History Main / DarkenedBuildingShootout

* ''Film/TheTerminator'' ends with one in a SmokeAndFireFactory.

The Denouement of any number of made-for-TV thrillers in the 80s. The hero pursues the villain through a darkened building. They both have guns. They shoot at each other. The guns [[{{Chiaroscuro}} flash brightly in the dark]]. The shots echo and ricochet. Finally the hero has OneBulletLeft. The villain has moved round behind him in the dark. He is about to shoot. The hero turns and fires his last bullet. The villain is shot squarely in the chest. He [[BlownAcrossTheRoom flies back]] (for extra points he [[RailingKill falls a huge distance over a balcony or into a stairwell]]). The villain lands, dead, on his back, [[DiesWideOpen eyes open and staring]]. Focus on face. Cut to hero returning to the sunlit world outside. Final [[AnAesop Aesop]] if any, roll credits.

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', there's one in a CreepyCathedral in the fifth episode, "Ballad of Fallen Angels", and one in an AbandonedWarehouse in "Sympathy for the Devil".
* The manga version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' has a shootout in a darkened warehouse that's similar to this, although it has two variations--first, it's the ''heroes'' that get chased into the building by the villains, not the other way around. Second, Rosette realizes that their enemies are using the darkness as a psychological attack, and shoots at a spilled puddle of some flammable liquid, causing the building to set on fire. This gives them more light at the climax of the fight, but also increases the danger and splits the group up into pairs. (Also, it takes place in the ''middle'' of the series, not the end.)
* Used in an episode of ''Anime/{{Noir}}'', where the girls find themselves the targets. But Kirika gives them an advantage by putting ''popcorn'' on the floor. She's so uncannily good that she can tell from the sound of it being broken where the Mooks are and shoot them accurately.

[[folder:Comic Book]]
* The hero of the ''Comicbook/SinCity'' story ''Hell And Back'' gets involved in a shootout that spans two buildings. In one dark building is a sniper with a night-vision scope. In the pitch-black apartment across the alley, is our protagonist Wallace, who has no night-vision and only goes off the glint of the sniper's rifle to tell where his foe is hiding. [[spoiler: The gunfight ends in a ScopeSnipe.]]

%%[[folder:Fanfic]]

* Used in ''Film/KickAss'' when Big Daddy is being held in a warehouse and his daughter [[LittleMissBadass Hit-Girl]] goes in to rescue him wearing night-vision goggles, [[spoiler: [[YouAreTooLate but is too late to save him.]] ]]
* ''Film/SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil'': A shootout in dark building -- with a twist: one of the protagonists is blind. [[spoiler:And so is the BigBad.]]
* In ''Film/BladeRunner'': Deckard's final showdown with Batty occurs in a dark, dank, building (actually the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building Bradbury Building]] in Los Angeles).
* ''Film/TheBodyguardFromBeijing'' had its climax in a BigFancyHouse where the titular bodyguard takes on legions of assassins while the lights are out. The bodyguard manage to take out several opponents by throwing torchlights towards where he hear the assassins approaching, and gunning them down quick-draw style, and when seeing the silhouette of several baddies near a television, flicks on the TV using a remote and firing away at the revealed assassins.
* Used in ''Film/OnDeadlyGround''; the oil rig fits once Forrest Taft cuts its power. The methods of killing turn quite creative there...
** Also in ''Film/UnderSiege'', sort of; it's more a Darkened Ship Shootout. Which didn't [[KnifeFight end in a shoot out]].
* ''Film/DieHard'' had this as the main conflict. Between the levels still under construction and the power cut...

* ''Film/TheTerminator'' ends with one in a SmokeAndFireFactory.
%%* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', the movie, inside the temple & pyramid.
%%* ''Film/TheFrenchConnection''.
%%* ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' (the 2008 ''Film/JamesBond'' film) had a couple of these.
* The Creator/FritzLang movie ''Film/MinistryOfFear'' (1944) has a climactic shootout with Nazi spies on a stairwell lit only by their muzzle flashes. The scene where Carla shoots Willi is another example -- Willi slams a door shut, followed by Carla pulling the trigger inside a darkened room, with light shining through the sudden hole in the door. Willi is dead on the other side.
* The Hong Kong film ''Film/SheShootsStraight'' contains a scene where mobsters and the police are having a shootout in a darkened nightclub. Unfortunately for the police, being GenreSavvy, the mobsters comes prepared with NightVisionGoggles.
* Happens at the climax of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', when Buffalo Bill kills the lights in his basement. He is following Clarice using night-vision goggles, and it is seen from his point of view when she suddenly turns around and shoots him and the screen goes white. (In the book the same thing happens, but narrated more from Clarice's perspective.) It's worth noting that Clarice fires not because of a sixth sense or intuition, but because Bill [[DramaticGunCock cocks his revolver]] and she fires six times at the noise, two or three of which hit him. (In the novel, Clarice’s backstory includes the fact that her father, a glorified night watchman, is killed when he works the action on his pump shotgun, giving away his presence to an armed burglar. Symbolically, she’s avenging dear, old dad.)
* The final shootout in ''Film/LAConfidential'' takes place in an unlit cabin.
* The JCVD movie ''Film/DoubleImpact'' has an interesting subversion - there's a darkened room fight, hand to hand, in the single most interesting and memorable scene in the movie.
%%* ''Film/TheRecruit''.
* ''Film/ShootEmUp''. A villain tries to kill Mr Smith in a public toilet. A bullet knocks out the light, and for a brief time the scene is only lit by the muzzle flashes of his HandCannon. Then another bullet punches a large hole in the door, [[ChekhovsGun throwing a beam of light on the hot air dryer]] which is then used by Smith to turn the tables (by scorching the villain's hand during their GunStruggle) then heating up Smith's own gun (which he accidentally dropped in the toilet) so it can fire again.
* During one major shootout in ''Film/AloneInTheDark2005'' the lights go out, death metal strikes up, and the viewer is treated to a seizure-inducing muzzle flash light show while the protagonists mow down {{Mooks}}.
%%* The final shootout in ''Film/TheAccountant2016''.
* A non-shooting version occurs in ''Film/GhostInTheShell2017'' when Kuze fights and subdues Major with the scene lit only by the [[TaserTagWeakness sparks from his shock prod]].

