History Main / FiveRoundsRapid

* In the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie, the Mobile Infantry seems to have forgotten everything we've learned about combined arms warfare. The MI's only tactic is to attack in [[ZergRush massed numbers using small arms]] and the occasional nuke. At no point in the movie is there any evidence of artillery or close air support, tanks or armored personnel carriers, special weapons squads with mortars or heavy machine guns. Nor do the ships seem to possess the capability of the orbital equivalent of shore bombardment, despite the fact that one scene has several bombers do a strafing run on the surface (which it's implied they could do at will if they weren't {{Jerk Ass}}es). We get the barest of a glimpse of such things in a flashforward near the end, where a trooper has what is functionally a grenade launcher. They do use a rocket launcher against two gigantic plasma bugs in the first major battle and later on a 'mini-nuke' against a swarm of Arachnid soldiers emerging from a cave... [[ForgottenPhlebotinum then never use either weapon again]], even when faced with thousands of the things attacking at once.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons "The Dæmons"]]

* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', the Asset Containment Unit and [=InGen=] Security troopers are mostly equipped with assault rifles and shotguns which seem rather inadequate for killing 40 foot long genetically engineered monsters, and barely cause any damage to the ''I. Rex''. The M134 minigun and an [=AT4=] missile launcher might have taken her out if they hadn't missed in the chaotic combat conditions, and it seems like the disaster could have been mitigated if management had had the foresight to stock more of those big guns and explosive weapons.

* When he firsts encounters Imhotep in ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', Rick shoots the undead monster with a shotgun, before fleeing the room. Ardeth says it can't be killed by mortal weapons, but Rick insists, "I ''got'' him."

** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', the united Wakandan army forms a defense against Thanos' forces using nothing but infantry and a few enhanced individuals. This is despite the fact that ''Film/BlackPanther'' showed they had a full airforce backed up by war rhinos. They change tactics in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', and bring their air support to the final battle, which helps even the playing field.

* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', a shower of small arms fire from a squad of US soldiers does little more than distract Scorponok... long enough for an [[DeathFromAbove AC-130 Spectre]] to show up and fill him full of holes.

* Justified in ''Film/TheMeg''. When the {{megalodon}} starts pursuing their boat, Jack Morris calls in a helicopter from which a crewman opens fire on the giant shark with an assault rifle. When Jaxx scoffs at this, Morris points out it was all he could arrange at short notice, and the gunfire does succeed in making the Meg turn away. When Morris goes after the Meg later, he has the helicopter drop packs of radio-detonated C4 explosive as improvised depth charges.

* Occurs at the beginning of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' against [[MakingASplash Chaos]] [[ElementalEmbodiment 0]].

* Parodied in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' with a supposedly invulnerable demon, who with his final words reminds Buffy that he can not be killed by any weapon forged by man. But that was [[TechnologyMarchesOn a thousand years ago]] and a [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill rocket launcher does the job perfectly fine]].[[note]]Technically it just blew him into smithereens and he would be able to reform if someone collected the pieces again, but who's counting?[[/note]]
** Similarly in the Season 3 finale, they take out the recently powered up BigBad by packing the school library with ANFO.

It appears most good guys are GenreBlind. When [[RedShirtArmy military personnel]] or the [[LemmingCops police]] encounter the MonsterOfTheWeek, they invariably attack it with small arms fire. Unfortunately, this never works. The monster is always ImmuneToBullets. Thus, our heroes get an opportunity to save the day with some AppliedPhlebotinum or {{Stock Superpowers|Index}}.

* Played with in the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. Most of the [=SCPs=] are fought with mundane, albeit powerful weapons: for example, [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-076 SCP-076]] is contained with what's heavily implied to be a Phalanx CIWS (basically, a computer-guided 20mm Gatling gun used to shoot down anti-ship missiles), and it's working so far. However, the fact that [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-096 SCP-096]] appears to be immune to everything up to [=AT4=] antitank missiles doesn't stop them from chasing it down and trying to kill it with a sniper rifle when things go wrong.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CfyU1mOZ1E this video]], Lindybeige discusses the tendency for players to unthinkingly conform to this trope in fantasy [=RPGs=] like ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', using small weapons like swords, axes, maces, etc. (all of which are designed for fighting human opponents) against huge fantasy creatures like dragons. He describes an RPG scenario where the players tried and failed to use this standard method against a house-sized monster, only to be shown up later by a unit of [=NPCs=] besting the creature using more effective specialised group tactics. Of course, the player characters will usually be using magical weapons to fight said monsters, which are more effective (and might even be enchanted to be especially effective against creatures of that type), and it's quite rare for the party to be allowed access to siege weapons like catapults or ballistas.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' follows this trope on a larger scale when the human resistance limits itself to air-to-air missiles when firing on the miles-wide alien mothership. The one time they scale up to a nuke, the nuke has no visible effect on the aliens, and they call off the attack.

