History WhatYouAreInTheDark / Film

** This reaches its apex in ''WesternAnimation/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. When Anastasia (who's been rewritten as [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misguided]] young woman who wants love more than anything) gets her hands on the Fairy Godmother's wand, she gives it to Lady Tremaine, who realizes its RealityWarper potential and rewrites history so that Anastasia, and not Cinderella, fits the glass slipper on the day of the Prince's test. At first, Anastasia is thrilled--she finally has her Prince Charming--but as the movie progresses, she starts feeling guilty. Lady Tremaine tries to avert this sudden conscience by brainwashing the Prince, turning Anastasia into an exact copy of Cinderella, and making sure the real Cinderella is put in a DeathTrap during the royal wedding. But Cinderella manages to escape and return to the wedding, when it comes time for the vows, Anastasia--who, for all intents and purposes to the entire world, ''is'' Cinderella at this point--can't bring herself to say "I do." To Cinderella's amazement, Anastasia says "I *DON'T*". She explains that she wants to be loved for herself, even if that means losing everything she thought she'd ever wanted. After her mother has been dealt with, and Anastasia returns to her normal self, Cinderella, seeing her remorse, forgives Anastasia and finally repairs their strained relationship, and the two can finally enjoy each other's company again without Lady Tremaine on their backs.
* [[{{WesternAnimation/Tarzan}} Disney's Tarzan]] has [[BigBad Clayton]] give Tarzan the choice of shooting him with his own double-barreled shotgun with no one else around: "Go ahead, shoot me, [[IronicEcho be a man]]". Tarzan's reply? ''Mimicking'' the sound of the gun being shot to put some fear into Clayton before smashing said shotgun in front of him. "Not a man like ''you''."

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'', Johnny, desperate for the cash to pay his father's bail from prison, secretly breaks into Buster's office to steal the prize money. But he changes his mind when he sees Buster's notes on his profile - namely, the "Natural born singer" part.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' Charlie Brown winds up getting the perfect score on a test. Because of this, all the kids in school and town, barring Lucy, view him as a genius, which earns him a large amount of popularity. [[spoiler:During an award ceremony for passing the test, he discovers that he and Peppermint Patty accidentally signed their names on each other's test sheets when they were rushing to turn the papers in - she's the one who really got the perfect score. He's the only one who knows the truth, and if he wanted to could continue to keep it a secret, keeping his newfound popularity in the process. Instead he confesses the screw-up to everyone and tells them that Peppermint Patty was the one who aced the test. This turns out to be one of the main factors to winning the Little Red-Haired Girl's heart.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/BambiII'', Bambi has been sent to live with another doe after his mother's death, despite vigorously wanting to stay with his father. Later, the doe gets caught in a hunting snare with vicious dogs making a beeline for her. Despite the doe actually begging Bambi to run and save himself, he chooses to distract the dogs onto him and save her life. The fact that her telling him to keep running mirrored what his mother said to him before she died probably helped him come to his decision.
* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Kronk]] has dumped Kuzco, now a llama, into a stream, when he starts having second thoughts. This prompts [[GoodAngelBadAngel his shoulder angel and devil to appear and comically argue with each other]], leaving Kronk more confused. Ultimately, he gets Kuzco out of the stream before he goes over the edge.
** Played straight later on when Kuzco wanders off into the jungle, despite Pacha’s warnings. Pacha could easily leave him to die, since Kuzco still wants to destroy his village and refuses to change his mind. He even considers it for a moment, but ultimately his conscience gets the better of him.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'': Professor Membrane spends the last act of the movie convinced that everything bizarre around him is just a hallucination brought about by being hit on the head, and is thus completely cavalier about the situation since he's sure it's not real. Despite this, he still takes the time to assure a panicking [[WellDoneSonGuy Dib]] that he's [[SoProudOfYou always been proud of him]], and when it seems that Zim's MechaMooks are about to kill Dib, he goes full PapaWolf to fight them off and protect his son.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiesInDisguise'': Throughout the entire movie, Walter is insistent on the efficacy of non-lethal gadgets and ardently sticks to a ThouShaltNotKill mentality much to the [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids doubt]] of everyone at the agency. At the climax of the film, he and Killian are several thousand feet in the air and Walter has just broken through the drone's software, but as Killian points out, activating the kill code would doom them both. So Walter [[SaveTheVillain puts Killian in one of his "inflatable hug" devices]] and hits the kill code [[HeroicSacrifice as he's going into freefall]].

