What An Idiot / Live Action Films S To U

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• The Sandlot: The gang are attempting to retrieve the Babe Ruth autographed baseball from the clutches of the Beast. One of their schemes involves using ropes and pulleys to lower Yeah-Yeah into the Beast's yard. Yeah-Yeah grabs the ball and holds onto it for a few seconds, but the Beast walks up.
  You'd Expect: Yeah-Yeah to clutch the ball with both hands and hold onto it for dear life as he's raised outta there.
  Instead: He panics, and the ball slips out of his one-handed grip when he's jolted upwards.
• Sannikov Land: The shaman is shot by Setenkar, but Dukkar manages to escape justice.
  You’d Expect: Him to play a Wounded Gazelle Gambit and claim he was manipulated and Forced into Evil by the shaman. After all, when Goshar confessed she was manipulated (in her case, it was the truth), she was fully forgiven. If Dukkar puts all the blame on the shaman and stays on his best behavior, nobody would question him, since there are no witnesses left to his gleeful murder of the chief. Additionally, since the explorers, save for Gubin, are leaving and there’s no telling if and when they’ll come back, he might even have a second chance with Annuir. Meanwhile, going villainous is not a good idea: Dukkar doesn’t even have the shaman’s charisma and fearsome reputation, and the entire Onkilon tribe sides with the explorers now.
  Instead: Dukkar shoots Ignaty for no particular reason (although he may have been aiming at Annuir and missed). For extra idiocy, he does it in broad daylight without taking the trouble to conceal himself. He is quickly killed by Ilyin.
• Saving Private Ryan: During the Omaha Beach assault, one soldier has a bullet pass through his helmet without killing him.
  You'd Expect: Him to keep his head down and be happy that he was lucky, or if he is going to take his helmet off, do it after keeping his head down.
  Instead: He straightens up, takes his helmet off and feels his head.
  Result: Boom, Headshot!.
• Scarface (1983):
  • Midway through the film, Alejandro Sosa asks Tony Montana to do a favor for him — escort Sosa's explosives expert, Alberto, as the latter uses a car bomb to kill a U.S. journalist who has revealed damaging information on Sosa's organization and associates, and plans to hold a speech at the United Nations discussing the matter. The plan calls for Tony to drive, with Ernie and Chi Chi as backup, and get Alberto close enough to the vehicle to trigger a remote detonator planted on the bottom of the journalist's car.
    You'd Expect: That even with the explanation that Sosa has asked Tony to perform the favor as a test of loyalty, the plan is illogical and poorly-planned in several ways. For one, the information is already out in the public, meaning that any attempt to kill the journalist will be happening after the fact. Secondly, Sosa seemingly expects that the man running his Miami operations will travel all the way across the country for what amounts to a gopher role, driving a bomber around, when he could hire a group of lower-rung and disposable operatives who could perform the same action with less consequence. Third, Sosa's plan calls for a journalist to be blown up in front of the United Nations building, which could be considered an act of narco-terrorism and bring further scrutiny on Sosa and his organization from the DEA.
    Instead: Sosa does none of the aforementioned, and cajoles Tony into handling it. When Tony sees that the journalist is traveling with his family in the vehicle, he has a crisis of conscience and executes Alberto before he can trigger the detonator. The situation spirals out of control, as Sosa immediately sends a hit squad to Tony's mansion after the latter tells Sosa what honestly happened.
  • Tony has discovered Manny's location, and immediately goes to his house. Upon arriving, he sees that Gina has walked up to the second-floor railing to see what's happening, thus revealing that both Manny and Gina are (at the least) in a relationship.
    You'd Expect: That at some point prior to this, Manny would have told Tony that he's not seeing, but married to, Gina. Even if Tony was angry, he would likely understand given time. Alternately, Tony should ask Manny if it's true that he's trying to sleep with his sister and let him explain what's going on.
    Instead: He kills Manny without saying a single word. The fallout from this results in Gina being heartbroken and going as far as to take her own pistol and plans to kill her brother. In the tie-in video game, Tony admits soon after the mansion shootout that he was wrong to act impulsively against Manny.
  • In the final shootout against Sosa's army, Tony drops his weapon, the M16 with a grenade launcher, after being shot in another wave. At least he's still surviving, and there's also one of Sosa's assassins, the Skull, behind him.
    You'd Expect: Since he can survive from being shot due to his constant use of cocaine, Tony would think about going back to his office to get another weapon and dispatch the Skull before he could kill him.
    Instead: He continiously rants on how he can take their bullets, letting the Skull shoot him from behind and falling dead on the fountain.
• In Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, Freddy is confronted by reporter Heather Jasper Howe (secretly the Big Bad). He soon realizes that Heather is likely to Quote Mine him to make him look bad.
  You'd Expect: Freddy to not give her anything specific.
  Instead: "You're trying to make it look like I think Coolsville Sucks … Wait! Don't record that!".
  Result: Guess what.
• Scream (1996): The killers, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher have captured Sidney and plan to kill her by framing her father who has not appeared since the beginning of the film and then killing him in "self-defense". To make the plan more convincing, they plan to cut themselves to make it seem like they "barely got out alive".
  You'd Expect: That they would kill them FIRST then set their plan into motion.
  Instead: They cut themselves up first, leaving Sidney just standing there and giving her a chance to escape and leaving themselves in no condition to kill Sidney and the Not Quite Dead Gale that they thought they had killed earlier.
• In Scream 2, Sidney and another victim are in the back of a police car when the killer steals it. In the ensuing confusion, the killer crashes the car into a light pole, pinning a dead, armed cop to the hood and knocking himself unconscious.
  You'd Expect: Either woman to take the loaded handgun sitting in full view on the hood and shoot the killer in the chest. Failing that, hold him at gunpoint until help arrives.
  Instead: They run away into the night, allowing the killer to revive and continue the chase, eventually killing the woman who was with Sidney.
• In Scream (2022):
  • Sheriff Judy Hicks and her son, Wes, are preparing dinner, while the Ghostface killer is on the loose.
    You'd Expect: For Sheriff Hicks, as a police officer, to not leave her teenage son home alone in the house while there's a serial killer roaming freely and breaking into houses, especially when they don't seem to have a security system, and especially since being right beside him could ensure his safety.
    Instead: While Hicks goes to get take-out, she leaves her son home alone with nothing but a taser to protect himself.
    You'd Then Expect: For Wes to be more wary of his surroundings, and to keep his phone's ringer on to make sure he can easily keep in touch with his mother in case something goes wrong.
    Instead: Wes leaves his phone on vibrate as he takes a shower and ends up missing a call from his mother, a call that would warn him that Ghostface is coming after him and his mother.
    As A Result: Sheriff Hicks is brutally murdered by Ghostface, with Wes being his victim shortly afterwards.
  • Shortly afterwards, paramedics and police officers show up to investigate the murders of the Hicks.
    You'd Expect: For them to still leave a good portion of cops and other staff behind at the hospital Tara is staying at, especially since Ghostface would definitely still have her on his hitlist.
    Instead: The hospital is almost completely empty, with nothing but a single security guard on patrol.
    As A Result: Ghostface breaks into the hospital, murders the lone security guard, then attacks Tara. Tara's murder is only thwarted by Sam, Richie, and Dewey arriving on time, but even then, Dewey ends up having to make an Heroic Sacrifice to save the other three, while Tara afterwards has to stay in the hospital longer and be prescribed stronger painkillers. Oh, and speaking of...
  • During the fight with Ghostface, Dewey manages to overpower them and seemingly incapaciate them in a hand to hand brawl.
    You'd Expect: That he would immediately plug the killer in the head at the first opportunity he gets.
    Instead: He forgets about the Double Tap rule, rushes into the elevator with Sam, Tara and Richie, and only then he remembers he has to put a second bullet in Ghostface's head. So, he has to go back to finish the job, but then he gets a phone call.
