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Added by Lexie

on 27 Aug 2010 06:24

 
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The Action Movie Cliches (spoilers)

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Do not run from explosions

Heroes don't run from fiery explosions but walk away in slow-motion.

Third person shooter

The bad guy is just about to kill the good guy when a shot rings out. Suddenly the camera swings to reveal a saviour – the third person shooter – who just shot the bad guy!

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.

The bad guys are bad shots

Uber-villains may not have much trouble recruiting scores of henchmen to enlist in their terror organizations, but boy, do they draw the worst shooters. How many times have we seen action heroes dodge 1,000 bullets from 15 different shooters?

Shot, but not killed

A character gets shot in chest/back/abdomen and appears to be dead. Turns out the bullet was deflected by his handily placed bible/medal/coin/secret body armor.

Killer reveals master plan

When the villain has the advantage and is about to kill the hero, he has the need to reveal his master plan before leaving the hero to die.

The chief villain may be your mentor

Sometimes the mastermind behind a film's evil plot is right under the hero's nose. Often he's a guy who tried to bend the system to his desires, is approaching retirement or plainly has nothing better to do.

Presumed dead

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.

Without a scratch

Like the TV protagonist in 24, some men like James Bond emerge from any beating looking as fresh as a daisy.

Bad guys attack one at a time

Whenever a hero attempts to catch a bad guy, he will inevitably be faced with a group of henchmen all ready to attack.

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.

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.

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.


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Great Movie Lists (58 lists)
list by The O.P.
Published 4 months, 3 weeks ago
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Comments

Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Aug 31 13:23
Love this list, so funny and so true! Great work!
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Aug 31 13:43
haha I just love these lists :D
so creative and fun to read ^__^
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Aug 31 13:51
wonderful....i wanna read a comedy list too.. :)
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Aug 31 14:58
great list, not just another boring thing.
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Aug 31 23:28
Spoiler list ;)
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Sep 5 11:59
I LOVE IT!
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Sep 18 18:16
Posted: 2 years, 8 months ago at Sep 19 3:14
the third person shooter is also at the end of rush hour 3 :D Great List! SOOOO FUNNY!
Posted: 2 years, 7 months ago at Oct 18 0:27
Spot on!
Posted: 2 years, 4 months ago at Jan 19 10:52
haha great list! totally agreed.
Posted: 2 years, 4 months ago at Jan 19 12:51
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade :) Donovan's "Do not trust anybody" advice was so true.
Posted: 2 years, 4 months ago at Jan 19 13:15
Thanks :) added!
Posted: 2 years, 1 month ago at Apr 25 17:45
Spot on!
Posted: 2 years ago at Apr 26 1:25
Awesome list.
Posted: 1 year, 8 months ago at Sep 27 6:36
Fantastic! Bravo!!!
Posted: 1 year, 7 months ago at Oct 14 5:56
Great concept for a list.
You could add A Fistful of Dollars to "Shot, but not killed".
Posted: 1 year, 7 months ago at Oct 14 7:51
if you consider this http://www.listal.com/movie/the-matrix-revolutions an action movie other than a sci-fi one you could add it to 'Bad guys attack one at a time'
Posted: 1 year, 7 months ago at Oct 15 11:55
Killer reveals master plan: mission impossible
Posted: 1 year, 2 months ago at Mar 15 12:48
haha Tom Cruise felt twice for The chief villain may be your mentor.... though he would've lerned from the first time :-j
Posted: 10 months ago at Jul 28 19:19
another one should be
"hero against fifty", when heroes like maximus from gladiator take on like ten people at once. Commando with schwarzenneger is worse... in special features it says john matrix kills eighty eight men while only getting hit with a piece of shrapnel.

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