History InformedAbility / LiveActionFilms

** Lord Beckett's ship, the HMS Endeavour, is modeled after the real-life HMS Victory. This would mean that she would be armed with over 'one hundred cannon'. In At World's End, as Beckett proceeds to attack the Black Pearl, he is shocked and speechless as the Flying Dutchman resurfaces from the depths. Both ships proceed to bombard the Endeavour ruthlessly to its destruction with Beckett unable to return fir, when in fact he should have known that the sum total of his armament still outclasses those of both ships 'combined'(a common argument would often be that he was simply too surprised to realise this before it was too late).

* ''Franchise/StarTrek

** A variant - Rebel Alliance starfighters such as X-Wings and Y-Wings have DeflectorShields supposedly making them more durable the the Empire's unshielded TIE fighters. It's even mentioned several times in dialogue where the Rebel pilots explicitly switch deflector power and orientation to match the current combat conditions. In practice however the Rebel fighters don't fare any better when hit - only pilots with PlotArmor such as Luke and Wedge survive hits. Note that this doesn't apply in the expanded universe and video games featuring Rebel starfighters - the shields work just fine there. Part of this is because the idea of TIE fighters as being unshielded originates from the videogames (since it's a MookMobile); the idea that X-Wings are more durable is more or less a {{Retcon}}.

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', the eponymous Winter Soldier is described as a very stealthy master assassin, practically a ghost. Also in that film, the actual Winter Soldier wears a very conspicuous costume and participates in a series of over-the-top action scenes in public.

* ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'' parodies this in that Janey is supposed to be a great artist but is clearly only capable of drawing the same stick figures over and over. It also parodies HollywoodHomely, which is a sub-trope of InformedAbility.

** Yoda's skills as a powerful Jedi Master and great warrior had been, for a long time, a case of TakeOurWordForIt. Then came ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome That]]'' [[BigDamnHeroes put]] [[SubvertedTrope the ambiguity to rest.]]

* In ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', Tuco nicknames Creator/ClintEastwood's ManWithNoName "Blondie", and interrogates other characters as to his whereabouts by asking for a 'tall blond man'. Angel Eyes goes so far as to gush over Blondie's beautiful blond hair, calling him a 'blond-haired angel'. His hair is light brown. This is particularly bizarre because the part was almost certainly written for Eastwood. The reason is a failed {{Woolseyism}} - the original Italian script had Tuco nickname the ManWithNoName "Biondo", which ''technically'' means "blond" but can be used to mean someone with fair colouring. The novelization, more closely based on the Italian script, refers to the character as 'Whitey'.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** Played with to the point of several characters lampshading it. Jack Sparrow is touted to be the best pirate ever, yet he is mutinied after being captain for a year, in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first movie]] is captured twice and saved twice (first by Will, then Elizabeth), gets knocked out from behind twice, and his {{Plan}} almost fails. In the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest second movie]] another one fails after Norrington discovers his BaitAndSwitch and pulls a switch of his own, setting into place the events of the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third movie]], where everything finally seems to go his way. The characters themselves can't seem to figure out if he's a bumbling quirk or an unlucky MagnificentBastard whose {{plan}}s/{{Indy Ploy}}s keep getting {{spanne|rInTheWorks}}d. (One character at least calls him the worst pirate he's ever heard of.)
** According to WordOfGod, Will is the best swordsman in the series. In the actual movies, however, he loses most of the fights he gets into, and tends to get knocked out and/or captured a lot. Possibly justified in that, while Will might be a great technical swordsman, he has [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen romanticized ideas about fighting]] that leave him vulnerable to [[CombatPragmatism Combat Pragmatists]].

* The eponymous members of the poorly-done movie ''The Genius Club''. They are gathered together, explicitly because they have abnormally high IQ's. However, through the movie's dialogue they are twice shown unable to answer very simple (and well known) riddles. And all their arguments are extremely shallow. They're supposed to be geniuses, and they're in a hostage situation. Why can't they form complex arguments or express themselves above a junior high-school reading level?

* Similarly, in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' it's mentioned Bond was picked for the mission precisely because he's such a good card player. Yet in the actual poker game he loses badly until he gets dealt a fantastically good hand. (This is partly because real card experts are ''very boring to watch'' as they do their best to remain emotionless and spend a lot of time folding early to minimize losses.)

