Tropescilloscope: Mugging the Monster

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

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