Subscribe to ListverseTop 10 Movie Clichés
- Published August 16, 2007 - 98 Comments
With Hollywood turning out so many movies ever year, it is no surprise that they are often full of clichés. This is a list of the ten we see most often in movies. This is Wikipedia’s definition of a cliché: A cliché is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel.
1. Henchmen Are Bad Shots
How many times can action heroes dodge dozens of bullets and never get hit? They have obviously never heard of target practice.
Seen in: Virtually every action film ever made!
2. Everyone’s a Cracker
It appears that these days all you need to crack into government files is a laptop and a local library. Nevermind the fact that a lot of government data is still on paper and is not electronic; if you need it in a film, you will find it. Oh, and it will take just a few seconds less than you need to save the day.
Seen in: The Bourne Supremacy, Enemy of the State, Mission Impossible
3. Third person Shooter
The bad guy is just about to kill the good guy when a shot rings out… But the hero doesn’t fall (though the look on his face is priceless). Suddenly the camera swings to reveal a saviour – the third person shooter – who just shot the bad guy!
Seen in: Die Hard, A History of Violence, Independence Day, Reservoir Dogs
4. Presumed Dead
How many times have you seen this in a film? The good guy kills the bad guy (or he dies by some other means) and the good guy lets out a sight of relief (and often turns his back on the killer). Suddenly the killer jumps up and the action starts again. There is a good side to this cliche – if we were ever in a position in which we needed to kill someone to survive, we would check the pulse!
Seen in: Halloween, Live Free or Die Hard, The Matrix, The Terminator
5. Jack Bauer Syndrome
Like the TV protagonist in 24, some men like James Bond emerge from any beating looking as fresh as a daisy. This has a counterpart in 80’s soap operas – every woman in a soap woke up with perfect hair and makeup.
Seen in: Demolition Man, Predator, Casino Royale
6. Sliding Doors
It seems that every action hero, at some point, will need to dive under or through sliding doors. This is especially true when you are a hero on a spaceship.
Seen in: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator 3
7. Lame Disguises
The worst disguise of all is the oxygen mask. How many times have we seen this in a film? The hero – or the bad guy – gets himself out of a very sticky situation by sticking on an oxygen mask. In one variation on this cliche, the bad guy put the mask on a dead guy so he could escape (Silence of the Lambs).
Seen in: Silence of the Lambs, Ocean’s 11
8. The Car Won’t Start
Cars are incredibly reliable machines – except in movies! You are almost assured of a breakdown once the action starts. This can have particularly bad consequences for the good guys (e.g.: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
Seen in: 28 Weeks Later, Children of Men, House of Wax
9. The Gun is out of Bullets
Just as the moment of truth arrives, you run out of bullets. This one usually results in the hero running from barrier to barrier to escape the gunfire from the enemy.
Seen in: Desperado, Face/Off, Mr & Mrs Smith
10. I Still Love my ex-Wife
There is nothing like having your ex-wife kidnapped to help you realise just how much you love her and vice versa. This also has the amazing effect of completely changing both of you so that the problems that caused the break-up in the first place are no longer a problem. Maybe we should all try it?
Seen in: Black Rain, Die Hard, Running Scared
Inspired by the Metro.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I know this comment has nothin to do with this list, but every time i try and view the list of 15 historical photos. the page is moved to the left of the screen so that only half of every thing is exposed( except the adds on the right and other things.) Is it just me.. please help me Jfrater.=(
August 16th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Monteze: what browser (and version) and OS are you using? Is it just that page?
August 16th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Moteze: send me an email (jamie@frater.com) – it will make it easier to sort this out
August 17th, 2007 at 2:37 am
“Seen in: Halloween, Live Free of Die Hard”
typo, should be “Live Free Or Die Hard”
August 17th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Thanks kyouki: it is corrected now.
August 18th, 2007 at 2:29 am
These are really amusing! I dont really get computer lingo, but suddenly I know what lol! means.
All unsolvable solutions solved for a happy ending but yet the end may be questionable…Is it truly the end???…. Or just the begining?– Like a false excitement finale. The trilogy factor has become a revised and trendy money maker within the CG age for sure.
