Cruel Mercy / Film

Moments of Cruel Mercy in Films.

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Film - Animated

• Barnyard: Otis prepares to punch Dag as his dad did but instead orders him to NEVER return, before hitting him with a golf club and sending him soaring out into the distance while howling in pain.
• The Lion King (1994): When Simba has Scar cornered and at his mercy, he says he won't kill him for his crimes — instead, he'll punish Scar with a life in exile, never to return to the Pridelands he spent his whole life coveting. However, Scar attacks him, resulting in a climactic fight scene where Simba eventually throws him off the edge of Pride Rock, leaving Scar to be confronted by the hyena minions he'd just tried to betray, who finish the job on their traitorous boss.
  • In the sequel, this is implied to be the case for Kovu's exile:
    Let him run, let him live
    But do not forget what we cannot forgive!
• Open Season: Shaw prepares to shoot Boog when Elliot leaps in front and the bullet hits him instead. This makes Boog enraged and he pins Shaw to the ground and roars fiercely in his face, before tying him up with his own gun. Elliot's fine; the bullet only shot off his remaining antler.
• The Prince of Egypt: After the Jews make it across the Red Sea, God closes the waters, washing away Rameses's soldiers, and stranding the Pharaoh on the beach, alive but reduced to a screaming, sobbing wreck.
• Usually, the objective of a Duel to the Death (whether it's a Wizards Duel or otherwise) is to kill your foe. However, in The Sword in the Stone, Merlin wins the duel with Madame Mim by giving her a rare but non-lethal disease, mocking her by saying she'll be as good (or rather, as bad) as ever in a few weeks after plenty of rest, fresh air, and sunlight. (Mim really hates sunlight.)

Film - Live Action

• 300: "You there. Ephialtes. May you live forever." To the Spartans, not achieving a "beautiful death", which meant dying in battle, was a horrifying prospect; those who died of old age didn't even get gravestones.
• In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), the White Queen, due to her vows not to harm any living creature, condemns her sister to spend eternity wandering the borders of Underland chained to her right-hand man, the one person she loves. Being shunned wouldn't have been so unbearable since she thought he loved her too... until he tried to kill her, and later begs to be killed to get away from her. The only response from the White Queen is a faint smirk and the reply, "But I do not owe you a kindness." Beware the Nice Ones indeed...
• Bad Apples: At the end of the movie, when Ella sees that the girls have killed her husband and turned his torso into a jack-o-lantern, she tells them to kill her. They decide not to and leave.
• In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman brands certain criminals with a Bat symbol, letting other inmates know they're responsible for particularly vicious crimes, such as the human trafficker at the beginning of the film. These branded criminals are then often murdered in prison by the other inmates (although the inmate who murders the aforementioned human trafficker is paid to do so by Lex Luthor). At the end of the film, it looks like he's about to brand Lex Luthor as well, but instead arranges for him to be transferred to Arkham Asylum.
• In The Beast of War, a Soviet soldier convinces the Afghan rebels to spare the crew of the tank that massacred their village, then tells the tank commander why:
  Koverchenko: Sorry, sir. Not much of a war. No Stalingrad. How is it that we're the Nazis this time? How is that? I tried to be a good soldier. But you can't be a good soldier in a rotten war, sir. I want you to live to see them win.
• In Bent, Max convinces the guards in the concentration camp to let him and Horst have a better, safer job than the other people. Taking rocks from one side of the room, and putting them in a neat pile on the other side of the room. They then have to repeat this task over and over, all day, every day. Eventually, they both start going insane from this psychological torture and start dreaming about piling rocks even in their sleep.
• The ending of the original Cape Fear (the remake has Cady suffer a Karmic Death instead):
  Bowden: "No! That would be letting you off too easy, too fast. Your words — do you remember? Well, I do. No, we're going to take good care of you. We're going to nurse you back to health. And you're strong, Cady; you're going to live a long life... in a cage! That's where you belong, and that's where you're going — and this time for life! Bang your head against the walls. Count the years... the months... the hours... until the day you rot!"
• Near the end of Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa confronts Zemo, the man responsible for the bombing that killed T'Challa's father, after realizing that Zemo, not Bucky, was the culprit. T'Challa then prevents Zemo from committing suicide and hands him over to Everett Ross to be imprisoned (albeit partly because T'Challa realized he was losing himself to his lust for revenge).
• In Cinderella (2015), Ella forgiving Tremaine definitely counts as this, as it means that all of Tremaine's efforts to break Ella have failed.
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002): The Count does this to Villefort by giving him an unloaded pistol, which he tries to use to off himself, to no avail. "You didn't think I'd make it that easy, did you?"
