Tropescilloscope: In Medias Res

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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