    You'd Then Expect: If not disregard the phone call and shoot the killer in the head, then Dewey would definitely step back at a reasonable distance in case the Ghostface tries something funny.
    Instead: He looks at it while standing very close to where Ghostface is slumped, literally within his reach.
    As A Result: Ghostface springs up and disembowels Dewey on the spot.
• Scream VI: While running away from the Ghostface, Sam and Tara ran inside a store, with the killer following inside and murdering several customers in plain sight. Thankfully, the clerk steps up with the shotgun and manages to force the Ghostface into hiding.
  You'd Expect: That Sam and Tara would follow the other fleeing customers and leave through the main entrance.
  Instead: They decide to go through the backdoor and ask the bodega owner for the keys, fully aware that the Ghostface is still hiding nearby.
  Result: Ghostface catches the clerk off-guard and kills him with his own shotgun before attempting to gun down Sam and Tara next. While the two manage to escape by playing it smart, the killer gets away too right as the police officers arrive.
• Scary Movie:
  • The first movie's plot is a parody of the movie Scream, meaning that there is a killer; one of the main characters, Buffy Gilmore, is convinced that the serial killer is just a prankster, even with what had been going on. Eventually, she finds herself in a confrontation with Ghostface.
    You'd Expect: That Buffy would finally catch on to the fact that the killer was real, and go for help.
    Instead: She sarcastically mocks every Slasher movie cliche in the book, resulting in her death.
• Seven Pounds:
  • It turns out in the backstory, Ben the IRS agent wasn't the man that crashed the car killing seven people; his brother Tim, played by Will Smith was. Tim was an aerospace engineer and he suffers Survivor's Guilt since he was texting and driving. His first step of atonement is to give a portion of his lung to Ben, who was ill. Ben is worried about his big brother and wants to help in any way that he can. Unknown to Ben, Tim is badly suicidal.
    You'd Expect: For the rest of the journey, that he would ask Ben to help him with finding people who could use Tim's help. It doesn't even have to be organ donation though he does donate a kidney. He doesn't have to let on that he wants Ezra and Laura to get his organs after death, and Ben wants to help Tim after such a traumatic incident. It's likely that Ben would have put Tim on Suicide Watch and convinced him that living to atone is better than dying.
    Instead: At some point, he stole Ben's IRS credentials to pose as him and find the people who will receive his organs while he's living and after his death.
    The Result: Ben finds out after having his suspicions confirmed; he confronts his brother and gives him a What the Hell, Hero?. Besides the obvious problem— Tim committed fraud by impersonating a federal officer and if Ben weren't sympathetic his brother would be in jail— there is also the whole "falling in love with a woman that you know has a weak heart and you plan to kill yourself so she can have your healthy heart". While Ben doesn't know the full story, he knows that this budding romance won't end well with Emily, and encourages Tim to give back his ID, spend the night with him instead, and tell him what the hell is going on. Tim lies that he will tell Ben everything, runs back to his apartment and kills himself. Ben is left to live with grief that his older brother was suicidal, and he couldn't see the signs.
  • With Emily only having a month to live due to her failing heart and no waiting donors because of her rare blood type, Tim decides to kill himself to become a donor for her as he has the same blood type. Craziness aside...
    You'd Expect: Tim to do something simple like slit his wrists or hang himself.
    Instead: He pours ice cold water in his bathtub along with his pet jellyfish and lets the jellyfish sting him to death. It is, in fact, a box jelly, whose venom kills by inducing a heart attack. Of course, since this is the dramatic climax, his heart is just fine for the transplant.
• Shark Attack 3: Megalodon:
  • late in the film, an enraged mother megalodon shark is attacking a yacht full of rich people where Ben's Boss Luis Ruiz and a fellow rich executive Mr. Tolley are stranded on while the shark proceeds to knock more people of the yacht and into the water.
    You'd Expect: Since there is a giant man-eating shark in the waters, that most of the guests would clammer back on to the yacht while it is still afloat and probably signal the helicopter to pick then up while they still have the chance.
    Instead: Nearly all of them and especially Ruiz abandon ship, resulting in the shark gulping a whole raft of guests, and Ruiz (upon steeling a woman's life jacket) bailing off the yacht's bow right into the shark's emerging mouth.
  • Just after all this, Tolley first subverts this when he proceeds to make his own quick escape on a jet ski, but just as he sniggers at the people left behind, he then sees the megalodon right in his path ready swallow him.
    You'd Expect: that he just steer away from the gaping maw of the shark given the amount of distance there is between him and the shark.
    Instead: he screams and waves his arms about while he flies straight into the waiting shark's mouth at full speed!
• Shaun of the Dead: In this spoof of Zombie Apocalypse movies, the lead character and his best friend discover the living dead plague not long after a night at the pub. The news reports on their TV states that they should stay inside, and the lead character's mother and ex-girlfriend are outside.
  You'd Expect: They would listen to the news reporters and stay put in the house they're in, clearing it of any zombies (or whatever they are) first of course, and hope that the mother and ex-girlfriend are safe at the end.
  Instead: They make a rescue attempt. For extra stupidity, they convince themselves the pub is the safest place to hold out. This results in the lead character and the ex-girlfriend almost getting killed and the friend and mother becoming undead. In addition, Shaun indirectly gets his own father killed as well. David correctly points out later that he, Liz, Diane and Phillip were safer inside their respective houses.
• The Shining:
  • Jack Torrance gets an interview from Mr. Ullman about being a caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. While doing so, he is being told a story about the previous caretaker, Charles Grady, having gone insane and killed his family with an axe before killing himself due to a supernatural force living in there.
    You'd Expect: That Jack should take a hint that he may earn this similar problem and just drop out of the job.
    Instead: He takes the job anyway. It gets worse from there.
  • The cook Dick Hallorann offers to take Wendy's son, who is only five years old, away from his mother for a few moments for some ice cream.
    You'd expect: His mother offers to come with him. How does she know he's not going to kidnap her son? After all, a good parent wouldn't let their child out of their sight.
    Instead: She does and doesn't even question it.
  • Danny learns he can contact Hallorann via psychic communication. Hallorann tells him to do it only in an emergency. Danny contacts him when he finds that his father is going into the same room where Danny was traumatized.
    You'd Expect: Hallorann would realize that Danny's father is losing his mind and that he should not go up there by himself, instead having the police handle the situation.
    Instead: He drives up there by himself without any weapons.
  • Hallorann is in the Overlook hotel. He knows Jack has lost his mind and has gotten into a bit of trouble.
    You'd Expect: He would be quiet and not draw attention to himself. After all, he doesn't have a weapon to defend himself with.
    Instead: He dumbly calls out to Jack, revealing his presence and getting himself killed.
  • Wendy is trapped in the bathroom and has pushed Danny out of the window while her husband is busy smashing down the door. She has a knife by her side.
    You'd Expect: She automatically gets out of there while she could or just stab him.
    Instead: She wastes time SCREAMING every time he whacks the ax into the door. She stabs him, but only bruises his arm when she could have gone for a more vital spot, thus rendering him out of bounds.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2:

• Jennifer's ex-boyfriend Chip gets Ricky annoyed enough that he ends up frying Chip alive with a car battery charger, as Jennifer watches.
  You'd Expect: Jennifer to run away and get help while Ricky's busy killing Chip, or else try and keep Ricky calm long enough for her to call the police and prevent him from killing anyone else.
  Instead: She grabs hold of Ricky, starts screaming that he's crazy and yells "I hate you, Ricky, I hate you!", which just gets her added to the body count as well.
• Immediately after Jennifer is killed, a cop comes across Ricky and holds him at gunpoint, a good distance away. Ricky obviously isn't too intimidated by him, but isn't putting up any resistance.
  You'd Expect: The officer to do what any halfway competent trained cop would do in this situation — namely tell Ricky to get down on the ground, throw him a pair of handcuffs and make him put them on, all the while keeping his gun trained on Ricky.