  • Later, though, Edmond averts the trope with Mondego. "What happened to your vaunted mercy?" "I'm a count, not a saint."
• In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane defeats Batman, but does not kill him.
  Bruce Wayne: Why didn't you just... kill me?
  Bane: You don't fear death. You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe.
  Bruce Wayne: Torture?
  Bane: Yes. But not of your body. Of your soul.
  Bruce Wayne: Where am I?
  Bane: Home, where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on Earth: hope. Every man who has ventured here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy. So simple. And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope. So, as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe that they can survive so that you can watch them clambering over each other to stay in the sun. You can watch me torture a city. And then when you have truly understood the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny. We will destroy Gotham, and then, when it is done and Gotham is ashes... then you have my permission to die.
• Near the end of The Departed, Costigan finally captures Sullivan, The Mole inside the police force. Sullivan begins trying to threaten and intimidate Costigan, then begins breaking down into tears and pleading with Costigan to "Just kill me". Costigan refuses, saying "I am killing you", meaning that he's intent on bringing Sullivan up on charges, thus ruining his life and forcing him to live through and experience everything that will result from that. Immediately afterwards, Costigan is killed, and a couple of scenes later, after getting away with everything, Sullivan receives a rather painless death.
• In The Duellists, d'Hubert wins the final duel with Feraud with one bullet remaining. By the rule of combat, Feraud's life now belongs to d'Hubert, and he forces Feraud to finally submit to his notions of honor instead. Feraud is to leave d'Hubert alone forever and live out his life knowing that his archrival defeated him.
• In the biopic film Elizabeth, the eponymous queen has Walsingham expose the Catholic plots to assassinate her, culminating in her ex-lover Lord Robert Dudley being exposed as one of the conspirators after she previously rejected him. He knows he is destined for execution as a traitor to the crown and begs for it, but Elizabeth decides: "I rather think to let you live; to remind me of how close I came to being weak."
• End of Days. After Satan successfully acquires the girl whom he needs to sire his child and dispatches Jericho, he leaves him alive and crucifies him to a building solely so he can lament his failure and personally witness The End of the World as We Know It.
• At the end of Ever After, Danielle saves her Wicked Stepmother and stepsister from exile to America and almost certain death. When the queen asks her what shall be done with them instead, she simply requests, "Show [my stepmother] the same courtesy that she has bestowed upon me." That kindness would be de facto slavery.
  Danielle: (to her stepmother) I want you to know that I will forget you after this moment and never think of you again. But you, I am quite certain, will think about me every single day for the rest of your life.
• Fire Down Below: Steven Seagal's character disables his enemy with one shot instead of killing him, he wants his enemy to meet the "new friend" who is going to share his cell in prison.
• A lenient example — sort of — happens in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. At first, it seems like Blondie is going to ride away and leave Tuco to hang himself when he eventually falls as retribution for double-crossing him. At the last minute, however, he turns, and fires his rifle, severing the rope, saying "Just like old times." Tuco is alive and has his share of the gold, but with no horse and in the middle of the desert, getting back to civilization won't be easy. (Of course, he did manage it when Blondie abandoned him at the beginning of the movie.)
• The Grey Zone: At the end, Oberscharführer Muhsfeldt spares Doctor Nyiszli's life, despite not needing to and after the Doctor previously tried to blackmail him. It's implied that Muhsfeldt wants the doctor to suffer more by continuing to be forced to engage in human experiments, stating that they both still have work to do.
• Played with and then Subverted in Hard Candy. Hayley seems to do this when she makes it clear to the pedophile Jeff that just killing him would be too easy, and her ultimate plan is to castrate him so he can never have sex again. She fakes the surgery very well and leaves Jeff mentally defeated. But the whole thing was a trick to further mentally torture Jeff until he finally gives up and Hayley talks him into killing himself.
• Hard to Kill: After roughing up the villain, Steven Seagal's character tells him, "Death is far too merciful a fate for you. So what I'm going to do is put you in prison. A nice petite white boy like you in a federal penitentiary... now let me just put it this way: I don't think you'll be able to remain anal-retentive for very long."
• In The Hidden Fortress, after being defeated in a duel, Hyoe demands to be killed by Rokurota but the latter decides to spare his life, much to Hyoe's dismay.
• In Highlander: Endgame, Jacob Kell's goal is to make Connor MacLeod's life a living hell, killing all those close to him and keeping Connor alive until they are the last two Immortals left.
• In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Smaug briefly considers letting Thorin have the Arkenstone just to watch it drive him mad with greed and later refrains from killing Bilbo just to make him watch Laketown and the people who helped him burn.
• At the beginning of Hocus Pocus, Winnifred Sanderson punishes Thackery by transforming him into an immortal housecat.
