Tropescilloscope: In Medias Res

The series starts in the middle of the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

More Tropes Improvised Weapon Empathic Environment I Have Your Wife Gainax Ending Guns Akimbo Leaning on the Fourth Wall Off with His Head! Kubrick Stare Enemy Mine The Brute Hollywood Darkness Bloodless Carnage Bad Boss Naked People Are Funny Sexy Discretion Shot Artistic License – Geography Same Language Dub Cool Car The '70s Card-Carrying Villain As You Know Big "NO!" Sole Survivor Immune to Bullets Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Works Set in World War II Badass Bookworm Central Theme Missing Mom Cool Shades I'm a Humanitarian Rape as Drama Say My Name What the Hell, Hero? The X of Y Moment Killer Adaptational Villainy Nice Guy Sequel Hook Scare Chord Homage Spared by the Adaptation Dull Surprise Heroic BSoD True Companions Femme Fatale Exactly What It Says on the Tin Product Placement Beard of Evil Meaningful Name Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun A God Am I Disney Death Made of Iron Bittersweet Ending Darkest Hour Due to the Dead Adaptational Heroism Shown Their Work Mama Bear Epic Fail The Chessmaster Fun with Acronyms Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Establishing Character Moment 20 Minutes into the Future Blatant Lies Reality Ensues Wretched Hive Action Prologue Rule of Cool The Power of Love Decoy Protagonist Vitriolic Best Buds Killed Mid-Sentence Woman Scorned Sinister Minister The '50s Names to Run Away from Really Fast Affably Evil Didn't Think This Through Villainous Breakdown Pragmatic Adaptation Sports Stories Attempted Rape Loads and Loads of Characters Thriller Alliterative Name Silence Is Golden Better to Die than Be Killed You Have Failed Me Unspoken Plan Guarantee Fantastic Racism Bound and Gagged Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Undying Loyalty Beta Couple Training Montage Demonic Possession Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Market-Based Title "Shaggy Dog" Story Domestic Abuse Time Skip Fish out of Water The Cavalry Romantic False Lead Famous Last Words Red Eyes, Take Warning Deliberate Values Dissonance Ms. Fanservice Mistaken for Gay Deus ex Machina Hero Antagonist The Chick For Want of a Nail Star-Crossed Lovers Contrived Coincidence Ambiguously Gay The Bad Guy Wins Artistic License – Gun Safety Rated M for Manly Corpsing Ungrateful Bastard The Remake The Hero Beware the Nice Ones Historical-Domain Character Extremely Short Timespan Author Appeal The Alleged Car Black Best Friend Big Fancy House B-Movie Babies Ever After Death of a Child Pre-Mortem One-Liner Eagleland The Musical Psychopathic Manchild Damsel in Distress Frame-Up Bring My Brown Pants Man on Fire Precision F-Strike Cowboy Cop Dissonant Serenity BFG Character Development Becoming the Mask Sealed Evil in a Can Music Stories Rasputinian Death Implacable Man Shout-Out Distracted by the Sexy Worthy Opponent Not So Above It All Pretty in Mink "The Reason You Suck" Speech Obfuscating Stupidity Pet the Dog Black Comedy Plucky Comic Relief Race Lift Accidental Misnaming Does Not Like Shoes An Axe to Grind Adults Are Useless Amusing Injuries Evil Brit Almost Kiss Anguished Declaration of Love Stepford Smiler Canadian Movies An Arm and a Leg Evil vs. Evil Framing Device Tagline Riddle for the Ages Together in Death Major Injury Underreaction Bond Villain Stupidity Handicapped Badass Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Parental Abandonment What You Are in the Dark Arc Words Line-of-Sight Name Older Than They Look World of Ham Artistic License – Law Setting Update Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Not What It Looks Like Breaking the Fourth Wall Abhorrent Admirer Hypocrite One-Word Title Kids Are Cruel Happily Married Drowning My Sorrows Humiliation Conga The Lost Lenore Film Series No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Ripped from the Headlines Cloudcuckoolander Really Gets Around Redshirt Army Catapult Nightmare Extreme Doormat Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Spanner in the Works Police are Useless Air-Vent Passageway Ax-Crazy Retcon The Mafia Adaptational Badass Guile Hero Cool Guns Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Heel Realization Gorn Posthumous Character Took a Level in Badass Bolivian Army Ending Love at First Sight Leave the Camera Running Continuity Nod Actor Allusion The Mole Pimped-Out Dress Neck Lift Hypocritical Humor Japanese Films Manic Pixie Dream Girl Serious Business Reality Has No Subtitles