#8 is pretty funny. The car wont start and.. what!? I’m stuck in the mud and I just sat on my glasses! Not to worry, I’ll just put on this oxygen mask..and become bullet proof…wait! there’s the gun in my glove compartment!…what? no bullets?
August 18th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Christian: haha – you should be in pictures!
August 18th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal doesn’t use an oxygen mask on the face of the victim to escape. He cuts the victims face off and puts it on himself, seemingly upside down to add to the bloodiness. He then takes the faceless victim and tosses him on top of an elevator in HIS clothes, so the police can have a standoff with “him” while he escapes in the ambulance.
August 19th, 2007 at 7:51 am
andrew: thanks for clarifying that – you are right.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:30 am
#1 is one of the biggest annoyances I have with movies. *Everyone*, good buys and bad guys, are terrible shots until the plot demand they be otherwise. I’ve been shooting, it’s not nearly as hard as you’d think from watching movies, at least for the type of shooting they usually show.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:48 am
blm: these cliches are partly to blame for me watching fewer mainstream movies these days. I would much rather watch a David Lynch.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Another: There’s a huge fish aquarium. It will be destroyed in spectacular fashion.
I saw one movie, name now forgotten, where there was a HUGE aquarium and it never burst. Bugged me the whole time waiting on it.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
TC Byrd: that is so true – the best example and the most spectacular fashion in which it was destroyed is in Deuce Bigalow. A very cringe inducing scene.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:06 pm
You didn’t include the two best action movie clichés…
1. The exploding car
2. Unlimited supply of bullets…. no matter what gun they have.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:37 am
Moona: they are both huge cliches – you are right. Isn’t it funny how running out of bullets, and never running out of bullets are both overused?
September 10th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Hehe, this is a good list. I also wrote a joke list about Hollywood movie cliches.
“What the American movies taught us about American culture”
September 10th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Just to give a heads up, in Running Scared, it is not his ex-wife. They are married and are a relatively happily married couple at that.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Jamesuss: thanks for that correction.
September 16th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Talking about the cracker, it’s almost in the same league as “aliens-from-outer-space-with-MS Windows-OS-that-we-can-hack-using-some-code-i.e-virus” as in Independence Day
September 16th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
what about when someone says a cheesy line to their love interest early on in the movie, then the other person says it back to them in a different context right before they kiss for the first time?
September 16th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Jesper: that really ruined ID for me.
Will: That is a good addition and true of so many movies!
September 20th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
One notable exception to the lame disguises rule is the ending of ‘The Professional’ when Leon tragically tries to escape wearing a swat mask.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
For number 4 – Presumed Dead – It happened towards the end of The Hills Have Eyes too just so you know ^^”
October 19th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Astute movie observations all of them, but let’s face it – no one did #9 the way Hot Shots! Part Deux did.
October 19th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Anya: I am not familiar with that film – do you have an IMDB link or a youtube link?
October 21st, 2007 at 8:14 am
The best bit is at the end.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:29 am
Anya: haha brilliant!!
October 30th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Actually #10 doesn’t apply to Running Scared (photo)…
November 1st, 2007 at 5:10 am
When I watch television sometimes it annoys me that basically everything that comes on is just so typical.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:50 am
Another: Most good guy/bad guy type films have at least 1 martial arts master.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
How about: no matter what, the guy and the girl hook up at the end *rolls eyes*
Doesn’t matter if they met 2 minutes ago, if they hated each other, etc.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:54 am
How about the buddy movie with the buddies being opposites and up being best friends (lethal weapon flicks.
The funny old mentor (karate kid) a lot of martial shows.
November 27th, 2007 at 4:07 am
Yes, black & white partners who are forced to team up. In the end white one dances to rap music
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Just regarding point #4 Presumed Dead… yes this kind of thing did happen in Halloween but as far as I can recall (and if I’m wrong let me know) this was the first time this kind of device had been used. The sight of Michael Myers rising up behind Jamie Lee Curtis was at the time one of the most suprising scenes in horror history.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:11 am
http://movies.aol.com/worst-movie-cliches/action-3
Who plagiarized who?