** A standard tactic for the Eldar Dire Avengers used to be steadily retreating while pouring a hail of small-arms fire into the enemy (primarily because Dire Avengers don't have anything else). It worked very well against most infantry, mostly due to the sheer volume of fire a Dire Avenger squad can get into the air (which would make this more like [[UpToEleven several]] ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill billion]]'' [[MoreDakka rounds rapid]]). And then the new rules came along and made basic infantry fast enough to catch the Dire Avengers, rendering this strategy totally obsolete, only for 6th edition to make it viable again (more so, anyway), by allowing Dire Avengers to shoot and run in the same shooting phase (normally an either/or choice), and a variant of the Rending special rule allowing them to wound even the toughest monstrous creatures.

** Averted with the A-10's GAU-8 cannon and Maverick missiles... which stun a Kryptonian warrior and knock Faora unconscious respectively.

Compare with ShootingSuperman and GiantEqualsInvincible. Contrast with DeathOfAThousandCuts, which is when a relatively small weapon is used exclusively (and extensively) against a large target and ''succeeds''. See also UnderequippedCharge.

** In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', Ross' special forces keep attacking the titular hero with little more than rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers, ''long'' after he's proven to be ImmuneToBullets (riflemen also engage [[spoiler:Abomination]] towards the end of the film). Going by the fact that the grenade launchers at least hurt him, and the shrapnel from a helicopter crash actually causes him to bleed, heavier weapons ''would'' presumably work, but they're never tried. Even when they bring in a gunship, it only opens fire with 7.62mm miniguns, and seems to lack the rocket pods and anti-tank guided missiles it would normally have. The lack of weapons that would actually kill him could be potentially justified by the fact that Ross is explicitly trying to take the Hulk alive, but that doesn't justify sending riflemen after him... three separate times. [[spoiler:As for the Abomination, he was in the middle of Harlem, so leveling the block with airstrikes/artillery to take him down probably wasn't an option.]]

** This is also the sadly-default strategy whenever heavy weapons/support gets taken out. "You now have forty Imperial Guard soldiers with [[FanNickname flashlights and t-shirts]] against three daemon-possessed main battle tanks." "Welp, let's see how many 6's I can roll out of these eighty shots to try and chip away at them... [[HonorBeforeReason What do you mean just surrender?]] I still have [[WeHaveReserves soldiers left!]]" However, for the most part this is more of a DownplayedTrope than MemeticMutation might have you believe. ''One'' lasgun might not do much to a Chaos Marine in full PowerArmour, but [[BeamSpam the concentrated fire of forty of them]] is another matter...

* Averted as this was the solution. The [[Creator/SeaburyQuinn Jules de Grandin]] stories were perhaps most famous for having de Grandin gun down a werewolf without any silver bullets in "The Blood-flower". This was one of the earliest incidences where modern technology could defeat a supernatural being on its own. Interestingly, unlike the usual way this plays out, de Grandin didn't use a BFG of any kind. Instead he had his little automatic pistol with him and he fired 8 rounds into the werewolf in a tight pattern, leaving a hole "big enough to walk through" when all the bullets hit. To be fair, the werewolf was a skinny old man and he gained his lycanthropy through experimenting with blood-flowers, rather than curse or Deal with the Devil.

* In the Franchise/{{Gundam}} metaseries, essentially every universe has some form of tanks, MLRS, and other modern artillery weapons. They are '''never''' useful against [[HumongousMecha mobile suits]] unless a [[NominalImportance named character]] is at the controls. One such example comes in ''Gundam SEED [=CE73=] Stargazer'' where RetiredBadass Edmond Du Clos takes down a GINN with a tank (though he dies in the process).

** Averted though in the first battle with Sloth. After he makes the terrible mistake of accidentally burrowing into the Badass Army's base, they proceed to rapidly evolve their response to him, starting with guns, then a bazooka, then tank rounds. When that doesn't work, they douse him with chemicals, ram him with several Tanks, and knock him out of the base, the chemicals combined with the frozen weather freezing him near instantly. In the end, Sloth is defeated without an ounce of alchemy being used on him.

Named for a line in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons "The Dæmons"]], where [[TheBrigadier Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] orders a UNIT soldier to shoot the MonsterOfTheWeek [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unvmHPt2dt8&feature=player_detailpage#t=27s five times, quickly]].