Power vs. Responsibility genre in Film: Where do we stand?

I was compelled to take a stab at this topic, based mainly on the previous discussions in the X Men, First Class post; also, to a less degree, from all the critical decision-making while playing SWTOR game (yeah, the game is that detailed). 

It’s a bit contrived so bear with me.

The Distinguished Gentleman

I am an Eddie Murphy fan. Pound for pound, he may be the best "actor" in Hollywood. In any given movie, he can make you believe he's a cheesy lounge singer, or Jewish, or Asian, or a geek, or a professor, or the professor's mother, or father, or grandmother, or a robot...I'm not speaking to the scripts he accepts, but insofar as playing a role, he's covered plenty of ground from cop to crook.

Most people who remember his 80s material will long for those more earthy roles against the kiddie movie fluff he's been doing of late (although, as Disney can tell you, there's money in kiddie fluff). However, it isn't to say all his earlier films are nothing but "filth, flarn, flarn, filth" - an all too easily forgotten gem is The Distinguished Gentleman.