotherIsWatching. While C/Max Denbigh supports total surveillance and thinks the 00-agent program is outdated, [[DaChief M]] is more concerned about the undemocratic dangers of creating a PoliceState, and even directly questions C if all the data feeds might actually end up in the wrong hands. M even wonders whether C's surveillance plan will be able to deal with moral situations, especially if someone who just sits with such technology would be capable of pulling a trigger and killing someone. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Bond and M's suspicions regarding C and the Joint Intelligence Service/"Nine Eyes" program were correct, as C turned out to be a [[TheMole SPECTRE flunky]] and the project itself is a Trojan horse for world domination. If the data from all that surveillance isn't kept secure, then it's a double-edged sword, since [[NebulousEvilOrganization SPECTRE]] had bankrolled the formation of the Centre for National Security. With this, they can use the intel gathered to blackmail their enemies]].

** The brokers at J.T. Marlin are knowingly robbing investors of their hard-earned savings via stock fraud, but project themselves as honest businessmen. Several scenes show the higher-ups hiding their fraudulent activities by altering their records and setting up new office space in case the feds shut it down. [[spoiler:In a deal with the feds, Seth downloads the firm's records and client files onto a floppy disk as evidence]].

** J.T. Marlin lures in new trainees with the promise of making them millionaires via a FauxtasticVoyage, when the company actually wants them to burn out with low pay and replace them with NewMeat by ill-treating them like crap if they don't sell enough and viewing them with suspicion if they exceed the absurd requirements. Any new sale they make become house accounts, meaning the entire team is working for a senior broker's profits. Plus, management is also happily willing to let the trainees [[CannonFodder take the heat]] while the senior brokers set up shop elsewhere -- J.T. Marlin has secretly lined up other office space to use and destroy old records if/when they're busted.

* ''Film/BoilerRoom'' deconstructs the GetRichQuickScheme by revealing the ugly side of those who promote such scams.

** J.T. Marlin lures in new trainees with the promise of making them millionaires via a FauxtasticVoyage, when the company actually wants them to burn out with low pay and replace them with NewMeat. Any sales they make become house accounts, meaning the entire team is working for a senior broker's profits. The senior brokers also treat them like crap when they don't sell enough. Plus, management is also happily willing to let the trainees be CannonFodder and take the heat while the senior brokers set up shop elsewhere -- J.T. Marlin has secretly lined up other office space to use and destroy old records if/when they're busted.
** Seth also applied for a stockbroker trainee job just to earn more money legitimately and [[WellDoneSonGuy please his father]], but doesn't realize it's a scam [[spoiler:until he starts snooping around J.T. Marlin's records. Wracked with the guilt of robbing countless investors, Seth cooperates with the FBI in exchange for a lighter sentence]].

* ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' deconstructs teenage superheroes like ComicBook/SpiderMan. Instead of realizing that with great power ComesGreatResponsibility, the three protagonists use their powers for their own purposes -- doing ''Series/{{Jackass}}''-style stunts, getting girls, getting [[BullyHunter revenge on bullies]], [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil showing complete lack of concern]] [[{{Ubermensch}} for those "beneath" them]]... [[spoiler:It's only when Matt is forced to kill his cousin Andrew to stop his rampage that he realizes the responsibility that comes with his powers.]]

* The WorldOfSnark trope that's been an enjoyable staple of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' is facing its own deconstruction from rival-produced ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' and the upcoming ''Film/SuicideSquad2016''. Both films have wise-cracking comic-book characters as their protagonists, but instead of being heroes they're amoral mercenaries with personality disorders. When they take a pause during life-threatening situations with dozens of potential casualties to say or do something funny, it's used to show how sociopathic they are (but is still PlayedForLaughs).

* ''Film/StreetsOfFire'' deconstructs the DistressedDamsel plot. Cody's doing it for money, and Ellen is rescued about halfway through, the problem then becomes ''keeping'' her safe.