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.
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.
Great list!
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
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)
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 ***** up like that. he disguised himself by carving off the face of the security guard and putting it on his own
oh wait nvm lol, other people corrected it. haha, jumped the gun on that one
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?
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.
3. Third person Shooter
Brave Heart has a scene like this.
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?
Hay in Wolf Creek they got the car to start! And what about the famous ‘guy appears in the backseat’?
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!
… or that EVERYONE knows martial arts!! I’m so *****ing 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!!”)??
“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.
How bout when they go to shoot said character there gun is out of bullets.
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 ^_^
I find offense to “everyone is a cracker”…. there are black people and yellow people
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”.
how about the cliche that when the two protagonist was about to make it someone will knock or will interupt them…quite annoying
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.
8. The Car Won’t Start…
Maybe the car is manual and the actor/actress just forgot to press on the clutch!!
In Running Scared I thought they were married the whole time? And I don’t recall her getting kidnapped or anything….
I love selena gomez
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 .
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.
What about all of the high school movies with a shocking confession held publicly on a stage? I love these lists.
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.
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.
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
yes, number 5 (which i call hayden panettiere syndrom)drives me crazy! These guys do not **** bruise! What wrong with their blood circulation? : P
How about: two charachter are the same person, jekel and hyde style. Sometimes (ala Psycho) its two charachters that you know that are actually the same, or its that the bad guy and the protagonist are the same person (ala secret window cause I’m blanking out on good examples).
What about all the cops missing or arriving too late all the time? And the good guy has to do all the work?
I hate how in horror movies when someone is running away they ALWAYS fall down. And then scramble to get back up and keep running.
Now this is one of Hollywood’s favorite new cliches. You all know the one where the good guys and the bad guys simeultaniously pull their guns and point them at each other in a critical moment. No one ever fires though. Isn’t getting the drop on someone the reason you pull a gun? I was always told if you pull a gun you better use it. This one is an absolutely ridiculous scenario and yet it’s become standard in movies now.
And what’s with the “gangsta” shooters (see “Boys In The Hood”) who all hold their guns at a ridiculous forty-five degree angle before shooting? I’m told one would get a jam or a face full of brass if they shot that way. Any there any gun experts here who want to weigh in on this one.
Why didn’t anyone ever use the machete that Jason was carrying to decapitate him? Short answer: no sequel(s).
In one variation on this cliche, the bad guy put the mask on a dead guy so he could escape (Silence of the Lambs).
What the hell are you talking about? Is english your second language by any chance? I suggest you spend more time spell checking and learn grammar (and factual research) if you are going to run an informative website…
I just realized that number 9 (the whole running out of bullets thing) isn’t such a bad cliche. I mean, I’d rather have that then the gun with the never ending ammunition or the 6 shooter that can fire 10 rounds which is also a movie cliche
rich b (93):
with submachine guns (kind of like a smaller lighter rapid-fire machine gun with pistol cartridge e.g. uzi) the recoil from successive rounds thrusts the gun to point towards another direction, so they tilt them such that the cartridge is parallel to the horizontal while firing, so the force from the recoil then pushes the gun to point more to the side, with the motion of the gun forming an arc of a circle with its center at the person firing. this is especially useful if for example you’re completely surrounded by enemies – go into squatting position for added stability, tilt the gun sideways and start firing; as you turn around in a circle the gun turns with you, making good use of the often unwanted recoil.
