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* Compare ''BackToTheFuture'' with ''TheButterflyEffect''. The former is an idealistic take on how one makes the future, and the latter a cynical speculation to the statement in question.
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* Compare ''BackToTheFuture'' with ''TheButterflyEffect''. The former is an idealistic take on how one makes the future, and the latter a cynical speculation to the statement in question. Their soundtracks also help telling their audience the moods they are portraying.
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* Compare ''BackToTheFuture'' with ''ButterflyEffect''. The former is an idealistic take on how one makes the future, and the latter a cynical speculation to the statement in question.
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* Compare ''BackToTheFuture'' with ''ButterflyEffect''.''TheButterflyEffect''. The former is an idealistic take on how one makes the future, and the latter a cynical speculation to the statement in question.
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* Compare ''BackToTheFuture'' with ''ButterflyEffect''. The former is an idealistic take on how one makes the future, and the latter a cynical speculation to the statement in question.
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* "Film/Serenity" and really, the series, are about an idealist (Malcolm Reynolds) struggling with the balance between the two. For all his words about how he'll take any job, he seems most motivated by the ones that don't pay much in the material sense.
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* "Film/Serenity" "{{Film/Serenity}}" and really, the series, are about an idealist (Malcolm Reynolds) struggling with the balance between the two. For all his words about how he'll take any job, he seems most motivated by the ones that don't pay much in the material sense.
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* "Film/Serenity" and really, the series, are about an idealist (Malcolm Reynolds) struggling with the balance between the two. For all his words about how he'll take any job, he seems most motivated by the ones that don't pay much in the material sense.
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* ''Film/WelcomeToTheDollhouse'' and other films by Todd Solondz are so cynical, [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy it's not even]] [[DudeNotFunny funny]].
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added Blue Valentine on the sliding scale
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* ''BlueValentine'' traverses this spectrum, both at large and within its section:
** The "present" scenes - where Dean and Cindy argue [[spoiler: and leads to a separation/potential divorce]] - is on the cynical side. Yet it has a few moments here and there where it would seem "love could conquer all."
** The "past" scenes - where Dean and Cindy meet [[spoiler: and leads to their marriage after she's pregnant]] - is on the idealistic side. Yet it also has a few moments here and there where it anticipates the future problems.
** The "present" scenes - where Dean and Cindy argue [[spoiler: and leads to a separation/potential divorce]] - is on the cynical side. Yet it has a few moments here and there where it would seem "love could conquer all."
** The "past" scenes - where Dean and Cindy meet [[spoiler: and leads to their marriage after she's pregnant]] - is on the idealistic side. Yet it also has a few moments here and there where it anticipates the future problems.
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* ''TwentyEightDaysLater'' represents this scale through hardened survivor Selena, whose experiences have made her bitter and cynical and convinced that the only way to survive is to kill before you get killed and abandon anyone who might hold you back, and Frank, the optimistic cab-driver who is convinced that an outpost of survivors exists to the North who will protect and defend them, roping the others into helping him find them. Jim, the main character, is somewhere in the middle. Selena survives the movie, whilst Frank is eventually infected and killed by the very soldiers he came to find (who turn out to have been luring people there so that they could rape the women anyway). However, things are not quite as cynical and bleak as this makes out; Selena's cynicism is worn down by the fact that she is falling in love with Jim, who ultimately convinces her that there is hope after all and that abandoning others is not the way to go, and the final scenes reveal that she is working harder than any of them to contact the survivors they have come to believe are outside of Britain.
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* ''TwentyEightDaysLater'' ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' represents this scale through hardened survivor Selena, whose experiences have made her bitter and cynical and convinced that the only way to survive is to kill before you get killed and abandon anyone who might hold you back, and Frank, the optimistic cab-driver who is convinced that an outpost of survivors exists to the North who will protect and defend them, roping the others into helping him find them. Jim, the main character, is somewhere in the middle. Selena survives the movie, whilst Frank is eventually infected and killed by the very soldiers he came to find (who turn out to have been luring people there so that they could rape the women anyway). However, things are not quite as cynical and bleak as this makes out; Selena's cynicism is worn down by the fact that she is falling in love with Jim, who ultimately convinces her that there is hope after all and that abandoning others is not the way to go, and the final scenes reveal that she is working harder than any of them to contact the survivors they have come to believe are outside of Britain.
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** Then came the sequel, [[spoiler: in which there is utterly no hope.]]
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** Then came [[Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater the sequel, sequel]], [[spoiler: in which there is utterly no hope.]]
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* All of StephenChow's films are heavily on the idealistic side (''ShaolinSoccer''). Even the ones that appear grittier and more cynical are idealistic in disguise, as all of the protagonists pass through a redemption before beating the BigBad (''God of Cooking'', ''KungFuHustle''.)
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* All of StephenChow's Creator/StephenChow's films are heavily on the idealistic side (''ShaolinSoccer''). Even the ones that appear grittier and more cynical are idealistic in disguise, as all of the protagonists pass through a redemption before beating the BigBad (''God of Cooking'', ''KungFuHustle''.)