* ''Film/Zombies2018'': In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, when [[spoiler:Zed returns the necklace the werewolves gave Addison and she assumes he just found it, he could've played along with her assumption but decides to admit he stole it when she wasn't looking]].

** The same thing happens to Darth Vader, who could have left his son to die at the hands of Palpatine. Instead, he chooses to [[LoveRedeems save his son]] and kill the emperor himself, at the cost of his own life.

** This reaches its apex in ''WesternAnimation/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. When Anastasia (who's been rewritten as [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misguided]] young woman who wants love more than anything) gets her hands on the Fairy Godmother's wand, she gives it to Lady Tremaine, who realizes its RealityWarper potential and rewrites history so that Anastasia, and not Cinderella, fits the glass slipper on the day of the Prince's test. At first, Anastasia is thrilled--she finally has her Prince Charming--but as the movie progresses, she starts feeling guilty. Lady Tremaine tries to avert this sudden conscience by brainwashing the Prince, turning Anastasia into an exact copy of Cinderella, and making sure the real Cinderella is put in a DeathTrap during the royal wedding. But when it comes time for the vows, Anastasia--who, for all intents and purposes to the entire world, ''is'' Cinderella at this point--can't bring herself to say "I do." She explains that she wants to be loved for herself, even if that means losing everything she's ever wanted.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' has Bernard singing the RAS anthem by himself just outside the meeting hall. When Bianca sees him doing that, that is enough proof for her of how deeply he values the organization's ideals. Bernard was merely the janitor at the time, and the other representatives/agents who were in the meeting hall were being far less reverent of the anthem.

* In ''Film/BatmanForever'', Robin has Two-Face at his knees whilst on a cliff and after kicking the gun out of his hand, he gives him several [[KickTheSonOfABitch well-deserved punches in the face]] [[YouKilledMyFather for killing his family.]] At one point, Two-Face is completely at his mercy and begs Robin to kill only for to spare him due to wishing him imprisoned than dead. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, [[JerkOfAHeartOfJerk Two-Face lives up to his name]] and thanks him for saving him then pulls his ''other'' personality's gun on him and calls him honest but stupid.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/BambiII'', Bambi has been sent to live with another doe after his mother's death, despite vigorously wanting to stay with his father. Later, the doe gets caught in a hunting snare with vicious dogs making a beeline for her. Despite the doe actually begging Bambi to run and save himself, he chooses to distract the dogs onto him and save her life.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'': When Hogarth first encounters the Giant, he witnesses it accidentally tangling itself up in and getting electrocuted by power lines out in a secluded power station after dark. Terrified out of his mind, he has a chance to run home through the woods in the dark with no one the wiser, not even the Giant. However, as he hears is ''screaming'' in pain he realizes that he can't leave it to suffer, and so risks his own personal safety to shut off the power to save its life, despite still thinking its dangerous and having no expectation that it'll notice or feel grateful later. (Thankfully for Hogarth, [[GentleGiant it]] [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe does]].)

* Bernard from ''Film/OldSchool''. Even though he was the one with the idea to start a fraternity and the one who talks and raves about the fun they'll have, he's still the only founding member who's married, and he successfully resists temptation during a frat party by refusing to sleep with a college girl who was more than willing.

** Half the plot hinges on Miller and his squad's willingness to pursue what by all rights is a suicide mission. They could have easily just scrubbed the mission and said they couldn't find Ryan, but they ultimately decide to see it through to the end. In the climax of the film, [[spoiler:they choose to stay and defend a bridge against massive odds, even going beyond their orders, because the call of duty demands it. And most of them pay with their lives for it.]]