eventually this technique made it to popular culture through portrayal in movies, tv, and comics, giving rise to the misconception that tilting a gun sideways while firing somehow increases the gun’s firing rate thus increasing the gunner’s hit rate and chances of survival
there’s another classic gun cliche – the one where the gunner has two guns, one in each hand. even with the automatic and semi-automatic guns these days i think it would have been only marginally effective against single targets – sure it gives you double the firing rate, but it messes with your focus/aim and is a waste of ammunition because in most cases just one bullet would have been enough to suppress the target, and with a crippled aim most of the bullets wouldn’t have hit the target anyway! two guns against multiple targets would have been unreal(i.e. hollywood) as the gunner would require inhuman reflexes (otherwise abysmal intellect)just to consider doing it… i think this cliche originated from the earliest guns e.g. muskets which take forever to reload so in a battle situation some richer dudes carried 2 or more pre-loaded guns because they figured switching from 1 gun to another was faster than reloading one gun
how about the person hand or feet got stuck somewhere and just happen to get it out in the nick of time
What about the ‘J syndrome’? How the main (male) character’s name so often starts with J, usually John, or Jack? (though Joe, James and Jimmy are also really common) Usually it’s an action movie, but not always.
Jack – Speed, Legend, Pirates of the Carribean, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Shining, Fight Club, Titanic
John – The Terminator Series, Die Hard, Rambo, Hancock, Batman Begins, Knowing
It’s also in lots of TV shows: 24, Lost, Stargate SG-1, Alias, 30 Rock, Dr.Who/Torchwood, and the list goes on
I understand that these are names that easily convey masculinity and heroism etc etc, but surely we are able to cope with a name a little more unusual – they did it in 5th Element and it was fine… Just a pet peeve is all
When breaking into his victim’s house, an assassin will always wait until he is right outside their bedroom before attaching a silencer to his pistol.
Here’s a really shop-worn one. In all scenes involving a coroner, the M.E. is almost always eating something greasy and gross. It usually happens right as the coroner is doing an autopsy in front of an obviously queasy young Detective. Also – the young coroner is almost a young Asian male. It never fails.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the Universal Beer myth. Whenever someone goes to a bar they just order a “BEER”. No specific kind of beer no specifying pulled pint or bottle just a BEER. And why are all movie beers lagers? Surely someone character would prefer a stout or pilsner?
Last thing when is the last time you have gone to a bar and bought the whole bottle of whiskey or scotch that has already been open? Every time I see the down trodden guy slide wearily to bar and slaps down some crumpled bills and the bartender brings over a shot glass and bottle that is say 2/3 full I want to scream. When think about it a one ounce shot will run you at least 5 dollars (CDN) now assuming that there is there is say 20 oz remaining on the bottle that would run you at least $100. He is always drinking alone any so why got to a liquor store pay a quarter of that price and get a motel and some take away to boot?
Did you forget? Nobody says hello or goodbye on telephone? And you can perfectly understand their conversation.
Or the most innocent thing in horrors gets you killed? Just when the person drops it’s guard down.
I’m surprised no one has posted this – all car chase scenes in movies feature either…
A: An old woman with a shopping cart full of groceries
B: A young woman with a baby in a stroller
C: Children crossing the street
who get in the way at the appropriate point in the chase. It never fails.
They left out the very long list of films that has characters who can hot-wire a car and do it quickly. Also, the amount of people who suddenly know extreme and unnatural marital arts has been on the rise.
Then there is the clot that always throws the gun when they run out of bullets.
Take note how a murderer with a loud gun will shoot at will and no one calls the police. If the police do show up, it is only after the action has ended.
Every prison film has a rapist and it is usually a nazi skinhead.
All southerners are in-breed, racist hicks.
Everyone has a laugh-riot when smoking pot. People who party regularly are also in great shape.
Genius level scientists always work in multi-cultural environments and all are strangely young and attractive. Rarely are they fat, old or ugly.
Beautiful people know more than we do.
Teen-agers know more than adults. They frenquently have answers to save the day but no one will listen to them.
Inadvertant time travel in Hollywood: No one in Hollywood seems to do any continuity or fact-checking anymore. Last night “Goodfellows” was on the Bravo channel and the scene at Idlewild Airport was set in 1963 according to a subtitle. But, Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway were leaning on a 1965 Impala SS. Absolutely ridiculous mistake.