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* ''Film/ShortCircuit'' had this kind of conflict between the idealistic Newton Crosby (PhD, who wanted to capture the wayward Number 5 intact and unharmed to study why it was acting the way it was) and the cynical Captain Skroeder (who had a bit of a [[GeneralRipper technophobic streak]] and was understandably wanting to take the robot out before it could do any harm with its ''fully armed and combat-ready laser weapon''; WordOfGod has even admitted that despite being the villain for the movie, he is still doing the right and logical thing by trying to destroy Number 5). Also, the crew purposely used this trope in combination with WhatMeasureIsANonHuman, wanting to get away from the "idealistic" approach of having the characters treat their start as always being "alive" and instead explore the question of how people would react to [[InstantAIJustAddWater artificial intelligence]] in real life (their answer being that no one would believe it for a second).
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* ''Film/ShortCircuit'' had this kind of conflict between the idealistic Newton Crosby (PhD, ([=PhD=], who wanted to capture the wayward Number 5 intact and unharmed to study why it was acting the way it was) and the cynical Captain Skroeder (who had a bit of a [[GeneralRipper technophobic streak]] and was understandably wanting to take the robot out before it could do any harm with its ''fully armed and combat-ready laser weapon''; WordOfGod has even admitted that despite being the villain for the movie, he is still doing the right and logical thing by trying to destroy Number 5). Also, the crew purposely used this trope in combination with WhatMeasureIsANonHuman, wanting to get away from the "idealistic" approach of having the characters treat their start as always being "alive" and instead explore the question of how people would react to [[InstantAIJustAddWater artificial intelligence]] in real life (their answer being that no one would believe it for a second).
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** A major part of the conflict in the [[Film/TheAvengers Avengers]]' team will stem from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
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** A major part of the conflict in the [[Film/TheAvengers Avengers]]' team will stem ''Film/TheAvengers'' stems from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or scumbags at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as [[AdultsAreUseless apathetic at best best]] or scumbags [[{{Jerkass}} scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of metaphorical blood on their hands.
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** Note that despite its overall idealist tone, the film generally considered to be the best in the series is ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'', possibly the darkest. The same applies to ''RevengeOfTheSith'', which was considered to be the best of the prequel trilogy.
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** Note that despite Despite its overall idealist tone, the film generally considered to be the best in the series is ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'', possibly the darkest. The same applies to ''RevengeOfTheSith'', which was considered to be the best of the prequel trilogy.
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* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
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* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] scumbags at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
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* Even more surprisingly ''Film/{{Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* Even more surprisingly ''Film/{{Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* ''ApocalypseNow'' is about as cynical as it gets. WarIsHell and HumansAreBastards are the defining tropes of the film.
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* ''ApocalypseNow'' ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' is about as cynical as it gets. WarIsHell and HumansAreBastards are the defining tropes of the film.
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fixed the Namespace
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* Mexican films can be divided in two. Back in TheFifties, during the Golden Age, Mexican movies were the most idealistic films you could ever imagine, with lovable characters who were the absolute incarnation of Christian poverty and all the implied heavenly bliss and richness of spirit, often becoming TheWoobie of the rich guys who were the incarnation of the SevenDeadlySins. On the other hand, pretty much every single Mexican film made in TheNineties and later lies ''far, far away'' towards the Cynical side of the scale, with plots often involving massive trainloads of suffering and misery, often portraying Mexico as a grim, gritty place, sometimes (e.g. ''Amores perros'' or ''Perfume de violetas'') ''even more Cynical than [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]!''
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* Mexican films can be divided in two. Back in TheFifties, during the Golden Age, Mexican movies were the most idealistic films you could ever imagine, with lovable characters who were the absolute incarnation of Christian poverty and all the implied heavenly bliss and richness of spirit, often becoming TheWoobie of the rich guys who were the incarnation of the SevenDeadlySins. On the other hand, pretty much every single Mexican film made in TheNineties and later lies ''far, far away'' towards the Cynical side of the scale, with plots often involving massive trainloads of suffering and misery, often portraying Mexico as a grim, gritty place, sometimes (e.g. ''Amores perros'' or ''Perfume de violetas'') ''even more Cynical than [[NeonGenesisEvangelion [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]!''
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* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' ''Film/{{Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* The major reason why ''[[LifeIsBeautiful La vita è bella]]'' was so critically acclaimed was thanks to its ability to keep a fluffy idealist tone ''in the middle of a freaking concentration camp''. It also sparked controversy for [[DudeNotFunny having a sympathetic protagonist trying to distract from the horrors of the Holocaust with slapstick]].
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* The major reason why ''[[LifeIsBeautiful La vita è bella]]'' was so critically acclaimed was thanks to its ability to keep a fluffy idealist tone ''in the middle of a freaking concentration camp''. It also sparked controversy for [[DudeNotFunny having a sympathetic protagonist trying to distract from the horrors of the Holocaust with slapstick]].
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* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
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* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
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* The ''{{Film/Alien}}'' series ultimately lands on the far end of the cynical side. Aside from Ripley and a few other heroic characters, the universe of the movies is very much a CrapsackWorld where uncaring governments and profit-driven {{MegaCorp}}s place little value on human lives [[ForScience as long as they can experiment on them]] with alien {{SuperSoldier}}s.