* ''Film/TheFront'': Under pressure to "name names" before [[RedScare HUAC]], Howard is told he can get off easily by naming Hecky, [[spoiler:who is dead]]. No one would care, and no one thinks Howard is a sympathizer. Rather than take the easy way out, Howard tells the committee off to honor his friends, leading to his imprisonment.
* ''Film/HaloNightfall'': It becomes increasingly clear that only two people are going to get off the ring. Locke and Randall assert "Lifeboat Rules," where until that decision has to be made the entire team works as though everyone will make it. This does not turn out well, as the backstabbing starts soon and almost everyone ''but'' Locke and Randall crack under the pressure.
* In ''Film/TheMartian'', at one of ''several'' stages where everything goes to hell, the camera cuts to the chief scientists of the Chinese space program, where they discuss how their classified boosters could help, but if they didn't, the world would never know. After a few more lines, the film cuts straight to the director of NASA taking their call, and the boosters do indeed play an important role in the eventual plan.
* During the latter portion of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', Max has the complete choice up to him, without it being a last resort or survival necessity like it was in the previous films. Once the Vuvalini, Furiosa and The Wives give him a motorcycle as a reward for helping them, he can either let them go to what is likely a barren wasteland, and they would never hate him for it. Or he could go after them and help them achieve a more hopeful future, without expecting any more reward for it. He chooses the latter.
* The whole point of ''{{Film/Logan}}''. The title character wants nothing more to do with being the superhero {{Wolverine}} and wants to live a normal life. Then, he meets a girl who went through the same experiment performed on him and looks after her with the promise of a large sum of cash for doing so. Once he is paid, no one would blame him for just leaving; [[spoiler:however, after a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from the girl, who is for all intents and purposes his daughter, he decides to risk his life to keep her and her "siblings" from being recaptured and used as deadly assassins, proving that he still is a hero.]]
* Played for drama in ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'' when TheHero Eggsy is instructed to seduce a female minion of the BigBad so he can put a tracker on her, while he is very devoted to his girlfriend Tilde. Instead of doing the deed and never let her know about it, he decides to call her to get her approval first. Naturally, she takes this badly and breaks up with him. [[spoiler:This ends up leading to her taking drugs to cope with their break-up, which were poisoned by the BigBad and nearly leads to Tilde dying]].
* In ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', [[spoiler: M'Baku and his men]] save a critically injured [[spoiler: T'Challa]] despite the fact their last encounter was them fighting and the former had no reason/benefit to do so. Later when [[spoiler: T'Challa's family]] comes seeking help, [[spoiler: M'Baku]] could have easily hidden [[spoiler: T'Challa]]'s presence but chose to do otherwise, [[spoiler: even when T'Challa's family came and initially offered him the herb and a golden opportunity to become king]].
* Chris Mannix in ''Film/TheHatefulEight''. [[spoiler:When he is given the chance to execute confessed murderer Joe Gage in cold blood, he immediatly declares to be completely willing to do so. However, a minute later, when a shootout happens, he is wounded, and he could still shot Joe Gage not even so much in cold blood at that point, he backs down from doing it, because Joe Gage just reminded him that he is unarmed. Clearly, Chris Mannix hates the idea of execute an helpless target, even at risk of his own life and even if he would apparently want it]].

* Chris Mannix in ''Film/TheHatefulEight''. [[spoiler:When he is given the chance to execute confessed murderer Joe Gage in cold blood, he immediatly declares to be completely willing to do so. However, a minute later, when a shootout happens, he is wounded, and he could still shot Joe Gage not even so much in cold blood at that point, he backs down from doing it, because Joe Gage just reminded him that he is unarmed. Clearly, Chris Mannix hates the idea of execute an helpless target, even at risk of his own life and even if he would apparently want it]].