In Running Scared, the Gazelles were married. That wasnt Paul Walker’s ex wife, that was his wife.
Also, Mrs. Gazelle was never kidnapped either.
How about in courtroom scenes the judges are always black woman–far beyond the percentage who are black women in real kife. I think it’s so directors can have black people in their movies without actually having black people in thheir movies.
How about giant fans 20 feet across.
so i dont know if this has been posted yet but running scared doesnt involve him falling in love with his ex. its a young boy that is kidnapped.
Can add a few more, that have become especially “popular” in the movies of the last decade:
1. In action movies a/o thrillers, characters keep suggesting “we better get outta here!” through and through, and yet do find themselves in even worst troubles as they “get outta there to eslewhere”
2. “You ok?” – is a question characters would typically ask other characters no matter if those are completely bleeding out, have their limb lost, are shot or pinned through, or happen in infernal car crash. And the answer is typically “I’m alright”, except for the cases if the victim is already dead. Conclusion – you are always “alirght” as long as you haven’t died yet!
3. If one of the characters can play piano, has lots of books at home, is dressed well and can maintain intellectual conversations, be sure he’s a bad guy! And the more sophisticated he is, the more sinister plans he carries.
4.Even in extremely dim and overcrowded places, such as discos, bartenders can easily recognize any customer by even a vague description, let alone by name.
5. Bad guys never hesitate to discuss even the most secret and tell-tale things in presence of the hookers sitting on his knees.
here’s some more:
- one and the same type and size of grenade, or other explosive,can either leave the character intact, or completely demolish a solid building, depending upon what is appropriate at that point of a movie.
- characters, even teenagers, can easily travel to other countries and even continents minutes after they decide to do so. No need to bother about foreign passport, money, and other logistics. Just grab a plane and go!
- money is never featured in the amounts we are used to use in normal life. it’s either millions in brief-cases, or 1-5 dollar bills in bars, etc.
-hallways in the hospitals, no matter day or night, are either completely desreted, or extremely overcrowded – just to fit the tension in the movie. When chased in the hospital, and looking for a place to hide, of all the doors “available” the victim would usually choose the one that is locked. And to everyone’s convenience, the cabinets and surgical chambers, full of expensive and dangerous stuff are invitingly open, while the janitor’s compartment with a broom and robe in it is perfectly locked.
-wild and semi-wild tribes in rainforests, deserts and steppes would inevitably have at least one man who speaks decent English. At some point in the movie he would disclose his childhood dream to migrate to the States.
What about magical life giving kisses?
As I watched an old movie (Look Who’s Talking) last night I saw another time-honored cliche. All pregnant women in a movie will barf at some point of the story, usually before the plot of the movie reveals they’re pregnant. I guess it’s a not so subtle way to let the viewer in on the secret. Guranteed – pregnent women will always barf at some point in a flick.
Death scenes: all statements in Hollywood death scenes will be completed just as the decedent draws his/her last breath. No one ever dies in the middle of a statement. Or without making some plot point.
what about trying to scare you by making you jump like a cat leaps out at you from the inside of a fridge because some idiot left it there or the killer bangs on the side of a car window or suddenly appearing when you are not looking or because you dropped your keys lol
usually when firing high caliber handguns, nice, slim and extremely good looking young ladies have no problem at all with the recoil of a cal .50 desert eagle. 5 shots in a row, no sweat.
nobody ever notice a foreign accent. In Taken, Liam Neeson arrives in paris and pass as a cop to the bad guys, without them noticing that either is posing as a french cop with a frech name, he is far from being french.
Another VERY BORING cliche: People hanging from cliffs. They are always strong enough to hold themselves with one hand, and the ones saving them always have the strengh to pull them back.
These scenes are not thrilling anymore, but they’re still frequent.
In defense of Die Hard: John Mclane loved his WIFE (they weren't divorced yet) and flew out there in an attempt to save his marriage.