  Winnie: His punishment will not be to die...but to live forever with his guilt.
• In I Shot Jesse James, Frank James has Robert Ford at gunpoint. However, he decides to spare Bob, but not before telling him that his Love Interest Cynthy is leaving him for his rival John Kelley. Given everything he's been through, Bob doesn't take this news well.
• In The Karate Kid Part II, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel that he let John Kreese live (after inducing Kreese to break both of his hands, delivering an Ironic Echo of Kreese's own words, and embarrassing him with a nose grab) because, for a man as twisted as him, living is a worse punishment than dying. Daniel does the same to Chozen at the end of Part II, but this was more a case of teaching someone who should know better. Kreese doesn't take the humiliation well. The plot of Part III revolves around his plan of revenge (Chozen, as we later discover, eventually learned his lesson).
• Kill Bill:
  • The Bride does this to Elle Driver at the end of their fight in Kill Bill Volume 2 after she snatches out her remaining eye and crushes it underfoot, leaving her stuck in the narrow-halled trailer with a venomous snake while she's thrashing about in a literal and figurative blind panic — all in the middle of the desert. She was toast.
  • She also "spares" Sofie Fatale after chopping off her other arm (the first was lost when fighting O-Ren) during her interrogation and hurling her down a hill, just so that she can deliver a message to Bill, and makes a point that she could do a lot more than just take her arm if Sofie doesn't cooperate.
• Licence to Kill: Sanchez has Felix Leiter's leg eaten by a shark, but specifically stops short of killing him, preferring that Leiter live out his days as a crippled, broken man, unable to avenge his wife being raped and murdered on her wedding day. Fortunately, James is able to avenge Della on Felix's behalf.
  Leiter: Killing me won't stop anything, Sanchez!
  Sanchez: There are worse things than dying, hombre.
  Leiter: SEE YOU IN HELL!
  Sanchez: [Evil Laugh] No, today is the first day of the rest of your life.
• Little Big Man has a scene where General Custer spares Jack Crabb's life after Crabb attempts to kill him in his tent but loses his nerve at the last second. Crabb states in narration that this is the worst thing Custer could have done to him.
• In Maleficent, at the last second of cursing Princess Aurora, Maleficent responds to King Stefan's begging for mercy with a Curse Escape Clause: the eternal sleep can be broken by True Love's Kiss, which Maleficent firmly believes does not exist. She's eventually proven wrong when her own kiss awakens Aurora, as by then she's come to love Aurora as a surrogate daughter, therefore fulfilling the 'true love' part.
• In The Mask of Zorro, Montero lets Diego live in prison rather than killing him so that he can dwell on how everything he loves has been taken from him, including witnessing the death of his wife and the knowledge that his daughter is being raised by Montero. Diego returns the favor at the end, having taken back Elena and ended Montero's schemes. It doesn't prevent Montero from suffering a Karmic Death, however.
• Invoked and then subverted in John Ford's My Darling Clementine. After the O.K. Corral gunfight, Wyatt Earp tells Old Man Clanton (whose sons have just been killed in the fight, and who had earlier killed Earp's brother James) that he's not going to kill him: "I hope you'll live a hundred years, so you'll feel just a little of what my pa's gonna feel." Then he tells him to get on his horse and get out of town. As Clanton is departing, however, he suddenly turns to shoot Wyatt, and Wyatt's brother Morgan shoots and kills him.
• Once Upon a Time in America. Noodles discovers that his best friend Max faked his death, and arranged Noodles's imprisonment and the death of their friends. Now Max is facing his own lengthy prison sentence, so he invites Noodles to take his revenge by killing him. Noodles pretends not to recognise him, stating that the Max he knew was a good friend who died long ago. Max says that's a better way than any of getting revenge and kills himself by throwing himself into a garbage compactor truck.
• The Princess Bride: Westley threatens Prince Humperdinck with a duel To the Pain, which involves leaving the loser alive but severely disfigured, "wallowing in freakish misery forever." To further the cruelness, the loser loses their eyes, their nose, their hands at the wrist, and their feet at the ankle, but they keep their ears "so that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, 'Dear God! What is that thing,' will echo in your perfect ears." Instead, as the page quote above shows, Westley leaves Humperdink untouched, save for his realization that for all his bluster and prestige, he ultimately is a Dirty Coward who folded at the first bluff.
• In Rambo: Last Blood, Hugo has Rambo brutally beaten by his men but Hugo spares him to gloat what will happen to Gabriella for trying to rescue her. This ends up becoming Hugo's own downfall, as after Gabriella's death, Rambo kills Hugo's brother Victor then lures the rest of the gang to his ranch where every one of them end up falling victim to Rambo himself and his traps.
• Ricochet has this exchange:
  Styles: Why don't you just kill me?
