History KnightTemplar / FIlm

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to destroy the race of gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts". His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" (which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby), but add some PerverseSexualLust for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill.]] If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar. As a Knight Templar, Frollo believes that AllCrimesAreEqual, and that the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they have not done anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon has a family's house set on fire with them in it]],]] even though they do not even know about the gypsies. This causes Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. He considers the gypsies to be vermin and advocates genocide against them. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person.

* A literal version in ''Film/KingdomofHeaven''; the King's brother-in-law and his right-hand man are actual Knights Templar who also fit the trope to a T. When [[spoiler: the king dies and the brother-in-law becomes king]], it comes to the point of [[spoiler: killing the Saracen leader's sister in order to provoke a conflict.]]

* ''Film/NonStop'': Marks starts skirting this trope as he becomes increasingly desperate to find the man behind all of this, [[spoiler: who turns out to be an example himself, willing to blow up a plane and kill over 150 people to make a point about how vulnerable American airlines are to terrorist attacks]].

* Film/TheStarChamber is about a young judge becoming frustrated by having to let obviously guilty murderers OffOnATechnicality, and joinging a group of his fellow judges who feel the same way. They hold a secret court which "tries" these accused murderers, convicts them, and sentences them to death, with a hitman carrying it out.

* The Paladins in ''Film/{{Jumper}}'', led by SamuelLJackson. They believe that they are doing God's will by murdering all of the jumpers, as "only God should have that power".

* Battra from {{Franchise/Godzilla}} (in the films) was created by the Earth to be its protector. However, while his [[WellIntentionedExtremist ''intentions'']] are in the right place, his ''actions'' are another story. There's a reason [[BigGood Mothra]] had to seal him away.

* Battra from{{Franchise/Godzilla}} (in the films) was created by the Earth to be its protector. However, while his [[WellIntentionedExtremist ''intentions'']] are in the right place, his ''actions'' are another story. There's a reason [[BigGood Mothra]] had to seal him away.

* {{Franchise/Godzilla Battra}} (in the films) was created by the Earth to be its protector. However, while his [[WellIntentionedExtremist ''intentions'']] are in the right place, his ''actions'' are another story. There's a reason [[BigGood Mothra]] had to seal him away.

* A literal version in ''Film/KingdomofHeaven''; the King's brother-in-law and his right-hand man are actual Knights Templar who also fit the trope to a T. When [[spoiler: the king dies and the brother-in-law becomes king[], it comes to the point of [[spoiler: killing the Saracen leader's sister in order to provoke a conflict.[]

* A literal version in ''Film/KingdomofHeaven''; the King's brother-in-law and his right-hand man are actual Knights Templar who also fit the trope to a T. When [spoiler: the king dies and the brother-in-law becomes king], it comes to the point of [spoiler: killing the Saracen leader's sister in order to provoke a conflict.]

* [[Creator/BenAffleck Bartleby]] in ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', once he [[MoralEventHorizon snaps]]. [[MattDamon Loki]] seems like this at first, but really, he's just doing it [[BloodKnight cause it's fun]].

* ''Film/RoboCop'', in the second film, has been reprogrammed with an AllCrimesAreEqual package as a means of making him ineffective. He comes across somehow as both LawfulStupid (shooting at a man for smoking in a no-smoking zone) ''and'' StupidGood (by refusing to fire at someone ''shooting at him'' and trying to talk things out). He realizes that this isn't right, goes to an electrical station, and self-electrocutes to remove the programming, [[DidntSeeThatComing something that said programming didn't expect]].

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to destroy the race of gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts". His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" [[note]]which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby[[/note]], but add some PerverseSexualLust for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill.]] If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar. As a Knight Templar, Frollo believes that AllCrimesAreEqual, and that the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they have not done anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon has a family's house set on fire with them in it]],]] even though they do not even know about the gypsies. This causes Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. He considers the gypsies to be vermin and advocates genocide against them. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person.

* In ''{{Frailty}}'', Matthew [=McConaughey=]'s family is commanded by God to destroy demons. One of the kids sees "destroy demons" to mean "kill people". The [[spoiler:dramatic irony]] is that [[spoiler:all the people killed are murderers or worse]].

* [[spoiler: [[BigBad Henry J. Waternoose]], CEO]] of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' remarks at one point in the movie that he would be willing to do anything to prevent the monster world from losing power. [[spoiler:[[KickTheDog He wasn't kidding.]]]]

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to destroy the race of gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts". His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" [[note]]which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby[[/note]], but add some PerverseSexualLust for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill.]] If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar. As a Knight Templar, Frollo believes that AllCrimesAreEqual, and that the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they have not done anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon has a family's house set on fire with them in it]],]] even though they do not even know about the gypsies. This causes Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. He considers the gypsies to be vermin and advocates genocide against them. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person.