* ''Film/GeminiMan''. Junior sets up a grenade tripwire BoobyTrap in an underground ossuary, then rips out the light switch box after putting on NightVisionGoggles. Henry in turn avoids the trap and [[BlindedByTheLight blinds him with a road flare]], then wrests the gun off him and turns on the [[GunAccessories attached flashlight.]] A short time later they have a hand-to-hand combat scene lit only by these two light sources.
* Downplayed in ''Film/Daredevil2003''. While attacking a BadGuyBar, Daredevil starts knocking out the lights one-by-one to [[DisabilitySuperpower give himself the advantage]]. From the audience point-of-view though we can see [[HollywoodDarkness much of what is happening]] due to the remaining lights, fire, electric sparks, or Daredevil's POV showing his SuperSenses as a [=3D=] radar-like image.
* During the climactic battle of ''Film/{{Kate}}'' there's a shootout between two Yakuza factions in an office with the lights out, [[RuleOfCool all the better to show off]] their [[LaserSight green laser sights]] before and after everyone starts shooting.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Arctic Incident'', where LEP officers are drilled never to enter an unsecured building in a firefight without backup. ''Never.'' So guess what [[CowboyCop Holly]] proceeds to do when she's chasing down a smuggler. In her defense, it worked.
* In Creator/TherinKnite's Literature/{{Echoverse}} series, the deserted Club Valkyrie shootout in ''Literature/{{Echoes|2014}}''. Dynara manages to land a shot on an assassin in the shadows of a pitch black dance floor from fifty feet away.
* ''The Fraternity Of The Stone'' by David Morrell has the protagonist being trained in a dark room exercise--the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy, but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately later in the novel he's lured into a dark room by someone who [[EvilCounterpart had the exact same training that he did]]. So who moves first?

* In the climax to ''Mercenary's Star'' - a ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' novel - the protagonist steals a HumongousMecha with a blown-out canopy and engages the Kurita occupational forces in an abandoned storage warehouse. Without the canopy's protective polarization filter, he must alternate his eyes when firing the mech's blinding {{Lightning Gun}}s.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* All climactic shootings in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' that were actually held on the space station. Good thing phasers put out light...
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In "Touched" Faith and the Potentials get into hand-to-hand combat with the Bringers in a dark room, the action lit solely by the torches the Potentials are carrying.
* ''Series/ForeverKnight''. Given that Nick Knight is a VampireDetective, he has the advantage of being able to see in the dark for this trope. However it becomes a plot-point when Nick is shot while searching a dark parade float warehouse, and no-one got a look at the shooter, leaving them free to strike again.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian''. The episode "The Jedi" opens with Ahsoka fighting the GasMaskMooks of the BigBad in a forest at night, with much of the action shown only by blaster fire and the light of Ahsoka's lightsabers.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In the episode ".exe", Reese and Shaw are cornered by Samaritan agents. [[MissionControl Finch]] says, "I hope you can shoot in the dark" and [[BigBlackout kills the lights]]. They can.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015''. Naturally the title character is fond of killing the lights to give himself an advantage with his DisabilitySuperpower. One example that leads to this trope is when he rescues Claire Temple from TheMafiya in the episode "In The Blood".
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. Although not involving gunshots, the hand-to-hand struggle between our heroes and the [[ProfessionalKiller Golem]] in a darkened auditorium is portrayed the same way, with the flashes of light caused by a cinema projector turning on and off.