You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Maybe Ever After Conspicuous CG Bait-and-Switch Twist Ending Not Quite Dead Science Fiction Films Actually Pretty Funny Whole Plot Reference Bilingual Bonus Deal with the Devil Stealth Hi/Bye Deconstruction Dirty Cop Driven to Suicide Epic Movie From Nobody to Nightmare Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Laughing Mad Freeze-Frame Bonus Stylistic Suck Screw the Rules, I Have Money! The Stinger The Oner Villain Opening Scene Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Suspiciously Similar Substitute Black Comedy Rape Genre Shift Mugging the Monster No Ending Adorkable Ominous Latin Chanting Dogged Nice Guy Revenge Dramatic Irony Big Damn Heroes Rule of Three Cat Scare Kill 'em All Mundane Made Awesome Poor Communication Kills A.I. Is a Crapshoot The Ghost I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Punny Name Eye Scream Recycled IN SPACE! Mr. Fanservice Final Girl Wicked Cultured Paper-Thin Disguise Kick the Dog Gender Flip Slasher Movie Cluster F-Bomb Ship Tease Face–Heel Turn Deliberately Monochrome Half the Man He Used to Be Every Car Is a Pinto Award-Bait Song Leitmotif Jerk with a Heart of Gold Spell My Name with an "S" Big Eater Break the Haughty Alpha Bitch Biopic Dark Reprise Death by Adaptation Foreshadowing Jerk Jock Bavarian Fire Drill Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Retired Badass Disproportionate Retribution Creator Cameo Small Name, Big Ego Anachronic Order Curse Cut Short Playing Gertrude Brother–Sister Incest Film Noir All Girls Want Bad Boys Red Shirt He Knows Too Much Never Found the Body Film Noir Index Everyone Has Standards Hooker with a Heart of Gold Awesome, but Impractical Back from the Dead Combat Pragmatist Aside Glance Parental Incest Last-Name Basis Camera Abuse Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Danny Peary Cult Movies List It Can Think Blood Knight Downer Ending The '80s Armor-Piercing Question Reckless Gun Usage Artistic License – Military Ambiguous Disorder The Lancer Calling the Old Man Out Credits Gag The Stoner The Vamp Truth in Television Laser-Guided Karma Nothing Is Scarier An Aesop Easily Forgiven Fat Bastard The Quiet One Determinator Dirty Old Man Historical In-Joke Berserk Button After the End Big Brother Instinct Amoral Attorney Genre Savvy Captain Ersatz Big Applesauce Dark Is Not Evil Belligerent Sexual Tension Martial Arts Movie Abusive Parents Chekhov's Gun Anyone Can Die Mr. Exposition Sassy Black Woman Dutch Angle Soft Glass Mexican Standoff Drugs Are Bad Offscreen Moment of Awesome Shoot the Shaggy Dog Dual Wielding Did Not Get the Girl Imagine Spot Captain Obvious The Load The Smart Guy Storming the Castle Adaptation Distillation "Well Done, Son!" Guy Exact Words Victoria's Secret Compartment One Steve Limit Agony of the Feet Public Domain Feature Films Chekhov's Skill The Great Depression Shell-Shocked Veteran Cool Old Lady More Dakka Scenery Porn Creative Closing Credits Heel–Face Turn Alas, Poor Villain Meet Cute Blood from the Mouth Author Avatar Mystery and Detective Films Death by Irony Mind Screw Evil Is Petty Left the Background Music On Dropped a Bridge on Him Drill Sergeant Nasty Word of God Crazy Jealous Guy Wrong Genre Savvy Adaptation Name Change Defiant to the End Book-Ends Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Boom, Headshot! folderlabel Not So Different Christmas Movies Index Butt-Monkey Coming-of-Age Story French Films From Bad to Worse Artistic License – Physics Manchild Broken Aesop Meaningful Echo Henpecked Husband Five-Man Band Bunny-Ears Lawyer Visual Pun Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Evil Is Hammy Reasonable Authority Figure Bald of Evil Stealth Pun Match Cut Horror Comedy It's All About Me Insistent Terminology Jerkass Camp Gay Adaptational Attractiveness The Alcoholic Dark and Troubled Past Beauty Is Never Tarnished Lock and Load Montage Red Right Hand Insane Troll Logic Fainting Badass Boast Fourth Date Marriage Military and Warfare Films Children Are Innocent Earn Your Happy Ending In the Back Horror Films Skewed Priorities Take That! Funny Foreigner Jump Scare Non-Indicative Name Action Survivor You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! '80s Hair I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Bowdlerise Defrosting Ice Queen Mood Whiplash Lighter and Softer Foil Humans Are Bastards The Bully Composite Character And the Adventure Continues Monumental Damage Flipping the Bird Very Loosely Based on a True Story Apocalypse How Punch-Clock Villain MacGuffin Plot Hole Tap on the Head