  Instead: He walks right up to Ricky, takes the safety off his gun and waves it in Ricky's face. Fortunately, he's saved from the indignity of having to explain why he accidentally shot an unresisting suspect in the face... because Ricky snatches the gun away and shoots him dead, before going going on his infamous "Garbage Day" rampage, resulting in at least three more deaths.
• At the film's climax, Mother Superior manages to escape from Ricky and arm herself with a knife. For argument's sake we'll accept that her being confined to a wheelchair means that trying to escape isn't a practical option, and that she reasoned that one of the neighbors probably called the police in response to a loudly ranting maniac chopping down her front door with an axe.
  You'd Expect: Mother Superior to keep the knife hidden, lure Ricky in close and then stab him with it. With any luck she'll be able to kill him first, and worst case she should at least get the pleasure of Taking You with Me.
  Instead: As soon as Ricky enters the room, Mother Superior holds the knife in open view and essentially tells him "You're a naughty boy, so come here and let me punish you by stabbing you to death!" Ricky has a simpler solution, and just decapitates Mother Superior with his axe.

• At the end of Sleeping Dogs (1977), main character Smith is cornered by Jesperson and the Special Police Force. He fires at Jesperson, but is obviously not trying, since he rants that isn't this what they want, him to fight them? He defiantly walks away from them while Jesperson angrily tells Smith not to turn his back on him.
  You'd Expect: Jesperson to just shoot him in the leg, or have his men go grab Smith.
  Instead: He fatally shoots Smith after he turns away, then complains he needs him alive, and even kicks his corpse in frustration. Face Palm.
• In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal is faced with this question for ten million rupees: "Which cricketer has scored the most first class centuries in history?" A. Sachin Tendulkar, B. Ricky Ponting, C. Michael Slater, D. Jack Hobbs. While Jamal marinates his choices, the host—Prem Kumar—reminds him that he has already won five million rupees and that he still has his 50:50 and Phone a Friend Lifelines. After a flashback, Prem vamps to commercial to give Jamal more time. Jamal decides to take a bathroom break.
  You'd Expect: Prem to leave Jamal alone while he does his business.
  Instead: He follows Jamal to the bathroom where he writes a "B" out of fog on the bathroom mirror.
  The Result: Jamal uses his 50:50 lifeline which removes A and C. Pret tries to talk Jamal into picking B, but Jamal makes D his final answer. Pret forces a smile when D turns out to be correct. He then confesses what he did to a director who isn't too pleased to hear about it. On the next show, Jamal gets the final question right and wins twenty million rupees.
• In Smokey and the Bandit, Buford and Junior are chasing the Bandit, until they come across an I-beam.
  You'd Expect: Buford and Junior to follow the Bandit's lead, and turn right.
  Instead: "Duck, or you gonna be talkin' out of your ass!" Sure, they do just that, but...
  The Result: ...Buford's police car become an Instant Convertible, when it could've been avoided. Then again, we wouldn't have had this gem:
  Junior: Daddy, the top came off!
  Buford: No shit.
• In Smokey and the Bandit 2, Justice has the Bandit at gunpoint and tries to take him in. The Bandit tricks him into using up his bullets. He orders Junior (the poster child for this trope) to give him his own gun as the Bandit tries to escape.
  You'd Expect: Junior's gun to be loaded and Justice successfully scares the Bandit into surrendering.
  Instead: Junior's gun is empty and the Bandit escapes.
  It Gets Worse
  Justice: Why didn't you have your gun loaded?!
  Junior: When I put bullets in it, daddy, it gets too heavy.
• The Smurfs: Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs visit the bookstore to find a component for their plan to return home. They get surprised by Gargamel forcing them to escape via an air vent.
  You'd Expect: That all the Smurfs would run like heck for safety.
  Instead: For no apparent reason, Papa decides to stay and hold off Gargamel while the other Smurfs continue on. By this point, Gargamel is armed with a powerful weapon made from Smurf Essence and easily captures Papa. Note that Gargamel likely couldn't follow them through the little vent in the first place, making Papa's sacrifice pointless and causing everyone to have to rescue him.
• While storming the castle in Snow White & the Huntsman, the heroes are stuck right outside the castle because the gate is still shut.
  You'd Expect: The guards would take this opportunity to pour boiling oil on the heroes, quickly and easily winning the war for the villains.
  Instead: They wait until after the gate is open and half the army is inside.
• Some Like It Hot has Joe and Jerry see that Spats, the mobster who they saw kill Toothpick Charlie, is himself bumped off by overbosses. At the time, they are hiding under the tables because it's a party for the mob. Spats can't hurt them anymore, because he and his men are dead.
  You'd Expect: They would hide under the tables until everyone leaves. With Spats dead, the heat is off them, and they can stop being incognito.
  Instead: They get out from under the tables and try to sneak out. This sets the rest of the mobsters in the room after them.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022): Commander Walters has just revealed that Rachel's wedding to Randell was all an operation in order to capture Sonic and has captured both him and Tails. In addition, he also has his men arrest Tom for attempting to free Sonic.
  You'd Expect: Him to also arrest Maddie. She has been looking after Sonic as well and has also just challenged him on Sonic's threat level compared to Robotnik.
  You'd Also Expect: Him to offer Rachel some kind of compensation for having one of his men basically string her along. Woman Scorned anyone?
  Instead: He basically tells both girls to mind their own business and leaves them to their own devices.
  The Result: Using Tails' bag of gadgets (which Walters not picking up could be it's own moment), Maddie frees the boys while Rachel utterly humiliates Walters.
• Space Jam: A New Legacy:
  • Lebron James' entire relationship with his son Dom boils down to this. He wants to coach Dom through basketball, while Dom is more interested in designing videogames.
    You'd Expect: Lebron to make sure if Dom even wants to play basketball, understand his interests and support his decision.
    Instead: He doesn't even give Dom a chance to voice his opinion, forcing him to play basketball against his will and even signing him up for basketball camp. He also doesn't react well when Dom refuses to go.
    The Result: He completely alienates Dom with his expectations, eventually resulting in Dom teaming up with Al G. Rhythm to play against Lebron and the Looney Tunes in his own Calvinball version of basketball, with Lebron failing repeatedly to get his son back.
  • In Bugs's backstory, he revealed that Al G. Rhythm came to him and his friends on Tune World and talked them into leaving, claiming that there's more to see in the Serververse.
    You'd Expect: Them to realize something's up. Given how conniving Al G. can be, he's clearly got something ulterior up his sleeve for this.
    Instead: Despite Bugs's protests, they're all convinced and leave Tune World.
    The Result: Poor Bugs is left stranded on his world all alone until Lebron shows up. So much for "family".
  • As for Dafffy, well he wants to get into the Justice League during his time on DC World.
    You'd Expect: Daffy to train with the Justice League first, appeal to them in a legitimate way and avoid causing any trouble that might ruin his chance.
    Instead: He pulls an Engineered Heroics scam by setting up a Runaway Train incident thinking he can stop it, not even considering the possibility on how this could ruin his reputation.
    As a Result: He accidentally breaks the level that would stop the train, causing even more damage to the town and nearly killing the children at an orphanage where the train was headed. Then when Superman stops the trains instead, Daffy starts Evil Gloating and only avoids getting punished because Lebron and Bugs came to recruit him and Porky for the basketball game against Al G.
• Space Mutiny:
  • When all the main engineering crew of the Southern Sun announce their intention to join in the titular mutiny in a meeting amongst themselves, one of the engineers, Parsons clearly isn't on-board with the whole plan. The other engineers mock Parsons, but don't actually act overly hostile towards him.
    You'd Expect: Parsons to sit out the meeting, maybe indicate that he would be amenable to joining in the mutiny, then go and alert the ship's commanders.
