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* ''Film/Shazam2019'': Incompleteness and inadequacy. If you feel you are not what you're supposed to be, how do you try to remedy it? What if [[WorldHalfFull the world]] and [[HumansAreFlawed the human race]] are themselves not all that they should be?
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how the one you came from isn't necessarily more important than the one you choose.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how the one you came from isn't necessarily always more important than the one you choose.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how the one you came from isn't always as important as the one you choose.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how the one you came from isn't always as necessarily more important as than the one you choose.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't always more important.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't the one you came from isn't always more important.as important as the one you choose.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't necessarily more important.
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*** The Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't necessarily always more important.
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*** The ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films'' in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't necessarily more important.
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*** The ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films'' films]] in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't necessarily more important.
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*** The ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 films'' in general: Having a FamilyOfChoice, and how blood relations aren't necessarily more important.
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery. finding the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery. finding Finding the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/AvengersEndgame: Second chances. You may have failed once, but never give up. Use your failure to create an even better success.
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** ''Film/AvengersEndgame: ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': Second chances. You may have failed once, but never give up. Use your failure to create an even better success.
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; finding the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; discovery. finding the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]] ]]
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame: Second chances. You may have failed once, but never give up. Use your failure to create an even better success.
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame: Second chances. You may have failed once, but never give up. Use your failure to create an even better success.
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; having the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; having finding the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite influences around you saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; having the courage to see what's more than meets despite what influences around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Inner and outer discovery; having the courage to see what's more than meets the eye despite what influences around you say saying otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Self-discovery; having the courage to become the person you are meant to be regardless of what the people around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Self-discovery; Inner and outer discovery; having the courage to become the person you are meant to be regardless of see what's more than meets despite what the people influences around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Self-discovery and having the courage to become the person you are meant to be regardless of what the people around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Self-discovery and Self-discovery; having the courage to become the person you are meant to be regardless of what the people around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Self-discovery and having the courage to become the person you are meant to be regardless of what the people around you say otherwise. Also, [[TheDeterminator having the strength to get back up when knocked down.]]
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* ''Film/AQuitePlace'': Parenthood, the fears and responsibilities that come with it.
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* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': No matter how much good you do, there will always be people out there who hate you. But it doesn't mean you have to give up.
** "Men are still good."
** "Men are still good."
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** ''Film/ManOfSteel'': The freedom to choose one's own path in life and how working for the greater good sometimes means making hard decisions.
** ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'':
*** No matter how much good you do, there will always be people out there who hate you. But it doesn't mean you have to give up.
*** "Men are still good."
** ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': [[HumansAreBastards Some members of humanity can be truly despicable]], but on the whole HumansAreGood [[HumansAreFlawed and try to do better]]; the world can be a terrible, awful place, but it's worth fighting for.
** ''Film/ManOfSteel'': The freedom to choose one's own path in life and how working for the greater good sometimes means making hard decisions.
** ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'':
*** No matter how much good you do, there will always be people out there who hate you. But it doesn't mean you have to give up.
*** "Men are still good."
** ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': [[HumansAreBastards Some members of humanity can be truly despicable]], but on the whole HumansAreGood [[HumansAreFlawed and try to do better]]; the world can be a terrible, awful place, but it's worth fighting for.
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* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': The freedom to choose one's own path in life and how working for the greater good sometimes means making hard decisions.
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* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': [[HumansAreBastards some members of humanity can be truly despicable]], but on the whole HumansAreGood [[HumansAreFlawed and try to do better]]; the world can be a terrible, awful place, but it's worth fighting for
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* ''Film/GetOut'': PositiveDiscrimination can be every bit as dehumanizing as overt racism, however well-intentioned it may be.
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* ''Film/GetOut'': PositiveDiscrimination CondescendingCompassion and [[FlawlessToken Positive Discrimination]] can be every bit as dehumanizing as overt racism, however well-intentioned it may be.
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* ''Film/AwaitFurtherInstructions'': How people consume news and the dangers of consuming mass information without questioning it, or the possible agenda behind it.
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* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': [[HumansAreBastards some members of humanity can be truly despicable]], but on the whole HumansAreGood [[HumansAreFlawed and try to do better]]; the world can be a terrible, awful place, but it's worth fighting for
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* ''Film/TheMagicChristian'': Every man has his price.
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* ''Film/TheMagicChristian'': Every man has his price.EveryManHasHisPrice.
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* ''Film/TheBabadook'': Grief, and how it affects someone, their health, their relationships, etc.
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Fargo: Greed definitely should be included when discussing the movie's themes
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* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'': The stupid things people do out of desperation.
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* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'': The stupid things people do out of of greed and desperation.
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* ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'': How do you spend the last days of your life?
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* ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'': How do you spend the last days of your life?life? And in a broader sense, what gives one's life meaning and fulfillment in the first place?
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Adding A Clockwork Orange
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* ''Film/AClockworkOrange'': Do people have a right to their freedom of will, even if they use it to be evil?
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* Film/SchindlersList: [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped The Holocaust was horrible, and the Nazis were evil.]] Also, the power of one person to save others, even in the worst of times.
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* Film/SchindlersList: [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped The Holocaust was horrible, and the Nazis were evil.]] Also, the power of one person to save others, make a difference, even in the worst of times.
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Adding Schindler's list
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* Film/SchindlersList: [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped The Holocaust was horrible, and the Nazis were evil.]] Also, the power of one person to save others, even in the worst of times.
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* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': There's always been evil in the world. There is no [[NostalgiaGoggles happy place in the past where everything was perfect.]] That said, does America still have a place for an old man who still believes this to be true?
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* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': There's always been evil in the world. There is no [[NostalgiaGoggles happy place in the past where everything was perfect.]] perfect]]. That said, does America still have a place for an old man who still believes this to be true? true?
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* ''Film/EightAndAHalf'': Creativity comes from life, from the chaos around you, from your past, your present, your fantasies, your desires, your mistakes and your guilt. There's no perfect ideal state and set of circumstances, you will have to deal with the life around you every time you create something.
* ''Film/EightMM'': Sometimes, people do horrible things [[ForTheEvulz for no reason other than they can]].
* It seems unlikely at first, but the single most consistent message coming from the ''[[Film/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]]'' films is that blood is {{thicker than water}}.
* ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'': Do we ''really'' make our own destinies, or are there some unseen forces controlling everything we see and do?
* ''Film/AirForceOne'': Caring for TheNeedsOfTheMany.
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'': [[EvilIsNotAToy The folly of trying to use something inherently evil for profit]].
** ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': The anxieties of childbirth and motherhood, and the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child--seen both through the Alien Queen's protective instinct towards her hive, and Ripley's protective instinct towards her surrogate daughter Newt.
** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'': The agony of living in the shadow of a distant parental figure, and the natural conflict between parent and child--seen through humanity's relationship with the Engineers, David's relationship with the humans who built him, and Meredith Vickers' relationship with [[spoiler: her father Charles Weyland]].
* ''Film/AlphaDog'': Be wary of your actions or you may suffer the consequences.
* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': Changing your life, for better or worse.
* ''Film/AmericanPie'': Searching for things that are actually under your nose.
* ''Film/AmericanPsycho'': How the pursuit of success can blind one to obvious dangers.
* ''Film/AngelsWithDirtyFaces'': Suffering for the good of others.
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'': Anarchy vs. fascism.
* ''Film/ApocalypseNow'': The effects of war on a man's psyche, and what kind of monsters can be found lurking within as a result.
* ''Film/{{Arrival}}'': Language and how it shapes our reality.
* ''Film/AsGoodAsItGets'': The small, unexpected or even unwanted changes in life.
* ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'': The effects that legend and reality have on each other.
* ''Film/AssassinsCreed2016'': Fitting the concept of the Animus - described InUniverse as "a means of learning about who made us what we are" - ''nobody'' in the film has a healthy relationship with ''anyone'' they're descended from, their parents least of all.
** Callum despises his [[spoiler:father for killing his mother, and only after fully synchronizing with Aguilar does he realize that his father only wished to spare his family from Abstergo's experiments]].
** In reverse, Sophia would do ''anything'' for her father, who [[spoiler:only sees the Animus project as a means to glorify himself, without a single thought for her amazing accomplishments: specifically, she's responsible for Animus technology from concept to final product, for which he ultimately takes full credit. She thus permits Callum to assassinate him and reclaim the Apple in the closing of the film]].
** Then there's all the ''other'' Animus subjects who have suffered severe psychological damage from being subjected to their ancestors' memories.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'':
** If you had the knowledge to change your life, would you?
** No matter what time you're in - past, present, future - people are always going to be people.
* ''Film/BatmanForever'': Identity.
* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': No matter how much good you do, there will always be people out there who hate you. But it doesn't mean you have to give up.
** "Men are still good."
* ''Film/BattleRoyale'': The breakdown of family and friendship.
* ''Film/TheBigCountry'': The nature of bravery, particularly in the face of futile conflict.
* ''Film/BigFish'': The nature of stories, and whether the emotional meaning and impact they have on someone outweighs whether or not it's true.
* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'':
** The things the rich (money, trophy wives) and the not so rich (bowling, the rug) find important.
** Life doesn't always make sense, but we grin and bear it because it's still the best thing we've got.
* ''Film/TheBigRedOne'': Survival is the only glory of war.
* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'': Ambition and how it can screw us over.
* ''Film/BlacKkKlansman'': White supremacy is still alive and well.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' / ''Film/BladeRunner2049'': Empathy is what makes us human.
* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'': Do our dreams and fantasies make us brave and free ourselves from our surroundings, or do they serve as a means to condition us to accept our surroundings as "normal" and prevent us from truly changing it?
* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'': [[HiddenDepths Is there anything beneath the face one shows to the world?]]
* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'': How two people can spend their whole lives together and never really know each other.
* ''Film/CallMeByYourName'': The intensity of FirstLove.
* ''Film/{{Calvary}}'': Guilt and forgiveness.
* ''Film/CarlitosWay'' - What debts should and should not be paid.
* ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'': Are there some causes so worth fighting for that even love should be sacrificed to fight for them?
* ''Film/TheChargeOfTheLightBrigade'': War is a confused mess run by inept UpperClassTwit s and blustery GlorySeeker s, and nobody gains anything at the end.
* ''{{Film/Chinatown}}'': Doing what is right may lead to terrible outcomes/there is no hope for final and lasting justice in this world/wealth and power will win over truth and justice.
** It's really hard to understand other people and learn the truth because make false assumptions and quick judgments.
* ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}}'': The refusal to let your circumstances change you.
* ''Film/CitizenKane'':
** How will the world remember you when you are gone?
** Money can't buy love or happiness. Even the most powerful people in the world often truly desire simple things--like [[spoiler: having a real childhood]].
** Even in a world of mass information, it's sometimes impossible to truly "know" the people around us.
* ''Film/TheConversation'': The difference between listening and hearing.
* ''Film/TheCrowd'': Everyone is a HeroOfAnotherStory, if not in their own eyes than in the eyes of their children or their wives and families, even if they aren't financially successful or only mediocre in talent.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' is about as a whole also explores the strengths, weaknesses and dangers in various political and social systems and what effects these can have. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is about what happens when our established forms of authority -- the police, the court system, local government etc -- become too corrupt, decadent and uncaring to effectively function. ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', is about the conflict between order and chaos, and the dangers of pure, unrestrained nihilism and anarchy. ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' is about the dangers of unfettered populist mob rule.
** In addition to the above political themes, each film explores an aspect of the human psyche and condition. ''Begins'' is about fear: it's the ubiquitous state of the general populace, and used as a weapon by all three principle villains (Falcone, Crane and Ra's al Ghul), as well as by Batman himself. ''Dark Knight'' is about freedom and responsibility, order and chaos, whether it's best to be TheFettered or TheUnfettered. And ''Rises'' is about truth, trust, and pain: every lie and deception carried out in the course of the series contributes to making the situation much worse, and revealing the truth provides the steps to improving matters. Bane is a villain defined by the physical pain he feels, contrasted to the psychological pain Batman feels. Significantly, by the end of the film every main character knows Batman's true identity.
** The power of myth also is a significant theme, as is the problem of escalation -- Batman ultimately derives his strength not from his money, which can be lost, or his physical powers, which can fail him, but his power as a symbolic icon to the people of Gotham, and in doing so becomes "[[ArcWords more than just a man]]". On the flip side, however, the more powerful the myth of Batman becomes, the more powerful his enemies become as they rise to challenge him.
** The films also warn about making short-sighted decisions to solve immediate problems. Bruce Wayne joining the League of Shadows, Gotham's gangsters hiring The Joker, Daggett hiring Bane and Catwoman stealing Bruce's fingerprints all prove to be very bad ideas.
* ''Film/DangerousLiaisons'': Corruption and [[HeelFaceTurn Redemption]].
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Peace doesn't happen if only a few are willing to work at it. All must be striving to achieve it.
* ''Film/DirtyDancing'': The rediscovery of innocence.
* ''Film/DirtyHarry'': How crime and law enforcement are hideously intertwined.
* ''Film/DoTheRightThing'': Racism is still alive and kicking, only this time [[GrayAndGreyMorality the issues present are lot more complex and nuanced and no side is truly in the right]]
* ''Film/DrStrangelove'': How do you save mankind when they are bent on destroying themselves?
* ''Film/{{Drive}}'': Your actions speak much louder than your words. Also, how important is it to have a code?
* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'': Day-to-day survival can be a victory.
* ''Film/TheEmptyMirror'': Evil devours itself.
* ''Franchise/EvilDead'': Man's capacity to [[{{Determinator}} persevere in the face of overwhelming odds]].
* ''Film/FallingDown'': Dealing with the traumas of everyday life.
* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'': The stupid things people do out of desperation.
* ''Film/FatalAttraction'': How one stupid, isolated mistake can derail one's whole life.
* ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'': Don't be afraid of taking chances.
** Live your life instead of being stuck to the grindstone.
* ''Film/FinalDestination'': The futility and madness of putting off the inevitable.
* ''Film/ForrestGump'': American life after the war has changed radically with every decade and nobody knows how to fit into the times.
* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'': Is killing part of human nature and can one become a killer and still remain human?
* ''Film/{{Heat}}'':
** The thin line between police and the thieves they pursue.
** The price of devoting yourself to excelling in a particular vocation on yourself and those around you.
* ''Film/{{Her}}'': The connections that people share with one another, even if you can't see them at first.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': The appreciation of fandom, warts and all.
* ''Film/GetOut'': PositiveDiscrimination can be every bit as dehumanizing as overt racism, however well-intentioned it may be.
* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'': Heroism is a thankless job, but someone has to do it.
* ''Film/{{Giant}}'': The constantly changing face of family.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'': How ASimplePlan never seems to go right. Also the role of charisma, personality and popularity in leadership.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'':
** Loyalty to one's family is well and good, but to what extent?
** Families can contain tensions that never truly go away, and people who feel they are doing good for the family can do the most to destroy them.
** A crime family will never "go legit" because they are ''useful'' to other powerful factions (politicians, businessmen, actors, the church). If they grow soft, they will be taken out by more ruthless enemies who want to usurp their position as a power broker, so they must stay ruthless not only to protect themselves, but also prevent someone worse than them from taking their place.