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* The ''{{Film/Alien}}'' ''Film/{{Alien}}'' series ultimately lands on the far end of the cynical side. Aside from Ripley and a few other heroic characters, the universe of the movies is very much a CrapsackWorld where uncaring governments and profit-driven {{MegaCorp}}s place little value on human lives [[ForScience as long as they can experiment on them]] with alien {{SuperSoldier}}s.
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* ''BladeRunner'' is fairly cynical, with a heavily {{dystopia}}n interpretation of the future and GreyAndBlackMorality at best. The ending is slightly more positive, though, because the film is ultimately about an AntiHero [[HeelRealization realizing the error of his ways]].
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* ''BladeRunner'' ''Film/BladeRunner'' is fairly cynical, with a heavily {{dystopia}}n interpretation of the future and GreyAndBlackMorality at best. The ending is slightly more positive, though, because the film is ultimately about an AntiHero [[HeelRealization realizing the error of his ways]].
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* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuses on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
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* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' ''Film/{{Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuses on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
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* Surprisingly, ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', for all its darkness, slides towards the idealistic side of the spectrum at least once. In a key scene, [[spoiler: two ferries full of passengers choose near-certain death over murdering each other.]] Where the remainder of the movie falls is largely a matter of opinion.
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* Surprisingly, ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', for all its darkness, slides towards the idealistic side of the spectrum at least once. In a key scene, [[spoiler: two ferries full of passengers choose near-certain death over murdering each other.]] Where the remainder of the movie falls is largely a matter of opinion.
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* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
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* Compare ''{{Beauty and the Beast}}'' with ''KingKong''.
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* Compare ''{{Beauty and the Beast}}'' ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' with ''KingKong''.''Film/KingKong''.
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* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a Penny Marshall's film BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.
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* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a Penny Marshall's film BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.ballpark.
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*** The games are downright LighterAndSofter compared to the direction that the books have been taking.
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** This is justified due to censorship, since the Mexican government wanted to give the best image about the country after the MexicanRevolution, but this changed in the 60s with the Luis Buñuel's movie ''Los Olvidados,'' who was the UrExample of the genre.
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** This is justified due to censorship, since the Mexican government wanted to give the best image about the country after the MexicanRevolution, but this changed in the 60s with the Luis Buñuel's movie ''Los Olvidados,'' ''LosOlvidados,'' who was the UrExample of the genre.
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** A major part of the conflict in the Avengers' team will stem from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
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** A major part of the conflict in the Avengers' [[Film/TheAvengers Avengers]]' team will stem from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
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* Compare ''Beauty and the Beast'' with ''King Kong''.
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* Compare ''Beauty ''{{Beauty and the Beast'' Beast}}'' with ''King Kong''.''KingKong''.
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* The latest ''{{Rambo}}'' movie has its foot firmly planted in the cynical side. The pacifistic missionaries attempting to peacefully change civil-war torn Burma are naive and misguided, whilst the gritty, war-hardened mercenaries are the only ones who can defeat the evil forces leading that regime. It's showing its '80s action-movie pedigree. The common theme in most of those films was that diplomacy was useless against America's enemies, and that [[StrawmanPolitical lawyers and judges existed solely to let drug dealers and sociopathic murderers back on the streets]]. In both cases, one or two {{Badass}}es unconstrained by rules were all you needed to defeat Third World dictators or clear the streets of crime.
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* The latest ''{{Rambo}}'' movie ''Film/{{Rambo}}'' has its foot firmly planted in the cynical side. The pacifistic missionaries attempting to peacefully change civil-war torn Burma are naive and misguided, whilst the gritty, war-hardened mercenaries are the only ones who can defeat the evil forces leading that regime. It's showing its '80s action-movie pedigree. The common theme in most of those films was that diplomacy was useless against America's enemies, and that [[StrawmanPolitical lawyers and judges existed solely to let drug dealers and sociopathic murderers back on the streets]]. In both cases, one or two {{Badass}}es unconstrained by rules were all you needed to defeat Third World dictators or clear the streets of crime.
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* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a movie BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.
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* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a movie Penny Marshall's film BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.
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* ''Nil By Mouth'' is heavily on the cynical side, but might waver a bit depending on you're interpretation of the ending.
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* ''Nil By Mouth'' is heavily on the cynical side, but might waver a bit depending on you're interpretation of the ending.ending.
* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a movie BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.
* ''ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a movie BasedOnATrueStory of women's baseball while the male players were out fighting in WorldWarII, is a cynical take on the gender role in the American society and as a result several absurd requirements for female players to place beauty over ability in the ballpark.
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** ''BatmanReturns'' on the other hand is even more cynical to the point of nihilism despite not being as dark as the original with more jokes and campy idiots instead of corruption. However Batman losses the girl, ends up being forced to do even more killing, the one person he loves ends up being morally ambiguous, and everyone hates him again thanks to The Penguin via the murder of The Ice Princess.
** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
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** ''BatmanReturns'' ''Film/BatmanReturns'' on the other hand is even more cynical to the point of nihilism despite not being as dark as the original with more jokes and campy idiots instead of corruption. However Batman losses the girl, ends up being forced to do even more killing, the one person he loves ends up being morally ambiguous, and everyone hates him again thanks to The Penguin via the murder of The Ice Princess.
