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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eraser.jpg]]
2
3->''"You've just been erased."''
4-->-- '''John Kruger'''
5
6''Eraser'' is a 1996 action film, directed by Chuck Russell and starring Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Music/VanessaWilliams, Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/JamesCaan, Creator/NickChinlund, Creator/MichaelPapajohn, and Creator/MarkRolston.
7
8The main story concerns the Cyrez Corporation, a company that creates and manufactures weapons for the United States military. A senior executive, Dr. Lee Cullen (Williams), discovers that their latest magnetic acceleration rifle (personal railgun), the EM-1, is going to be sold to Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky (Olek Krupa), a well-known terrorist. In the hands of terrorists, the weapon would make them unstoppable, as it fires aluminum shells through solid objects and relativistic speeds, i.e. it is far more powerful than any other man-portable weapon in the world. So, Lee copies the evidence to two discs. One for the FBI, one to go public. She spends too much time in an area she wasn't supposed to be, and her superiors soon find out her plans.
9
10Cue John Kruger (Schwarzenegger), an ace agent of the Federal Witness Security Protection Program (WITSEC). He has been nicknamed "Eraser" for his ability to erase any trace of the people he is protecting. Now he has to protect Lee. But there are dangers ahead. The conspiracy extends further than Cyrez itself, involving even Daniel Harper (Andy Romano), Undersecretary of Defense. Kruger has been warned by his mentor Robert [=DeGuerin=] (Caan), that there is a mole within the Program, responsible for the deaths of key witnesses in top-level cases. Lee could be next.
11
12Good advice. Too bad [=DeGuerin=] is TheMole and has been hired to kill both Lee and anyone actually trying to protect her. Now Kruger must "erase" his opponents in a decidedly more lethal style.
13
14''Eraser'' was one of the first four films to be released on UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} when the format debuted in Japan in 1996, alongside ''Film/TheFugitive'', ''Film/{{Assassins}}'', and ''[[Film/BladeRunner Blade Runner: The Director's Cut]]''.
15
16A DirectToVideo remake of the movie titled ''Eraser: Reborn'' was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital on June 7, 2022, and will also be available for streaming on Creator/HBOMax in Fall of the same year.
17
18[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has diddly squat to do with]] ''Film/{{Eraserhead}}''.
19----
20!!Provides Examples Of:
21[[foldercontrol]]
22[[folder:Trope A-M]]
23* TheAce: Kruger is described as such in-universe and seems to be skilled enough to back up the claim, being a crack-shot, expert melee combatant and being able to tell a real ID from a fake by touch.
24--> '''Deguerin:''' He thinks he's the best guy in the game. I think he's right.
25* ActorAllusion: This is yet another over-the-top, formulaic action movie where [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Schwarzenegger uses a mook as a human shield]].
26** This wasn't the first movie that [[Film/{{Misery}} ended with James Caan using a cane]].
27* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Johnny Casteleone's mobbed-up relative gathers his crew to help out Kruger because there are Russian terrorists using their docks to move black market weapons, and are using non-Union personnel to do it.
28--> '''Tony Two Toes:''' No one screws with the Union.
29* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The Cyrez infirmary doctor treating Casteleone tries to defib her patient ''while he's actively conscious, talking, and fighting her attempts to shock him''. It's basic medical procedure to carefully monitor vital signs and immediately stop defibrillation when it's no longer necessary in order to prevent any risk of serious injury. Doing this in real life would demonstrate such shocking incompetence that it's a wonder the doctor managed to get a medical license (which would be revoked very quickly after this).
30* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
31** Dr. Cullen explains to Kruger that the EM-1 rail guns fire projectiles "at almost the speed of light." Even if the gun ''could'' fire projectiles that fast, recoil would make the gun more dangerous to the user than the target. HandWaved with the line: "They said the physics were impossible."
32** And the projectiles can easily shoot straight through solid walls, but on impacting a human body they throw the target several yards across the room.
33** X-rays don't work this way.
