Movie Knock-outs (and why I hate them)

[Suncrafter]

I hate "Movie Knock-outs". You guys know what I'm talking about - right? A good guy, in a movie, needs to incapacitate someone like a guard. So the good guy sneaks up and hits the guard (or who ever) with an object of some kind (lamp, pipe, vase, branch, etc...) and the guard is "knocked out", but is otherwise fine. Oh my God that is SO ANNOYING!!!!!! Why do they keep using this unnecessary and STUPID cliche in movies!?! I'm not a doctor - but I'm willing to bet that if you hit someone hard enough to incapacitate them - then this is how it would happen:
22% - instant death
32% - unconsciousness, vomiting, bleeding, death occurs in less then an hour unless hospitalized.
27% - severe brain damage requiring hospitalization.
18% - spinal injury requiring hospitalization.
1% - unconsciousness with no permanent consequences.

And what gets me the most is how UNNESSESARY it is as a plot device! If a writer does not want to show the hero killing the guard - then have him use chloroform or a taser! Or have him over power the guard with a struggle. CHRIST! WHY why why do they keep using this stupid cliche!?!?!?!?

[youtalkfunny]

You'd love "Midnight Run", the king of the One Punch Knockout films.

[Golden_Rhino]

Funny, I just complained about this while watching a movie with my girlfriend a couple of hours ago. I have no problem suspending my disbelief during a movie, but I hate it when I am forced to do so because somebody got too lazy to come up with a better way of knocking someone out.

[Number7]

I think it is close related to the fact, that the "good guy" in case he ends up in a fight, no matter what number of punches and kicks he receives, he never need to be hospitalised himself.

And he can take everything to the face, but his teeth will remain flawless, movie fights are very far from real life fights obv [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[daveT]

The problem is a duel between two implausibilities:

1- The hero is walking around secured villain's place to enact final fight with no one noticing.

2- The hero surprise sucker punches said security as a work up to the final fight.

If anything is implausible. How come the multi-millionaire villain never has proficient security?

Movie cliches are especially prevalent in action movies. Let's me honest, if you are going to go to an action movie for plausibility, good acting, good writing, and consistency, you are probably not in the mood for an action flick.

Why does the victim of a mass murderer always run upstairs?

[smokingrobot]

the best knock out i ever saw was in 12 monkeys where bruce willis beats that dude with an old rotary phone.

c'mon, that was awesome.

[Blarg]

The old detective shows are the best for this. Mannix got hit on the head and knocked out in almost every episode, and a minute or two later woke up clear headed and uninjured. Still, you'd think he'd find another line of work.

The old shoot outs were great too. In old westerns, people were always shooting the guns out of each other's hands. And in the old cop and detective shows, the bad guy could be emptying a machine gun at you from 15 yards and miss, but if you had a snub-nose .38 calibre pistol, you could never, ever miss at any distance -- even while doing a sommersault!

[AJW]

If movies have taught me anything its that having a chair broken over your head in an old west saloon was not only not incapacitating but it was great fun, and after being punched in the face and gut multiple times your eventually be thrown through a window where upon you’d stand up dust yourself down and walk away remarking on what a great fight it had been and how you hoped to have another one some time soon.

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
And in the old cop and detective shows, the bad guy could be emptying a machine gun at you from 15 yards and miss, but if you had a snub-nose .38 calibre pistol, you could never, ever miss at any distance -- even while doing a sommersault!

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like Jack Bauer. He's usually has a choice of weapons, including many military-grade rifles. But he always takes the H&K .45 caliber. I think he even took a helicopter down with one.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
If movies have taught me anything its that having a chair broken over your head in an old west saloon was not only not incapacitating but it was great fun, and after being punched in the face and gut multiple times your eventually be thrown through a window where upon you’d stand up dust yourself down and walk away remarking on what a great fight it had been and how you hoped to have another one some time soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heheh, very funny, and true. Physical violence was completely over the top in westerns, and would destroy real life people, but their characters pretty much took it as a lark. I wonder if I'm the only one who wondered how those saloon keepers could ever make a buck when their customers destroyed the place every weekend.