** In contrast''BatmanForever'' ''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
** In contrast
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** Have you seen the movie? A major point of the movie is how Sly's character [[HeelRealization realizes his lack of humanity]] when he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood questions]] why Sandra would stay behind and try to help her CrapsackWorld of a country, despite there being absolutely no chance of success (in his eyes, at least), which eventually leads him to try and take down the tyrannical government and the corrupt CIA Agents backing it despite it likely being a complete suicide mission. His buddies also tag along not because of the reward (that motivation died after they refused the mission the first time), but because they are his friends, and, as Lee's character said, "friends stick together". At the end, he gives the reward to Sandra in order for her to rebuild her country. Plus, EveryoneLives. Of course, it's not idealistic to the point of ThouShaltNotKill (it is a throwback to the 80's Action Movies, after all), but it's definitely not a ridiculously cynical movie.
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** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
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** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''BatmanAndRobin'' ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
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* Compare ''Beauty and the Beast'' with ''King Kong''.
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* Compare ''Beauty and the Beast'' with ''King Kong''.Kong''.
* ''Nil By Mouth'' is heavily on the cynical side, but might waver a bit depending on you're interpretation of the ending.
* ''Nil By Mouth'' is heavily on the cynical side, but might waver a bit depending on you're interpretation of the ending.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
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* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.hands.
* Compare ''Beauty and the Beast'' with ''King Kong''.
* Compare ''Beauty and the Beast'' with ''King Kong''.
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* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuse's on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
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* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuse's focuses on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
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* ''StarWars'' is heavily on the idealist side of the spectrum: although the galaxy is no place for {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s, [[KnightInSourArmor more cynical]] characters tend to discover ThePowerOfLove/[[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]], and TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin ... [[EarnYourHappyEnding eventually]].
** However, the ExpandedUniverse is much more cynical, Force Unleashed and Knights of the Old Republic 2 being the official DarkFic of the series.
** Note that despite its overall idealist tone, the film generally considered to be the best in the series is ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'', possibly the darkest. The same applies to ''RevengeOfTheSith'', which was considered to be the best of the prequel trilogy.
* The latest ''{{Rambo}}'' movie has its foot firmly planted in the cynical side. The pacifistic missionaries attempting to peacefully change civil-war torn Burma are naive and misguided, whilst the gritty, war-hardened mercenaries are the only ones who can defeat the evil forces leading that regime. It's showing its '80s action-movie pedigree. The common theme in most of those films was that diplomacy was useless against America's enemies, and that [[StrawmanPolitical lawyers and judges existed solely to let drug dealers and sociopathic murderers back on the streets]]. In both cases, one or two {{Badass}}es unconstrained by rules were all you needed to defeat Third World dictators or clear the streets of crime.
* ''Film/ShortCircuit'' had this kind of conflict between the idealistic Newton Crosby (PhD, who wanted to capture the wayward Number 5 intact and unharmed to study why it was acting the way it was) and the cynical Captain Skroeder (who had a bit of a [[GeneralRipper technophobic streak]] and was understandably wanting to take the robot out before it could do any harm with its ''fully armed and combat-ready laser weapon''; WordOfGod has even admitted that despite being the villain for the movie, he is still doing the right and logical thing by trying to destroy Number 5). Also, the crew purposely used this trope in combination with WhatMeasureIsANonHuman, wanting to get away from the "idealistic" approach of having the characters treat their start as always being "alive" and instead explore the question of how people would react to [[InstantAIJustAddWater artificial intelligence]] in real life (their answer being that no one would believe it for a second).
* Mexican films can be divided in two. Back in TheFifties, during the Golden Age, Mexican movies were the most idealistic films you could ever imagine, with lovable characters who were the absolute incarnation of Christian poverty and all the implied heavenly bliss and richness of spirit, often becoming TheWoobie of the rich guys who were the incarnation of the SevenDeadlySins. On the other hand, pretty much every single Mexican film made in TheNineties and later lies ''far, far away'' towards the Cynical side of the scale, with plots often involving massive trainloads of suffering and misery, often portraying Mexico as a grim, gritty place, sometimes (e.g. ''Amores perros'' or ''Perfume de violetas'') ''even more Cynical than [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]!''
** This is justified due to censorship, since the Mexican government wanted to give the best image about the country after the MexicanRevolution, but this changed in the 60s with the Luis Buñuel's movie ''Los Olvidados,'' who was the UrExample of the genre.
* The 2007 Disney film ''{{Enchanted}}'' falls squarely in the idealistic side of the column, being just a bit {{Anvilicious}} in its commentary on the world's need for optimism, especially in matters of romance. Then again, this [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped doesn't necessarily make it bad]].
** Another interpretation is that it's a story about Gizelle, an extreme idealist, and Robert, an extreme cynic, meeting each other and both having their extreme views tempered by exposure to each other, reaching a more moderate compromise in the end.
* Surprisingly, ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', for all its darkness, slides towards the idealistic side of the spectrum at least once. In a key scene, [[spoiler: two ferries full of passengers choose near-certain death over murdering each other.]] Where the remainder of the movie falls is largely a matter of opinion.
** Thought it can be debated that the trilogy is the poster child for swinging from one side to the other, AKA EarnYourHappyEnding.
