History ZergRush / Film

* The cops in Gotham take on Bane's army this way in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', since they had no time to come up with a more sophisticated strategy.

* ''TheLordOfTheRings'' films feature this heavily, with massive hordes of orcs swarming much smaller human armies. Possibly subverted by Sauron's use of heavier units such as trolls alongside the orcs.

* The ''Compsognathus'' from ''TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' entered the ensemble of StockDinosaurs because of their insistent use of this trope. [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Not that the filmmakers really cared about how accurate (or not) that behavior really was.]]

* This is the [[TheEmpire Empire's]] main strategy in ''StarWars''. Whether they be Stormtroopers on the ground or TIE Fighters in space, Empire's strategy chiefly relies on overwhelming numbers, such that they go out of their way to ensure very few other tactics are used (for example, TIE fightercraft are rotated between pilots after every mission to ensure they aren't customized to a pilot's personal preferences). On that end, they will often supplement these forces with superweapons such as Death Stars or Super Star Destroyers; when this occurs, the main forces are simply used as a distraction or to cover potential escape routes (such as the Battle of Endor) while the Imps line up their main weapon for the kill.
** Both sides use this in the clone war. Justified by the Seperatists, since they had a limitless supply of cheap battledroids. Not so justified by the republic, which was fighting a galactic war with fewer troops than some real third-world countries command. Worse is that the Clones are frequently shown to be most adept at maneuver warfare and combined-arms attacks, but are frequently just thrown away in infantry swarms.

* This is the [[TheEmpire Empire's]] main strategy in ''StarWars''. Whether they be Stormtroopers on the ground or TIE Fighters in space, Empire's strategy chiefly relies on overwhelming numbers, such that they go out of their way to ensure very few other tactics are used (for example, TIE fightercraft are rotated between pilots after every mission to ensure they aren't customized to a pilot's personal preferences). On that end, they will often supplement these forces with superweapons such as Death Stars or Super Star Destroyers; when this occurs, the main forces are simply used as a distraction or to cover potential escape routes (such as the Battle of Endor) while the Imps line up their main weapon for the kill.

* An old, old version of this was used by the mooks in AkiraKurosawa's ''TheSevenSamurai'': attacks on the seven protagonists generally took place in large numbers with each attacker cut down with one or two strikes. Kurosawa is believed to have used this technique since Kenjutsu focuses on doing maximum damage in one or two cuts, and to keep the sequences interesting whilst still observing Kenjutsu's principles -- a cinematic ZergRush was the answer.

* Instead of the wave tactics of Wolf 359, the Federation fleet seem to employ this on the Borg in ''StarTrekFirstContact'', with arguably better results.

* The ending to the 1999 film ''The Thomas Crown Affair'' features a large number of men dressed like the subject from a René Magritte painting in order to distract the authorities.

* This is how the title insects of ''Film/{{Antz}}'' storm the termite colony. It partially backfires, as all the termites are killed, but the only ant to survive was the one who barely did any fighting at all.

* The ''Compsognathus'' from ''The Lost World: JurassicPark'' entered the ensemble of StockDinosaurs because of their insistent use of this trope. [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Not that the filmmakers really cared about how accurate (or not) that behavior really was.]]

* In ''TheMatrix Reloaded'', a fight scene between Neo and a now replicating Agent Smith basically escalates into this. It begins with Neo surrounded by maybe half a dozen or so Smith copies, and he tosses them around like rag dolls while occasionally taking a hit or two himself. From there, Smith then calls in more clones to join the fight and gains the upper hand, then Neo tips the odds back in his favor again (by improvising a weapon in the form of a metal pole), and then Smith calls in ''even more'' clones. By the end of the fight, there's maybe a hundred Smiths crowding the courtyard, and thus Neo is overwhelmed and forced to flee.
** ''The Matrix Revolutions'', however, averts this tactic when [[spoiler:Smith copies himself over the Oracle,]] thus producing ''one'' Smith clone that's powerful enough to take on Neo alone. Thanks to [[spoiler:the Oracle's prophetic abilities,]] he's also very confident that he will win, to say the least, so he decides to have the lesser clones just kick back and watch the fight.

* ''300'' features the Persian army most often using this tactic against the Spartans, due to their vastly superior numbers. The best example would have to be in the very first fight, which consists entirely of countless, faceless mooks charging aimlessly at the Spartan army.

* In ''{{Inception}}'', a person's dream state is populated by people generated by the subject's subconscious (i.e. "projections" as they're called in the film.) When using the film's dream-sharing technology, someone screwing around with the dream space will eventually draw the attention of the projections to the fact that there's an "outsider" in the subject's mind, and they'll then instinctively ZergRush the person with intent to kill.