  Blake: Oh, I don't wanna kill you. I wanna kill your life!
• In Serenity, Captain Mal spares the Operative's life so he can show him a message which proves that an Alliance experiment killed almost everyone on the planet Miranda and created the Reavers out of the remainder, crushing the Operative's dream of the Alliance creating a "perfect world".
  Mal: "I ain't gonna kill you. Hell, I'm going to grant your greatest wish — I'm going to show you a world without sin."
  • Of course, it's possible that Mal's knowledge of what a vulnerable position he and his crew are in, once he completes the transmission, plays a role in his choice to spare the Operative. The Operative does indeed spare them after learning the Alliance's Dark Secret, even going so far as to put their ship back together and then send them on their way. This leads to a not-quite Heel–Face Turn for the operative and a not-quite Defeat Means Respect conversation as the two part ways, although given the lives the Operative took, Mal is clear that he is Forgiven, but Not Forgotten, but the Operative assures him it won't be a problem: they won't be seeing each other again.
    • However, in the film's extended cut, the Operative stays long enough to ask Mal how he survived his own crippling defeat. This somber tone of this trope-heavy reflection is then broken in typical Firefly fashion as Mal walks away with an under-his-breath "What a whiner!"
• In Se7en, the killer has already proven himself to be a monumentally depraved piece of work with the sheer methodical cruelty of his various killings. When he corners Detective Mills during a downtown chase in the rain, he leaves him alive in what appears to be a random moment of mercy. It turns out that he had already been stalking the Detectives who were pursuing him for some time. He had far greater plans for Mills in mind, decapitating Mills's wife Tracy out of Envy and making him the final piece in his murder set by letting Mills kill him out of Wrath.
• In Shenandoah, Jimmy Stewart's character confronts the young Confederate soldier who's just shot and killed one of his sons after mistaking him for a Union soldier, telling him he hopes he lives a long life and has many children so that he can come to feel about them the way that Stewart does. "And then, when a man comes along and kills one of them..." he starts before he's overcome with emotion and walks away.
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan gives us this little gem:
  Khan: I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you, and I wish to go on... hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, left her, marooned for all eternity at the center of a dead planet, buried alive, buried alive...
  Kirk: KHAAAAAAN! KHAAAN!
  Of course, Kirk is only acting at this point; he already knows they will shortly be rescued.
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: For Klingons, getting captured alive is probably the worst humiliation you can visit upon them. The one remaining crew member of the Klingon ship gets the Enterprise crew to promise to kill him instead of keeping him captive. Later, Kirk orders them to lock him up. When the Klingon shouts, "But you said you would kill me!", Kirk responds: "I Lied".
• Two back-to-back cases of this are responsible for the transformation of fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker into Sith Lord Darth Vader in the back-lore of Star Wars, as recounted in Revenge of the Sith:
  • Firstly, in a battle with Vader's former teacher Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi cuts off Vader's left arm and both of his legs and then chooses to walk away and leave him alive... except that the site where they were dueling is beside a molten chemical lake. By the time Vader's new master, Darth Sidious, finds Vader, the extreme heat has basically cooked him alive, covering his entire body in severe burns as well as permanently damaging his eyes and lungs. Subverted since according to Word of God, he didn't want to just leave Vader like that, but he wasn't in a good place mentally and felt that finishing him off would be an express ticket to The Dark Side.
  • Secondly, rather than leave Vader to finish cooking to death or just killing him outright, Darth Sidious rescues him and gives him life-saving cybernetic reconstructive surgery... without any anesthesia, over days of agonizing procedures. Depending on the Writer, Sidious also deliberately chooses poorly designed and/or obsolete implants that will further cause Vader suffering and misery just because he can (and because the Dark Side is fueled by negative emotions).
• In Terror at Black Falls, Juan takes a saloon full of people hostage, planning to kill one every ten minutes until Sheriff Cal arrives to confront him. He says that he will kill Cal's son Johnny last so he can watch everyone else die.
• In Thor: The Dark World, Loki's sentence is this. While life in prison would normally be a merciful sentence considering what he's done, consider that for someone who lives as long as Loki, that might mean spending four thousand years in solitary confinement. Odin spared Loki's life because Frigga asked him to, but he did it in the cruelest way possible for both of them, actually making it part of Loki's sentence that they could never see each other again. That's not only a cruel punishment for Loki, but it is also one for Frigga as well, especially since, unlike her son, she did nothing to deserve it.
• In Training Day, Ethan Hawke's character leaves Denzel Washington's character alive after their final confrontation. It might seem merciful, but Denzel owes a very large debt to The Mafiya, and Ethan took the money he was going to use to pay them off. He doesn't last long.

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