Principle of Evil Marksmanship - One-at-a-time Attack Rule

Ebert also refers to the One-at-a-time Attack Rule (sometimes called Mook Chivalry) "In any situation where the hero is alone, surrounded by dozens of bad guys, they will always obligingly attack one at a time." This can traditionally be observed in many martial arts movies. During a typical fight, the hero will engage against one opponent. Upon knocking that man out, another will attack. The surplus enemies (mooks) will circle the fighting pair while striking fearsome poses, indicating willingness to fight at a second's notice, yet be unwilling to help the current aggressor attack the hero. The real-world reason for this is that if the hero is simultaneously swarmed on all sides by enemies, it becomes difficult for the film director to frame the fight scene while still having an unobstructed shot of the action.

The 1995 live-action adaptation of Fist of the North Star took this to extremes in a scene where Kenshiro defeated over thirty men in the span of a few minutes with the vast majority of them attacking one at a time and being knocked unconscious with a few strikes.

In Austin Powers: Goldmember, Austin's father Nigel Powers is being held captive by Dr. Evil. Nigel quickly knocks out the guards, and when more begin to surround him he orders them to stop and says, "Oh, come now, is this your first day on the job? All right, look ... you all attack me, one at a time, and I knock you out with a single punch." They immediately do so, and he knocks them each out.

This principle was also parodied in a 1993 Saturday Night Live skit, "Ninja Pep Talk". Among other tips, the leader of a group of ninjas reminds the ninjas to attack "all at once", not "one at a time," using chalkboard diagrams to drive the point home.

Terry Pratchett cited this rule in the introduction to his 1989 novel Guards! Guards!, stating that the role of guards in heroic fantasy is to "attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered".