Top Film Cliches That Are Overdone

Cliché is an expression used to indicate that an artistic piece of work has been expected, overused, and has become typical; audiences are more likely to roll their eyes at the twists and turns if they are watching a film, and if certain scenes were once an effective way to build suspense, they are now cliché and show a lack of originality. Many films over the years have become stuck in using cliché dialogues, plot twists, character deaths, and more, which is why I created a list of the most common cliches, as well as which films have been using them.

Ticking clock

Building tension can be very difficult, but if most films resort to having a ticking clock in their films, then it becomes repetitive and can instead have the opposite effect. In ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, Batman is forced to deal with a timed bomb, leading to a typical scene of saving the world and taking the risk of sacrificing himself in order to make sure no one else gets hurt.

Standing right behind someone

How many times have you watched a scene where a character talks about someone else and that someone just happens to be standing right behind the character? 

Fighting scenes with either amazing or terrible accuracy

Some heroes manage to shoot down all the bad guys without missing a single shot, while the villains suddenly become every inaccurate when trying to shoot down the hero – this becomes quite comical in some movies. Moreover, why do none of the characters run out of ammo? There is only so much a gun can hold before it runs out of ammo and needs reloading. An example of this is from ‘The Walking Dead’ television series, where in multiple scenes, characters shoot down zombies, otherwise known as walkers in the show, and never happen to run out of ammo.

Jump scares

Most horror films are guilty of this cliché move, but there are many scenes when an attempt at frightening someone results in a cat, or another animal, jumping out from the bushes or from behind a building.

Makeovers after traumatic event

Many characters experience some sort of trauma and then follow that up with getting a makeover, such as cutting their own hair in front of the bathroom mirror. 

While there may be many cliché moments in films, it does not mean the films themselves are terrible; however, it is pretty clear that some scenes would work better if there was more innovative writing behind it. Watch some films and see what you think, or if you happen to notice one of the cliches that I mentioned, as well as ones I may not have mentioned at all.