* In ''ABugsLife'', [[BigBad Hopper]] makes it clear to his soldiers early on that they have to keep the ants' morale low, because the ants outnumber the grasshoppers a hundred to one. A rare case in which the good guys use this tactic.

* This is the [[TheEmpire Empire's]] main strategy in StarWars. Whether they be Stormtroopers on the ground or TIE Fighters in space, Empire's strategy chiefly relies on overwhelming numbers, such that they go out of their way to ensure very few other tactics are used (for example, TIE fightercraft are rotated between pilots after every mission to ensure they aren't customized to a pilot's personal preferences). On that end, they will often supplement these forces with superweapons such as Death Stars or Super Star Destroyers; when this occurs, the main forces are simply used as a distraction or to cover potential escape routes (such as the Battle of Endor) while the Imps line up their main weapon for the kill.

* This is the [[TheEmpire Empire's]] main strategy in StarWars. Whether they be Stormtroopers on the ground or TIE Fighters in space, Empire's strategy chiefly relies on overwhelming numbers, such that they go out of their way to ensure very few other tactics are used (for example, TIE fightercraft are rotated between pilots after every mission to ensure they aren't customized to a pilot's personal preferences). On that end, they will often supplement these forces with superweapons such as Death Stars or Super Star Destroyers; when this occurs, the main forces are simply used as a distraction or to cover potential escape routes (such as the Battle of Endor) while the Imps line up their [[ScrewThisIGotANuke real power]] for the kill.

* Instead of the wave tactics of Wolf 359, the Federation fleet seem to employ this on the Borg in ''StarTrekFirstContact'', with arguably better results.

* In ''ABugsLife'' [[BigBad Hopper]] makes it clear to his soldiers early on that they have to keep the ants' morale low, because the ants outnumber the grasshoppers a hundred to one. A rare case in which the good guys use this tactic.

* This is how the title insects of ''{{Antz}}'' storm the termite colony. It partially backfires, as all the termites are killed, but the only ant to survive was the one who barely did any fighting at all.

* Subverted (or maybe inverted) in [[TheGamers The Gamers: Dorkness Rising]] where Flynn the "how different can it be" Bard becomes a Zerg Wall of Defense (in the end, literally) while the RPG Adventure Party's mage is studying up on a spell to attack TheDragon (really... [[BetterThanItSounds it's better than it sounds]])

* ''[[300]]'' features the Persian army most often using this tactic against the Spartans, due to their vastly superior numbers. The best example would have to be in the very first fight, which consists entirely of countless, faceless [[Mooks]] charging aimlessly at the Spartan army.

* Instead of the wave tactics of Wolf 359, the Federation fleet seem to employ this on the Borg in StarTrekFirstContact, with arguably better results.

* In ''ABugsLife'' [[BigBad Hopper]] makes it clear to his soldiers early on that they have to keep the ants' morale low, because the ants outnumber the grasshoppers a hundred to one. A rare case in which the good guys use this tactic.

* In ''Zulu'', spear-wielding Zulu warriors charge straight into the British camp's guns... only to stand and chant while the British cut them down. Then they leave. "He's counting your guns, testing your firepower with the lives of his warriors". "60! We got at least 60 wouldn't you say?" "That leaves only 3,940."

* The end of ''{{Stargate}}'' features the previously oppressed slaves of ScaryDogmaticAliens zerg rushing their former overlords, some with nothing more than sticks (or even just their bare hands), not even slowing down when some of them get killed by the panicking aliens' weapons. The fact that they cover the entire hillside when there are only a couple dozen warriors facing them makes it quite clear that they figured out the odds.

* The end of ''{{Stargate}}'' features the previously oppressed slaves of ScaryDogmaticAliens zerg rushing their former overlords, some with nothing more than sticks (or even just their bare hands), not even slowing down when some of them get killed by the panicking aliens' weapons. The facat that they cover the entire hillside when there are only a couple dozen warriors facing them makes it quite clear that they figured out the odds.

* The ''Compsognathus'' from ''The Lost World: JurassicPark'' entered the ensemble of StockDinosaurs because of their insistent use of this trope. [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Not that the filmmakers really cared about how accurate (or not) that behavior really was.]]

* In ''Zulu'', spear-wielding Zulu warriors charge straight into the British camp's guns... only to stand and chant while the British cut them down. Then they leave. "He's counting your guns, testing your firepower with the lives of his warriors". "60! We got at least 60 wouldn't you say?" "That leaves only 3,940."

** This Zerg Rushing mob tactic is eventually averted in later parts of the film when we're introduced to the concept of a trained subconscious, which apparently amounts to teaching the subconscious to generate trained soldiers to fight off intruders.