History Main / GunpointBanter

** Later in the game are a few one-sided versions, often with Snake holding his [[CoolGun SOCOM]] trained on the boss while he monologues.

* ''Film/TheKiller'' is probably the best example, and notable in that the two characters involved (Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee) are not mortal enemies and have more in common with each other than meets the eye.

''Film/TheKiller'' is probably the best example, and notable in that the two characters involved (Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee) are not mortal enemies and have more in common with each other than meets the eye.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Chaos Theory'', Fisher and [[spoiler: Douglas Shetland]] have an unskippable conversation with their guns at each other. (You do actually kill him).

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[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

* This trope occurs in many Creator/JohnWoo movies, given how he popularized the two-man MexicanStandoff. ''Film/TheKiller'' is probably the best example, and notable in that the two characters involved (Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee) are not mortal enemies and have more in common with each other than meets the eye.
* JustifiedTrope in ''Film/{{Dredd}}''. The two combatants are behind cover and maneuvering for a shot at each other, while a third gunman who isn't talking is working his way around Dredd's flank while his partner is holding Dredd's attention.
* Exploited in the climax of ''Film/DevilInABlueDress''. Albright calls out to Easy, and when he sticks up his head to answer Albright nearly blows it off.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In "[[Recap/AngelS05E07Lineage Lineage]]", Wesley is exchanging a mutual TheReasonYouSuckSpeech with his father at gunpoint, causing the latter to comment sarcastically, "Of course, we're in Los Angeles. We have to talk about our feelings."
* In ''Series/TheWire'', Brother Mouzone and Omar have a very genial standoff - each complimenting the other on their choice of weapon and NervesOfSteel.

* Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong from ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' regularly hold conversations and even flirt while pointing weapons at each other. What makes it plausible is that it's very clear that neither has any intention of killing the other, but they're usually both too wary to actually put the guns away if the other is armed.
** On the other hand, [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 Wesker]] has absolutely no practical excuse for passing up an impossible-to-miss headshot against Chris, while he has his gun leveled right between his eyes, but holds off on shooting to continue his MotiveRant.
* Reiji and Saya do this both in ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' and in ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gunpoint}}'' gets one moment (just one; it's an ArtifactTitle) in, at the final stage when you point your gun at the ''de facto'' final boss. It's very uneventful, though; he insults your hat and surrenders shortly afterwards if you've killed anybody up to that point. [[spoiler: If you haven't killed anyone, he shoots you.]]
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and Mona Sax ending up bantering at gunpoint the first time they meet in the titular game, though Mona is holding the gun on Max so that Max ''won't'' shoot her immediately, since he just finished killing about 5 or 6 dozen drugged up mobsters. When it becomes clear they're both working on the same side (or at least after the same scumbag), the guns disappear and they decide to get a drink together. Despite Max saying that he's "easy, as long as you don't try to slip [him] a mickey", Mona does exactly that, since his rampage could end up killing her sister by accident. [[spoiler: They gunpoint banter one more time at the end of the game, but Mona explicitly points out that she's not going to shoot him, defusing the situation immediately.]]

* In VideoGame/MassEffect3, Shepard and [[spoiler: Kaidan/Ashley (depending on who you saved on Virmire)]] have this as Shepard tries to get them to stand down to get to [[spoiler:Udina who initiated a Cerberus coup.]] If you can't convince them, however, you or your teammate shoots them.

* [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong]] regularly hold conversations and even flirt while pointing weapons at each other. What makes it plausible is that it's very clear that neither has any intention of killing the other, but they're usually both too wary to actually put the guns away if the other is armed.

Oddly enough, it is not common for either character to actually end up shooting the other. In fact in many cases, both characters (or sets of characters) have a perfectly reasonable motive, training, and capability to shoot the other person instead of waiting to be shot, yet neither side shoots. The only reason that nobody shoots is simply to move the plot forward without a bloodshed event.

While potentially dramatic and good for narrative purposes, this trope can still come across as [[PetPeeveTrope annoying]], especially if the two (or more) characters involved each has very good reasons to shoot one another and have demonstrated that they have no qualms about killing.

Oddly enough, it is not common for either character to actually end up shooting the other.

* Captain Jack and Captain John in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', at the end of the [[KissKissSlap Kiss Kiss]] BarBrawl scene. It's a [[FoeYay fun]] conversation and they end up having a drink together.