Tropescilloscope: Mugging the Monster

Criminal targets someone much more dangerous than they appear. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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