History WhatMeasureIsAMook / Film

*** However the ''third'' time they had Miraz at their mercy ''was'' a fight to the death (those were the conditions of the duel between Miraz and Peter that both agreed to). Furthermore [[spoiler:when both Peter and [[YouKilledMyFather Caspian]] didn't kill Miraz, that enabled Sopespian to kill him and pin the blame on the Narnians. It's likely if Peter just killed Miraz, the Telmarines may have honored the terms and surrendered]], especially due to the presence of [[TokenGoodTeammate General Glozelle]].

** Even worse in Film/TheForceAwakens were it is double subverted. One trooper, Fn-2187, decides to defect, free the Resistance pilot they had captured, flee with him and is given a name: Finn. He's one of the protagonists. Yet right after he explains that he was kidnapped as a child and brainwashed into servign the First Order, any and all subsquents Stortrooper are standard FacelessMooks that our heroes kill without a second thought.

* ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. Although Bond does kill the main villain, the film's secondary bad guy, Jaws, changes sides at the last minute and receives redemption. Meanwhile it is strongly implied (yet pointedly never directly shown on screen) that Drax's "master race" specimens, whose only crime it seems was to be genetically perfect and be on his payroll, are either slaughtered by the US troops who invade the station or are left to die as it breaks up.

* Generally played straight in ''Film/AntMan'', wherein plenty of suit-wearing {{Mooks}} get knocked out and left behind to die in Cross' building when it implodes. However, in one aversion, Luis makes a point of going back for the guy whose clothes he stole. He gets him out of the building in time, risking his own life to do so, and even ensures he gets medical attention.

** Luke and Lando destroy two Death Stars, killing all of the faceless mooks on them. It's unclear if any "innocent" people were killed (though the presence of entire detention blocks in the first, and the fact that the second was under construction and thus employing many non-combatants may cause FridgeHorror.) Fans of the films enjoy arguing about the morality of the acts.

* Both subverted and played straight in ''Film/AntMan''. Although plenty of knocked out suit-wearing {{Mooks}} are left behind to die in the office building when it blows up, Luis makes a point of going and retrieving the guy whose clothes he stole and even ensuring he gets medical attention after getting him out of the building.

** In Part III, Nigel is able to defeat a {{mook}} by reminding him of how many anonymous henchmen he's indiscriminately killed over the years. The fact that he's [[NominalImportance not even wearing a name tag]] isn't improving his chances. The guy just decides to lie down and play dead.

* Parodied with great relish in the deleted scenes from the first ''Film/AustinPowers'' film. All the henchmen Austin kills have families and friends, who are shown receiving the news of their deaths. One had a wedding coming up, and the other was happily married with a kid. The scenes were major MoodWhiplash, especially given the silly ways they died, which is probably why they didn't make the final cut. (For America, that is. They were in the UK cut.)

*** Perhaps made even darker when you consider that said invincible Agents, when their circumstances are less dire, make a point of protecting human agents of authority-if only because [[AuthorityInNameOnly they work for them]], and law & order is fundamentally important to keeping the populous from dying in inconveniently large numbers.

* Averted in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. John Connor makes the T-800 promise not to kill anyone. As they face the police and other law enforcement officers, [[TechnicalPacifist the T-800 gives them less-fatal injuries]] e.g., KneeCapping (although John's not very happy about that), and at one point, his display shows "Casualties: 0.0".

* Subverted humorously in ''Film/IronMan3''-Iron Man, while charging through the baddie's mansion, aims to shoot a guy, but the guy just puts up his hands and says "I just work here. My employers are really weird."

* {{Averted}} by ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' in that none of the guardsmen are even seriously harmed when Dorothy and company break into the Wicked Witch's castle. In fact, the guardsmen are ''thankful'' when Dorothy destroys the Witch and breaks whatever hold she had on them.
** They're Winkies, and they're supposed to be enslaved, as explained in the book. (But see ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''...)

** In Part III, Nigel is able to defeat a {{mook}} by reminding of how many anonymous henchmen he's indiscriminately killed over the years. The fact that he's [[NominalImportance not even wearing a name tag]] isn't improving his chances. The guy just decides to lie down and play dead.

** Luke and Lando destroy two Death Stars, killing all of the faceless mooks on them. It's unclear if any "innocent" people were killed (though the presence of entire detention blocks in the first, and the fact that the second was under construction and thus employing many non-combatants, may cause FridgeHorror.) Fans of the films enjoy arguing about the morality of the acts.

** And almost all the species in ''Star Wars'' think nothing of blowing away a [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman self-aware robot.]]

** Subverted in that the only people Dredd kills are SJS, Internal Security troops who are on the paylist of the BigBad and had no trouble killing innocent witnesses.

** Lampshaded by Morpheus, who points out that while these are the very people that he and Neo fight for, they're also one program protocol away from [[GrandTheftMe turning into unkillable super-agents.]]
** Pointlesswasteoftime.com pointed this out in a critique of the Matrix, painting a mental picture of an aging, underpaid security guard who can barely afford his wife's arthritis medication, suddenly gunned down by a group of leather clad murderers with whom he had no quarrel.
*** Perhaps made even darker when you consider that said invincible Agents, when their circumstances are less dire, make a point of protecting human agents of authority--if only because [[AuthorityInNameOnly they work for them]], and law & order is fundamentally important to keeping the populous from dying in inconveniently large numbers.
* Averted by ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' in that none of the guardsmen are even seriously harmed when Dorothy and company break into the Wicked Witch's castle. In fact, the guardsmen are ''thankful'' when Dorothy destroys the Witch and breaks whatever hold she had on them.