34** If you did fire a metal projectile close to the speed of light in an atmosphere, air friction alone would be enough to heat it up to the point of becoming hot vapor, which would just expand and drift up in the air. And if you get ''really'' close to ''c'', you end up with [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ this situation]].
35* AssholeVictim:
36** What little we see of Cullen's ex-boyfriend Daryl paints him as [[StalkerWithACrush a stalker that can't take "no, our relationship is over" as an answer]] (he broke into her home and Cullen mentions that he has been calling and leaving messages pinned to her windshield). He gets BlownAcrossTheRoom as the first railgun-induced casualty of the film.
37** All three masterminds of the railgun plot get locked inside a limo parked in the path of an oncoming train.
38* AteHisGun: See DrivenToSuicide.
39* AxCrazy: [=DeGuerin=], he seems to enjoy relishing in the bloodshed of his inside job.
40* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GWWXSrtIg Where Do We Go From Here?]], sung by co-star Vanessa Williams.
41* AwesomeButImpractical: The EM-1 gun is hyped up as the most powerful assault rifle ever. But there are two flaws. 1) The X-Ray vision cannot tell friend from foe (Which Arnie takes advantage of). And 2) There is an obvious big green flash light that tells anyone it's aiming at to hide or run.
42* BadassBureaucrat: Beller, the head of [=WitSec=] comes across as a worldly man well aware of how powerful the defense contractors are, pushpin hard for the case, personally login into the field during manhunts and keeping an open mind when Kruger has been framed, while still being firm and cautious.
43* BadassLongcoat: Kruger sports one when he walks to the Wit-Sec building.
44* BaitAndSwitch: This exchange:
45-->'''Little Girl:''' Is this [parachute] yours?
46-->'''Kruger:''' Do you like it?
47-->'''Little Girl:''' Oh yeah.
48-->'''Kruger:''' How about a trade [for your dad's old truck]?
49-->'''Little Boy:''' Fifty bucks!
50-->'''Kruger:''' ''Fifty bucks?''
51* BarrierBustingBlow: Kruger bursts up through the floorboards.
52* BatterUp: Little Mike knocks out a couple of henchmen at the docks with a baseball bat.
53* {{BFG}}: The railguns.
54* BigBad: U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper, the mastermind behind the plot to sell the EM-1 rail-guns offshore.
55* BitchInSheepsClothing: [=DeGuerin=].
56* BombproofAppliance: Kruger protects himself from a flechette grenade with a fridge; unfortunately, for this to work he has to hold the door open and gets a spike [[ImpaledPalm in his exposed hand]].
57* BondOneLiner:
58** Kruger says ''"You're luggage."'' to a [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile rampaging alligator]] after killing it.
59** Kruger says that the BigBadEnsemble "caught a train" after their limo was hit by one and [[EveryCarIsAPinto it exploded]].
60** Even [=DeGuerin=] manages to get one in. When an overzealous junior agent nearly catches [=DeGuerin=] performing a FalseFlagOperation, he convinces the young man that it was part of SecretTestOfCharacter:
61--->'''Monroe:''' So how did I do... on my evaluation?\
62[''[=DeGuerin=] shoots Monroe, killing him'']\
63'''[=DeGuerin=]:''' A-plus, kid.
64%%** "They caught a train." In French, the expression he uses means "jump on the bandwagon".
65* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Being shot by a railgun does that to you.
66* BrokenPedestal: Subverted, as despite respecting and admiring him a great deal, Kruger rapidly suspects [=DeGuerin=]'s duplicity and doesn't waste any time mourning the loss of his mentor.
67* BulletproofHumanShield: Kruger protects himself from a group of armed mooks with one of the armed mooks himself. It's slightly more plausible in this scenario, as the guy is wearing a bulletproof vest (and actually survives being used as a shield because of this... though not Kruger's follow-up grenade attack).
