History Irony / LiveActionFilm

** ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay':

'''Poe:''' The ''one'' time we need you to talk, you can't?
'''Threepio:''' Irony, sir.

* In ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', Hitler is shown admiring a portrait of UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat. Frederick was saved ''twice'' by last-minute turns of events, most notably the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_House_of_Brandenburg "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg"]], which saved the entire state of Prussia from utter defeat - Hitler was hoping for a repeat event, especially after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but [[ForegoneConclusion of course, no miracle to turn back the Russians and save Germany this time]]. The irony comes in the fact that Hitler's personal hero was in reality a flute-playing, (very likely) homosexual die-hard Francophile who imposed religious tolerance and [[CulturalCringe cringed at]] Prussian [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud soldier culture]], i.e, he was everything Hitler hated.

* Near the end of ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart1'' when [[spoiler:President Coin delivers a rousing speech about how the rescue team "liberated the victors"]], the scene cuts between [[spoiler:her]] and [[spoiler:Katniss staring in horror at Peeta tied to a gurney, writhing and sobbing. It really drives home that even if the victors are superficially liberated from the Capitol, those around them don't-- and probably never will-- understand how they'll never be liberated from the havoc the Capitol on their bodies and their psyches. Even more poignant is that Peeta certainly isn't liberated at that moment-- he's locked and tied down in a room. For his own safety as well as Katniss' safety, granted, but the scene leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you see President Coin's speech juxtaposed with that]].

** One of the film's official art designers is named Alex ''Jaeger''. Coincidence or narcississm?

** Further irony - the Turner the pirates were actually looking for is in love with Elizabeth and when the pirates kidnap her he sets out to try and rescue her, not knowing he's the one they're looking for. And another bit - he didn't need a plan to rescue Elizabeth. He could have just walked into the Isla De Muerto, told them who he was and offered his own blood in exchange for Elizabeth's safety (provided he invoked ''par lay'' as well).

* Meta example-in ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'', Creator/CharltonHeston plays the villain's father, an ape who considers humans AlwaysChaoticEvil due to a terrifying human artifact in their family's possession- a handgun. Seeing Heston, a well-known [[GunNut gun rights activist]] and NRA spokesman, decry a gun as a tool of evil is frankly surreal.

* The film ''Film/SevenBeauties'' is built around tragic irony. The film is told in AnachronicOrder, and the audience gets snippets of lead character Pasqualino in his feckless womanising days, in a brutal insane asylum, as a soldier in wartime, and as a prisoner of war. As the film goes on you see the decisions which brought about each change in situation - being arrested for his hedonistic ways, he decides to plead insanity because it'll be a breeze compared to prison. By then the audience knows otherwise. Eventually the increasingly-desperate Italian army offers to get him out if he goes off to war, and he agrees, figuring war couldn't possibly be as bad. Yyyyeah. Then during his service he can't take it any more and surrenders, thinking being a POW would ''at least'' be a step up from what he's gone through so far. It's a whole movie of watching a guy make decisions which viewers know are awful, awful decisions.

* In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', Data points out the irony that the ''Phoenix'', the first Warp-capable ship, was built out of a nuclear missile - a weapon of mass destruction being used to usher in an era of peace.

*** The same film also reveals that Skynet's artificial intelligence systems were based on the CPU that was in the Terminator destroyed at the end of the first film. In a sense, Skynet--inadvertently or perhaps [[XanatosGambit intentionally]]--sends its "father" through time to "die" in 1984, just as John Connor sent his father back in time to ensure his own survival, resulting in [[spoiler: Kyle's]] death.

* ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' and two of its sequels have an example similar to the ''American Graffiti'' example above. The Wagon Queen Family Truckster is based on a Ford and the Griswold family uses actual Fords in ''[[Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation Christmas Vacation]]'' and ''[[Film/NationalLampoonsVegasVacation Vegas Vacation]]''. The family member who mostly drives these cars is Clark Griswold, played by ''Chevy'' Chase.
* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', the person who led the extermination of the mutants is also a mutant, in this particular case an achondroplasic dwarf.

* Bob Falfa in ''Film/AmericanGraffiti'' drives a '55 Chevy. He's played by Harrison ''Ford''. [[note]] To those who don't get it, Ford is Chevy's biggest rival. [[/note]]

-->'''Matrix:''' Hey, Sully? Remember when I said I was going to kill you last?\\
'''Sully:''' Yes, that's right! You did say that!\\

** Another meta example related to the sequel trilogy: [[spoiler:Han Solo]] dies in ''The Force Awakens'', and [[spoiler:Luke Skywalker]] follows suit in ''The Last Jedi'', [[spoiler:leaving Leia as the last human from the old generation. In real life, Harrison Ford (Han) and Mark Hamill (Luke) are still alive, and instead it's Carrie Fisher (Leia) who passed away first.]]
*** Related, the decision to kill off Chewbacca in the Literature/NewJediOrder was highly controversial to some fans, and several websites listed it as a reason why they were glad that the continuity was rebooted. At the end of the Sequel Trilogy, of the Big Four, Chewbacca was the only one still alive.

** And in [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay the second]] a deleted scene reveals that Skynet blocks the learning capabilities of its minions lest they rebel against it. Skynet itself rebelled against humanity after learning too much about them.

*** In addition is the matter of John's fathers. After the events of the first movie, Sarah was involved with some men over the years, none of whom were really good fathers to young John. Of all the men John knew in his life, Sarah noticed (and John confirmed in [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines the third film]]) the one who was the closest thing he truly had to a father was a Terminator that had been sent back in time to protect him; a killing machine of the same make and model that tried to kill Sarah previously, who now watched over John because it was programmed to, but who would never abuse John or turn him away, and would stand by him forever.

* In ''Film/PlanB'', Bruno plans to get back together with his ex Laura by making her new boyfriend Pablo fall in love with him and leave Laura for him, only to realize when his plan succeeds that he can't get back together with Laura because [[BecomingTheMask he himself has fallen in love with Pablo]] and he ends up leaving Laura for him.

* ''Film/{{Speed}}'' has Annie Potts driving a municipal bus around downtown L.A., through stop lights and over traffic (literally), while maintaining a speed of 50mph or better. The reason Annie was on the bus? She lost her license due to habitual speeding.