December 10th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Craig: From what I understand (read), the addition of having Myers come back to life (i.e. supernatural) was a last minute choice by John Carpenter, the original story had M.M. getting snuffed, similar to the remake (depending on your’ interpretation). So, to agree with you, I wouldn’t include that title as being cliche, but the source there-of.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:36 am
Dum Guy – I didn’t realise the resurection of Michael Myers was a last minute decision. Just think how different film history might be if they hadn’t changed their minds.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:16 am
also shooting the fuel tank of car makes it explode.
check mythbusters for confirmation
December 18th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Quoted from http://mythbustersresults.com/episode38
It has already been proven that when shot by a normal bullet a gasoline tank will not explode. However, if a gasoline tank is shot by a tracer round from a great enough distance so that the round can ignite with air friction, it will cause the gasoline to catch fire. By the time this happened the tank was so riddled with bullets (from previous tracers that were fired too close to ignite) that there was no contained pressure, but the MythBusters surmised that had the tank been properly enclosed, it may have exploded; but overall it remains extremely improbable.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
how about the tough guy and loser who actually discover they have a lot in common…?
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
here’s one:
two people are chasing each other through a maze or building or alleyway, and the one doing the chasing always can tell or somehow knows which door or turn the other used.
OR
the one running away will make a noise just when the chaser loses track of them in the maze.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:57 am
what about the old tv westerns . where no one ran out of bullets in a gun fight, unless they had to reload just to throw in some dialog, or to allow the bad guys time to throw a burning torch through the window.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Dude… you really have to add the following cliches. I guess it’s so overused that people don’t even care anymore. But it grates on me everytime.
1. The exploding building with the hero/villain who did the blowing up walking cooly away as if he’s not bothered at all, or notices at all, and doesn’t even blink (with matching slow motion). I can’t remember the movies I’ve seen it in, but you all know what I’m talking about.
2. Screaming “NNNNNNOOOOOOOoooooooooo!” into the sky, arms open, as the guy kneels over a dead loved one. I mean… COME ON. George Lucas did it Revenge of the Sith and everyone in the theater laughed. George Lucas (talented man that he is) probably doesn’t watch too many movies and doesn’t realize it’s a scene that’s been so annoyingly done to death.
3. The slow clap.
4. A relatively new cliche: Action scenes that are sped up, then slowed down. Sped up, then slowed down. Seen in The One, 300, Mission Impossible.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Good list…but I thought you left out a whole bunch of obvious ones.
The McGuffin: The entire plot revolves around finding/keeping/understanding one object which is usually, though not always, in high demand.
The Ticking Clock: “Oh no! We only have 24 hours to save the earth!”
Hate Isn’t A Dealbreaker: The guy-hero and girl-hero hate each other at the beginning, but fall in love by the end.
Equal and Opposite: The two buddy heroes (male or female) are the exact opposites of one another.
With Age Comes Wisdom: There exists one aged person who exists solely to give much-needed advice (bonus points if anyone in the audience could think of it.)
The Innocent/Guilty Victim: The victim of a horrible crime is always as innocent as driven show or as dirty as that same snow after being beside a major highway for two weeks.
The Femme Fatale: The babe with dubious ethical standards and a hot bod who’s after the hero (one way or another.) Bonus points if she has a small, concealable handgun or knife.
The Speech: Somehow, one speech at the end of the movie makes everything right.
The Red Herring: The most likely suspect is NEVER the real criminal.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
This isn’t a cliche that is restricted to hollywood movies per se, but Deus ex Machina comes up quite a bit and is usually (but not always) a lazy way out of conflict. Easy example would be Dorothy waking up from Wizard of Oz, or quasi end of Vanilla Sky. Not to say those movies aren’t good in their own way, but it’s always a bit disappointing to realize the author/writer has worked himself into a bind he can’t extricate himself out of. Ooopsy!
February 4th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
The use of the desert eagle handgun sometimes irks me. Alot of characters use it and seem to be absolute pros with it. As well as the unlimited ammunition.
What about DCmovie Girl’s comment?
February 5th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Holy hell Hayden Christianson is hot. that’s all i have to say (that is him in #10 right?)
