10 War Movie Cliches That Annoy EVERYONE
The most repetitive, played out, and unnecessary tropes that war films have to offer.
There's a time and a place for a cliche in the context of a war movie. The genre wouldn't be the same without beloved tried and tested narrative staples like reinforcements arriving at the last minute to save the day. In many cases, these cliches can serve to elevate the audience's viewing experience, with American troops swooping in with Captain Miller's squad on the verge of defeat in Saving Private Ryan being one such example of how a cliche can still be effective.
With that being said, for every "good" cliche out there, there are a number that are unequivocally bad. Whether the cliche in question offers an incorrect depiction of warfare, represents an overused narrative device, or is just so cheesy and played out that it begs the question as to whether it was simply included to irritate audiences, war movies play host to several prevalent tropes that have proven endlessly annoying.
From pieces of inaccurate detail to severely overplayed choices in narrative or character development, war movies feature some of the more irritating cliches that cinema has to offer. These tropes feature across the genre, from low-budget productions to some of the most lauded and influential war films of all time...
10. Polite And Bumbling British Soldiers
A war movie cliche that Hollywood refuses to let go of is the preconceived image of a British soldier. A polite individual who never forgets their manners, this stereotypical rendition speaks exclusively in either clipped upper-class tones or a near incomprehensible Cockney accent. However, this caricature's most irritating feature is an insistence on bumbling incompetence in contrast to their savvy American counterparts, willing to follow misjudged orders to the letter even if it means their own demise.
Depicting the events of Operation Market Garden, Band of Brothers' "Replacements' episode is a prevalent example of this cliche in action. A notable sequence sees a pig-headed British tank commander refuse to destroy a Dutch house to expose a German Tiger due to a British-Dutch agreement to avoid unnecessary property damage. The clueless officer then proceeds to order the Allied tanks to drive directly into the enemy's line of fire.
In reality, British troops were just as competent and adaptable as their American counterparts and also just as diverse in terms of background, and yet depictions like this continue to linger in the genre.