Movies should have some logical scenarios and give us some hints at what might, or might not happen next. It is normal to create suspense, and it is normal to use some classic methods that actually really work. So, cliches in movies are not necessarily a bad thing. Yet, when they are thrown in your face raw, without any adaptation or creative approach, sometimes even being completely unjustified, it instantly decreases the value of the whole movie-watching experience.
You might already have created your own list of movie cliches that you hate so this post will give you several more options.
The Abandoned Breakfast
In the movies, people cook huge meals and no one ever eats them. There is a particularly annoying cliche of a wife or girlfriend preparing a totally delicious breakfast for her man and he just comes quickly to the kitchen, grabs a toast, says he’s late for work, and storms away. She just sighs and throws all this untouched food in the trash bin. Who actually does that?? If you know he’s late, don’t cook for him, or at least keep the food! This is really annoying and the point of this cliche is completely not clear.
Villain Monologue
Number two in our annoying hit parade of movie cliches is the villain monologue where the main villain explains their plans to the protagonist (or some other person, whatever). The extra cringe level of this cliche is the villain does so before finishing their interlocutor, and the pro max extra cringe is the villain presenting their plans to their future victim to only get finished by the victim themselves, or another character, three minutes later. This cliche is so old and unjustified that it is not clear why and how it survived till our days.
The Last-Minute Rescue
This method is obviously used to create suspense and make the viewers nervous but at the same time, most people are so used to it that they don’t get nervous anymore. They actually expect the character to be somehow (illogically) saved, and get pleasantly surprised (!) when the dangerous situation actually ends with logical consequences. On the other hand, if the last-minute save is logical, relevant, and realistic, it is an awesome instrument to make people really care about what is happening on the screen.
Unrealistic Mismatch
Somehow it mostly works in the framework of an average guy getting a hot girl. The reverse scheme is almost never shown, probably because even filmmakers understand the totally unreal probability of the situation in real life. So, the choice of an average-looking, or a good-looking but nerdy guy somehow charming the hottest girl in college/at work/whatever is a scheme used shamelessly in any kind of movie, not only romantic comedies. And even though most people would rather win a grand spinning 150 free spins for $1 at an online casino than find themselves in this situation, we keep seeing this again and again. The extra level of cringe is a hot girl abandoning her boyfriend for the nerdy guy. Annoying.
The Final Battle
Annoying as hell. Of course everything leads to it and of course everything is solved by this one grand final battle. While there is generally nothing wrong with an epic final battle and many people love it, it is the epicness of it that is taken to the levels of absurdity. Many movies really use too many special effects and green screen to make the battle visually epic but they somehow often fail to convey the emotional value of it. The emotion and the tension is lost in the bells and whistles.
Hacking Anything in Under Five Minutes
Any website, platform, strongbox, strongroom, code, or robot can be hacked in under five minutes and this happens in the movies again and again. Obviously, showing the tedious process of trying to really hack an important website is probably not the most interesting part of the movie, unless this is a thematic documentary. However, adding a bit of effort wouldn’t hurt the scenario. The purpose of this cliche is not very clear. If the purpose is to show the talent of the hacker, what’s the value of this talent if something can be broken into in five minutes? Few movies do a good job on that one.
Girlfriend Photo Chiche
This is a witty observation some movie fans made. If a character shows their girlfriend’s or baby’s photo they most probably die later in the movie. This is not a rock-solid cliche but it can be spotted every now and then to make the viewer care about the character who has a wife/girlfriend/baby/dog/whatever. Yet, most movie fans are pretty pampered today and just throwing some character’s background at their face doesn’t make them care anymore. We need more context to be emotionally involved at this point in history.
No Time to Explain
We have a guess that “no time to explain” is a cliche used when the director’s cut turns out too long with people explaining everything and having proper realistic human conversations. If the movie is cut further, we get those “You get what I mean”, “See you later”, and “No time to explain” scraps of conversation. Because when you are watching a thriller or an action movie or a horror movie, no person in their right mind would go after someone without an explanation. Annoying.