    Instead: He openly accuses the other engineers of mutiny and treason, and announces his intention to report them... and is then shocked when they turn on him and kill him horribly.
  • Later on, one of the bridge crew, Lamont receives evidence that the mutineers were responsible for the destruction of a shuttlecraft. The ringleader, Kalgan, decides that she must be disposed of.
    You'd Expect: That in order to take advantage of the fact that the identity of the mutineers is still largely unknown, Kalgan would send some of his loyalists to "escort" Lamont from the ship's disco (don't ask), then dispose of her in a part of the ship he controls.
    Instead: He sends some of his loyalists, and they escort her to... right outside the disco, where Kalgan shoots her dead in person. Naturally this is heard by several people in the disco, including The Hero, Dave Ryder, who promptly tries to chase Kalgan down. While Ryder fails to actually capture Kalgan, his stupidity ends up giving the good guys direct evidence that the mutiny exists, and that Kalgan is one of the ringleaders.
  • What's worse: Lt. Lamont had only a few scenes ago spoken with a man in engineering who warned her about the conspiracy. After she orders him to the bridge he is cornered by Kalgan's men and commits suicide.
    You'd Expect: That Lt. Lamont would notice that the man she ordered to the bridge to tell her about the mutiny failed to show up, and would tell someone else about it.
    Instead: She goes disco dancing and gets murdered (as described above).
    For Added Idiocy: Lamont was *on the bridge* when she got the report and while the evidence was intercepted, the engineer still gave very specific details which should've logically been passed on to the Captain. A double bout of idiocy both for Lamont for not saying anything, and for Kalgan for just assuming she didn't say anything and not just laying low for a while.
• Spider-Man films
  • Spider-Man Trilogy:
    • During Peter's school trip to the Columbia University genetics lab, the tour guide shows the class the lab's collection of genetically engineered super spiders. Although she says there are 15 of them, Mary Jane points out that there are only 14 in the cages.
      You'd Expect: The tour guide would immediately put the lab on lockdown and conduct a search for the missing spider.
      Instead: She assumes researchers are experimenting on it and does nothing.
      The Result: The escaped spider bites Peter, giving him spider powers. Although this actually works out well in the long term, since he uses his powers to become a superhero, the bite could just as easily have killed him, or he could have decided to use his powers for evil.
    • After Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin decimates rival company Quest Aerospace, Oscorp is now profiting more than ever. However, Quest Aerospace makes an offer to the Oscorp Board of Directors to buy the company, and kick out Osborn in the process.
      You'd Expect: This is a terrible business decision. Right now Oscorp is out-profiting Quest Aerospace, so this clearly has Sore Loser written all over it. If anything, Oscorp should be buying out Quest Aeroscape and making use of their technology.
      Instead: The Board gleefully accepts the offer, even gloating about it to Osborn.
      The Result: Osborn becomes the Green Goblin once again and kills the Board members so he can stay in power.
    • In the climax of the first film, the Green Goblin has had a pumpkin bomb blow up in Peter's face, then beaten him mercilessly. He follows that by pinning Peter down and preparing to stab him, but he pauses to gloat about how he was going to kill Peter's girlfriend afterwards.
      You'd Expect: The Goblin to then stab Peter before moving on.
      Instead: He gloats about how he and Mary Jane were "going to have a hell of a time." Cue Peter's Heroic Second Wind, and ultimately Norman's death with his own glider.
    • Later on in the third film, Harry, now the New Goblin, recovers from the amnesia he got from his last fight with Peter, and decides to switch from killing Peter to making his life miserable. To that end, he breaks into M.J's home and threatens to kill Peter if she doesn't break up with him.
      You'd Expect: Mary Jane to remember that her boyfriend is a superhero, who has dealt with supervillains several times by now, and tell him what Harry's up to. And if Harry finds out, at least Peter will be prepared for another attack from the New Goblin.
      Instead: M.J. does everything that Harry asks of her, contributing further to Peter's moral and emotional downfall, and later prompting him to try and murder his former best friend.
    • Also, in the third film, Flint Marko has fallen in a particle accelerator, where an experiment involving sand is being conducted.
      You'd Expect: The scientists, after seeing an unknown mass, stop the experiment immediately.
      Instead: They shrug off the mass as a bird, and then continue the experiment. The radiation gives Marko sand powers, making him a dangerous supervillain.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man:
    • Peter goes to the sewers as Spider-Man to track down the Lizard and also to make some pictures of it for the Bugle.
      You'd Expect: That - not just for this particular endeavor but for his adventures as Spider-Man in general - he would remove any belongings that might identify him as Peter Parker.
      Instead: The back of his cameras are covered in labels that proclaims them to be "property of Peter Parker".
      Result: Lizard goes after Peter and Gwen at Peter's school.
    • Uncle Ben shows us exactly why you shouldn't take the law into your own hands when a thief runs out of the drugstore and then drops his gun.
      You'd Expect: Ben would've steered clear of the situation (even if he did had any significant prior authority or military training he should been smarter about how he handled the situation. Yet and still, he was not an authority figure) and would have just called 911, as the situation didn't concern him much in any way for him to be that much involved.
      Instead: He runs over to struggle trying to grab the thief's gun and ends up getting seemingly inadvertently shot fatally. Which could be deemed as a Stupid Sacrifice by some, since the incident looked fairly avoidable and unnecessary.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2:
    • Spider Man is calming Electro down
      You'd Expect: Nobody to interfere.
      Instead: Some dumbass SWAT sniper shoots at Electro.
      Result: Spider Man is unable to calm Electro down.
    • Peter warns Gwen to head for safety while he goes to fight Electro in the grid.
      You'd Expect: Gwen would listen to Peter and stay away for her own safety.
      Instead: Gwen insists on coming with Peter to help fight Electro against his wishes. Peter webs her hand to a police car, but Gwen eventually frees herself and follows him anyway. While she did prove herself useful in destroying Electro by overloading his electricity supply, she was still in danger of being killed either by the electricity flowing in the grid or by Electro himself.
      Then: After Electro's death, Harry, now the Green Goblin, is seen flying towards Spider-Man on his glider.
      You'd Expect: Gwen would recognize the obvious threat and hide.
      Instead: She stands right next to Peter even when the Goblin lands inches away from her while facing Spider-Man.
      The Result: Goblin spots Gwen and, upon figuring out Spider-Man's identity, kidnaps her and throws her onto a clock tower where the ensuing fight results in Gwen falling to her death.
• Spy Kids:
  • The parents go on a mission, leaving the kids with Uncle Felix for the weekend. Carmen and Juni adore their uncle, who brought popcorn for late night movies on a school night, and he returns the sentiment. Then they find out, after an alarm goes off at their home, that Felix isn't their uncle but a spy assigned to protect them in case their parents were ever compromised. Felix gets them into an escape submarine programmed to go to a safehouse.
    You'd Expect: Felix would just start the sub and go with the kids. The safe house is equipped with sentimental and practical items. Also, if he were there, he would have been able to sense that Ms. Gradenko was a Mole when she comes to talk to the kids and suggests they exchange the Third Brain for their parents, since Felix knew about the Third Brain and why Gregorio wanted to hide it. At the very least, he could have made sure the kids he was assigned to protect made it there safely.
    Instead: He gives them an If I Do Not Return lecture on what buttons to press in the submarine and goes to pack some last-minute items.
    The Result: Invading Thumb-Thumbs ambush Felix; he barely buys enough time for the kids to activate the submarine, leaving them to evade their captors and navigate to the safehouse alone. Juni nearly gets tossed off the submarine when he accidentally switches from autopilot to manual, and Gradenko nearly wins the kids' trust by seemingly revealing that Floop is evil. They catch him and hand him to Floop, who turns Felix into a Fooglie seemingly For the Evulz.
