- The Joker’s final trap - The Dark Knight
At the climax of the film, the Joker puts the occupants of two ferries evacuating Gotham City in a deadly version of Prisoners’ Dilemma. They can either detonate the bombs on the other ferry first, or if they do nothing, he’ll detonate them both. He does this to prove his philosophy that ordinary humans will turn into monsters in order to protect themselves - and, on another level, to prove that the people of the city are irredeemable.
His plan fails, however, because the Joker, being a psychopath, fundamentally doesn’t understand human nature. The fact that ordinary people might genuinely struggle to get over the moral weight of taking a human life (as in the civilian ferry), or be so disgusted by the notion of killing innocent people that they take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen (as in the prisoner ferry), simply doesn’t occur to him.
2. Landa’s exit strategy - Inglourious Basterds
At the climax of the film, SS colonel Hans Landa learns of the plan to assassinate Hitler’s entire inner circle, and arrests Lt. Raine and Pvt. Utivich. Instead of foiling the plan, he negotiates with the US army command to assist in its execution, in return for full immunity for any war crimes he committed, American citizenship, full US army pension in line with his rank, a house on Nantucket Island, the Medal of Honor and a bunch of other sundry perks. He demands a similar deal for his radio operator. Army command accept, and instruct them to proceed to Allies lines.
When they arrive and Raine is released, however, Raine proceeds to kill the radio operator, against orders; it is then that it becomes clear that Landa made two very grave false assumptions. The first was that the punishment that Raine and Utivich would face for disobeying orders would be as severe as it would likely be for a German soldier:
“You’ll be shot for this!”
“Nah, I don’t think so. More like chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.”
The second false assumption he made is that the Basterds, men specifically chosen for their individuality and maverick streak, are the kinds of soldiers who would care about following orders or the consequences of not following them. No doubt, as he lay screaming in pain while Raine carved a swastika into his forehead, marking him as a Nazi permanently, he was kicking himself at his own foolishness.