*** To elaborate, though Batman's idealism is shown to be heroic (refusing to let [[KnightTemplar Ra's al Ghul]] destroy the decaying city of Gotham, refusing to kill Joker, etc.), there are some moments in which the effectiveness of the cynical approach are played up ("letting" Ra's die, Batman's killing Two-Face, etc.).
* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
** ''BatmanReturns'' on the other hand is even more cynical to the point of nihilism despite not being as dark as the original with more jokes and campy idiots instead of corruption. However Batman losses the girl, ends up being forced to do even more killing, the one person he loves ends up being morally ambiguous, and everyone hates him again thanks to The Penguin via the murder of The Ice Princess.
** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
* ''TwentyEightDaysLater'' represents this scale through hardened survivor Selena, whose experiences have made her bitter and cynical and convinced that the only way to survive is to kill before you get killed and abandon anyone who might hold you back, and Frank, the optimistic cab-driver who is convinced that an outpost of survivors exists to the North who will protect and defend them, roping the others into helping him find them. Jim, the main character, is somewhere in the middle. Selena survives the movie, whilst Frank is eventually infected and killed by the very soldiers he came to find (who turn out to have been luring people there so that they could rape the women anyway). However, things are not quite as cynical and bleak as this makes out; Selena's cynicism is worn down by the fact that she is falling in love with Jim, who ultimately convinces her that there is hope after all and that abandoning others is not the way to go, and the final scenes reveal that she is working harder than any of them to contact the survivors they have come to believe are outside of Britain.
** Actually, the original ending involved Jim dying. The only reason cynicism didn't prevail is because test audiences found it too depressing.
** Then came the sequel, [[spoiler: in which there is utterly no hope.]]
* The major reason why ''[[LifeIsBeautiful La vita è bella]]'' was so critically acclaimed was thanks to its ability to keep a fluffy idealist tone ''in the middle of a freaking concentration camp''. It also sparked controversy for [[DudeNotFunny having a sympathetic protagonist trying to distract from the horrors of the Holocaust with slapstick]].
* ''DeadPoetsSociety'' liked to play with this trope. A LOT. It tends to be more on the idealistic side on the whole, but the entire subplot about the conflict between Neil and his father is definitely one of the most cynical moments in Peter Weir films, like...ever.
* ''LordOfWar'' was on the deep end of the cynical side. It features an arms dealer selling guns to African warlords and avoiding the law as he works himself to the heart of the gunrunning trade. The only idealistic characters are the Interpol Agent Valentine and Yuri's brother Vitaly. In the end of the movie [[spoiler: Vitaly is killed and the massacre he was trying to prevent is carried out anyway. Valentine manages to arrest Yuri but becomes disillusioned after Yuri uses his government contacts to get himself free and keep doing his work]]. Yuri himself talks about how [[BlackAndGreyMorality grey morality]] is his favorite brand of morality and delivers this beautifully heartbreaking line towards the end: ''They say evil prevails when good men fail to act. What they ought to say is: Evil prevails.''
* All of StephenChow's films are heavily on the idealistic side (''ShaolinSoccer''). Even the ones that appear grittier and more cynical are idealistic in disguise, as all of the protagonists pass through a redemption before beating the BigBad (''God of Cooking'', ''KungFuHustle''.)
* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
* ''{{Juno}}'' has taken a lot of flak for just how far to the idealism end of the scale it goes re: its treatment of teen pregnancy and its consequences.
* ''AugustRush'' is idealistic [[TastesLikeDiabetes in the extreme]], to the point of being implausible - a 12-year-old learns to compose full symphonies and play multiple instruments without any musical training, AND he gets admitted to the Julliard School (not their preparatory program, like other pre-college musicians would, but the ''college itself''), ''and'' his cutesy piece manages to impress a 21st-century composition faculty so much that they get him a reading with the New York Philharmonic? ''And'' [[spoiler: it happens to be the same concert his mom is playing, and which his dad attends]]? [[TastesLikeDiabetes No wonder]] so many critics panned it.
* Critics accused ''ValentinesDay'' of being a bit too much on the cynical side for a romantic-comedy (one reviewer compared it to "expecting milk chocolate but getting baking (bitter) chocolate instead"; another compared it to "getting bad Valentine candy from a pretty/handsome person" in reference to the brilliant but wasted AllStarCast), especially compared to its {{spiritual|Successor}} [[FollowTheLeader predecessor]] ''LoveActually''.
* [[TemptingFate When you make a non-parodic deconstruction]] [[FilmNoir of a genre that is already quite on the cynical end of the scale]], do not expect [[TheElementOfCrime the result]] to have [[BlackAndGrayMorality much idealism left]].
* The 1976 film ''{{Network}}''. Talk about your cynical films! But the craziest thing of all about that film is that the film was actually considered a SliceOfLife docudrama by TV news people, which makes sense considering Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the film's screenplay) [[ShownTheirWork consulted with actual reporters and behind-the-scenes TV news people]] while writing his script.
* Any Mafia stories - not just films, but also video games - that you can bring up always falls into the cynical end of the sliding scale. The protagonists are often put in a desperate situation and a gritty urban setting, forced into the life of villainy, and almost all of them meet a tragic end.
* ''MoulinRouge'' flits from side to side during its running-time, but the ending jumps into the space between the two extremes. Nearly all of the main characters lose absolutely everything (and the Duke relatively gets away with it), but they keep their ideals intact and win the moral argument.
