The Action Movie Cliches (spoilers)

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

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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.