Another fake-out favoured by the Hollywood action blockbuster is a character taking a bullet during a firefight and, oh no, they're definitely going to die now! Except then immediately afterwards, or perhaps later on when everyone regroups around the fleet of emergency service vehicles which usually pop up, it'll be revealed it was but a flesh wound. The point of entry for these minor injuries is usually the shoulder. Which is a kind of ridiculous thing to become a trope, that the safest place for people to get shot is in the shoulder, and yet it appears in countless movies. And usually the victims are just fine and dandy to continue the fight. It usually means a bit of gross blood splattered all over but the characters will rarely suffer any sort of permanent damage once they've cleaned themselves up. Don't think the same applies to actual shoulder wounds, mind, with a one in five chance you'll die, where you will at worst bleed out from a major artery, and at best lose control of that arm.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
