Worst action movie clichés

[Pattern Ghost]

"Chloe, open a socket!"

  ~ Every episode of 24.

[Pariah]

Characters with WF: Everything. Seriously, just because someone can fire a handgun effectively, does that mean they can use the alien weapon they just find lying around on a ship someplace?

["V"]

"The feds are calling the shots on this one, my hands are tied" - followed by maverick cop solving the whole case without backup

 

"You and I are not so different" - by villain to hero even when this isn't remotely true

 

Vehicles exploding with very little provocation.

 

Guys being kicked in the balls presented as funny

 

Characters from outside the US all conforming to a single "type" except possibly for one exception either as a bad guy or good guy.   

 

 

["V"]

Oh and three quarters of the way  through the movie a shoe-horned in moment of trite reflection, usually at night or at a camp fire as the protagonist in an astonishingly out of character moment expresses some measure of doubt or compassion or a vulnerable side which has not been present before and will not have any bearing on the rest of the movie except perhaps in some call-back at the very end of the talkie.

[Pariah]

5 hours ago, "V" said:

"You and I are not so different" - by villain to hero even when this isn't remotely true

 

My favorite version of this happened on Babylon 5. A shady character told Mr. Garibaldi something like, "You and I have something in common." Garibaldi responded with, "We've both slept with your sister?"

[BarretWallace]

Last-minute sacrifices that are supposed to be tragic and noble, and maybe sometimes are, but that you can see coming a long, LONG way off.  Bruce Willis's death in Armageddon jumped out at me in this regard.  The odds of death go up about 10,000% if said character has children or other close family, and are 99.9999% certain if the character shows a picture of their kids (this last one can also apply to non-sacrificial death by any throwaway character who shows his/her teammates a picture of their kids and/or talks about them to any great degree).  Bruce's death also illustrates how you should never, ever promise to come home to your kids after "this job" is done.

[death tribble]

In some of the cheaper pictures I have noticed a lot of swearing for the sake of swearing

[IndianaJoe3]

20 minutes ago, death tribble said:

In some of the cheaper pictures I have noticed a lot of swearing for the sake of swearing

 

And its inverse, not having any f-bombs to keep the rating at PG-13.

[Lawnmower Boy]

52 minutes ago, IndianaJoe3 said:

 

And its inverse, not having any f-bombs to keep the rating at PG-13.

Fargin' bastiches!

[Cassandra]

The evidence needed to bring down the entire criminal organization is on a single piece of paper or recording or disc or drive.

[Old Man]

Admittedly, that's how it happened with Watergate.

[Cassandra]

The Hero has an annoying sidekick.

[Cassandra]

On 6/14/2018 at 8:24 PM, Ragitsu said:

You're only allowed to crack postmortem jokes if you're James Bond or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

 

 

I liked her suit.

[Cancer]

Usually it's the villains who have the classiest clothes.  Bond is perhaps the main exception to this.

[Vondy]

On 6/18/2018 at 9:11 AM, IndianaJoe3 said:

 

And its inverse, not having any f-bombs to keep the rating at PG-13.

 

Which is no longer true, really. From the MPAA: "If two-thirds of the ratings board members believe that multiple F-words are used in a legitimate 'context or manner' or are 'inconspicuous,' then the movie could still be rated PG-13." As society's mores about expletives evolves so does what is considered a 'legitimate context or manner' or what is 'inconspicuous.' PG-13 films with three or more f-bombs, or even f-cluster bombs, have become increasingly common. Probably because the parents sitting on the ratings board panels are now dropping f-bombs quite often themselves. For instance, "I have no idea what this f---ing clue movie should be rated!"

 

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

In the trailers and ads for the new Dwayne Johnson movie Skyscraper, I see a potential example. Johnson's character is the security expert who knows every square inch, countermeasure, and security flaw in the newly-constructed tallest building in the world. So when pseudo-terrorists take over, what does he do? He rushes in half-cocked on a mission to rescue his family and somehow manages to persuade the authorities not to stop him. Oh yes, he's definitely the PC in this game.

 

Only it seems to be that his knowledge is a much more valuable piece to the organized search-and-rescue mission than anything he can bring to the table by rushing into the burning building. When he says "My family's in there!", the guy in charge of the operation should have said "Yes, and we'll get them out. But with what you know, we can get a lot of other people out too. So have a seat in the Ops tent and let us know what to expect and what we're going to find, so we can get everybody out!"

 

Of course, the whole thing is a Hans Gruber-style plot. Which poses problems of its own -- If you want to get a lot of money or a particular piece of information or technology, it's probably better not to do it in a way that renders your escape pretty much impossible -- and impersonating a terrorist attack is just that sort of scheme.

[RDU Neil]

14 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Of course, the whole thing is a Hans Gruber-style plot. Which poses problems of its own -- If you want to get a lot of money or a particular piece of information or technology, it's probably better not to do it in a way that renders your escape pretty much impossible -- and impersonating a terrorist attack is just that sort of scheme.

 

If you are dissing "Die Hard"... things aren't going to be pleasant.

Hans Gruber is the single best cinematic villain ever to grace the silver screen. I will brook no arguments.

[death tribble]

The villain's idea in Die Hard was to create an explosion and get away as part of the emergency services which is pretty good. The X-factor of McLaine and the chauffeur is what did for them

[RDU Neil]

 

Another peeve... worthless body armor on faceless enemies or police/soldiers.

This happens all the time... where the "faceless NPCs" on either side of a big fight... either the sinister badguys in their all black tactical gear... or a nameless SWAT or soldiers backing up the protagonist... their body armor does nothing. Single shots from pistols and such just drop them with ease, and the only purpose of the gear is to hide the faces of the stunt men playing the parts so they can be reused again and again.

[slikmar]

13 minutes ago, RDU Neil said:

 

Another peeve... worthless body armor on faceless enemies or police/soldiers.

This happens all the time... where the "faceless NPCs" on either side of a big fight... either the sinister badguys in their all black tactical gear... or a nameless SWAT or soldiers backing up the protagonist... their body armor does nothing. Single shots from pistols and such just drop them with ease, and the only purpose of the gear is to hide the faces of the stunt men playing the parts so they can be reused again and again.

That's because they were told their armor works on a 14 or less, but as Foxbat said in the blue book(?) champions, you can save points but actually buying armor that activates on an 8 or less.

[death tribble]

Bad slikmar !

No biscuit !

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah Die Hard's plan would have actually worked, it would have been weeks before they really knew what had happened.

[Cassandra]

The Villain shoots the Hero in the chest and the bullet is deflected by an item someone gave him at the start of the film.

[Cassandra]

The Villain only shoots the Hero once.

[Cassandra]

The Villain never shoots the Hero in the head no matter who close the range.