Heroic BSOD/Film

No, the movie screen hasn't turned blue - just the hero's mind.

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Film - Animated

• The Beast has a near suicidal maverione after he lets Belle return to her father.
• In The Lion King, Simba has one because he blames himself for his father's death, which is also made worse when Scar was responsible for his blaming himself in the first place, even though it was actually Scar who did the deed.
• In Disney's The Great Mouse Detective, Basil snaps after falling for Ratigan's Evil Plan, silently and stoically sits through the To the Pain lecture, and just waits for the Death Trap to go off, feeling completely humiliated, outwitted, and defeated. Since this is a family film, he gets better.

Dawson: Dash it all, Basil! The queen's in danger, Olivia's counting on us, we're about to be horribly splatted, and all you can do is lie there feeling sorry for yourself!

• In Toy Story, when Buzz Lightyear finally realizes he's just a toy.
• In Brother Bear, this trope happens when Kenai finally listens to Koda's story about his mother and realizes it is about the fight he and his brothers had with a bear. Kenai puts the pieces together and realizes to his horror that he killed Koda's mother. At that, Kenai flees the bear gathering in profound fear and shame.

Film - Live Action

• In Braveheart, William Wallace has one of these when he finds out that Robert the Bruce was working with Edward Longshanks. It is enough to where he lies down to almost get captured by a band of English soldiers before the Bruce lets him go. At the same time, when Robert the Bruce realizes the horror on Wallace's face, he looks as if he is about to succumb to one as well.
• In Ferris Buellers Day Off, Cameron seems to have one of these when he sees that the valet took his father's car - his most prized possession, for a joyride. He screams at the top of his lungs for the whole city to hear, then lapses into his BSOD. Ferris and his girlfriend Sloane try desperately to revive him, which culminates with the two of them in a hot tub, and Cameron on a folding chair at the end of a diving board. He falls (or jumps) in, and Ferris "rescues" him, reviving him from his cataplexy in the process. He reveals that he wasn't really catatonic the whole time. Sloane then asks if he saw her get changed, which he replies to with a grin.
• Sleepy Hollow used it twice, first when Ichabod first sees the "monster" ("It was a headless horseman. But it was a headless horseman. No, you must believe me. It was a horseman, a dead one. Headless.") and then at the finale: the Horseman brings Lady Van Tassel with him to the underworld, her hand is stuck at the roots of the "tree portal". The hand closes. Ichabod promptly faints.
• John "Scottie" Ferguson gets one of these in Vertigo that lasts long enough for him to be put in a mental hospital after the woman he loves is killed. She comes back later.
• In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent. Pretty much all the scenes in the hospital after he finds out what happened are just him on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Of course, you either die a hero, or reboot into a villain...
• Barbossa (arguably this rather than a Villainous Breakdown, given his brief stint as a "hero" in the third movie) has one in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, after his plan to save the pirates by releasing Calypso fails miserably. Upon seeing the maelstrom that the Pearl is forced to weather, he just stands on the deck staring at it, before Elizabeth snaps him out of it by reminding that he's needed at the helm.
  • Jack also gets one when just as he prepares to stab the heart, Davy Jones fatally wounds Will
• Night of the Living Dead: Barbara has one after seeing her brother killed by a zombie, then being chased across the countryside by said zombie. She recovers almost the whole film later, when her brother leads the mob of zombies that kill her.
• In the Korean action movie Shiri, the main character has a bit of a BSOD when he discovers his girlfriend is in fact a North Korean assassin.
• Ditto the Korean thriller Oldboy, where the main character BSODs hardcore (AND dumps core, and probably files a cosmic bug report) when he finds out he's been manipulated into sleeping with his own daughter as karmic payback for talking too much about a schoolmate who got his own sister pregnant.
• Done pretty well for a comedy in Tropic Thunder, when extreme method actor Kirk Lazarus is called out for his methods, used because he's afraid of what's deep inside, by a rather insane Tugg Speedman (who's suffered his own BSOD after accidentally killing a panda, then supposedly "found a family"). It takes the Only Sane Man, resident Geek, and Promoted Fanboy (of sorts) Kevin to shake Kirk out of it...and, well, he attempted to do so with Speedman.
• Su in True Legend suffers a catastrophic crash midway through the movie as his wife dies shortly before being rescued. Long story short, he doesn't pull out of it, thus becoming the mythic Beggar Su.
• Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List breaks down towards the end of the film after thinking that even if he had saved the lives of about 1,100 Jews, he might have been able to save more had he used his money wisely.