  • Ms. Gradenko to be fair also messes up. She at first seems to gain the kids' trust by revealing she has a key to the safe house and tells them who caught their parents: Floop. Her mission is to find the Third Brain and capture the kids. So far while Juni is crushed that Floop is evil and suspicious, Carmen isn't.
    You'd Expect: All her cohorts to be human. They just need to take the kids into custody and find the Third Brain.
    Instead: She takes some Thumb-Thumbs who are waiting outside.
    The Result: Juni spots the Thumb-Thumbs sinking the sub outside and warns Carmen, who immediately believes him. They attack Gradenko and her men with heavy inventions, steal back the Third Brain, and escape into the city. Oh, and a jetpack sets Gradenko's hair on fire. The novelization only fixes one aspect; Gradenko had planned to sedate the kids if they got suspicious but lost the opportunity.
• In a short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, Sidney wants to show his wife Joan a manuscript of his book "Cocoon Man" speaking about the sexual abuse he endured in the hands of his son. However, Joan is in the bathroom taking a shower. Isaiah wants to enter his parents' room, but Sidney hesitates to let him in.
  You'd Expect: For Sidney to assert his dominance in the household since he's the father and tell Isaiah that he just doesn't want him to enter the room. Then, Joan will find out about the sexual abuse Sidney is suffering.
  Instead: Sidney doesn't even try to assert himself as the father to Isaiah. Isaiah then proceeds to enter the room, obtain the manuscript of the book, and threaten Sidney with consequences should he discover another printed manuscript.
• Strays:
  • Doug is this in SPADES. Doug only got Reggie to impress his girlfriend. When she isn't around, he neglects Reggie entirely. Eventually the dog, albeit unintentionally, reveals that Doug was cheating on his girlfriend. She leaves and tries to take Reggie with her since she knows Doug doesn't like him.
    You'd Expect: Doug to just let her take Reggie. He hates the dog and he'll be free from being stuck with him.
    Instead: He keeps Reggie just to spite his ex out of pettiness.
    The Result: Doug is stuck with Reggie for some time.
  • Doug has had it with Reggie in his life and wants to get rid of him.
    You'd expect: For Doug to take Reggie to the shelter.
    Instead: He repeatedly tries to get Reggie to leave by throwing a tennis ball for him to catch far far away from his house.
    The Result: Reggie, obviously thinking that it's all a game, keeps coming back.\\

Even worse: Reggie states he and Doug "play" this 3-4 times a day. All that gas in Doug's truck wasted and he's already broke after being evicted.

• Doug sees that Reggie came back even after he tried to get rid of him many miles away in the city. Reggie begins to head out the front door.
  You'd expect: Doug to just let Reggie go. He doesn't want him around and seeing him wander out the front door would give him the chance to quickly close it.
  Instead: He slams the door shut and tries to kill Reggie with a bat. But this gives Bug, Maggie, and Hunter enough time to break in and eventually give Doug his long, overdue Laser-Guided Karma.
• Reggie sadly falls to this too, obliviousness aside. He has finally decided to denounce Doug in the end after being reminded of all the abuse inflicted upon him and wanders through the empty house. He buries the tennis ball in the backyard.\\

You'd expect: Reggie to run off through either side of the house outside or through the back. Doug could come back any minute and could cause more harm to Reggie.
Instead: Reggie decides to crap one last time on the carpet to spite Doug inside the house. And right when he goes back in, Doug has returned.
Fortunately: Bug, Hunter, and Maggie arrive just in time to save Reggie from being killed and give Doug the karma he deserves.

• The Suicide Squad:
  • Amanda Waller of all people gets one. It's revealed that the first Task Force with Harley Quinn is live bait for the Corto Maltese military. Nearly everyone on board that plane is either Too Dumb to Live like Blackguard, too much liability like Harley, or plain incompetent owing to their inability to follow orders. Then there's Flag, their commanding officer, and Only Sane Man.
    You'd Expect: Given Flag is a good man, a loyal soldier, and too valuable to just gun down, that she would put him on a different team that isn't slated to be killed. He and Bloodsport go way back in the same special ops, and they work like clockwork when the duo teams up with the others to destroy Jotunheim.
    Alternatively: If she feels his morals on a liability, don't put him on this mission since he refuses to compromise when children are hurt or tortured.
    Instead: In what is implied to be a Uriah Gambit since Flag is too principled for her liking, she sets him up for failure by saddling him with the incompetent Task Force A.
    The Result: Flag by miracle and common sense survives because he knows you don't run into a battle outnumbered and underequipped, and the Corto Maltese resistance rescues him as the military captures Harley. This necessitates Amanda Waller ordering the surviving Task Force to find Flag, wasting valuable time, and they kill most of the resistance that would have proven to be a valuable asset in taking back the country, under the mistaken impression they were the military. In the end, Peacemaker's mission to coverup America's involvement in the Starro research ends up being All for Nothing as Bloodsport seemingly kills him to save Ratcatcher 2, and he uses the evidence to blackmail Waller for the survivors' freedom so that Flag's death wasn't in vain. 
  • President Luna gets a big one; his army successfully captures Harley Quinn, after her team ends up brutally slaughtered and the resistance rescues Flag. It turns out that he's nursed a Villainous Crush on her, owing to her reputation as an outlaw, and obviously her looks. He proposes that she could be his First Lady and wife, to smooth things over with the Corto Maltese locals and the American government since the Wall wouldn't dare murder Harley if she could ease diplomatic relationships. Harley isn't in a position to refuse him, though she later admits that she's attracted to him, given her reaction to his Walking Shirtless Scene and they spend the day dating.
    You'd Expect: Luna to remember that Harley is a killer, and her ex was the Joker. She also came to the beach as part of an ops mission. Note that his general has an army guarding Harley, having sussed that she's too dangerous to be trusted.
    Instead: After she accepts his proposal, and has a violent sex scene with him, he lets his guard down. All his weaponry is available.
    The Result: Harley doesn't make it clear if she was planning to murder him the whole time, but she impulsively shoots him several times when he reveals that he's used the thing in Jotunheim to murder children, and plans to do the same to the children of anyone who opposes them. Harley tells the dying Luna, while crying, that her taste in men is terrible, but she's learned there are some lines that a person shouldn't cross.
  • After the above, General Mateo Suarez, now the new president, recaptures Harley and has her under Unwilling Suspension. Suarez has Harley tazed for information on her Task Force teammates. Harley refuses to give them any valid answer and eventually passes out from being tazed.
    You'd Expect: That even in a fully secure base full of heavily armed soldiers, Suarez would fully keep Harley on watch since she's a killer, her ex was the Joker and she came to the beach on a black ops mission, much like Luna should have done in the above. Therefore, leaving her unguared even for a moment would guarantee her escape.
    Alternatively: Suarez can send more soldiers into Harley's interragation room to make sure she can't escape after he leaves.
    Instead: Suarez leaves only one guard to watch Harley, and the guard starts texting emojis instead of watching Harley.
    As a Result: Harley crushes the guard with her legs, breaks out and goes Curb-Stomp Battle on all her captors.
• The Summer of Sangaile:
  • After Sangaile tells Auste she's never been in a plane because she gets vertigo, they get her into one anyway.
    You'd expect they would start with something nice and easy, to gently help Sangaile overcome her vertigo.
    Instead she goes through maneuvers like rolling in mid air. Sangaile has an unhappy time, as you'd expect, and gets mad at Auste later saying she needs to try again so she'll overcome this. She does, at her own pace, but this was a bad means to start.
• Superman Film Series
  • In Superman: The Movie, Lex Luthor has set into motion his plan to sink California into the sea using a nuclear missile aimed at the San Andreas Fault, and has incapacitated Superman both with Kryptonite and by sending a second nuclear bomb in the opposite direction. When he reveals that the second target is Hackensack, New Jersey, his girlfriend Ms. Teschmacher protests that her mother lives there.
    You'd expect he would lead her out of the room, handcuff her to something and then maybe go back and watch Superman die.