* ''{{Franchise/Godzilla}}'': The eternal conflict between humanity, nature and technology. NatureIsNotNice, and humans can't always succeed in taming the beasts of the Earth -- but humanity's own creations can turn on them just as quickly.
** ''Film/Godzilla2014'': That NatureIsNotNice and that mankind isn't nearly as powerful as they think they are. Also, family is important.
*** Nature may not be nice, but she's been here longer than us, and sometimes, she knows what's best for everyone. So, "let them fight".
*** Nature really only cares about balance; if something threatens that balance, something else will knock it back into place.
* ''Film/GoneBabyGone'': What is ethically right and what is lawfully right don't always overlap.
* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'': The conflict between [[HonorBeforeReason lofty ideals and hard edged reality]].
* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'': Even war won't stop the greedy.
* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'': [[EvilIsCool Why are people lured into organized crime?]]
* ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'': Is there still a place for kindness in a post-war world?
* ''Film/TheGrandIllusion'': Fighting a war is absurd because you will often find that you have more in common with your counterpart in another nation than you will among your countrymen.
* ''Film/{{Harakiri}}'': "Honour" is a meaningless, abstract concept, mainly used by the powerful to protect their own corruption.
* ''Film/{{Highwaymen}}'': Revenge.
* ''Film/{{Hitch}}'': Be yourself.
* ''Film/TheHitcher'': The thrill of the hunt.
* ''Film/HoboWithAShotgun'': Do desperate times ''really'' call for desperate measures, or will that just make everything worse?
* ''Film/HomeAlone'': Self-reliance.
* ''Film/HotFuzz'':
** The importance of achieving balance in your life between the things you find important (such doing a good job at work and maintaining a perfect community) and maintaining healthy relationships with the people around you.
** The conflict between illusion and reality. Note that this is seen through Danny Butterman's obsession with buddy cop movies (escapist fantasies that barely resemble real police work) and Frank Butterman's obsession with maintaining the illusion that Sandford is the perfect village.
* ''Film/TheHost'' (2006): Family can overcome even the most obstructive bureaucrat.
* ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'': How do you spend the last days of your life?
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': What's treasure versus [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts what's valuable]]; each movie sees Indy and his friends on the hunt for some ancient artifact of incalculable power and worth, but while they might not end up with the treasure, they usually come to some understanding about themselves that is more valuable and meaningful.
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': The power of an idea.
* ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'': Maintaining hope in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': The importance of a single person to the community of man.
** The people who truly make the community happy are the NoRespectGuy for whom BeingGoodSucks and however much people take them for granted they should never be forgotten.
* ''Film/JamesBond'': Films made between 1962 and 1989 showcase the tensions between NATO and Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, while those made after 1991 deal with new threats such as terrorism and [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell the role of 007 in a post-Cold War era]].
** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'': The risks of nuclear blackmail.
** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'': Détente between East and West.
** ''Film/LicenceToKill'': The concept of a license to kill.
** ''Film/GoldenEye'': [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell Why James Bond Is Bummed Communism Fell]]. Also, what happens when the unexploded bombs of the past resurface?
** ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'': The dangers of an irresponsibly powerful and unchecked tabloid media.
** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'': The rise of new threats such as terrorism in the aftermath of the Cold War.
** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'': Does James Bond / old-fashioned intelligence methods / Britain still have a role in the twenty-first century?
** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'':
*** Confronting your inner and past demons.
*** The dangers of total surveillance, and how it will be utilized, especially in light of the NSA hacking scandal and PRISM.
*** ''Spectre'' also continues ''Skyfall'''s motif of Bond's relevance in a digitized era.
* ''Film/JerryMaguire'': Whether or not ideals and principles are a liability in business.
* ''Film/JurassicPark'': The fragility of man's control over nature.
** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': [[ClonesArePeopleToo Cloned dinosaurs are just like naturally born animals]].
* ''Film/TheKarateKid'': The different dynamics of the student/mentor relationship.
* ''Film/TheKiller'': Even in a world of criminals, brotherhood and loyalty are still important traits to have.
* ''Film/KingArthur'': Is freedom tangible? Can it be given or taken away?
* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'':
** [[SlobsVersusSnobs Class conflict]], how it can be viewed from different sides and how it isn't necessarily black and white.
** The nature of money. Can fabulous wealth ever be [[CrimeFightingWithCash used for the good of humanity]], or does it inevitably distort a person's view of the world? [[BlackAndGreyMorality Yes]].
* ''Film/LaLaLand'': The clash between ideals and reality.
* ''Film/TheLastEmperor'': "Is that really so bad? To be useful."
* ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'': What does it mean to be fully human and fully divine?
* ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'': The [[DualityMotif duality]] inherent in life and in all of us -- good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, innocence vs. corruption -- and what it takes for the former to triumph over the latter.
* ''Film/TheLeopard'': Society will change and alter in all manner of unexpected ways and not everyone can live in a changed world.
* ''Film/{{Life 2017}}'': In tomes of crisis, making decisions based purely on emotions will only make matters worse.
* ''Film/LordOfWar'': Gun runners are integrated into the world market and vital to great power interests, so can't be eradicated through policing.
* ''Film/{{M}}'': Helplessness.
* ''Film/TheMachinist'': The truth will set you free, no matter how [[AwfulTruth awful.]]
* ''Film/MadMax'': Holding on to the bits and pieces of society and civility.
** ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': "People are not things."
* ''Film/TheMagicChristian'': Every man has his price.
* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'': The loss and reclamation of faith in humanity.
* ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'': Can matters of the heart override one's sense of justice?
* ''Film/ManchesterByTheSea'': Grief is a lifelong struggle, and not everyone is equipped to handle it.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/IronMan'': Peace through superior weaponry is a self-defeating prospect without a measure of responsibility.
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': How do those with power handle their differences when dealing with a bigger problem? This relationship is found not only between the title characters themselves, but also between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the World Security Council.
** ''Film/IronMan3'': How much are we defined by our pasts? This is also sort of the theme in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Freedom versus security. Do either need to be sacrificed in the name of peace?
** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Children, evolution, and legacies- what do we leave behind, and will it change the world for the better or the worse? Also a secondary one: Where is the line between a hero and a monster/a spy and a murderer/a visionary and a mad scientist?
** ''Film/AntMan'': Being defined by our pasts, for good and ill. Also the fear of losing control of our own legacy, and whether there are things for which TheWorldIsNotReady.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': The destruction of family and the CycleOfRevenge.
** ''Film/DoctorStrange'': Finding new purpose in life after losing your previous one. Also the lengths someone will go to in order to achieve their goals, and whether or not such lengths are ever justified.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Parenthood and how that affects you.
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': The "little guy" and how they react to their perceived treatment by those in power. Do they try and help those even less fortunate than themselves, or do they try and get their own piece of the pie by any means necessary? Who out there is really looking out for the interests of others?
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': Self-reflection. Who the characters really are and can they leave the past behind?
** ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'': Interventionism, how the past and present are meant to interact, and the CycleOfRevenge.
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Sacrifice. Is it right to kill one in order to save millions? What if that one person is your loved one?
** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': Consequences. The second and third-order effects our actions have, and the collateral damage we do in pursuit of our goals (and how much collateral damage we are willing to ignore or accept.)
** All of Phase 3: How the mistakes of the older generation effect the new generation and how the older generation can make up for it [[RedemptionEqualsDeath even if it means death]].
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': The freedom to choose one's own path in life and how working for the greater good sometimes means making hard decisions.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'': Is the truth more important than a good legend?
* ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'': Possession and ownership.
* ''Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath'': There is nothing on earth more powerful than love.
* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': The nature of reality and the world around us; can we trust what our senses tell us? Might authority be using this to mislead us?
** Each film in the trilogy also has a central theme of its own: ''Film/TheMatrix'' is about belief, ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' is about purpose, and ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' is about choices.
* ''Film/{{Memento}}'': The ways in which memory -- and thus people -- can be distorted and manipulated, by ourselves and those around us.
* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': Whether it is wise or not to follow [[MessianicArchetype someone who seems to have all the answers]].
* ''Film/{{Moonlight}}'': Identity and its malleability over time.
* ''Film/MysteryTeam'': How do you find the perfect balance between growing up and following your childhood dreams?
* ''Film/{{Network}}'': How viewers and network execs are enslaved by television.
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'': [[AdultsAreUseless The reality that sometimes adults are not always helpful and can even make things worse unintentionally]].
* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': There's always been evil in the world. There is no [[NostalgiaGoggles happy place in the past where everything was perfect.]] That said, does America still have a place for an old man who still believes this to be true?
* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'': "Conscience, that stuff can drive you nuts".
* ''Film/{{Oldboy 2003}}'': What is at the end of revenge, contentment or heartache?
* ''Film/TheOxBowIncident'': What does it truly mean to take the law into your own hands?
* ''Film/OverTheEdge'': Delinquency and how society often fails to tackle it.
* ''Film/PacificRim'':
** '''Family'''. All of the regular Jaeger pilot teams we see, barring Raleigh and Mako, are related in one way or another, and there's a recurring theme of surrogate family members. Even the Kaiju, in an odd sort of way, are related to each other, [[spoiler:despite being genetically-engineered bioweapons. One is even pregnant.]]
** '''Unity'''. All of the family teams are defeated. The final victory requires everyone to work together; people of different races and nationalities, people who love and hate each other, fighters, scientists, and even criminals have to contribute something to achieve the win.
** '''Hope'''. The hero of the movie refuses to trade ten lives in favor of improved odds for saving two million more, and instead resolves to save two million and ten lives. The entire Jaeger outfit at the end is still unhesitatingly going out to fight even when the war is visibly beyond the point of no return. The politicians who try to cut their losses and be pragmatic and play lifeboat are shown as taking the road of good intentions straight down to Hell. It's only the people who refuse to acknowledge 'hopeless' odds and instead persist in believing that they can score a clean victory rather than a mediated loss who end up achieving anything.
* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'': A very topical one about welcoming immigrants.
* ''Film/ThePatriot'': Is there really such a thing as "rules" of war?
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Can a good man be also a scoundrel and vice-versa?
* ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'': The conflicts between nostalgia for the past and the reality of the past. Also, accepting the present, flaws and all, versus living in the past.
* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Always pay close attention to everything around you. You never know what you might miss.
* ''Film/{{Prisoners}}'': Two of them: The limits of man and and how far one will go to break them.
* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'':
--> '''Norman Bates''': "I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."
* ''Film/PulpFiction'':
** The ways in which people and their lives connect and overlap, even if those connections may not be immediately apparent or clear at first glance.
** The unexpected. The movie's plot can be succinctly summed up as "A series of classic {{film noir}} stock plots that are all thrown out of whack by various bizarre and/or unexpected twists". Whether those twists take the form of a freak drug overdose, a random encounter with a pair of psychotic rapists, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane miraculously surviving a flurry of point-blank gunshots]], [[spoiler: accidentally blowing a man's head off]], or [[spoiler: a hit-man having a sudden religious conversion]], nearly all of the film's major plot points stem from them.
* ''Film/{{Rambo}}'': The war that goes on inside every soldier.
* ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'': Truth is subjective.
* ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'': The need for grown ups to grow up. The realization that adults don't always have the answers to the larger questions in your life, and the need to be your own man without completely falling into cynicism.
* ''Film/RedRidingHood'': The devastating effects of secrets in a community.
* ''Film/{{The Red Shoes|1948}}'': You must make personal sacrifices to truly excel artistically.
* ''Film/RequiemForADream'': The lengths to which someone will go to escape their reality.
** Time passes by quicker than you realize, and life isn't defined by single events, so you need to learn to live in the moment.
* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': Loyalty and betrayal.
* ''Film/RoboCop1987'': He may be a corporate mascot but Robocop, along with good honest cops, will always stand for what's right. Even if the people who made him don't.
** The dangers of unrestrained, unfettered capitalism.
* ''Film/TheRock'': The power of the will.
* ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'': Living well is the best revenge. Also, life goes on after high school, and one's experience there eventually matters very little, if at all, in the grand scheme of things.
* ''Film/RunLolaRun'': Learn from your mistakes.
* ''Film/TheRunningMan'': The dehumanising effects of sensationalist television on those who participate in it and those who watch it.
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': Overcome your FatalFlaw. Your life might depend on it. Torture does not make people change for the better. It will only makes things worst.
** Even more prominent is: Cherish your life, and don't squander it for any reason.
** ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'': The truth will set you free.
* ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' has two themes: Everyone's a little bit crazy and violence is not always the answer (but it works a hell a lot of the time).
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'': Who has it better, the peasants who live normal but undistinguished lives or the warriors who live exciting but violent lives?
* ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'': Why death is necessary to the great scheme of things.
* ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'': A love letter to the outsider.
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': Getting stuck in a rut with your life, and what it might take to kick you out of it and realize your potential. For some people, it might be a bust-up with their loved one or an argument with their friend. For others, a ZombieApocalypse might be necessary.
* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'':
** Hope. Does hope just [[HopeIsScary prolong the agony of people with nothing left to live for]], or is it [[HopeSpringsEternal the only thing that can save them]]? [[spoiler: The movie comes down ''hard'' on the side of the latter, after Andy goes through hell to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending]].]]
** Redemption. Yes, [[TheAtoner atoning for the sins of your past]] is an important part of life, but ''no one'' deserves to suffer for their offenses forever. At some point, everyone deserves the chance to redeem themselves and start anew, even if they have to take that chance by force.
* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Disillusion with authority figures.
* ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'': The trials and triumphs of the underdog.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' Movies have the theme of whether one can remain a hero even as their life crumbles around them.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'': Finding the purpose in your life.
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'':
*** Sometimes you can't TakeAThirdOption.
*** Aging, death and vengeance.
*** Potential and raw intelligence are not the same thing as experience.
** ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'': How far will you go for a friend?
** ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'': The wisdom of preserving what you have today ([[GreenAesop particularly the environment]]) for the future; after all, no one knows what tomorrow might bring, and what might happen if you suddenly find you need it and it's not there anymore...
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'':
*** Can there ever be peace between two peoples who have always hated each other?
*** Don't let fears of a possible bad future keep you from accepting a possible good present.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': Whether or not human emotion is weakness--demonstrated both through Data's temptation to become human with the Borg Queen's help, and through Picard's struggle with his desire for revenge against the Borg.
** ''Film/StarTrek2009'', ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': Coming to terms with the past. In this continuity, Kirk joins Starfleet to come to terms with the death of his father, who was killed in the line of duty before he ever got to meet him. All three {{Big Bad}}s are also FishOutOfTemporalWater [[NotSoDifferent similarly consumed with anger and regret over past events]]. [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nero]] is literally and figuratively "stuck in the past" on a pointless mission of revenge against the people that he blames for the loss of his home planet; [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness John Harrison]] is [[spoiler: Khan Noonien Singh, a failed tyrant from a bygone century trying to realize a doomed dream of world domination]]; [[Film/StarTrekBeyond Krall]] is [[spoiler: a Starfleet captain with an artificially prolonged lifespan who could never move on from his past as a soldier]], and hates the Federation for [[spoiler: trying to make peace with the races that he once fought]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In general:
*** The eternal (and cyclical) nature of the battle between Good and Evil, and how people can be brought to either side by a single choice.