The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Crucified Hero Shot Be Careful What You Wish For Throwing Your Sword Always Works Stuff Blowing Up Intrepid Reporter Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! The Reveal Action Girl Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Cool Old Guy Those Two Bad Guys It's Personal Freudian Excuse Action Genre Broken Pedestal Manipulative Bastard Suspiciously Specific Denial Put on a Bus timeperiod Sir Swears-a-Lot Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Faking the Dead The Dragon Knife Nut The Sociopath My Beloved Smother Idiot Ball Never My Fault Death Glare The Dog Bites Back Historical Villain Upgrade Real Life Writes the Plot Bond One-Liner Gory Discretion Shot Made of Explodium Video Credits Fate Worse than Death Novelization The Ace Anti-Villain Hate Sink "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Gold Digger Unusually Uninteresting Sight A Date with Rosie Palms Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Funny Background Event Even Evil Has Standards The Dreaded The Ditz Totally Radical Improbable Weapon User Betty and Veronica Villain Ball Comically Missing the Point Make It Look Like an Accident Body Horror Dwindling Party No-Sell Animal Motifs The Starscream Fingore Authority Equals Asskicking Heterosexual Life-Partners Race Against the Clock Badass in a Nice Suit Costume Porn Dirty Coward Hair-Trigger Temper Here We Go Again! Brutal Honesty O.O.C. Is Serious Business Shut Up, Hannibal! Your Cheating Heart Vomit Indiscretion Shot Italian Films Evil Counterpart Sacrificial Lion Index of Film Westerns No Antagonist Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Affectionate Parody Fanservice Extra Refuge in Audacity Eyepatch of Power Call-Forward Your Head A-Splode Shipper on Deck Documentary Improbable Aiming Skills Fiery Redhead Chase Scene Mighty Whitey Naïve Newcomer Big-Bad Ensemble Face Death with Dignity Artistic License – History No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Overprotective Dad NO INDOOR VOICE For the Evulz Advertised Extra Darker and Edgier Big Bad Duumvirate Broken Bird Casting Gag Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Romantic Comedy Wham Line Important Haircut Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Historical Hero Upgrade Not So Stoic Only Known by Their Nickname Slap-Slap-Kiss Instant Death Bullet Closed Circle Knight Templar All for Nothing Despair Event Horizon Not Using the "Z" Word Only One Name Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Television Movie Index Narrator German Films Eiffel Tower Effect Early-Bird Cameo Sadistic Choice Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? All Men Are Perverts Determinator aka: The Determinator Animal Title Index Chiaroscuro Mercy Kill Facial Horror A Minor Kidroduction Early Installment Weirdness Loophole Abuse Flashback Ironic Echo Developing Doomed Characters Villain Protagonist Depraved Bisexual Black Dude Dies First N-Word Privileges Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Outrun the Fireball Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Department of Redundancy Department Death by Sex Too Dumb to Live Green-Eyed Monster Slashed Throat All Just a Dream Wham Shot Let's Get Dangerous! Pay Evil unto Evil Interrupted Suicide Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Real Life Expy Male Frontal Nudity Aluminum Christmas Trees Trailers Always Spoil Fan Disservice Bar Brawl Call-Back Only Sane Man Cruel and Unusual Death Good Is Not Nice Shower Scene Only a Flesh Wound Hong Kong Films Men Are the Expendable Gender Intergenerational Friendship Roaring Rampage of Revenge Villain with Good Publicity Irony No OSHA Compliance Evil Sounds Deep Off-into-the-Distance Ending Psycho for Hire Obstructive Bureaucrat Deadpan Snarker Hollywood Law Failed a Spot Check Fantasy Films Would Hit a Girl Brick Joke Gone Horribly Right Taking You with Me My Greatest Failure Heroic Sacrifice Redemption Equals Death Asshole Victim British Films Arranged Marriage Cassandra Truth I Did What I Had to Do Straight Gay Get Out! Light Is Not Good Reality Is Unrealistic Overly Long Gag Evil Plan Creepy Child Tranquil Fury One-Man Army Shirtless Scene Ambiguous Ending Scenery Gorn Adaptation Dye-Job Re-Cut Spiritual Successor Spiteful Spit Obviously Evil Badass Grandpa Hell Is That Noise Russian Films Rich Bitch The Stoic Dramedy Fatal Family Photo And Starring Super Strength Married to the Job The Smurfette Principle All There in the Script Taking the Bullet Toplessness from the Back The Un-Reveal Needs Wiki Magic