History Main / ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing

* In ''{{Halloween}} III: Season of the Witch'', (the one without Michael Myers) the main character is bound to a chair so a laser powered by Stonehenge can shoot out of the microchip in the Halloween mask he is being forced to wear and will cause snakes and bugs to crawl out of his mouth. Anyway, he manages to take out the television from across the room by flinging something inaccurately at it. They end up cutting away and cutting back to him with a glass shard in his hands, probably covering up the fact that there's no logical way he could have possibly grabbed it.

* In a certain Riddick movie, the titular character snaps both his arms out of their sockets to escape from being attatched to a pole by having his hands put around the pole and handcuffed together.

* In the seventh ''KaraNoKyoukai'' [[spoiler:Shiki]] manages to one up most of the examples on this page by [[spoiler:''chewing her own thumb off'']] to get out of handcuffs. Of course, [[spoiler:the thumb in question is on her [[ArtificialLimbs artificial left arm]]]] but it just shows how hardcore the character is.

* Frequently averted, subverted, and lampshaded in ''{{Discworld}}''. Particularly noteworthy is one in ''Feet of Clay'': "Sometimes, and against all common sense, people inconsiderately throw their bound enemies into rooms totally devoid of nails, handy bits of sharp stone, or even, in extreme cases, [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard enough pieces of old junk and tools]] to [[TheATeam make a fully functional armored car]]."

* How {{Dexter}} escapes the Skinner in season 3 - rocking the table over to land on his hand.
* [[TheSarahConnorChronicles Sarah Connor]] manages to be even ''more'' BadAss: after breaking her hand bones, she ''bites her wrist open'', giving her the necessary slipperiness.

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* How {{Dexter}} escapes the Skinner in season 3 - rocking the table over to land on his hand.
* [[TheSarahConnorChronicles Sarah Connor]] manages to be even ''more'' BadAss: after breaking her hand bones, she ''bites her wrist open'', giving her the necessary slipperiness.

* TheMatrixRevolutions: Trinity, in the real world, gets tied up by Smith in Bane's body. She's thrown down into a hatch where some [[{{ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing}} conveniently placed sharp things]] were broken earlier.

* Played with in ''TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Proven Guilty'', where Harry is being held captive by a pair of villains in an old garage. There's a tool chest a few meters away, but out of reach, and he can't use any magic because the restraints are designed to trap wizards. However, with a bit of help from [[spoiler: Lasciel]], he's able to use a technique that lets him dislocate his thumb and slip one hand free of the restraints. Then he gets to the tool chest and manages to find a hacksaw. Fortunately, the restraints are made by [[TheFairFolk fae troll-smiths]], and iron is the fae's bane, so the hacksaw goes right through the restraints.

* Casey tells ''{{Chuck}}'' about this trick, but Chuck's far too pain-averse. [[ChekhovsSkill Casey himself pulls it later on.]] Still later Morgan does it, only for it to turn out he didn't need to.

* Gets used in TadWilliams' ''[=~Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn~=]'' when Simon and Miriamele are tied up by cultists serving the Storm King, with the variation that the Sharp Thing is the MagicMirror that Jiriki gave to Simon. They are forced to smash it and then maneuver the incredibly sharp pieces with their bodies, something that (realistically) leaves their skin cut to ribbons. It's worthwhile, though, when you consider [[EldritchAbomination what they]] [[MindRape are about]] [[FateWorseThanDeath to be sacrificed to]].

* ''KingsQuest V'' had a mouse you had save really early on in the game. If you didn't, you lost about 300 turns later when you got tied up and nothing came to rescue you.

* TheMatrixRevolutions: Trinity, in the real world, gets tied up by Smith in Bane's body. She's thrown down into a hatch where some [[{{ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing}} conveniently placed sharp things]] were broken earlier.
* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', President Marshall has his hands bound with duct tape, and tries to stall the terrorist Ivan Korshunov as he cuts his hands free with a shard from a broken drinking glass.

* In ''[[Film/AirForceOne]]'', President Marshall has his hands bound with duct tape, and tries to stall the terrorist Ivan Korshunov as he cuts his hands free with a shard from a broken drinking glass.

* In ''IndianaJones and the Last Crusade'', the conveniently burning object fails to be properly used, leading instead to a DisasterDominoes sequence.

* In ''CallOfJuarez: Bound in Blood'', the three [=McCall=] brothers are tied up in a shed where there was a saw. Only William uses the saw, however, and just goes to untie his brothers.

* MatrixRevelations: Trinity, in the real world, gets tied up by Smith in Bane's body. She's thrown down into a hatch where some [[{{ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing}} conveniently placed sharp things]] were broken earlier.

* Casey tells ''{{Chuck}}'' about this trick, but Chuck's far too pain-averse. [[ChekhovsSkill Casey himself pulls it later on.]]

* In the spanish movie ''Pan's labyrinth'' [[ChekhovsGun we are shown several times how the maid Mercedes hides her knife in her belt]] after using it for her work. So when Captain Vidal captures her for a spy and ties her hand in front, it seems rather logical that she can get loose.

* The American president (played by HarrisonFord, nevertheless) from ''Film/AirForceOne''. And since the rating allows it, it's shown that using a glass shard injures your hand while you're cutting the rope.