*** Good exists where you may least expect it. And even the worst people can find redemption by facing their pasts.
*** How big things can be beaten by something small.
** ''Film/RogueOne'':
*** Hope. More specifically: even against insurmountable odds, even in the face of your own certain death, one must ''always'' have hope in the greater good. Or to paraphrase a fitting quote from [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings another franchise entirely]], the film's theme is summed up with:
---->''"I give hope to others, I leave none for myself."''
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'':
*** Moving on from the past--and how that can be either a good thing or a bad thing.
*** Being a hero and doing the right thing aren't always the same; sometimes the people who do the most good are the ones who make hard choices, despite knowing that they're not going to be praised or honored for them.
* ''Film/SwingKids'': What should someone do when faced with evil in a corrupt society?
* ''Film/TheTerminator'': [[SelfFulfillingProphecy There is no fate but what we make]].
* ''Film/TheTerminal'': Rules shouldn't be absolute. While [[ObstructiveBureaucrat the rules]] exist for a reason, they can sometimes prevent good people from getting the help they need.
* ''Film/TheThinRedLine'': War as a truly unnatural phenomenon.
* ''Film/TheThing1982'': Paranoia and the loss of trust.
* ''Film/TradingPlaces'': How wealth (or lack thereof) affects peoples' lives.
* ''Film/TrueGrit'': How can you tell if one has grit or character?
* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'': How first impressions can be misleading and deceptive. Also, the importance of communication to avoid misunderstandings.
* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'': Violence, as a means of establishing law and order, and violence, as a means to get revenge, is one and the same and equally self-destructive.
* ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'': It's hard to love people for who they truly are, since you never really know if what you see is how they really are and you can be so lost in your fantasy that you can go insane.
* ''Film/WallStreet'': Is {{Greed}}, for lack of a better word, good?
** Putting wealth and power against simplicity and honesty.
** The yuppie culture of the 1980s.
* ''Film/WarGames'': War doesn't determine who wins, but who loses the least.
* ''Film/WarmBodies'': Time healing old wounds.
* ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'': The need to believe that things will get better in the future.
* ''Film/TheWildBunch'': ThePowerOfFriendship, TeethClenchedTeamwork and UndyingLoyalty.
* ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'': Money is a drug, it's addictive, it gives you a high and you will always want more and more, and will never really be satisfied.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The importance of maintaining hope, even in the face of hardship and tragedy, because hope can conquer anything, and that just because someone has lost their way, it doesn't mean they're lost forever.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': The main threads throughout the story are families coming together, and that love is stronger and more powerful than fear, hate or anger.
** ''Film/Deadpool2'': Can a HeroicComedicSociopath NinetiesAntiHero's heart be in the right place? Also, moving on from loss and the impact a surrogate family can have.
* ''Film/EightMM'': Sometimes, people do horrible things [[ForTheEvulz for no reason other than they can]].
* It seems unlikely at first, but the single most consistent message coming from the ''[[Film/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]]'' films is that blood is {{thicker than water}}.
* ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'': Do we ''really'' make our own destinies, or are there some unseen forces controlling everything we see and do?
* ''Film/AirForceOne'': Caring for TheNeedsOfTheMany.
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'': [[EvilIsNotAToy The folly of trying to use something inherently evil for profit]].
** ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': The anxieties of childbirth and motherhood, and the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child--seen both through the Alien Queen's protective instinct towards her hive, and Ripley's protective instinct towards her surrogate daughter Newt.
** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'': The agony of living in the shadow of a distant parental figure, and the natural conflict between parent and child--seen through humanity's relationship with the Engineers, David's relationship with the humans who built him, and Meredith Vickers' relationship with [[spoiler: her father Charles Weyland]].
* ''Film/AlphaDog'': Be wary of your actions or you may suffer the consequences.
* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': Changing your life, for better or worse.
* ''Film/AmericanPie'': Searching for things that are actually under your nose.
* ''Film/AmericanPsycho'': How the pursuit of success can blind one to obvious dangers.
* ''Film/AngelsWithDirtyFaces'': Suffering for the good of others.
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'': Anarchy vs. fascism.
* ''Film/ApocalypseNow'': The effects of war on a man's psyche, and what kind of monsters can be found lurking within as a result.
* ''Film/{{Arrival}}'': Language and how it shapes our reality.
* ''Film/AsGoodAsItGets'': The small, unexpected or even unwanted changes in life.
* ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'': The effects that legend and reality have on each other.
* ''Film/AssassinsCreed2016'': Fitting the concept of the Animus - described InUniverse as "a means of learning about who made us what we are" - ''nobody'' in the film has a healthy relationship with ''anyone'' they're descended from, their parents least of all.
** Callum despises his [[spoiler:father for killing his mother, and only after fully synchronizing with Aguilar does he realize that his father only wished to spare his family from Abstergo's experiments]].
** In reverse, Sophia would do ''anything'' for her father, who [[spoiler:only sees the Animus project as a means to glorify himself, without a single thought for her amazing accomplishments: specifically, she's responsible for Animus technology from concept to final product, for which he ultimately takes full credit. She thus permits Callum to assassinate him and reclaim the Apple in the closing of the film]].
** Then there's all the ''other'' Animus subjects who have suffered severe psychological damage from being subjected to their ancestors' memories.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'':
** If you had the knowledge to change your life, would you?
** No matter what time you're in - past, present, future - people are always going to be people.
* ''Film/BatmanForever'': Identity.
* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': No matter how much good you do, there will always be people out there who hate you. But it doesn't mean you have to give up.
** "Men are still good."
* ''Film/BattleRoyale'': The breakdown of family and friendship.
* ''Film/TheBigCountry'': The nature of bravery, particularly in the face of futile conflict.
* ''Film/BigFish'': The nature of stories, and whether the emotional meaning and impact they have on someone outweighs whether or not it's true.
* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'':
** The things the rich (money, trophy wives) and the not so rich (bowling, the rug) find important.
** Life doesn't always make sense, but we grin and bear it because it's still the best thing we've got.
* ''Film/TheBigRedOne'': Survival is the only glory of war.
* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'': Ambition and how it can screw us over.
* ''Film/BlacKkKlansman'': White supremacy is still alive and well.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' / ''Film/BladeRunner2049'': Empathy is what makes us human.
* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'': Do our dreams and fantasies make us brave and free ourselves from our surroundings, or do they serve as a means to condition us to accept our surroundings as "normal" and prevent us from truly changing it?
* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'': [[HiddenDepths Is there anything beneath the face one shows to the world?]]
* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'': How two people can spend their whole lives together and never really know each other.
* ''Film/CallMeByYourName'': The intensity of FirstLove.
* ''Film/{{Calvary}}'': Guilt and forgiveness.
* ''Film/CarlitosWay'' - What debts should and should not be paid.
* ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'': Are there some causes so worth fighting for that even love should be sacrificed to fight for them?
* ''Film/TheChargeOfTheLightBrigade'': War is a confused mess run by inept UpperClassTwit s and blustery GlorySeeker s, and nobody gains anything at the end.
* ''{{Film/Chinatown}}'': Doing what is right may lead to terrible outcomes/there is no hope for final and lasting justice in this world/wealth and power will win over truth and justice.
** It's really hard to understand other people and learn the truth because make false assumptions and quick judgments.
* ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}}'': The refusal to let your circumstances change you.