* Similar to the ''Jumper'' example above, the Royal Spanish Navy in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean: On Stranger Tides'' is on a mission to destroy the Fountain of Youth for the same reasons, and shoot one of the English soldiers ''to begin with''.

* In Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry, ''several'' Starfleet and Klingon officers conspired to preserve their respective ways of life by sparking a war between the Empire and the Federation. It's often pointed out that in conspiring to prevent Federation and Klingons from ever working together for the common good, the conspirators ironically proved that the Federation and the Klingons can work together for what they perceived to be the common good.

* In Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry, ''several'' Starfleet and Klingon officers conspired to preserve their respective ways of life by sparking a war between the Empire and the Federation. it's often pointed out that in conspiring to prevent Federation and Klingons from ever working together for the common good, the conspirators proved that the Federation and the Klingons can work together for what they perceive to be the common good.

* In the ColdWar political thriller ''Literature/SevenDaysInMay'', General James Mattoon Scott is secretly staging a coup against the President of the United States because he disagrees with the President's efforts to set up a disarmament treaty with the Soviets. Several chilling [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]], followed by some equally impressive {{Shut Up|Hannibal}}s, follow toward the end.

* In the ColdWar political thriller ''SevenDaysInMay'', General James Mattoon Scott is secretly staging a coup against the President of the United States because he disagrees with the President's efforts to set up a disarmament treaty with the Soviets. Several chilling [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]], followed by some equally impressive {{Shut Up|Hannibal}}s, follow toward the end.

* [[spoiler: [[BigBad Henry J. Waternoose]]]], CEO of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', remarks at one point in the movie that he would be willing to do anything to keep his company afloat. [[spoiler:[[KickTheDog He wasn't kidding.]]]]

* The Operative in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' is another example - he truly believes in the [[WellIntentionedExtremist ultimate rightness of his actions]], even as he acknowledges that they are [[NecessarilyEvil horrible and he is a horrible person for doing them]], and as such, [[NoPlaceForMeThere he will have no place]] in the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans perfect world]] that he is trying to create.

** He kills his apprentice because she doesn't allow for her victims to actually have a chance of escaping their traps.
* The government of Libria in ''{{Equilibrium}}'' suppressed human emotion, as it was believed responsible for causing the human tendency for violence that brought about the war that practically destroyed the world, which meant destroying art, movies, and other things inductive of emotion (including [[KickTheDog cute little dogs]]) and terminating "sense offenders" who go without the government mandated drug called Prozium.

* An inversion, maybe, but [[Film/FightClub in a Tyler sorta way]], he is one. I mean, he talks about the greater good and the removal of free will (at least to get people out of their consumerist lifestyle). It's just chaotic instead of orderly.
** Literary, not film, but still Chuck Palahniuk: similarly, Brandy Alexander in ''Invisible Monsters'' claims that all of our desires have been conditioned by external forces, so we can't trust the things that we want. Hence, [[spoiler: his decision to become a woman.]]

* [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Judge Claude Frollo]] wants to destroy the race of gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts". His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" [[note]]which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby[[/note]], but add some PerverseSexualLust for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill.]] If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar. As a Knight Templar, Frollo believes that AllCrimesAreEqual, and that the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they have not done anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon has a family's house set on fire with them in it]],]] even though they do not even know about the gypsies. This causes Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. He considers the gypsies to be vermin and advocates genocide against them. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person.
* [[Film/TronLegacy Clu]], in his pursuit for the perfect system, eradicates every single thing he believes to be an imperfection...including the ISOs, which his user believes to be a miracle, and could have very well changed the system and the real world for the better had it not been for Clu's fanaticism.

* What do [[Film/InglouriousBasterds Aldo Raine and his boys]] do to fight ThoseWackyNazis who treat certain groups of people inhumanely? Treat ''them'' inhumanely.

** The League of Shadows in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' have devoted their lives to defeating crime and evil by any means necessary. They eventually decide to kill every single person in Gotham City and force the societal structure of the city to collapse because they feel that the entire city is beyond redemption. Judging from [[CrapsackWorld what we've seen of the place]], [[VillainHasAPoint they may have]] [[ExtremistHasAPoint a point there]]. Fortunately, they didn't contemplate [[KillAllHumans the philosophical ramifications of their earlier attempt to destroy Gotham in terms of their absolutist theories.]]

** The League of Shadows in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' have devoted their lives to defeating crime and evil by any means necessary. They eventually decide to kill every single person in Gotham City and force the societal structure of the city to collapse because they feel that the entire city is beyond redemption. [[CrapsackWorld Judging from what we've seen of the place, they may have a point there]]. Fortunately, they didn't contemplate [[KillAllHumans the philosophical ramifications of their earlier attempt to destroy Gotham in terms of their absolutist theories.]]