* Anastasia in the ''{{Disney/Cinderella}}'' sequels is gentle, kind, and free-spirited when not around Cinderella or her mother and sister. Cinderella helps bring this personality out into the open.
** This reaches its apex in ''Disney/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. When Anastasia (who's been rewritten as [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misguided]] young woman who wants love more than anything) gets her hands on the Fairy Godmother's wand, she gives it to Lady Tremaine, who realizes its RealityWarper potential and rewrites history so that Anastasia, and not Cinderella, fits the glass slipper on the day of the Prince's test. At first, Anastasia is thrilled--she finally has her Prince Charming--but as the movie progresses, she starts feeling guilty. Lady Tremaine tries to avert this sudden conscience by brainwashing the Prince, turning Anastasia into an exact copy of Cinderella, and making sure the real Cinderella is put in a DeathTrap during the royal wedding. But when it comes time for the vows, Anastasia--who, for all intents and purposes to the entire world, ''is'' Cinderella at this point--can't bring herself to say "I do." She explains that she wants to be loved for herself, even if that means losing everything she's ever wanted.
* [[{{Disney/Tarzan}} Disney's Tarzan]] has [[BigBad Clayton]] give Tarzan the choice of shooting him with his own double-barreled shotgun with no one else around: "Go ahead, shoot me, [[IronicEcho be a man]]". Tarzan's reply? ''Mimicking'' the sound of the gun being shot to put some fear into Clayton before smashing said shotgun in front of him. "Not a man like ''you''."
* Defied to some extent in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''; the Archdeacon is trying to convince [[BigBad Judge Frollo]] that he should spare Quasimodo after killing the child's mother. Frollo is initially dismissive, but changes his tune after the Deacon says that while no mortal would know, killing a child before the steps of Notre Dame would certainly draw God's Wrath (in essence, there is never a moment where he or anyone else is truly alone in the dark).

* ''Disney/{{Moana}}'' gives us something sweet at the start. Baby Moana is down at the beach and sees a pretty seashell and really wants it, but she sees a little baby turtle scared of the birds trying to eat it as it's trying to get to the water. No one would blame her if she were to just get the shell at that age, but Moana grabs a leaf and protects it from the birds, losing the shell in the process. This is what makes the ocean choose her.
* ''Disney/TheRescuers'' has Bernard singing the RAS anthem by himself just outside the meeting hall. When Bianca sees him doing that, that is enough proof for her of how deeply he values the organization's ideals. Bernard was merely the janitor at the time, and the other representatives/agents who were in the meeting hall were being far less reverent of the anthem.

* In ''Disney/BambiII'', Bambi has been sent to live with another doe after his mother's death, despite vigorously wanting to stay with his father. Later, the doe gets caught in a hunting snare with vicious dogs making a beeline for her. Despite the doe actually begging Bambi to run and save himself, he chooses to distract the dogs onto him and save her life.
* Played for laughs in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Kronk]] has dumped Kuzco, now a llama, into a stream, when he starts having second thoughts. This prompts [[GoodAngelBadAngel his shoulder angel and devil to appear and comically argue with each other]], leaving Kronk more confused. Ultimately, he gets Kuzco out of the stream before he goes over the edge.

* In ''Film/PulpFiction'', Butch and Marsellus are [[spoiler:captured by a pair of DepravedHomosexual hillbillies, who plan to rape and murder them. Butch manages to get free while Marsellus is being raped, and after a moment of indecision, goes back to rescue him. Butch does this [[HonorBeforeReason even though he has no reason to, and every reason not to]], since Marsellus is a powerful mob boss who, up until right before they were taken hostage, was trying to kill Butch for betraying him. He is ultimately rewarded, when Marsellus decides to call off his hitmen out of gratitude on the condition that Butch [[PersonaNonGrata leave Los Angeles forever]] and [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never tell anyone about what happened]].]]

** In the sequel ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker set up two ships to blow (one with Gotham's rich and famous, the other with inmates from Blackgate). He put a device that would blow up the other ship on both of them, saying that if neither one blows up, he'll blow up both at midnight. Ultimately, neither side goes through with it.
--> '''Batman:'''You want to prove that everyone is as sick and twisted as you? You're alone.

* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', Pinto is the only character to resist temptation of any kind -- and what he resists is [[SexAsRiteOfPassage particularly tempting.]] Further, he resists without knowing at the time that his intended is [[ReallySeventeenYearsOld not exactly in his own age demographic]]. His resistance only lasts so long....

** In the sequel ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker set up two ships to blow (one with Gohtam's rich and famous, the other with inmates from Blackgate). He put a device that would blow up the other ship on both of them, saying that if neither one blows up, he'll blow up both at midnight. Ultimately, neither side goes through with it.