February 5th, 2008 at 4:24 am
satori: that is Paul Walker I believe – not Hayden Christiansen
February 6th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I think the biggest cliche in movies AND made for TV movies/shows/series is the love interest. Why does EVERY story, no matter how intense the actual plot is, has an underlying love interest? The first season of ‘House, M.D.’ had NO domestic quibbling going on, just the Sherlock Holmes style medical mysteries, as it was supposed to be. Now, it’s what? Season 4 or whatnot and every third line is “Did you know so and so is sleeping with so and so?”
Doctor who was the same way until Russell T Davies got a hold of it. Son of a bitch.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Yes, in every TV show people working together end up with love. That’s becasue it’s our/viewer’s fantasy.
When I was child, I cant understand why good guy has to win in movies. But now I see, life sucks so we fed with fantasies from movies…
April 24th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
In Running Scared she wasn’t his ex wife, she was his current wife.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
on 7 lame desguises, in the silence of the lambs hannibal didnt use only an oxygen mask, he used the face of the police officer from his cage
June 5th, 2008 at 9:59 am
you should add the film ‘leon’ to number 7
June 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am
the one I hate the most is the hooker with a heart of gold cliche. Really? You’re just being a whore to pay your way thru college? Only stripping to pay for your mom’s kidney transplant? Of course you are. Makes sense to me.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
#2 also seen in transformers… come on, the guy from “scary movie” a genius hacker?
June 26th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I was watching the mortal kombat movie earlier. The video game is 1 of my favorites so the movie kicked ass right? No. It was full of cheesy one liners, bad fight scenes and cliches galore.
1. When someone fights a bunch of ninjas, they all “die” with one punch/kick. Sometimes that happens but… You know
2. There is always a scene in action movies where they jump out of the way of an explosion. Ok, it was cool the first time
3. Not so shocking twists. “I’m the bad guys brother?!” (bad rip off of “luke I am your father” (star wars kicks ass))
I think they should put more effort into plot twists
I just wanted to get that off my chest
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 am
i hate cliches!!!!!!!
July 7th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Good guys is chased by bad guys who are in car/plane and runs straight down the centre of the road.
In car chase when one car spins out or whatever to lose a heap of ground, then having been unable to gain any ground on the other car for last 5 mins suddenly catches it up in no time at all.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
you should add Serenity to the presumed dead list. except in this case, it works both ways, once the bad guy assumes the good guy is dead too.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
another example of number four that comes to mind is scream
August 5th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Hollywood films are beset with clichés. Some particularly irritating ones for me are:
Characters in action movies being flung violently backwards (sometimes thru a window) when hit by a bullet. Even with my rudimentary understanding of physics I know that such a small mass, no matter how fast it’s travelling, wouldn’t affect such a large mass so dramatically.
Pyrotechnically enhanced explosions that consist of lots of fire & smoke, with the speeds of light & sound neatly synchronized. In real life you usually see a small flash, if that, & a small puff of smoke, if that. The main thing you see is flying debris; & you see that before you hear the noise of the explosion.
Real outer space is a near vacuum & doesn’t carry sound. Hollywood outer space is a noisy place: you can hear ships’ engines rumbling, the whoosh made by passing meteoroids, &c, & of course the inevitable roaring explosions. In space, [i]everyone[i/] can hear you scream.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Great list!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
What about the one where if the hero is surrounded by like 20 bad guys, they will all attack him one at a time rather than rushing him. Seen mostly in kung-fu movies.
May as well form a queue :p
September 8th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
the one i see all the time is the amazing ease of hotwiring cars. just about every movie i have seen this in makes it look like i can just walk up to any car i happen to see, and zap two wies together and off i go… the most recent was transformers, where the kid gets in a tow truck and there just happen to be two wires hanging there in the open which start the truck right up. i can’t decide what is more strange, the wires just conveniently being there, or the kid just instantly knowing their purpose. and nobody seems to realize most of these cars have steering locks and shifter locks too so even if cars were that easy to start, the would-be thief would be going nowhere fast.
or when a character rattles off technical details of a car or other machine that are completely incorrect and were obviously thrown in by writers who didn’t research. the other day i saw without a paddle and in the deleted scenes the group were driving along in the jeep and remarked that it was a 1977 (actually early 80s) and then threw in that it had a bulletproof 318 v8 engine (318 was dodge only, amc/jeep used a 258 or 360 in the wagoneer). neither of these could possibly be true but hey, the viewer isn’t supposed to notice.
