r/TopCharacterTropes • u/_JR28_ • 6h ago

Lore “Hey that’s not so bad- SWEET JESUS”

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A shot is set up in such a way where it looks fine from one angle, then they reveal another that makes it look way worse

Infinity War - Thanos reveals Nebula hanging up imprisoned, then when the camera follows Gamora going to her we see that mechanical components are stretched out and her head and body are in pieces.

Breaking Bad - Hector sets off a bomb in a murder suicide against Gus but he seems to walk out fine impossibly, then the camera moves to in front of him and you see half of his face is just not there anymore.

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255

u/IrishViking22 5h ago

Underworld (2003)

Selene does a big jump slash attack move, but Viktor seems to be fine, until..

Processing img da5nw0iesvwh1...

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u/neonmystery 5h ago

Trying to remember what piece of media depicted a slice like this first. It's so overdone these days.

15

u/DrPsychGamer 5h ago

The first I remember is The Cell where it was very effective.

18

u/neonmystery 5h ago

Cube did it 3 years earlier. Can we find one before ‘97?

11

u/HawksongKai 5h ago

Well before that, there were samurai movies where two fighters duel. They'd slash their swords and freeze in place. Moments later, blood would spurt out of the combatant who was struck.

Check out the TVTrope on "Delayed Causality"

3

u/neonmystery 5h ago

Definitely sounds like the inspiration!

1

u/MacTireCnamh 18m ago

Sanjuro by Akira Kurosawa was the first to do it, and it was one of the few times that the "it as a complete accident that ended up working" seems to be true.

A pump got stuck on the blood squib so there was a second pause before the blood spurt, and history was made.

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u/Kaedryl 5h ago

Johnny Mnemonic - 1995

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u/neonmystery 5h ago

That didn't have the pause before the sliding apart. Did it?

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u/Kaedryl 5h ago

I'm positive it did. After the henchman let Johnny escape mister razor-wire finger does some fancy whip work, henchman looks shocked for a second then slides apart. I'll watch it later and double check

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u/Budsygus 5h ago

There were animated examples in the '80s like DBZ and Fist of the North Star.

Live action the earliest I can think of is UHF, funnily enough. Conan the Librarian slices a guy in half. I don't remember if there's a pause before he actually bifurcates, though.

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u/CaptainLaCroix 4h ago edited 4h ago

You can see the effect better in context than you can in GIF form but Sanjuro is pretty much what originated the trope. And from what I remember it was an accident where a squib failed while shooting and they kept it in.

https://youtu.be/wAxgA1y3kaM?is=wxVNu_5ZOn0IDudl