* In ''Film/PitchPerfect'', Beca is supposedly a DJ and a producer. She goes out of her way to mention to her father that she intends to be a producer, as opposed to just a DJ. However, you never see her produce any original music, or hear any of her original productions. Any time she does anything music related on her computer, she has DJ software open, not production software. In the scene where she walks into the radio station and hears "her song" playing, the song is either a remix or a mashup, not an original.
** The sequel reveals the reason we never got to see any of her original compositions: they don't exist. When she gets a chance to show her work to an actual music producer, he points this out. Fortunately for her, he decides to give her a second chance to come up with something original, but we get to see just how little experience she has with it.
* {{Subverted}} in ''The King Of Comedy'': Rupert Pupkin thinks he has great material and is destined to be a famous comedian, but up until the climax the only real joke he's ever seen to make is a fairly cheesy prop-based pun, and he's also a fame-obsessed LoonyFan. So the audience is meant to infer that he's delusional about his talent and either his first performance will be a disaster or he'll just never be seen performing at all. Instead, he actually does deliver a competent, if not hilarious, comedic monologue near the end of the film.

* The plot of ''Rhinestone'' revolves around country singer Jake (played by Music/DollyParton) betting her manager she can turn ''anyone'' into a C&W type in two weeks; said anyone is taxi driver Nick, who's played by Creator/SylvesterStallone. His singing at the beginning is genuinely as awful as you're supposed to think it is - but he hasn't improved a jot by the end (hearing him say "You got to be luh-huved" is the kind of thing for which BrainBleach was invented). No wonder this is an OldShame for Sly.

* The plot of ''Film/BillAndTed'' centers around Rufus' claim that the two main characters will write the most important rock song in the history of the world, in contrast to all available evidence. [[spoiler:Rufus even jokes about their lack of talent in the last line of the film.]]

* The cheesy sci-fi movie ''Film/{{ROTOR}}'' has two genius-level scientists as protagonists. They show no such traits throughout the movie, and run around with the IdiotBall during the film, failing to exploit the killer robot's WeaksauceWeakness.
** The robot itself is supposed to be a ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''-style unstoppable killer. It not only has trouble going through [[{{Narm}} a row of empty folding chairs]], [[WeaksauceWeakness it can be stunned by a car horn]].

* In ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'', Jane's bionic implants are said to give her quick reflexes and other enhanced abilities, but nothing she does in the movie would suggest that she has enhancements. She even has to be pushed out of the way of a falling, exploding car that she otherwise wouldn't have noticed, despite her quick reflexes; less explained is what makes Johnny such an amazingly talented data-smuggler that he can afford such a luxurious lifestyle as the one he is used to having.

** Workers in the opera house are seen stuffing cotton into their ears while Carlotta is singing. Her singing is actually legit, and only employs some contrived scoops to make her sound bad. This is a case of InformedFlaw. Maybe they just really hate her for being the EvilDiva.

* Zigzagged with Deckard in ''Film/BladeRunner''. Deckard is, or was, supposed to be one of the best Bladerunners in the business; however, he spends most of the film getting beaten black and blue by the NEXUS 6 replicants. He ends up [[spoiler:shooting one in the back while she was fleeing, has to be saved by his love interest when at the mercy of another, barely manages to shoot the other female replicant while getting his head kicked in, and simply lucks out when the final replicant drops dead.]] On the other hand, hehas does show skill at identifying replicants and part of his failures can be explained by the fact that there is no way for any human to match a replicant physically and his mental deterioration due to alcoholism. Finally [[spoiler: depending on the version of the movie there is no certainty as to how much of Deckard's backstory is real.]]

** Khan isn't very smart in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathofKhan'', despite his supposedly genetically superior intellect. Kirk keeps using the most obvious tricks and ploys with him, and Khan keeps falling for them.

* Zigzagged with Deckard in ''Film/BladeRunner''. Deckard is, or was, supposed to be one of the best Bladerunners in the business; however, he spends most of the film getting beaten black and blue by the NEXUS 6 replicants. He ends up [[spoiler:shooting one in the back while she was fleeing, has to be saved by his love interest when at the mercy of another, barely manages to shoot the other female replicant while getting his head kicked in, and simply lucks out when the final replicant drops dead.]] On the other hand, hehas does show skill at identifying replicants and part of his failures can be explained by the fact that there is no way for any human to match a replicant physically and his mental deterioration due to alcoholism. FInally [[spoiler: depending on the version of the movie there is no certainty as to how much of Deckard's backstory is real.]]

* Deckard in ''Film/BladeRunner'' is, or was, supposed to be one of the best Bladerunners in the business; however, he spends most of the film getting beaten black and blue by the NEXUS 6 replicants. He ends up [[spoiler:shooting one in the back while she was fleeing, has to be saved by his love interest when at the mercy of another, barely manages to shoot the other female replicant while getting his head kicked in, and simply lucks out when the final replicant drops dead.]]

** Khan isn't very smart in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathofKhan'', despite his supposedly genetically superior intellect. Kirk keeps using the most obvious tricks and ploys with him, and Khan keeps falling for them. Somewhat justified, in that he's also pretty much insane at that point, and even other characters call him out for his RevengeBeforeReason.