* ''WhatDreamsMayCome'', a romantic drama film detailing a pair of lovers' journey in the afterworld, sets its soul on the idealistic end of the scale. It shows that against all odds, true love will always last, as a sincere lover is willing to sacrifice his or her everything to drag their loved ones out of even the darkest misery - and they get their deserved reward at the end.
* ''MeetTheRobinsons'' was not a bad movie, but it was almost ''ridiculously'' idealistic.
* For a BlackComedy, ''Film/HorribleBosses'' is ultimately surprisingly idealistic. [[spoiler:Only one character is capable of murder.]]
* The MarvelCinematicUniverse, as a whole, tends strongly to the idealistic side, which provides an interesting contrast to MarkMillar's very cynical [[TheUltimates Ultimates]] comic book run, which a lot of the movie continuity takes elements from. However, there are still some [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet moments]], if the endings for both ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}'' are any proof.
** A major part of the conflict in the Avengers' team will stem from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
* The ''{{Film/Alien}}'' series ultimately lands on the far end of the cynical side. Aside from Ripley and a few other heroic characters, the universe of the movies is very much a CrapsackWorld where uncaring governments and profit-driven {{MegaCorp}}s place little value on human lives [[ForScience as long as they can experiment on them]] with alien {{SuperSoldier}}s.
* ''ApocalypseNow'' is about as cynical as it gets. WarIsHell and HumansAreBastards are the defining tropes of the film.
* ''BladeRunner'' is fairly cynical, with a heavily {{dystopia}}n interpretation of the future and GreyAndBlackMorality at best. The ending is slightly more positive, though, because the film is ultimately about an AntiHero [[HeelRealization realizing the error of his ways]].
* ''TheTerminator'' is ultimately a very idealistic film series, despite its [[ApocalypseHow bleak vision of the future]]. Many characters make {{HeroicSacrifice}}s and discover ThePowerOfLove.
* Most comedies nowadays usually go into the cynical side, as most of the humor is either offensive, gross or satirical.
* Soviet movies about WWII are usually extremely idealistic - ''despite'' the DownerEnding they often have. The idealism isreinforced by the fact that though people suffered hardships and many died, they ultimately contributed to winning the war and saved their country and other people while becoming heroes forever.
* The 2010 movie ''TheExpendables'' is a classic example of reinforced violent masculinity at the cynical end of the scale, showing that the only solution to every problem, including one's girlfriend getting beaten and the drug dealers in Vilena, is beat them into submission with no mercy; the mercenaries who work for the CIA also do this primarily for money instead of for greater good.
** But yet, it is still more idealist than any First Person Shooter out there since if it was done in the vein of ModernWarfare, none of the mercenaries would have lived in the end.
* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuse's on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
** However, the ExpandedUniverse is much more cynical, Force Unleashed and Knights of the Old Republic 2 being the official DarkFic of the series.
** Note that despite its overall idealist tone, the film generally considered to be the best in the series is ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'', possibly the darkest. The same applies to ''RevengeOfTheSith'', which was considered to be the best of the prequel trilogy.
* The latest ''{{Rambo}}'' movie has its foot firmly planted in the cynical side. The pacifistic missionaries attempting to peacefully change civil-war torn Burma are naive and misguided, whilst the gritty, war-hardened mercenaries are the only ones who can defeat the evil forces leading that regime. It's showing its '80s action-movie pedigree. The common theme in most of those films was that diplomacy was useless against America's enemies, and that [[StrawmanPolitical lawyers and judges existed solely to let drug dealers and sociopathic murderers back on the streets]]. In both cases, one or two {{Badass}}es unconstrained by rules were all you needed to defeat Third World dictators or clear the streets of crime.
* ''Film/ShortCircuit'' had this kind of conflict between the idealistic Newton Crosby (PhD, who wanted to capture the wayward Number 5 intact and unharmed to study why it was acting the way it was) and the cynical Captain Skroeder (who had a bit of a [[GeneralRipper technophobic streak]] and was understandably wanting to take the robot out before it could do any harm with its ''fully armed and combat-ready laser weapon''; WordOfGod has even admitted that despite being the villain for the movie, he is still doing the right and logical thing by trying to destroy Number 5). Also, the crew purposely used this trope in combination with WhatMeasureIsANonHuman, wanting to get away from the "idealistic" approach of having the characters treat their start as always being "alive" and instead explore the question of how people would react to [[InstantAIJustAddWater artificial intelligence]] in real life (their answer being that no one would believe it for a second).
* Mexican films can be divided in two. Back in TheFifties, during the Golden Age, Mexican movies were the most idealistic films you could ever imagine, with lovable characters who were the absolute incarnation of Christian poverty and all the implied heavenly bliss and richness of spirit, often becoming TheWoobie of the rich guys who were the incarnation of the SevenDeadlySins. On the other hand, pretty much every single Mexican film made in TheNineties and later lies ''far, far away'' towards the Cynical side of the scale, with plots often involving massive trainloads of suffering and misery, often portraying Mexico as a grim, gritty place, sometimes (e.g. ''Amores perros'' or ''Perfume de violetas'') ''even more Cynical than [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]!''