%%* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' features one of these halfway through the second stage.
* ''VideoGame/PointBlank1994'' has one as a challenge - which proves quite challenging as you can only see when ''you'' fire (your targets are cardboard cutouts) and there are civilian targets too.
* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''
** The original game has one when you and Captain Price storm a building after Gaz cuts the power - though you have an advantage: "These night-vision goggles make it too easy." You then go through a pitch black house with suppressed weapons - with your night vision you can see enemies fumbling through the dark or pointing guns at whatever noises they hear. Unfortunately for you this gets inverted [[spoiler: in the last room where someone has a flashlight taped to a shotgun - which overloads the goggles.]]
** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' has a similar moment in the gulag level, where a number of enemy troops are moving down a corridor in the darkness. However, they ''also'' have night vision goggles....
%%** Also, the entire level "Second Sun" is one of these. Second Sun is Narm if you can't see what's going on in the dark. Better adjust your brightness settings up a little.
* The third level of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter 2'' has one of these in a darkened highway tunnel.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': The battle with [[{{Pyromaniac}} The Fury]] starts out dark, but his flamethrower gradually lightens things up, making it harder to hide from him.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom 3]]'' is full of these, such as the level where you escort a scientist with a lantern through pitch-black corridors. ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' to a lesser extent.
%%** Pretty much all of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.
%%* Happens quite frequently in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Agent Jerry shooting at Molly and Galatea in the peanut butter factory at night in "There But For the Grace" in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob.''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}''. In "The Monster You Created", Vi and Sevika fight while wearing PowerFists, and all the power being thrown around fuses out the lights, leaving the fight to be illuminated by the light of their {{Magitek}}.

* ''The Fraternity Of The Stone'' by David Morrell has the protagonist being trained in a dark room exercise--the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy, but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately later in the novel he's lured into a dark room by someone who had the exact same training that he did. So who moves first?

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. In "The Dark Hearts of Men", Frank Castle storms Billy Russo's hideout only to find himself in a dark room where he's then disoriented by strobe lights, then ambushed and captured.

%%* The final shootout in ''Film/TheAccountant''.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In "Touched" Faith and the Potentials get into hand-to-hand combat with the Bringers in a dark room, the action lit solely by the torches the good guys are carrying.

* In one scene of ''Film/TheBatman2022'', the title character brawls his way through a hall full of {{Mooks}}, lit only by gunfire from the rifles that they fire at him, and of the bullet sparks as they harmlessly bounce off of the armor of his Batsuit.

* ''VideoGame/PointBlank'' has one as a challenge - which proves quite challenging as you can only see when ''you'' fire (your targets are cardboard cutouts) and there are civilian targets too.

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* Mixed with maintenance passages and an abandoned shopping mall in [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/109581/1/i-did-not-want-to-die/i-did-not-want-to-die I Did Not Want To Die.]]
[[/folder]]

** Also in ''Film/UnderSiege'', sort of; it's more a Darkened Ship Shootout.
*** Which didn't [[KnifeFight end in a shoot out]].

** ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' had several of them.

* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', the movie, inside the temple & pyramid.
* ''Film/TheFrenchConnection''.
* ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' (the 2008 ''Film/JamesBond'' film) had a couple of these.

* ''Film/TheRecruit''.

* The final shootout in ''Film/TheAccountant''.

* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' features one of these halfway through the second stage.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' has one when you and Captain Price storm a building after Gaz cuts the power - though you have an advantage: "These night-vision goggles make it too easy." You then go through a pitch black house with suppressed weapons - with your night vision you can see enemies fumbling through the dark or pointing guns at whatever noises they hear.
** Unfortunately for you this gets inverted [[spoiler: in the last room where someone has a flashlight taped to a shotgun - which overloads the goggles.]]

** Also, the entire level "Second Sun" is one of these.
*** Second Sun is Narm if you can't see what's going on in the dark. Better adjust your brightness settings up a little.

* Both the beginning and end of Level 1-3 in ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''.
** Also, there are other levels which involve the use of NightVisionGoggles to see in dark caves or buildings. Finally, there is a cheat that turns '''every''' level into this trope by removing all the lighting and equipping night vision at the start.

** Pretty much all of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.
* Happens quite frequently in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series.

* In [[Creator/TherinKnite Therin Knite's]] Literature/{{Echoes}} series, the deserted Club Valkyrie shootout in ''Echoes'' (the first book). Dynara manages to land a shot on an assassin in the shadows of a pitch black dance floor from fifty feet away.

* ''The Fraternity Of The Stone'' by David Morrell has the assassin protagonist being trained in a dark room exercise--the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately later in the novel he's lured into a dark room by someone who had the exact same training that he did. So who moves first?

* ''Series/ForeverKnight'' had one in a dark parade float warehouse. Nick was shot in the head, but since he's a vampire, it wasn't fatal. it just gave him TraumaInducedAmnesia.

* In one scene of ''Film/TheBatman2022'', the title character fights his way through a hall full of {{Mooks}}, lit only by gunfire from the rifles that they fire at him, and of the bullet sparks as they harmlessly bounce off of the armor of his Batsuit.