    Instead: He shrugs her off, and leaves them both alone and unmonitored. Five minutes later, she's saved Superman from the Kryptonite and he's escaped through the ceiling, on his way to foiling the plan.
  • Superman Returns:
    • At the end of Superman II, in just a week of his absence, three superpowered villains wreak havoc with the entire world while Superman is gone. He tells the President that he's sorry, and that he'll never put the world in that position again.
      You'd expect: Anything, anything, anything but what he ends up doing.
      Instead: He leaves without telling anyone he's going into deep space to find out what he was told by his own father happened: Krypton blew up. He ends up being gone five years. Did we mention that Luthor goes free because Supes didn't show up in court to testify? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
    • Lois Lane is investigating a story about a blackout which seems to have spread from a specific location.
      You'd expect she'd do some research into who lives there before barging into the house, or tell somebody, anybody where she was going, or at least drop off her five-year-old son somewhere else before going there.
      Instead she goes in without telling a soul, and gets herself and her five-year-old son held hostage by Lex Luthor.
• The Swarm (1978): After a small town is attacked by the titular swarm of killer bees, resulting in numerous deaths, the military decides to evacuate the town's surviving population by train.
  You'd Expect: Since it's established that 3 or 4 stings from these bees is somehow enough to kill instantly, and even a single sting can result in hallucinations and eventual death, that all of the train's windows would be shut as securely as possible.
  Instead: The train's drivers have the windows in the engine cabin wide open.
  The Result: A bee gets in, and when one of the drivers kills it, the entire swarm descends upon the train in seconds, killing the drivers and causing the train to run out of control. It subsequently crashes and violently explodes, killing the town's entire population.

T

• The final battle of Tai Chi Master, in which Junbao is soundly beating Tienbo. Tienbo calls for his army to attack Junbao, but they refuse, since Junbao's ally Siu Lin has the corrupt governor at swordpoint. Tienbo charges towards Siu, who turns the sword at him.
  You'd Expect: Tienbo to take this perfect opportunity to disarm Siu, and perhaps kill her off while he's at it. Governor out of danger, problem solved.
  Instead: He kills the governor right in front of his entire army, and tries to declare himself their leader. It's a simple matter for Siu to point out to the soldiers that Tienbo just killed their boss, and as a result of that, and Tienbo's Bad Boss tendencies, they leave him to get his ass kicked.
• Taken series:
  • Taken:
    • Among the main villains involved in the European human trafficking ring is a group of Albanian kidnappers responsible for abducting the women meant to be sold as sex slaves.
      You'd Expect: That they'd get their supply from Eastern Europe, East Asia, Africa, and all those other places full of vulnerable women without money. Hell, they can tell them that they'll bring them to a 1st-world country to work as a maid or something, and they'll climb into the truck and pay them for it. Their governments have little resources to defend them, their families are poor and without any international clout, and because they're in the country illegally, a lot of law enforcement will look the other way.
      Instead: They believe that the ideal victim is a girl with a family rich enough to send her on vacations, from a country with enough diplomatic clout to demand explanations. Better yet, let's scout for targets at a post-9/11 airport where our actions will be taped by security cameras and since they just got past customs, all the women have been officially documented as having just entered the country. Yup, that'll end well!
    • Bryan's daughter Kim and her friend Amanda aren't much better in terms of common sense.
      You'd Expect: That they would get a licensed taxi to take them to wherever they're staying, and not tell anyone they don't know where that is.
      Instead: They accept a ride with a complete stranger, and Amanda gives him the address for the place they're staying at and their room's location. She even tells him that they'll be alone.
      As a Result: They end up abducted by the kidnappers not long after.
    • Later in the film, several enslaved girls, including Kim, are being auctioned off at Patrice Saint-Clair's mansion. One of the buyers, Ali, finds Bryan holding him at gunpoint and demanding he buy a girl for Sheik Raman who, yes, turns out to be Kim. Bryan is caught by Patrice and gets clonked on the head. When Bryan regains consciousness while hung from a ceiling pipe, Patrice asks what the hell he's doing and why he just cost him over half a million dollars. Bryan offers to pay the guy back. A number of options for Patrice present themselves.
      You'd Expect: Patrice to scoff at the suggestion, ensured that this anonymous attacker can't refund him over half a million dollars, whereupon Bryan would give some proof that yes, he could (and you know he would).
      Or: He could say "Oh, well in that case I guess I can forget this ever happened," possibly demand a little extra for his silence (Bryan didn't specify what he was paying for, or how much).
      Or: If he insists on being a Card-Carrying Villain, he could shoot Bryan in the head with a gun (which he'd have to use from one of his security guards, given that he's always unarmed, but still).
      Instead: Patrice goes on to explain to Bryan about how this is "a unique business, with a unique clientele", which completely fails to explain why he thinks it's a good plan to walk away, leaving him in the hands of his guards, who Bryan has already proven himself quite capable of overcoming. He breaks out, of course.
      The Result: After defeating all the guards, Bryan heads straight for Patrice, and the latter tries to talk his way out and fails utterly, finishing with "it wasn't personal." Bryan responds with "It was all personal to me!" before repeatedly shooting Patrice to death, leaving his corpse in an elevator for the partygoers upstairs to find.
  • Taken 2: The movie is kicked off by a large group of Albanians seeking revenge on Bryan for killing their relatives and friends who were part of the first film's human trafficking organization. They successfully take Bryan and his ex-wife Lenore as hostages while they're on a vacation at Istanbul with Kim, keeping the two inside a locked room with a small window as they attempt to force Bryan to watch Lenore slowly bleed to death.
    You'd Expect: That the Albanians would keep Bryan on watch all the time with at least one full-term guard inside the room, plus several more auxiliaries in case he knocks that guard out and/or tries to free himself. This should be a priority, considering the room is poorly protected with a completely open window, a weak door lock, and rather soft restraints for Bryan, meaning that he can easily break out if he's not looked after. It would also be feasible to check if Bryan is carrying any hidden equipment that could give him an advantage against them.
    Instead: They do absolutely nothing like that, merely leaving Bryan and Lenore alone inside with a single guard outside the door, who gets a bonus point for falling asleep in the middle of his shift.
    Bonus Idiot Points: The Albanians' leader, Murad, was perfectly aware about Bryan's capabilities, yet he didn't bother implementing those measures in favor of trying to prolong Bryan's suffering as much as possible by explaining in detail what they intend to do to him and his family.
    The Result: With some help from Kim via a hidden phone, Bryan gets out of the room in no time, and progressively decimates the Albanians' forces on his way to escape and later return to rescue Lenore.
• The Ten Commandments (1956) has quite a few:
  • Bithiah, daughter of Rameses I and later sister of Pharoah Seti I, realizes that her maidservant, Menmnet, is highly disliking of the adoptive son she pulled from the river, Moses. Bithiah's made it clear she will kill Memnet if she ever reveals this, Menmet is aware of this, but she sarcastically keeps bringing up the lie.
    You'd Expect: Bithiah to simply kill this bitch. She's already willing to go that route; Memnet's more trouble than she's worth; she's literally the only one who knows the secret; and with her gone, Moses is free to become the Pharaoh. Moses himself is already adored by Seti and is the likely successor anyway, and Seti himself is deeply fond of Bithiah and is unlikely to raise a stink if anything happened to Memnet. It would be beyond simple to do away with her and spin a story that there was a horrible accident or even lie that Menmet did something ghastly.
    Instead: Bithiah tolerates Menmet's crap, letting her talk to Nefrititi. This gets her killed, but still, Memnet undoes everything Bithiah has done.
  • Moses himself realizes he is a Hebrew and he wants to set the slaves free.
    You'd Expect: He'd follow Nefertiti's advice: He can free them as Pharaoh with no fuss. He can worship whatever God he wants as Pharaoh. Given his military prowess, he might even be able to conquer a place like Canaan, then give it to the slaves, making allies of them like he did with Ethiopia. It would take time, but Moses is himself cautious and clever, knowing how to turn a battle to his advantage.