** This is justified due to censorship, since the Mexican government wanted to give the best image about the country after the MexicanRevolution, but this changed in the 60s with the Luis Buñuel's movie ''Los Olvidados,'' who was the UrExample of the genre.
* The 2007 Disney film ''{{Enchanted}}'' falls squarely in the idealistic side of the column, being just a bit {{Anvilicious}} in its commentary on the world's need for optimism, especially in matters of romance. Then again, this [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped doesn't necessarily make it bad]].
** Another interpretation is that it's a story about Gizelle, an extreme idealist, and Robert, an extreme cynic, meeting each other and both having their extreme views tempered by exposure to each other, reaching a more moderate compromise in the end.
* Surprisingly, ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', for all its darkness, slides towards the idealistic side of the spectrum at least once. In a key scene, [[spoiler: two ferries full of passengers choose near-certain death over murdering each other.]] Where the remainder of the movie falls is largely a matter of opinion.
** Thought it can be debated that the trilogy is the poster child for swinging from one side to the other, AKA EarnYourHappyEnding.
*** To elaborate, though Batman's idealism is shown to be heroic (refusing to let [[KnightTemplar Ra's al Ghul]] destroy the decaying city of Gotham, refusing to kill Joker, etc.), there are some moments in which the effectiveness of the cynical approach are played up ("letting" Ra's die, Batman's killing Two-Face, etc.).
* Even more surprisingly ''{{Film/Batman}}'' also fits on the idealistic side, although not quite to the point of ''{{The Dark Knight|Saga}}'', but for Batman's actions, he becomes publicly loved and gets the girl, and TheJoker is dead. Although he had to take the cynical route of killing people to get there. It is mostly cynical, but it too is a case of EarnYourHappyEnding
** ''BatmanReturns'' on the other hand is even more cynical to the point of nihilism despite not being as dark as the original with more jokes and campy idiots instead of corruption. However Batman losses the girl, ends up being forced to do even more killing, the one person he loves ends up being morally ambiguous, and everyone hates him again thanks to The Penguin via the murder of The Ice Princess.
** In contrast ''BatmanForever'' and ''BatmanAndRobin'' are heavily on the idealistic side
* ''TwentyEightDaysLater'' represents this scale through hardened survivor Selena, whose experiences have made her bitter and cynical and convinced that the only way to survive is to kill before you get killed and abandon anyone who might hold you back, and Frank, the optimistic cab-driver who is convinced that an outpost of survivors exists to the North who will protect and defend them, roping the others into helping him find them. Jim, the main character, is somewhere in the middle. Selena survives the movie, whilst Frank is eventually infected and killed by the very soldiers he came to find (who turn out to have been luring people there so that they could rape the women anyway). However, things are not quite as cynical and bleak as this makes out; Selena's cynicism is worn down by the fact that she is falling in love with Jim, who ultimately convinces her that there is hope after all and that abandoning others is not the way to go, and the final scenes reveal that she is working harder than any of them to contact the survivors they have come to believe are outside of Britain.
** Actually, the original ending involved Jim dying. The only reason cynicism didn't prevail is because test audiences found it too depressing.
** Then came the sequel, [[spoiler: in which there is utterly no hope.]]
* The major reason why ''[[LifeIsBeautiful La vita è bella]]'' was so critically acclaimed was thanks to its ability to keep a fluffy idealist tone ''in the middle of a freaking concentration camp''. It also sparked controversy for [[DudeNotFunny having a sympathetic protagonist trying to distract from the horrors of the Holocaust with slapstick]].
* ''DeadPoetsSociety'' liked to play with this trope. A LOT. It tends to be more on the idealistic side on the whole, but the entire subplot about the conflict between Neil and his father is definitely one of the most cynical moments in Peter Weir films, like...ever.
* ''LordOfWar'' was on the deep end of the cynical side. It features an arms dealer selling guns to African warlords and avoiding the law as he works himself to the heart of the gunrunning trade. The only idealistic characters are the Interpol Agent Valentine and Yuri's brother Vitaly. In the end of the movie [[spoiler: Vitaly is killed and the massacre he was trying to prevent is carried out anyway. Valentine manages to arrest Yuri but becomes disillusioned after Yuri uses his government contacts to get himself free and keep doing his work]]. Yuri himself talks about how [[BlackAndGreyMorality grey morality]] is his favorite brand of morality and delivers this beautifully heartbreaking line towards the end: ''They say evil prevails when good men fail to act. What they ought to say is: Evil prevails.''
* All of StephenChow's films are heavily on the idealistic side (''ShaolinSoccer''). Even the ones that appear grittier and more cynical are idealistic in disguise, as all of the protagonists pass through a redemption before beating the BigBad (''God of Cooking'', ''KungFuHustle''.)
* The Colombian film ''La Virgen de los Sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)'' shows MedellÃn as a [[CrapSackWorld crime-ridden, violent city of drug pushers and hopeless addicts]] where AnyoneCanDie. This is probably TruthInTelevision, as it deals with the very violent period of control by the Escobar drug cartel.
* ''{{Juno}}'' has taken a lot of flak for just how far to the idealism end of the scale it goes re: its treatment of teen pregnancy and its consequences.