• The plot of the new movie Charlie St. Cloud has the titular character suffer one of these after his little brother was killed in a car accident.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Sweeney Todd goes into a not-so-heroic one of these after Anthony's colossally bad timing in telling him about Johanna and his plan to elope with her blows his first shot at revenge on Judge Turpin straight to hell. This leads to him launching into the epic number "Epiphany" that marks his transition into full-on Villain Protagonist mode.
• In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke suffers a BSOD after Darth Vader's notorious reveal. Which brings us to...
  • The Expanded Universe events of the franchise also hint that he continuously suffered from the BSOD even after getting his hand replaced.
• In the Bollywood movie Pukar, the main character, Jai, goes through this after having been wrongfully accused of treason and facing court martial. Made all the worse that his girlfriend has left him and his family has been shamed. Ironic, that the only one listening is the person who put him in that predicament (though she never thought it would go so far) and her father. He gets better.
• Shilo has a fairly extensive one by the end of Repo! The Genetic Opera.
• Nicole Kidman's character in Birth has a BSOD while at the opera. The camera locks on her face for a full three minutes while she shuts down. The result is fairly haunting.
• An early cinematic example occurs in Metropolis when Freder collapses and has a four-minute apocalyptic vision after he (apparently) discovers (Robot) Maria is in league with his father, Joh.
• From the recent CGI movie TMNT, Raphael confronts Leonardo, breaks his swords and beats him for once - leaving him vulnerable when the Big Bads gang up on him and capture him. The realisation that this was all his fault turns Raphael into a babbling, incoherent emotional mess.
• Sarah Connor Blue Screens in Terminator 2 upon seeing a Terminator very much identical to the one that persistently tried to kill her in the previous film. Complete with slow motion, deer in the headlights look, and catatonia, which contrasts nicely with her put-on catatonia earlier in the day after she's shown photos of the Terminator walking around a shopping mall. She couldn't even fight back the orderlies who are subduing her - the same orderlies who were getting their asses kicked by her a few minutes ago.
• At the end of Warrior King, Tony Jaa has a pretty epic Heroic BSOD when he sees the skeleton of his father's elephant (which he has been trailing all film) behind the throne of the big bad and collapses to the ground, getting kicked in the head repeatedly while he reboots, before unleashing the mother of all Unstoppable Rages on every last motherfucker in the room.
• The character Sarah has one of these about two thirds of the way through The Descent and doesn't come back for the rest of the movie. On the upside, her BSOD is very hardcore, and in all likelyhood it saved her life in the American version with the revised ending.
• Saving Private Ryan:
  • Upham gets one, being only able to walk among the carnage. The Germans realize his condition and never shoot him, even though he has loads of bullets around his neck. He gets over the BSOD only after The Cavalry arrives.
  • Captain Miller has one upon arriving on the beaches of Normandy. What's even more interesting is you get to see it through his eyes as it happens.
    • That was just shellshock
• In Space Camp, Katherine (played by Lea Thompson) has one of these after finding the manual override switch. Katherine didn't know whether to pull the switch so they could save their camp counselor Andie (played by Kate Capshaw of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom fame infamy), or not pull it and allow mission control to bring them back to Earth on auto-pilot (they were low on oxygen). It eventually takes Kevin (Tate Donovan) who previously "didn't ask to be responsible" to do just that and pull the switch to rescue Andie.
• This typically happens in the TV movies Lifetime airs (some they made themselves, others not) when either the main protagonist (or any other character for that matter) discovers some horrible (or otherwise shocking) Reveal in whatever the context happens to be in at the time. It's happened so often that it has now become a stereotypical plot element in such movies.
• In District 9, Christopher is purely interested originally in getting himself, his son and maybe a few others the hell off Earth. However, when he and Wikus raid MNU's lab, he enters this state realizing the horrifically evil things being done to his people. Once he snaps out of it, he is now dedicated to return to both free his people and help Wikus.
• Kirk has one in Star Trek III the Search For Spock after David is killed.
  • In Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan, Kirk's BSOD over Spock's death somewhat continues into the third movie, wherein he snaps out of it and starts to kick Klingon ass and take names.
• Ghostbusters gives us another lovely quote after the team has viewed the transformation of Gozer into the Stay Puft Marshamallow Man.