    Instead: Moses goes to kill Baka. Baka's a rapist and delights in killing, so killing him is fine, but this unnecessary move allowed Dathan to suss him out.
• Tenet: The titular organization seeks to acquire the Algorithm, and has machines called Turnstiles that can "invert" a person so that they move through time backwards. During the final battle to grab the Algorithm, Tenet dispatches Red Team and Blue Team to fight side by side. Blue Team's job is to fight through the battle from end to beginning inverted, gathering intel that they'll then give to Red Team, who will fight through the battle from beginning to end in normal time and get the Algorithm. Neil is on Blue Team, and he sees one of Sator's men planting bombs on a tunnel leading to the Algorithm, which will trap anybody attempting to capture it.
  You'd Expect: Neil to continue to fight through the battle inverted, and give Red Team the intel about the booby trap at his mission's end/their mission's beginning.
  Instead: Neil goes rogue, breaks off from his team to reach a Turnstile, and de-inverts himself. Back in normal time, he tries to catch up and warn the Red Team members about to go into the tunnel. but is too late to stop them from going in and setting off the trap.
• That's My Boy: Ms. McGarricle, big time with her inappropriate relationship with Donny.
  • You'd Expect: For her and Donny to go to a more secret place to have sex, let's say her house. It's implied she's living on her own, so she can easily get away having pleasure with Donny without being caught.
  • Or At Least: If she really must have sex with Donny at the school, she take him somewhere private to do the deed. A bathroom, an office, a closet, even an empty classroom. There are options if one so needs.
  • Or Better Yet: Not even express mutual feelings for Donny himself. Sure, she may like him back, but she should know all too well that this is wrong on so many levels, and could easily (and severely) damage her reputation should she be caught in the act. And if she were to internally struggle with her feelings, she mind as well go to some form of therapy to cope with them. Donny flirting with an adult is bad enough — and he's in detention rightfully so, but because Ms. McGarricle is an adult, she's in position to face bigger consequences given her status and level of maturity.
  • Instead: She and Donny proceed to have sex...on stage. At a school assembly...while laying against the very noisy piano.
  • The Result: To no surprise, Ms. McGarricle is easily caught and apprehended by the authorities. Her being pregnant provides bigger evidence of her relationship with Donny. While Donny gets to enjoy his life as a minor celebrity, McGarricle is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
• In Thelma & Louise, Thelma meets a handsome stranger named Harlan who turns out to be a Handsome Lech. Harlan tries to rape Thelma, but is driven off at gunpoint by Louise, who disregards his excuse that they were "just having a little fun."
  You'd Expect: Harlan to back off and walk away. If he's got anything nasty to say, fine, just make sure Louise can't hear it. Because, you know, she has a gun.
  Instead: This exchange:
  Harlan: Bitch! I shoulda gone ahead and fucked her!
  Louise: What did you say?
  Harlan: I said suck my cock!
  Louise's Gun: BANG!
• In The Thing (2011), the Thing is chasing after Kate inside the saucer and she gets into a far away slot out of its reach.
  You'd Expect: For the Thing to simply turn one of its appendages into a separate organism (like it did earlier) and get her.
  Instead: It angrily tries to catch her but she's just out of its reach and goes away after giving up.
• In Time After Time, H. G. Wells' acquaintance John Leslie Stevenson steals Wells' time machine and departs 1893 for November 5, 1979, after being outed as Jack the Ripper. However, because Stevenson doesn't have a special key, the time machine automatically returns itself to 1893 and shows Wells where (or when) Stevenson ended up.
  You'd expect: Wells to get a detective or a companion, cram both of them into the machine, and set the date for a couple of days before Stevenson arrives — say, November 3, 1979 — and wait to nab Stevenson as soon as he arrives.
  Instead: Wells goes alone, and travels directly to November 5, 1979. It takes him a couple of days to find Stevenson. When he does, Stevenson overpowers and eludes him and resumes his killing spree.
  • Later, Wells goes to the police in 1979 to tell them that Stevenson is the San Francisco Ripper. The detective runs a check on Stevenson's name but it comes up negative. He asks Wells for more information.
    You'd expect: Wells to at least pretend to have personally witnessed a murder. Or have the detectives talk to a hotel maid who witnessed the scuffle between Wells and Stevenson. And for Wells to identify himself as Herbert Wells (his real name), which is less commonly known and much more ordinary sounding than his pen name (remember that Amy didn't make the connection until Wells told her the truth).
    Instead: He hems and haws and can't come up with a good explanation as to why he suspects Stevenson. And he identifies himself as Sherlock Holmes to the detective, thinking that the fictional sleuth's popularity would have waned by 1979, not even taking into account that the policeman might have heard about the character. Unsurprisingly, the detective isn't convinced, and more murders occur.
  • Later on, Stevenson has targeted Amy in order to get back at Wells, and has left a threatening letter at her apartment. Wells tells Amy the truth and proves it by taking her two days into the future. She sees herself on the cover of a future newspaper, identifying her as the Ripper's fifth victim.
    You'd expect: Wells to take Amy back to 1893, drop her off at his house for her own well-being, return to a bit earlier in 1979 to handle Stevenson on his own, then return to the past to retrieve Amy. They have all the time in the world with a time machine!
    Instead: They both go back to the very day they arrived from, try to stop the fourth murder, and fail spectacularly. Wells tries calling 911 to report the murder, identifying himself as Holmes again, but it only makes him look like the guilty party.
    Even worse: Wells decides that Amy should stay home for a bit (!!!), gather her nerves, and then go to a hotel to hide. Except she takes some sleeping pills with liquor and is completely out of it when Wells is arrested, and is still at home when Stevenson comes around. If not for a Prophecy Twist, she'd be dead.
• At the end of Time Bandits, Kevin is transported back to his room, which is filled with smoke and firemen are in his house because the family microwave caused the fire. His parents find a strange-looking rock inside the microwave. Kevin warns them not to touch it.
  You'd expect that they give the firemen the microwave or just don't touch the rock.
  Instead they immediately touch it and explode.
• In Titanic (1997), the ship is sinking and Jack and Rose are trapped in steerage with the hallway starting to flood. They try bringing a child to safety when his father steps in and yells at them in a language they can't understand. At one end of the hallway is a door ready to burst open with water.
  You'd Expect: The father to see the water practically foaming out of said door at this point and stay the hell away.
  Instead: He carries his son over there to pick up their luggage, Jack and Rose yelling at him not to. When he sees the door, he stands there like a Deer in the Headlights and it opens, sweeping them both away.
• The Toxic Avenger: A trio of thugs attempt to rob a restaurant with a shotgun and a pistol. Toxie later intervenes, and it soon becomes clear that the thugs can't beat him in melee combat.
  You'd Expect: That one of the thugs would pick up one of the guns and just shoot Toxie.
  Instead: This idea never occurs to them.
  The Result: Toxie subsequently kills all three of them.
• Train to Busan: The passengers exit the train and move into Daejeon Station's platform, which is mentioned to be safe. However, the entire station is deserted, with no sign of any humans.
  You'd Expect: The passengers would return to the train out of safety. The lack of any military persons or even anyone should have been a huge red flag that something is wrong with the station.
  Instead: The passengers move further into and even to the exit of the station.
  The Result: It's revealed that the Daejeon military contingent is infected and now zombies, and many of those who left the train get infected.
• Transformers:
  • The Decepticons primarily have aircraft alt-modes. The Autobots are ALL restricted to land movement. The human's plan is to place Sam and the Allspark on a helicopter transport with a few soldiers. Which is standard procedure for EVAC of civilians, but hardly appropriate in this situation!