* ''AugustRush'' is idealistic [[TastesLikeDiabetes in the extreme]], to the point of being implausible - a 12-year-old learns to compose full symphonies and play multiple instruments without any musical training, AND he gets admitted to the Julliard School (not their preparatory program, like other pre-college musicians would, but the ''college itself''), ''and'' his cutesy piece manages to impress a 21st-century composition faculty so much that they get him a reading with the New York Philharmonic? ''And'' [[spoiler: it happens to be the same concert his mom is playing, and which his dad attends]]? [[TastesLikeDiabetes No wonder]] so many critics panned it.
* Critics accused ''ValentinesDay'' of being a bit too much on the cynical side for a romantic-comedy (one reviewer compared it to "expecting milk chocolate but getting baking (bitter) chocolate instead"; another compared it to "getting bad Valentine candy from a pretty/handsome person" in reference to the brilliant but wasted AllStarCast), especially compared to its {{spiritual|Successor}} [[FollowTheLeader predecessor]] ''LoveActually''.
* [[TemptingFate When you make a non-parodic deconstruction]] [[FilmNoir of a genre that is already quite on the cynical end of the scale]], do not expect [[TheElementOfCrime the result]] to have [[BlackAndGrayMorality much idealism left]].
* The 1976 film ''{{Network}}''. Talk about your cynical films! But the craziest thing of all about that film is that the film was actually considered a SliceOfLife docudrama by TV news people, which makes sense considering Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the film's screenplay) [[ShownTheirWork consulted with actual reporters and behind-the-scenes TV news people]] while writing his script.
* Any Mafia stories - not just films, but also video games - that you can bring up always falls into the cynical end of the sliding scale. The protagonists are often put in a desperate situation and a gritty urban setting, forced into the life of villainy, and almost all of them meet a tragic end.
* ''MoulinRouge'' flits from side to side during its running-time, but the ending jumps into the space between the two extremes. Nearly all of the main characters lose absolutely everything (and the Duke relatively gets away with it), but they keep their ideals intact and win the moral argument.
* ''WhatDreamsMayCome'', a romantic drama film detailing a pair of lovers' journey in the afterworld, sets its soul on the idealistic end of the scale. It shows that against all odds, true love will always last, as a sincere lover is willing to sacrifice his or her everything to drag their loved ones out of even the darkest misery - and they get their deserved reward at the end.
* ''MeetTheRobinsons'' was not a bad movie, but it was almost ''ridiculously'' idealistic.
* For a BlackComedy, ''Film/HorribleBosses'' is ultimately surprisingly idealistic. [[spoiler:Only one character is capable of murder.]]
* The MarvelCinematicUniverse, as a whole, tends strongly to the idealistic side, which provides an interesting contrast to MarkMillar's very cynical [[TheUltimates Ultimates]] comic book run, which a lot of the movie continuity takes elements from. However, there are still some [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet moments]], if the endings for both ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}'' are any proof.
** A major part of the conflict in the Avengers' team will stem from Steve Rogers' "outdated and irrelevant" idealism clashing head on with Tony Stark's hedonistic and materialistic cynicism. Ironically, Steve and Howard (Tony's father) were friends and allies during World War II.
* The ''{{Film/Alien}}'' series ultimately lands on the far end of the cynical side. Aside from Ripley and a few other heroic characters, the universe of the movies is very much a CrapsackWorld where uncaring governments and profit-driven {{MegaCorp}}s place little value on human lives [[ForScience as long as they can experiment on them]] with alien {{SuperSoldier}}s.
* ''ApocalypseNow'' is about as cynical as it gets. WarIsHell and HumansAreBastards are the defining tropes of the film.
* ''BladeRunner'' is fairly cynical, with a heavily {{dystopia}}n interpretation of the future and GreyAndBlackMorality at best. The ending is slightly more positive, though, because the film is ultimately about an AntiHero [[HeelRealization realizing the error of his ways]].
* ''TheTerminator'' is ultimately a very idealistic film series, despite its [[ApocalypseHow bleak vision of the future]]. Many characters make {{HeroicSacrifice}}s and discover ThePowerOfLove.
* Most comedies nowadays usually go into the cynical side, as most of the humor is either offensive, gross or satirical.
* Soviet movies about WWII are usually extremely idealistic - ''despite'' the DownerEnding they often have. The idealism isreinforced by the fact that though people suffered hardships and many died, they ultimately contributed to winning the war and saved their country and other people while becoming heroes forever.
* The 2010 movie ''TheExpendables'' is a classic example of reinforced violent masculinity at the cynical end of the scale, showing that the only solution to every problem, including one's girlfriend getting beaten and the drug dealers in Vilena, is beat them into submission with no mercy; the mercenaries who work for the CIA also do this primarily for money instead of for greater good.
** But yet, it is still more idealist than any First Person Shooter out there since if it was done in the vein of ModernWarfare, none of the mercenaries would have lived in the end.
* ''{{Film/Narc}}'' is a very cynical movie, which focuse's on rough, poverty-striken area's and police corruption.
* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is extremely cynical in its view of high school life and humanity in general. Parents and authority figures are portrayed as apathetic at best or [[CompleteMonster total scumbags]] at worst, and its hard to say by the end which of the characters has the least controversial amount of blood on their hands.
