We come across clichés often in movies. Some are timeless and fun to watch but some have been overused so many times that it's just annoying. Here is the list of clichés that I love and hate.
Movie Cliché #1: The Russian Accent
Too many times I see Russian or Middle-Eastern terrorists talking to each other in broken English when no one else is there. It's like, hello, why not use your own native language? What's worse is that sometimes these terrorists do speak in their mother tongue but when the protagonist shows up, they feel the need to switch back to bad English.
Movie Cliché #2: The Train is Coming!
This happens a lot in car chase scenes when the protagonists are in the front and the bad guys are right behind them. The protagonists come across a train track they'll have to pass and narrowly miss the speeding train while the bad guys aren't as lucky and get crushed into oblivion.
Movie Cliché #3: The Empty Gun
Ah, yes, this is when we think the protagonist is f**ked because the villain has just got his hands on a gun. But surprise! The protagonist had known this all along and the "click, click" sound reveals the empty gun. Anyone thinking Die Hard?
Movie Cliché #4: I Can't Reach
We saw it in Indiana Jones, we saw it way before that and even more after. The I Can't Reach cliché appears is so many movies yet it's a great tool to enhance the suspense of the moment. This is when the protagonist needs to get the weapon or an important object but his or her fingers barely touch.
Movie Cliché #5: The Fall
Michael Bay over used this in his latest Transformers movie and I hated it. This is when the protagonist falls from the sky only to be saved by another person or a parachute or whatever (with of course, the epic music playing in the background).
Movie Cliché #6: Noooo!!
A throwback to The Empire Strikes Back! The word "No" is one of the shorter words I know of and so movie characters love to add a few extra O's to the end of the word...and it goes something like this: Nooooooo!! Great dramatic effect. I guess it really is the longer the better ;)
Movie Cliché #7: Put yo hands up and listen to my master plan
This is one of the common ones that I hate very much. Often the villain will have the protagonists at gun point and instead of shooting them, just start rambling on about his future plans. Most of the time this gives the protagonist just enough time to be freed or rescued by a partner and escape, knowing exactly how to stop the villain. James Bond is a common follower to this cliche but #7 is not only exclusive to the 007 franchise. We've all seen this a hundred times.
**This is a page I'll be frequently updating. Every time I come across a movie cliché I'm going to record it down here, explain it, and then refer back to it during my reviews.
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