* ''Film/CitizenKane'':
** How will the world remember you when you are gone?
** Money can't buy love or happiness. Even the most powerful people in the world often truly desire simple things--like [[spoiler: having a real childhood]].
** Even in a world of mass information, it's sometimes impossible to truly "know" the people around us.
* ''Film/TheConversation'': The difference between listening and hearing.
* ''Film/TheCrowd'': Everyone is a HeroOfAnotherStory, if not in their own eyes than in the eyes of their children or their wives and families, even if they aren't financially successful or only mediocre in talent.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' is about as a whole also explores the strengths, weaknesses and dangers in various political and social systems and what effects these can have. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is about what happens when our established forms of authority -- the police, the court system, local government etc -- become too corrupt, decadent and uncaring to effectively function. ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', is about the conflict between order and chaos, and the dangers of pure, unrestrained nihilism and anarchy. ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' is about the dangers of unfettered populist mob rule.
** In addition to the above political themes, each film explores an aspect of the human psyche and condition. ''Begins'' is about fear: it's the ubiquitous state of the general populace, and used as a weapon by all three principle villains (Falcone, Crane and Ra's al Ghul), as well as by Batman himself. ''Dark Knight'' is about freedom and responsibility, order and chaos, whether it's best to be TheFettered or TheUnfettered. And ''Rises'' is about truth, trust, and pain: every lie and deception carried out in the course of the series contributes to making the situation much worse, and revealing the truth provides the steps to improving matters. Bane is a villain defined by the physical pain he feels, contrasted to the psychological pain Batman feels. Significantly, by the end of the film every main character knows Batman's true identity.
** The power of myth also is a significant theme, as is the problem of escalation -- Batman ultimately derives his strength not from his money, which can be lost, or his physical powers, which can fail him, but his power as a symbolic icon to the people of Gotham, and in doing so becomes "[[ArcWords more than just a man]]". On the flip side, however, the more powerful the myth of Batman becomes, the more powerful his enemies become as they rise to challenge him.
** The films also warn about making short-sighted decisions to solve immediate problems. Bruce Wayne joining the League of Shadows, Gotham's gangsters hiring The Joker, Daggett hiring Bane and Catwoman stealing Bruce's fingerprints all prove to be very bad ideas.
* ''Film/DangerousLiaisons'': Corruption and [[HeelFaceTurn Redemption]].
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Peace doesn't happen if only a few are willing to work at it. All must be striving to achieve it.
* ''Film/DirtyDancing'': The rediscovery of innocence.
* ''Film/DirtyHarry'': How crime and law enforcement are hideously intertwined.
* ''Film/DoTheRightThing'': Racism is still alive and kicking, only this time [[GrayAndGreyMorality the issues present are lot more complex and nuanced and no side is truly in the right]]
* ''Film/DrStrangelove'': How do you save mankind when they are bent on destroying themselves?
* ''Film/{{Drive}}'': Your actions speak much louder than your words. Also, how important is it to have a code?
* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'': Day-to-day survival can be a victory.
* ''Film/TheEmptyMirror'': Evil devours itself.
* ''Franchise/EvilDead'': Man's capacity to [[{{Determinator}} persevere in the face of overwhelming odds]].
* ''Film/FallingDown'': Dealing with the traumas of everyday life.
* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'': The stupid things people do out of desperation.
* ''Film/FatalAttraction'': How one stupid, isolated mistake can derail one's whole life.
* ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'': Don't be afraid of taking chances.
** Live your life instead of being stuck to the grindstone.
* ''Film/FinalDestination'': The futility and madness of putting off the inevitable.
* ''Film/ForrestGump'': American life after the war has changed radically with every decade and nobody knows how to fit into the times.
* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'': Is killing part of human nature and can one become a killer and still remain human?
* ''Film/{{Heat}}'':
** The thin line between police and the thieves they pursue.
** The price of devoting yourself to excelling in a particular vocation on yourself and those around you.
* ''Film/{{Her}}'': The connections that people share with one another, even if you can't see them at first.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': The appreciation of fandom, warts and all.
* ''Film/GetOut'': PositiveDiscrimination can be every bit as dehumanizing as overt racism, however well-intentioned it may be.
* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'': Heroism is a thankless job, but someone has to do it.
* ''Film/{{Giant}}'': The constantly changing face of family.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'': How ASimplePlan never seems to go right. Also the role of charisma, personality and popularity in leadership.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'':
** Loyalty to one's family is well and good, but to what extent?
** Families can contain tensions that never truly go away, and people who feel they are doing good for the family can do the most to destroy them.
** A crime family will never "go legit" because they are ''useful'' to other powerful factions (politicians, businessmen, actors, the church). If they grow soft, they will be taken out by more ruthless enemies who want to usurp their position as a power broker, so they must stay ruthless not only to protect themselves, but also prevent someone worse than them from taking their place.
* ''{{Franchise/Godzilla}}'': The eternal conflict between humanity, nature and technology. NatureIsNotNice, and humans can't always succeed in taming the beasts of the Earth -- but humanity's own creations can turn on them just as quickly.
** ''Film/Godzilla2014'': That NatureIsNotNice and that mankind isn't nearly as powerful as they think they are. Also, family is important.
*** Nature may not be nice, but she's been here longer than us, and sometimes, she knows what's best for everyone. So, "let them fight".
*** Nature really only cares about balance; if something threatens that balance, something else will knock it back into place.
* ''Film/GoneBabyGone'': What is ethically right and what is lawfully right don't always overlap.
* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'': The conflict between [[HonorBeforeReason lofty ideals and hard edged reality]].
* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'': Even war won't stop the greedy.
* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'': [[EvilIsCool Why are people lured into organized crime?]]
* ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'': Is there still a place for kindness in a post-war world?
* ''Film/TheGrandIllusion'': Fighting a war is absurd because you will often find that you have more in common with your counterpart in another nation than you will among your countrymen.
* ''Film/{{Harakiri}}'': "Honour" is a meaningless, abstract concept, mainly used by the powerful to protect their own corruption.
* ''Film/{{Highwaymen}}'': Revenge.
* ''Film/{{Hitch}}'': Be yourself.
* ''Film/TheHitcher'': The thrill of the hunt.
* ''Film/HoboWithAShotgun'': Do desperate times ''really'' call for desperate measures, or will that just make everything worse?
* ''Film/HomeAlone'': Self-reliance.
* ''Film/HotFuzz'':
** The importance of achieving balance in your life between the things you find important (such doing a good job at work and maintaining a perfect community) and maintaining healthy relationships with the people around you.
** The conflict between illusion and reality. Note that this is seen through Danny Butterman's obsession with buddy cop movies (escapist fantasies that barely resemble real police work) and Frank Butterman's obsession with maintaining the illusion that Sandford is the perfect village.
* ''Film/TheHost'' (2006): Family can overcome even the most obstructive bureaucrat.
* ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'': How do you spend the last days of your life?
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': What's treasure versus [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts what's valuable]]; each movie sees Indy and his friends on the hunt for some ancient artifact of incalculable power and worth, but while they might not end up with the treasure, they usually come to some understanding about themselves that is more valuable and meaningful.
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': The power of an idea.
* ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'': Maintaining hope in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': The importance of a single person to the community of man.
** The people who truly make the community happy are the NoRespectGuy for whom BeingGoodSucks and however much people take them for granted they should never be forgotten.
* ''Film/JamesBond'': Films made between 1962 and 1989 showcase the tensions between NATO and Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, while those made after 1991 deal with new threats such as terrorism and [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell the role of 007 in a post-Cold War era]].
** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'': The risks of nuclear blackmail.
** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'': Détente between East and West.
** ''Film/LicenceToKill'': The concept of a license to kill.
** ''Film/GoldenEye'': [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell Why James Bond Is Bummed Communism Fell]]. Also, what happens when the unexploded bombs of the past resurface?
** ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'': The dangers of an irresponsibly powerful and unchecked tabloid media.
** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'': The rise of new threats such as terrorism in the aftermath of the Cold War.
** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'': Does James Bond / old-fashioned intelligence methods / Britain still have a role in the twenty-first century?
** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'':
*** Confronting your inner and past demons.
*** The dangers of total surveillance, and how it will be utilized, especially in light of the NSA hacking scandal and PRISM.
*** ''Spectre'' also continues ''Skyfall'''s motif of Bond's relevance in a digitized era.
* ''Film/JerryMaguire'': Whether or not ideals and principles are a liability in business.
* ''Film/JurassicPark'': The fragility of man's control over nature.
** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': [[ClonesArePeopleToo Cloned dinosaurs are just like naturally born animals]].
* ''Film/TheKarateKid'': The different dynamics of the student/mentor relationship.
* ''Film/TheKiller'': Even in a world of criminals, brotherhood and loyalty are still important traits to have.
* ''Film/KingArthur'': Is freedom tangible? Can it be given or taken away?
* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'':
** [[SlobsVersusSnobs Class conflict]], how it can be viewed from different sides and how it isn't necessarily black and white.
** The nature of money. Can fabulous wealth ever be [[CrimeFightingWithCash used for the good of humanity]], or does it inevitably distort a person's view of the world? [[BlackAndGreyMorality Yes]].
* ''Film/LaLaLand'': The clash between ideals and reality.
* ''Film/TheLastEmperor'': "Is that really so bad? To be useful."
* ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'': What does it mean to be fully human and fully divine?
* ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'': The [[DualityMotif duality]] inherent in life and in all of us -- good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, innocence vs. corruption -- and what it takes for the former to triumph over the latter.
* ''Film/TheLeopard'': Society will change and alter in all manner of unexpected ways and not everyone can live in a changed world.
* ''Film/{{Life 2017}}'': In tomes of crisis, making decisions based purely on emotions will only make matters worse.
* ''Film/LordOfWar'': Gun runners are integrated into the world market and vital to great power interests, so can't be eradicated through policing.
* ''Film/{{M}}'': Helplessness.
* ''Film/TheMachinist'': The truth will set you free, no matter how [[AwfulTruth awful.]]
* ''Film/MadMax'': Holding on to the bits and pieces of society and civility.
** ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': "People are not things."
* ''Film/TheMagicChristian'': Every man has his price.
* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'': The loss and reclamation of faith in humanity.
* ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'': Can matters of the heart override one's sense of justice?
* ''Film/ManchesterByTheSea'': Grief is a lifelong struggle, and not everyone is equipped to handle it.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/IronMan'': Peace through superior weaponry is a self-defeating prospect without a measure of responsibility.
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': How do those with power handle their differences when dealing with a bigger problem? This relationship is found not only between the title characters themselves, but also between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the World Security Council.
** ''Film/IronMan3'': How much are we defined by our pasts? This is also sort of the theme in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Freedom versus security. Do either need to be sacrificed in the name of peace?
** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Children, evolution, and legacies- what do we leave behind, and will it change the world for the better or the worse? Also a secondary one: Where is the line between a hero and a monster/a spy and a murderer/a visionary and a mad scientist?
** ''Film/AntMan'': Being defined by our pasts, for good and ill. Also the fear of losing control of our own legacy, and whether there are things for which TheWorldIsNotReady.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': The destruction of family and the CycleOfRevenge.
** ''Film/DoctorStrange'': Finding new purpose in life after losing your previous one. Also the lengths someone will go to in order to achieve their goals, and whether or not such lengths are ever justified.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Parenthood and how that affects you.
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': The "little guy" and how they react to their perceived treatment by those in power. Do they try and help those even less fortunate than themselves, or do they try and get their own piece of the pie by any means necessary? Who out there is really looking out for the interests of others?
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': Self-reflection. Who the characters really are and can they leave the past behind?
** ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'': Interventionism, how the past and present are meant to interact, and the CycleOfRevenge.
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Sacrifice. Is it right to kill one in order to save millions? What if that one person is your loved one?
** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': Consequences. The second and third-order effects our actions have, and the collateral damage we do in pursuit of our goals (and how much collateral damage we are willing to ignore or accept.)
** All of Phase 3: How the mistakes of the older generation effect the new generation and how the older generation can make up for it [[RedemptionEqualsDeath even if it means death]].
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': The freedom to choose one's own path in life and how working for the greater good sometimes means making hard decisions.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'': Is the truth more important than a good legend?
* ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'': Possession and ownership.
* ''Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath'': There is nothing on earth more powerful than love.
* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': The nature of reality and the world around us; can we trust what our senses tell us? Might authority be using this to mislead us?
** Each film in the trilogy also has a central theme of its own: ''Film/TheMatrix'' is about belief, ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' is about purpose, and ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' is about choices.
* ''Film/{{Memento}}'': The ways in which memory -- and thus people -- can be distorted and manipulated, by ourselves and those around us.
* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': Whether it is wise or not to follow [[MessianicArchetype someone who seems to have all the answers]].
* ''Film/{{Moonlight}}'': Identity and its malleability over time.
* ''Film/MysteryTeam'': How do you find the perfect balance between growing up and following your childhood dreams?
* ''Film/{{Network}}'': How viewers and network execs are enslaved by television.
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'': [[AdultsAreUseless The reality that sometimes adults are not always helpful and can even make things worse unintentionally]].
* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': There's always been evil in the world. There is no [[NostalgiaGoggles happy place in the past where everything was perfect.]] That said, does America still have a place for an old man who still believes this to be true?
* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'': "Conscience, that stuff can drive you nuts".
* ''Film/{{Oldboy 2003}}'': What is at the end of revenge, contentment or heartache?
* ''Film/TheOxBowIncident'': What does it truly mean to take the law into your own hands?
* ''Film/OverTheEdge'': Delinquency and how society often fails to tackle it.
* ''Film/PacificRim'':
** '''Family'''. All of the regular Jaeger pilot teams we see, barring Raleigh and Mako, are related in one way or another, and there's a recurring theme of surrogate family members. Even the Kaiju, in an odd sort of way, are related to each other, [[spoiler:despite being genetically-engineered bioweapons. One is even pregnant.]]
** '''Unity'''. All of the family teams are defeated. The final victory requires everyone to work together; people of different races and nationalities, people who love and hate each other, fighters, scientists, and even criminals have to contribute something to achieve the win.
** '''Hope'''. The hero of the movie refuses to trade ten lives in favor of improved odds for saving two million more, and instead resolves to save two million and ten lives. The entire Jaeger outfit at the end is still unhesitatingly going out to fight even when the war is visibly beyond the point of no return. The politicians who try to cut their losses and be pragmatic and play lifeboat are shown as taking the road of good intentions straight down to Hell. It's only the people who refuse to acknowledge 'hopeless' odds and instead persist in believing that they can score a clean victory rather than a mediated loss who end up achieving anything.
* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'': A very topical one about welcoming immigrants.
* ''Film/ThePatriot'': Is there really such a thing as "rules" of war?
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Can a good man be also a scoundrel and vice-versa?
* ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'': The conflicts between nostalgia for the past and the reality of the past. Also, accepting the present, flaws and all, versus living in the past.
* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Always pay close attention to everything around you. You never know what you might miss.
* ''Film/{{Prisoners}}'': Two of them: The limits of man and and how far one will go to break them.
* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'':
--> '''Norman Bates''': "I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."