Peter: Ray has gone bye-bye, Egon. What have you got left?
Egon: Sorry, Venkman. I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.

• In Greedy, Danny McTeague gets a very bad, but brief, BSOD after getting a gutter ball that ruins his chances of getting into the finals of a bowling tournament.
• The Hurt Locker, in following an Army EOD team in Iraq, gives us an escalating scale of BSODs through all the main characters:
  • James is basically a walking BSOD through the entire film, with some moments shoving him deeper in than others. Arguably, he only manages his reboot at the end of the film when he realizes he genuinly enjoys his ridiculously dangerous job despite his wife and son waiting for him at home, and re-enlists to go back.
  • Sandborn is pretty stable, but he eventually swerves right into a BSOD when being around James gets him thinking that if he dies, there isn't anyone in the world who would care except his parents. They don't count.
  • Eldridge goes through several traumatic experiences starting from the very first scene, to the point where he has a counselour popping up around him every now and then. Eldridge actually tells him, sincerely, that he appreciates his efforts and that he feels better having someone to talk to. Then the counselour is killed, and Eldridge is indirectly responsible. Then he's shot. He has precious little sanity left by his last scene.
• In Return to Oz, Dorothy manages to endure a lot, including the destruction of virtually everything she ever loved about Oz, but with a lot of hastily-revised plans and some helpful friends, she remains stable. However, when the Nome King transforms the Scarecrow into an ornament and abandons her in a chamber deep inside his palace, Dorothy finally bursts into tears. After a Pet the Dog moment from the Nome King and then a Kick the Dog moment, she falls into a period of despair which she finally recovers when she beats the Nome King at his own game.
• United 93's entire cast (besides the passengers aboard the titular flight) suffers one after United 175 smashes into the South Tower.
• Katherine, the protagonist's love interest in Fury, has one after seeing an angry mob burn her fiance alive. He gets better. Afterwards she's unable to speak, and has a post-traumatic freakout whenever she sees fire (including people lighting their cigarettes).
• Cemetery Man. Learning the rest of the world doesn't exist for you because you're not real could do that to anyone.
• Towards the end of Boogie Nights, there's an extended shot of Dirk just staring into space. Somewhat of a subversion, as this is more due to his cocaine addiction, and all the shit that's going on around him.
• In The Howling, Karen White suffers one her first time back on TV after being attacked by Eddie Quist.
• In Predator, the character Mac suffers one after seeing Blain get killed by the Predator (and actually seeing the Predator for the first time). Only Dutch can reboot him by yelling "Sergeant!".
• The Lethal Weapon films. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), primarily.
• Maverick in Top Gun likely takes the cake for having a BSOD in the middle of a two vs six aerial dogfight. After flying into an enemy fighter's jet wash, he is reminded of his friend's death after which he mentally shuts down for a few seconds. However, being that aerial combat is a fast, furious affair that requires quick reflexes and a pilot's full attention, it is miraculous that our protagonist wasn't instantly blown out of the sky.
• In Shaun of the Dead Shaun suffers from this after beating a zombie to a bloody pulp with his best friend Ed. Ed seems completely oblivious to this while eating a Cornetto
• Not sure if he counts as a hero, especially considering the events immediately following this scene, but Philip Seymour Hoffman's character has an epic one in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead after his wife leaves him and reveals she's been sleeping with his brother. He calmly and systematically dismantles their apartment, pouring their decorative marbles over the coffee table and tearing up his entire bedroom. And then shit really hits the fan.
