If you're a character in a movie the chances are sooner or later you're going to find yourself in a tight spot with seemingly no way out. It's just the price you pay for being a fictional creation existing on the whim of a writer - they can't help themselves. Danger is their bread and butter, after all. Sometimes the writer will give his character a break from the off and equip them with the know-how to think their way out of a situation or the brawn to fight their way out, or sometimes they'll set something up earlier on which pays off later on, saving a character's skin at the last moment. They're a little bit lazier sometimes, introducing a last minute device which saves the character from certain death through pure luck on their own part. This often comes in the form of a deus ex machina - "god from the machine" - in which a contrived and unexpected event or character suddenly appears and resolves whatever conflict the character faces. Usually considered a rather cheap way of writing your way out of a bad situation, it can also work as a neat surprise for the audience or a great way to raise a few laughs. Sometimes it works well, other times the audience sees through it as the writers cheating, but either way it allows characters to escape from near-certain death using nothing but their own stupidly impossible luck. Here are ten such characters saved at the last minute without having to lift a finger themselves.