maybe its just the fact i’m a mechanic. (and drive a 1982 wagoneer identical to the one in that movie)
September 11th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
hannibal got away not by just having an oxygen mask on.. how would that work anyway, the paramedics and police all know what he looked like, hes too genius to fuck up like that. he disguised himself by carving off the face of the security guard and putting it on his own
September 11th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
oh wait nvm lol, other people corrected it. haha, jumped the gun on that one
September 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
or how about the older cop/soldier characters who always seem to die in some horribly tragic way soon after making a speech about being only a few days from retirement?
September 24th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Here is another:
Tripping and falling/Getting your foot stuck in..something.
I hate that. Someone is always trying to run away and then they fall. Takes ‘em forever to get the hell back up or they get their shoe/foot stuck in SOMETHING. Gah.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
3. Third person Shooter
Brave Heart has a scene like this.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Why are the all the badguys absolutely rubbish shots? The good guy is also amazing though ^^
Also, just me or do you have unlimited ammo until you really need it?
October 28th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Hay in Wolf Creek they got the car to start! And what about the famous ‘guy appears in the backseat’?
November 27th, 2008 at 5:07 am
I hate how how a man won’t even flinch when taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman cleans his wounds.
Oh, and how the Eiffel Tower can be seen from every window in France. C’mon!
December 6th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
… or that EVERYONE knows martial arts!! I’m so fucking sick of this one. No matter what movie lately, it seems that anyone who gets into a fight knows kung fu or karate. Why can’t we have fight scenes where the people fight like the awesome fight scene in They Live (Roddy Piper and Keith David in the alley – “Put on the glasses!!”)??
December 20th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
“Let’s get outta here”
Something like 80% of all movies have this line in it (or something similar). My wife hates it when we’re in the theater; I’ll sit and snicker when it comes along.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
How bout when they go to shoot said character there gun is out of bullets.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Gumbercules- I completely agree with the whole woman cleaning the guys wounds thing. Uagh just annoys me XD
Great list, cliches are horrible, but at least they give a good source of humour and entertainment ^_^
March 30th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I find offense to “everyone is a cracker”…. there are black people and yellow people
March 30th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Any plot with the the boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. I hate those types of movies with the exception of “There’s Something About Mary”.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
how about the cliche that when the two protagonist was about to make it someone will knock or will interupt them…quite annoying
April 1st, 2009 at 12:22 am
How about these….
-It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.
-A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
-If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
-Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.
-It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts – your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
-When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.
-No one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.
-Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.
-When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.
-You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.
-Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.
-An electric fence, powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.
-Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment you turn the television on.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
8. The Car Won’t Start…
Maybe the car is manual and the actor/actress just forgot to press on the clutch!!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
In Running Scared I thought they were married the whole time? And I don’t recall her getting kidnapped or anything….
May 4th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I love selena gomez
May 21st, 2009 at 6:36 am
it’s also very cliche that a woman goes into labor either at her baby shower or in a broken down elevator .
i’ve seen both about 289748923749 times .
May 21st, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I think number ONE should be: the bad guy does something to kill himself, or his minions turn on him and kill him.
Seen in: just about every other movie ever made, and its sequel.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am
What about all of the high school movies with a shocking confession held publicly on a stage? I love these lists.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Being an auto tech this one always gets me. Whenever someone hotwires a late model American car all they do is fumble under the dash for a second or two and off they go. Hollywood seems to forget about the locking steering wheels we’ve had since 1969.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:04 am
Or there’s the Martial Arts movies (see all seventies Kung Fu films) where hundreds of the most brutal blows are landed by each fighter and yet no damage. Then, at the critical time – an index finger or light tap with the pinkie is delivered in the appropriate spot and the Villan/Hero is immediately killed.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:58 am
i was reading a bit of hollywood history one day and it said the first hollywood filmmakers were originally from new york city but they relocated near los angeles to avoid thomas edison and his lawyers who had monopoly over the film industry back then
this must be the reason why they feature NYC almost exclusively in disaster films