• In The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus has been rescued from the Cross by his guardian angel (in the form of a little girl). He has married Mary Magdalene, and is raising a family. He has his BSOD when his former disciples reveal his ever-present guardian angel as Satan, having sabotaged his dying for the sins of the world. Fortunately, It Was All Just a Dream or Satan's tempting fantasy.
• In The Passion of the Christ an enmotionally exhausted Mary embraces Jesus after he has been taken down from the cross ... and is too spent to do anything but give the thousand yard stare.
• In Lawrence of Arabia, the title character has a few of these, most notably after he's captured and beaten (and, by implication, possibly raped) by Turkish soldiers.
• Both Wellington and Napoleon are in BSOD mode pretty hard after the titular battle in Waterloo. Wellington has won the battle but at tremendous cost to his army, and only after having seen most of his aides and officers killed. Napoleon meanwhile is broken by his loss, and the knowledge that dismal exile is the only possible fate for him now.
  • Pretty much Truth in Television. This is how it was, folks.
• In The Deer Hunter, there's Nicky.
• In Memento, this has happened to Lenny- permanently.
• In Little Women's The Movie of the Book (more exactly, the classic one of the 40's), Beth has a huge one when she and Amy sneak into the Christmas Party and overhear the Gossipy Hens speculating about Marmee's "plans" of marrying either Meg or Jo off to Laurie. This is parallel to the book scene where Meg is the one who has such an experience and keeps self cool for a bit, then breaks down crying when she's alone.
• Creepshow has a rare literal example. The screen actually turns blue behind the hero.
• Thor goes into one when he discovers that he can no longer lift Mjolnir. Also Loki visiting him and lying to him that their father had died and that he was banished from Asgard forever.
  • Odin too could count since Loki's discovery of his true ancestry and resulting outburst caused his powers to shut off.
• In Reservoir Dogs, Mr. White (although Villainous Breakdown / BSOD might fit here in this case) suffers from a catastrophic one, causing Harvey Keitel to emit the most heartbreaking squeak ever uttered by man when he discovers Mr. Orange is an undercover cop AFTER he shot his boss and oldest friend in defense of Orange. This ends poorly for everyone.
• Frodo has one at the near end of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring. Frodo just stares with the Thousand-Yard Stare on the river from the shore while holding the Ring on the open palm of his hand, obiviously traumatized by Gandalf's death, Boromir's corruption and the Uruk-Hais' sudden attack, and thinking back when he told Gandalf that he wished that nothing of the events would have ever happened. He snaps out of it when he remembers Gandalf's answer and decides to continue to Mordor.
• Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) goes into one in I Am Legend after being forced to kill his vampire-infected dog, who had been his only companion for the three years that had elapsed since the beginning of the vampire apocalypse, in self defense. The following shot of Neville sitting in his car after burying the dog's body and blankly staring at the now empty passenger seat really drives home the point. His depression gets to the point that he attempts suicide by vampire. He gets snapped out of it after being saved by a pair of other human survivors.
• Gomez enters one after he loses his fortune and is evicted from his home in the first Addams Family movie. Thing snaps him out of it just before the climax with a three word message: MORTICIA IN DANGER.
• Sam from Transformers suffers one in the second film when Optimus dies. And again in the third film when he sees the Autobots' ship destroyed by Starscream and believes the Autobots are dead. Also, various bystanders are shown to be standing speechless or sitting dejectedly after Chicago's invasion by the Decepticons and even Epps and NEST soldiers gave up and declared the fight over. They fortunately snap out of it when Optimus and the rest of the Autobots came back.