* ''Film/PulpFiction'':
** The ways in which people and their lives connect and overlap, even if those connections may not be immediately apparent or clear at first glance.
** The unexpected. The movie's plot can be succinctly summed up as "A series of classic {{film noir}} stock plots that are all thrown out of whack by various bizarre and/or unexpected twists". Whether those twists take the form of a freak drug overdose, a random encounter with a pair of psychotic rapists, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane miraculously surviving a flurry of point-blank gunshots]], [[spoiler: accidentally blowing a man's head off]], or [[spoiler: a hit-man having a sudden religious conversion]], nearly all of the film's major plot points stem from them.
* ''Film/{{Rambo}}'': The war that goes on inside every soldier.
* ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'': Truth is subjective.
* ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'': The need for grown ups to grow up. The realization that adults don't always have the answers to the larger questions in your life, and the need to be your own man without completely falling into cynicism.
* ''Film/RedRidingHood'': The devastating effects of secrets in a community.
* ''Film/{{The Red Shoes|1948}}'': You must make personal sacrifices to truly excel artistically.
* ''Film/RequiemForADream'': The lengths to which someone will go to escape their reality.
** Time passes by quicker than you realize, and life isn't defined by single events, so you need to learn to live in the moment.
* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': Loyalty and betrayal.
* ''Film/RoboCop1987'': He may be a corporate mascot but Robocop, along with good honest cops, will always stand for what's right. Even if the people who made him don't.
** The dangers of unrestrained, unfettered capitalism.
* ''Film/TheRock'': The power of the will.
* ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'': Living well is the best revenge. Also, life goes on after high school, and one's experience there eventually matters very little, if at all, in the grand scheme of things.
* ''Film/RunLolaRun'': Learn from your mistakes.
* ''Film/TheRunningMan'': The dehumanising effects of sensationalist television on those who participate in it and those who watch it.
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': Overcome your FatalFlaw. Your life might depend on it. Torture does not make people change for the better. It will only makes things worst.
** Even more prominent is: Cherish your life, and don't squander it for any reason.
** ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'': The truth will set you free.
* ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' has two themes: Everyone's a little bit crazy and violence is not always the answer (but it works a hell a lot of the time).
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'': Who has it better, the peasants who live normal but undistinguished lives or the warriors who live exciting but violent lives?
* ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'': Why death is necessary to the great scheme of things.
* ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'': A love letter to the outsider.
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': Getting stuck in a rut with your life, and what it might take to kick you out of it and realize your potential. For some people, it might be a bust-up with their loved one or an argument with their friend. For others, a ZombieApocalypse might be necessary.
* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'':
** Hope. Does hope just [[HopeIsScary prolong the agony of people with nothing left to live for]], or is it [[HopeSpringsEternal the only thing that can save them]]? [[spoiler: The movie comes down ''hard'' on the side of the latter, after Andy goes through hell to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending]].]]
** Redemption. Yes, [[TheAtoner atoning for the sins of your past]] is an important part of life, but ''no one'' deserves to suffer for their offenses forever. At some point, everyone deserves the chance to redeem themselves and start anew, even if they have to take that chance by force.
* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Disillusion with authority figures.
* ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'': The trials and triumphs of the underdog.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' Movies have the theme of whether one can remain a hero even as their life crumbles around them.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'': Finding the purpose in your life.
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'':
*** Sometimes you can't TakeAThirdOption.
*** Aging, death and vengeance.
*** Potential and raw intelligence are not the same thing as experience.
** ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'': How far will you go for a friend?
** ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'': The wisdom of preserving what you have today ([[GreenAesop particularly the environment]]) for the future; after all, no one knows what tomorrow might bring, and what might happen if you suddenly find you need it and it's not there anymore...
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'':
*** Can there ever be peace between two peoples who have always hated each other?
*** Don't let fears of a possible bad future keep you from accepting a possible good present.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': Whether or not human emotion is weakness--demonstrated both through Data's temptation to become human with the Borg Queen's help, and through Picard's struggle with his desire for revenge against the Borg.
** ''Film/StarTrek2009'', ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': Coming to terms with the past. In this continuity, Kirk joins Starfleet to come to terms with the death of his father, who was killed in the line of duty before he ever got to meet him. All three {{Big Bad}}s are also FishOutOfTemporalWater [[NotSoDifferent similarly consumed with anger and regret over past events]]. [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nero]] is literally and figuratively "stuck in the past" on a pointless mission of revenge against the people that he blames for the loss of his home planet; [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness John Harrison]] is [[spoiler: Khan Noonien Singh, a failed tyrant from a bygone century trying to realize a doomed dream of world domination]]; [[Film/StarTrekBeyond Krall]] is [[spoiler: a Starfleet captain with an artificially prolonged lifespan who could never move on from his past as a soldier]], and hates the Federation for [[spoiler: trying to make peace with the races that he once fought]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In general:
*** The eternal (and cyclical) nature of the battle between Good and Evil, and how people can be brought to either side by a single choice.
*** Good exists where you may least expect it. And even the worst people can find redemption by facing their pasts.
*** How big things can be beaten by something small.
** ''Film/RogueOne'':
*** Hope. More specifically: even against insurmountable odds, even in the face of your own certain death, one must ''always'' have hope in the greater good. Or to paraphrase a fitting quote from [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings another franchise entirely]], the film's theme is summed up with:
---->''"I give hope to others, I leave none for myself."''
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'':
*** Moving on from the past--and how that can be either a good thing or a bad thing.
*** Being a hero and doing the right thing aren't always the same; sometimes the people who do the most good are the ones who make hard choices, despite knowing that they're not going to be praised or honored for them.
* ''Film/SwingKids'': What should someone do when faced with evil in a corrupt society?
* ''Film/TheTerminator'': [[SelfFulfillingProphecy There is no fate but what we make]].
* ''Film/TheTerminal'': Rules shouldn't be absolute. While [[ObstructiveBureaucrat the rules]] exist for a reason, they can sometimes prevent good people from getting the help they need.
* ''Film/TheThinRedLine'': War as a truly unnatural phenomenon.
* ''Film/TheThing1982'': Paranoia and the loss of trust.
* ''Film/TradingPlaces'': How wealth (or lack thereof) affects peoples' lives.
* ''Film/TrueGrit'': How can you tell if one has grit or character?
* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'': How first impressions can be misleading and deceptive. Also, the importance of communication to avoid misunderstandings.
* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'': Violence, as a means of establishing law and order, and violence, as a means to get revenge, is one and the same and equally self-destructive.
* ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'': It's hard to love people for who they truly are, since you never really know if what you see is how they really are and you can be so lost in your fantasy that you can go insane.
* ''Film/WallStreet'': Is {{Greed}}, for lack of a better word, good?
** Putting wealth and power against simplicity and honesty.
** The yuppie culture of the 1980s.
* ''Film/WarGames'': War doesn't determine who wins, but who loses the least.
* ''Film/WarmBodies'': Time healing old wounds.
* ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'': The need to believe that things will get better in the future.
* ''Film/TheWildBunch'': ThePowerOfFriendship, TeethClenchedTeamwork and UndyingLoyalty.
* ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'': Money is a drug, it's addictive, it gives you a high and you will always want more and more, and will never really be satisfied.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The importance of maintaining hope, even in the face of hardship and tragedy, because hope can conquer anything, and that just because someone has lost their way, it doesn't mean they're lost forever.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': The main threads throughout the story are families coming together, and that love is stronger and more powerful than fear, hate or anger.
** ''Film/Deadpool2'': Can a HeroicComedicSociopath NinetiesAntiHero's heart be in the right place? Also, moving on from loss and the impact a surrogate family can have.