** At least partially justified. His inability to match a replicant physically is ineviatble because replicants are stronger and faster than humans. On top of that he is retired, so his skills are rusty, and he is at least a borderline alcoholic, which would influence both physical and mental abilities.

** At least partially justified. His inability to math a replicant physically is ineviatble because replicants are stronger and faster than humans. On top of that he is retired, so his skills are rusty, and he is at least a borderline alcoholic, which would influence both physical and mental abilities.

* In ''Film/RealityBites'', you are expected to sympathize with WinonaRyder's character because she finds herself unemployable after graduation, despite having been valedictorian in journalism at her college. Things go downhill pretty fast when she loses a page from her valedictorian speech and utterly fails to improvise. After graduation, she flunks a job interview with an editor because she cannot define the word 'irony' to any coherent degree, and later fails an interview with a fast-food manager because she cannot add $0.85 and $0.55 in her head. This might be intentional, due to her scene with Troy in which he easily supplies her with a succinct definition and implies that she's not living up to her level of education.

** Maybe a justified version of the trope in that Decker is an alcoholic, which may have caused his skills to deteriorate.

* The Riddler's "Box" invention from ''Film/BatmanForever'' allegedly makes him smarter, until by the climax he's a supergenius. Actually, all he does as the film progresses is keep acting like JimCarrey, only more so. In fact, he seemed like a fairly competent scientist in the beginning. The smarter he gets, the dumber he seems to act -- perhaps because the box also drives him insane.

* The plot of ''Rhinestone'' revolves around country singer Jake (played by DollyParton) betting her manager she can turn ''anyone'' into a C&W type in two weeks; said anyone is taxi driver Nick, who's played by Creator/SylvesterStallone. His singing at the beginning is genuinely as awful as you're supposed to think it is - but he hasn't improved a jot by the end (hearing him say "You got to be luh-huved" is the kind of thing for which BrainBleach was invented). No wonder this is an OldShame for Sly.

* Purposely [[InvokedTrope invoked]] in ''Trail of the Screaming Forehead''. According to the "science" of the movie, the forehead, not the brain, is the seat of thought. Andrew Park's character allows himself to be injected with "foreheadazine," which will supposedly turn him into a super-genius. In spite of some [[BodyHorror truly horrific]] transformations that turn his head into a forehead, and his own lamentations on how his incredible intellect has given him no measure of happiness, no evidence is given at any point of his actual intelligence. This was most likely intentional on the part of the writer, since the movie was made as a parody of cheesy B movies.

** The film makes clear that Deckard is considered the best Bladerunner because of his ability to find the Replicants and expose them, which he does. Nothing was said about his combat capabilities, and furthermore, the Nexus 6 was described as being the latest models of Replicants with enhanced abilities depending on their designed purpose, which could explain why he was having trouble dealing with them physically. Roy Batty, for example, is able to hoist a man of Deckard's size without much effort, one-handed.

** The film makes clear that Deckard is considered the best Bladerunner because of his ability to find the Replicants and expose them, which he does. Nothing was said about his combat capabilities, and furthermore, the Nexus 6 was described as being the latest models of Replicants with enhanced abilities depending on their designed purpose, which could explain why he was having trouble dealing with them physically.

** Khan isn't very smart in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathofKhan'', despite his supposedly genetically superior intellect. Kirk keeps using the most obvious tricks and ploys with him, and Khan keeps falling for them.

** Anakin is repeatedly stated to be an immensely powerful Jedi and skilled warrior; in actual practice he seems to be average at best. His most impressive feats are destroying a Federation command ship at age 9 (impressive, most impressive, but the way it's shown it's easy to chalk it up to dumb luck), and raiding the Jedi temple (offscreen, and inconsistent with his previously displayed levels of power and skill).

** A variant - Rebel Alliance starfighters such as X-Wings and Y-Wings have DeflectorShields supposedly making them more durable the the Empire's unshielded TIE fighters. It's even mentioned several times in dialogue where the Rebel pilots explicitly switch deflector power and orientation to match the current combat conditions. In practice however the Rebel fighters don't fare any better when hit - only pilots with PlotArmor such as Luke and Wedge survive hits. Note that this doesn't apply in the expanded universe and video games featuring Rebel starfighters - the shields work just fine there.

* In ''The Experts'', JohnTravolta's character - who thinks he's in a Nebraska town (he and Arye Gross's character are actually in a Russian town full of KGB spies training to be sleeper agents) - asks if anyone there knows how to dance. Kelly Preston's character says "I know how to dance," and the two promptly demonstrate that while ''he'' knows how to, it's a different story in her case. (Then again, let's cut them some slack as this was where they met - they were married four years later and remain a couple to this day.)