    You'd Expect: The Decepticons LET them load the Allspark onto the helicopter, wait until the copter is high in the air, reasonably far from the Autobots... then Megatron and Starscream can just fly up to the helicopter and take the Allspark with minimum resistance from the puny humans.
    Instead: They let Starscream blow up the helicopter, keeping Sam grounded. Megatron then gets met with sturdy opposition from Optimus Prime and the U.S. Army when he tries to take the Allspark from Sam.
  • At the beginning of the film, the human Sam Witwicky is selling the Plot Coupon, his grandfather's glasses which have the Allspark coordinates imprinted on them, on eBay.
    You'd Expect: The Decepticons hack themselves a Paypal account and simply buy the glasses.
    Instead: They send Barricade to interrogate Sam, who is promptly defeated by Bumblebee, Sam's Autobot guardian.
• Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen:
  • Alice, a Decepticon Pretender masquerading as a girl, is caught in a... tender embrace with Sam by Mikaela. Disgusted, Mikaela storms out of the room.
    You'd Expect: Alice prevents Sam from getting off the bed at all. If that's not possible, quickly and efficiently pin him down in one move while raising minimal fuss.
    Instead: When Sam does resist, Alice spends some time throwing Sam around. The noise alerts Mikaela, who is able to get back in time to help him.
  • Alice might have as well held a Smart Ball during that scene when compared against what Sam and co. did in this scene. After they found the Crest of Leadership needed to revive Optimus Prime to defeat The Fallen, the military, who had Optimus Prime's corpse, gave Sam a call, who was at the Great Pyramids, about deciding a place to meet and revive Optimus Prime.
    You'd Expect: That they would decide on a good rendezvous point like the Great Pyramids where the heroes were, and there were no Decepticons or witnesses around.
    Instead: Everyone decided to go to a nearby populated village where the Decepticons were headed. The result was a huge battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in the middle of a bunch of witnesses, with Sam nearly dying in the cross-fire.
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon:
  • Starscream is chasing down Sam and Carly with intent to terminate the two "insects".
    You'd Expect: Starscream to simply kill them with his missile launcher or multi-barrel cannon.
    Instead: He decides to toy with them, chasing after them and scaring them with his buzzsaw for the fun of it. This of course gives Sam the time and opportunity to use Que's grapple-hook gadget to tear out Starscream's right eye. Starscream then goes berserk from the pain this gives him and because Sam's attached to him through the hook, he sends Sam flying around.
    You'd Then Expect: Starscream to grab Sam and snap him in half, both for revenge and to prevent the human from inflicting any more damage.
    Instead: He starts swaying around out of pain and only tries kicking Sam in the air with his foot. Then, Sam manages to install a stick-bomb in his other eye, blinding Starscream before the bomb explodes and kills him by blowing his head out.
• Transformers: Age of Extinction:
  • Joshua Joyce is building his own Transformers and is trying to get his hands on a Seed, a terraforming bomb that creates Transformer metal he needs for his prototypes. However, he's secretly being manipulated into doing this by Megatron, who has covertly taken over one of his prototypes and has his own plans for the Seed.
    You'd Expect: Given this entire plan hinges on Joyce being none-the-wiser that his technology has been compromised, Megatron would allow Joyce to control the prototype until such time that he could obtain the Seed for himself.
    Instead: Megatron hijacks control of the prototype at several points just to be needlessly sadistic and even speaks through it, something the prototypes are outright incapable of doing. With a little push from Cade, Joyce rightly suspects that something's amiss and throws a wrench into the entire plan.
  • In the climax, corrupt government official and the movie's human Big Bad Harold Attinger has Cade disarmed and at gunpoint. Optimus Prime is currently engaging Lockdown less than 100 yards away, with clear line-of-sight to where Attinger is standing. Attinger is convinced that all Transformers are dangerous, regardless of alignment. Furthermore, Optimus proved earlier in the film that he has fewer compunctions about killing enemy humans now than he had in the previous films, especially ones that threaten or kill his allies.
    You'd Think: That Attinger would dispense with the speeches and shoot Cade, and then haul ass into the nearest cover before Optimus gets the chance to retaliate in kind.
    Instead: He stands there and goes on a Motive Rant. Optimus sees him holding Cade at gunpoint and, as soon as he gets the opening, shoots Attinger with a shotgun slug the size of a large truck. Lockdown is able to use the diversion to get the upper hand against Optimus, but Cade is able to recover the Cybertronian dagger he'd found on Lockdown's ship and harass Lockdown with it until Optimus can get back on his feet and rejoin the fight.
• In Transformers: The Last Knight, we learn that Earth's core constitutes Unicron, the ancient enemy of Cybertron. Unicron's been dormant for billions of years and Quintessa still classifies him as an apocalyptic enemy to Cybertron.
  You'd Expect: Quintessa to just leave Unicron alone. He can't wake up on his own to consume more planets as demonstrated by his inactivity for such a long time now.
  Instead: She insists on destroying Unicron as soon as possible, brainwashes Optimus Prime into following her orders and brings Cybertron's remains into Earth's orbit so that she may encase Unicron with Cybertron's body and drain the life out of Unicron, which will instantly kill him. Unicron wakes up from sensing Cybertron approaching him.
• In the "Amelia" segment of the Trilogy of Terror, Amelia manages to trap a demonically-possessed Zuni fetish doll inside of a suitcase after it's been terrorizing her her a good amount of the day. It then starts to try and carve its way out with a knife.
  You'd Expect: That she would take steps to completely isolate it (lock it in a bedroom, etc.) or otherwise continue her escape attempts that she was in the process of doing until now.
  Instead: She tries to grab the knife blade, getting a bloodied-up finger for her trouble. And when this predictably fails, she just leaves the suitcase out in the open while looking for further exit routes, letting the doll finish making its escape.

U

• Early in Universal Soldier: The Return, the military decides to shut down and dismantle S.E.T.H., the artificially-intelligent computer which controls the UniSols. S.E.T.H. naturally isn't too keen on this, but has a problem in that if he just kills all the people trying to shut him down, it'll eventually trigger a Self-Destruct Mechanism that requires a certain code to be entered every day in order to temporarily disarm it. Only two people know the code — S.E.T.H.'s creator, Dr. Cotner, and former UniSol Luc Deveraux.
  You'd Expect: That S.E.T.H. would use the UniSols under his command to take control of the facility, capture Luc and Cotner before they know what's going on, and then have the UniSols torture them until they give up the codes. Granted, Luc is a former soldier and not all that likely to break under torture, but Cotner will probably be a different story, given that he's a scientist with no combat experience.
  Instead: S.E.T.H. has the UniSols start taking over the facility... but not until after he's already let Luc and Cotner know about his rebellion courtesy of a Precision F-Strike. And then just to really crank up the idiocy, he fries both Cotner and an innocent bystander alive with an electricity beam — an honorary What an Idiot also goes to whoever thought it was a good idea to install that in a fully autonomous AI with few-to-no programming constraints — leaving Luc as the only one who knows the code. And he naturally isn't inclined to give it up to S.E.T.H. under these circumstances.
• The Untouchables:
  • Frank Nitti accidentally exposes himself as the murderer of Jim Malone to Eliot Ness. Nitti promptly flees the scene and heads for the rooftop. After a scuffle with Ness, Nitti finds himself hanging from the rooftop. Out of principle, Ness helps him up and apprehends him.
    You'd Expect: Nitti to exercise his right to remain silent, for anything he says can and will be used against him. Such as what he actually does.
    Instead: He decides to mock Malone's death in-front of Ness and brags that he'll beat the rap. Ness promptly abandons his code of ethics and tosses Nitti off the roof.
  • Earlier, Frank Nitti writes Malone's address on a matchbook to help him carry out his murder.
    You'd Expect: Since it's now potential police evidence, Nitti would dispose of it right away.
    Instead: He does not. The matchbook is what identifies him as Malone's killer, which leads to his downfall.

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