Love Yandere Well-Intentioned Extremist Neck Snap Meaningful Background Event In Name Only Protagonist Title Chewing the Scenery Dies Wide Open Black and Gray Morality Took a Level in Jerkass Gilligan Cut Four-Temperament Ensemble Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Demoted to Extra May–December Romance Dying Moment of Awesome Sequel Escalation Brainless Beauty Arch-Enemy Our Zombies Are Different Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Girl-on-Girl Is Hot War Is Hell Animated Credits Opening Motor Mouth Ascended Extra The End... Or Is It? Groin Attack Faux Affably Evil Australian Movies Kill It with Fire Tempting Fate Break the Cutie Canon Foreigner Karma Houdini Noodle Incident Rousing Speech Those Wacky Nazis Insult Backfire Pretty Little Headshots Not Even Bothering with the Accent Fake Shemp Scary Black Man Genre Throwback Diabolus ex Machina Honor Before Reason Dark Action Girl Destination Defenestration Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Adult Fear Catch-Phrase As Long as It Sounds Foreign Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Cat Fight Auto Erotica The '60s Random Events Plot Double-Meaning Title Smoking Is Cool Badass Longcoat It Will Never Catch On Manly Tears Fatal Flaw Rule of Funny Slasher Smile Even Evil Has Loved Ones Vacation Films Self-Deprecation Mooks Politically Incorrect Villain The Voiceless Serial Killer Celebrity Paradox Title Drop Expository Hairstyle Change No Name Given Our Vampires Are Different Bi the Way Double Entendre You Killed My Father Sanity Slippage Papa Wolf Unresolved Sexual Tension Wounded Gazelle Gambit Woman in White A Father to His Men Love Triangle Eldritch Abomination Cain and Abel Drives Like Crazy Blackmail Kick the Son of a Bitch Token Minority Covers Always Lie Lampshade Hanging Suddenly SHOUTING! Anachronism Stew Disappeared Dad Those Two Guys Pragmatic Villainy Fire-Forged Friends Heroes Want Redheads Sci-Fi Horror Grievous Bottley Harm Hoist by His Own Petard Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Mythology Gag The Faceless The '90s Jitter Cam Friend to All Children Dumb Blonde Rule of Symbolism Silent Movie Unwitting Instigator of Doom Would Hurt a Child How We Got Here Adapted Out Anti-Hero Daddy's Girl Annoying Younger Sibling Hero of Another Story As the Good Book Says... Oh, Crap! The Big Guy Room Full of Crazy Translation Convention The Casanova Ass Shove Zombie Stories Accidental Murder Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Big Bad Unusual Euphemism Adaptation Expansion Running Gag Bottomless Magazines Batman Gambit Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other The Atoner Peek-a-Boo Corpse Smug Snake Rewatch Bonus Bad "Bad Acting" Karmic Death Grey and Gray Morality Only in It for the Money Daylight Horror The Hero Dies Parental Neglect She Cleans Up Nicely La Résistance Disguised in Drag Based on a True Story Nice Hat Ghost Fiction Bloody Hilarious The Cameo Eureka Moment Soundtrack Dissonance Pyrrhic Victory Large Ham Morality Pet Bullying a Dragon Stock Footage I Need a Freaking Drink Properly Paranoid Bloodier and Gorier My God, What Have I Done? Gratuitous English Getting Crap Past the Radar Take a Third Option Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Country Matters Psychological Thriller Red Oni, Blue Oni Unreliable Narrator Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Bland-Name Product In Medias Res This Is Gonna Suck Crapsack World All There in the Manual Dressing as the Enemy Bare Your Midriff "Awesome McCool" Name Death Seeker Bury Your Gays Chekhov's Gunman Offscreen Teleportation Show Within a Show Mad Scientist Logo Joke Hidden Depths Police Brutality Malevolent Masked Men Never Trust a Trailer Crazy-Prepared Evil Laugh Age Lift The Film of the Book Jerkass Has a Point Antagonist Title Evil-Detecting Dog Stalker with a Crush Vomit Discretion Shot Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality He Who Fights Monsters Disney Villain Death Car Fu Does This Remind You of Anything? Greater-Scope Villain Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Foregone Conclusion Superhero Fanservice Male Gaze Corrupt Corporate Executive Parental Substitute Badass Normal What Happened to the Mouse? Once More, with Clarity! And I Must Scream Up to Eleven Dramatic Gun Cock Red Herring There Is No Kill Like Overkill Madness Mantra Hope Spot No Celebrities Were Harmed Cold-Blooded Torture Retirony Artistic License – Biology Informed Ability Villain Song Vampire Fiction As Himself Curb-Stomp Battle The Place She's Got Legs Have a Gay Old Time