* The Operative in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' is a subversion - he respects all human lives including those he takes, which is any he deems necessary for his cause, be it his own mooks or even children. The only time in the film he is ever angry is after Mal pulls a stunt that gets hundreds of Alliance mooks killed. When the Operative tells Mal that a lot of innocent people died because of what he did, he shows a similar respect for anonymous combatants, replying "you have no idea how true that is" in reference to [[spoiler:the Reavers, who were innocent people themselves before the Alliance made them what they were]].

* Subverted humourously in ''Film/IronMan3''; Iron Man, while charging through the baddie's mansion, aims to shoot a guy, but the guy just puts up his hands and says "I just work here. My employers are really weird."

** He more or less ''kills one for smoking'' (ok smoking on an oil rig not very smart, but so isn't blowing one up)

* In ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}'', James Bond kills a number of Russian soldiers while he and Natalya are escaping from the archives, despite the fact that they're only shooting at him because they think he'd stolen the Tiger helicopter and killed Defense Minister Mishkin.

* Discussed in ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', when Dante and Randall are talking about the thousands of innocent contractors that [[FridgeHorror must have been]] blown up when the Death Star was destroyed. They are then interrupted by a man who works putting up drywall who tells them about how he was offered a substantial amount of money to work on a gangster's house. He refused, but let one of his friends know, and he took the job. Later, a rival gang pulled up to the house and murdered his friend and everyone on his team trying to whack the gangster - ''who wasn't even home''. He [[FridgeHorror does not say]] whether he [[WhatTheHellHero warned his friend]] [[{{Hypocrite}} about the client's criminal connections.]]

* Discussed in ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', when Dante and Randall are talking about the thousands of innocent contractors that [[FridgeHorror must have been]] blown up when the Death Star was destroyed. They are then interrupted by a man who works putting up drywall who tells them about how he was offered a substantial amount of money to work on a gangster's house. He refused, but let one of his friends know, and he took the job. Later, a rival gang pulled up to the house and murdered his friend and everyone on his team trying to whack the gangster - ''who wasn't even home''. He [[FridgeHorror does not say]] whether he [[WhatTheHellHero warned his friend]] [[WhatAHypocrite about the client's criminal connections.]]

* Rationalized in ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', when Dante and Randall are talking about the thousands of innocent contractors that must have been blown up when the Death Star was destroyed. They are then interrupted by a man who works putting up drywall who tells them about how he was offered a substantial amount of money to work on a gangster's house. He refused, but let one of his friends know, and he took the job. Later, a rival gang pulled up to the house and murdered his friend and everyone on his team trying to whack the gangster - ''who wasn't even home''. He felt bad about his friend dying, but doesn't feel sorry for him, as he knew exactly what he was getting into, and says that the same would apply to the Death Star workers.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' tends to be subject to this trope.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', the Rebel Alliance destroys two Death Stars, killing all of the faceless mooks on them. The concepts of forced conscription and civilian contractors are never addressed, so there's no way to know within the film if any "innocent" people were killed. [[note]]According to the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, some [[Literature/DeathStar were.]][[/note]]Fans of the films enjoy arguing about the morality of the acts.

* Subverted in ''CityOfGod''. One of the guards shot dead in a montage sequence has an [[spoiler: adolescent son who witnesses his death at the hands of the heroic gang leader. The son joins the gang to take revenge and kills Ned at the end.]]
* Parodied with great relish in the deleted scenes from the first ''AustinPowers'' film. All the henchmen Austin kills have families and friends, who are shown receiving the news of their deaths. One had a wedding coming up, and the other was happily married with a kid. The scenes were major MoodWhiplash, especially given the silly ways they died, which is probably why they didn't make the final cut. (For America, that is. They were in the UK cut.)

* In ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Prince Caspian'', the BigBad is an evil, murderous, genocidal git who orders the killing of his own men for propaganda, and is generally not a nice guy. ''Three times'' the heroes have him at their mercy and either can't bring themselves to kill him or straight up let him go. Because it's wrong to kill. All those guards and soldiers who were just following orders get slaughtered by the hundreds without hesitation.

* In ''BallisticEcksVsSever'', Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu seem to spend most of their time killing either hired security guards or actual law enforcement officers, whose sole fault is that they unknowingly work for a corrupt official. The morality portrayed is quite questionable. One may be somewhat unsettled for the entire movie after the first shoot-out, and genuinely think it's building up to something more, but it never does.
* Subverted and made into a plot point in ''Machine Girl'', where the heroine's slaughter of a squad of ninja mooks leads to a scene with their mourning families..

* In ''KnightAndDay'', [[spoiler: Tom Cruise knows there's one evil agent who framed him, and the agency now wants him dead. So Cruise actually manages to kill about thirty completely innocent agents but ''avoid'' directly killing the villain.]]

* Averted in ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Terminator 2: Judgement Day]]''. John Connor makes the T-800 promise not to kill anyone. As they face the police and other law enforcement officers, [[TechnicalPacifist the T-800 gives them less-fatal injuries]] e.g., KneeCapping (although John's not very happy about that), and at one point, his display shows "Casualties: 0.0".
* Ian, the BigBad of ''NationalTreasure'', is badly shaken when one of his mooks dies. When Ben tries to make him see going on will risk more lives, Ian harshly tells him none of their lives are worth more than Shaw's.