68* TheCameo: Chuck Zito briefly appears as one of the security officers before Kruger and Cullen get into the van that explodes. But his presence is so peripheral that being able to notice it amounts to a FreezeFrameBonus. And given that it was before Zito himself became a recognizable name in the movie industry, it can also amount to RetroactiveRecognition.
69* CarCushion: Kruger lands in a car wrecking yard after barely getting his parachute open.
70-->'''Kid:''' [[ThatsGottaHurt Oh man, did that hurt?]] It ''had'' to hurt; I saw it!
71-->'''Kruger:''' Where is this?
72-->'''Kid's sister:''' Earth. Welcome!
73* ChekhovsGun: Donahue's office where he [[spoiler:commits suicide]]. It later comes in handy when [[spoiler: Kruger and Lee return to the Cyrez building to read the encrypted disc she made a copy of]].
74* ChekhovsGunman: Johnny Casteleone, whom Kruger saves (and his wife) at the beginning of the movie. Out of gratitude, Johnny did say if Kruger needed anything...
75* ComputerEqualsTapedrive: The Cyrez mainframe is shown as a terminal attached to a robotic tape library.
76* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Used most egregiously when Kruger is protecting Cullen in her house from two railgun-wielding mooks. They hide behind an overturned fridge, whose metal frame hides their signatures from the railguns' X-Ray-like scopes. However, it's pretty obvious they could be hiding behind it and if the mooks had any sense, would just shoot straight through it, since the guns had that penetrating power.
77* CorruptCorporateExecutive: James Cromwell's character was the CEO of Cyrez enterprises, which was also selling advanced weapons to Russian terrorists. As soon as he was found out by the FBI... well, [[DrivenToSuicide his reaction ended up becoming obvious]]. Also, there is a Corrupt U.S. Marshal involved as well ([=DeGuerin=]), as the Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper was in on the deal with the Russians.
78* CorruptPolitician: Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper who serves as the BigBad even though [=DeGuerin=] [[TheHeavy provides most of the conflict]].
79* CovertEmergencyCall: One of agent John Kruger's last acts before losing consciousness is to text the "bug out" code to key witness Lee Cullen. Kruger's boss Robert [=DeGuerin=] drugged Kruger with the intent of extracting the whereabouts of Cullen because [[spoiler:[=DeGuerin=] is a double agent, working with the villains to silence Cullen before she can testify]].
80* CutLexLuthorACheck: If railguns are so great, why wouldn't a legitimate government want to purchase them? And if not the US military, some other allied nation?
81** Similarly, there was a mention of the impending deal being a bigger scandal than Iran-Contra if it got out, and ([=DeGuerin=]) claimed that what he was doing was actually patriotism in the face of a weak administration... supplying a group of terrorists that presumably hate America's rivals with sci-fi superguns is just going to ensure that said rivals get their hands on technology that America ''would'' have had a monopoly on while also pointing squarely at the US as the guilty provider of said guns.
82** For the first point, Donovan stated that the United States military turned down the weapons as being too expensive (and possibly recognized the AwesomeButImpractical nature), and as the United States spent more on its military than any other country in the world even in 1996, it likely follows that no other legitimate government would buy the weapons either.
83* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
84** Isaacs, the reporter, got "peeled like an onion", although it occurred offscreen.
85** J. Scar and a couple of mooks are eaten alive by crocodiles.
86* DeliveryGuyInfiltration:
87** How Kruger pulls his BigDamnHeroes and saves Cullen from being killed the first time.
88** Done again by Johnny helping Kruger and Lee, disguised as medics, to get into the Cyrez building to read the encrypted disc. It works so well that during Johnny's fake seizure [=DeGruin=] doesn't even question his presence, only irritably asking who ordered the pizza.
89* DestinationDefenestration: Kruger kicks a mook out of a window while hanging on the ceiling during one of his many fight scenes.
90* DirtyCommunists: While Tony Two-Toes and his crew are preparing to attack the Russian Mafia:
91-->'''Tony''': There they are. Commie bastards!\
92'''Little Mike''': Actually, they're not communists anymore, Tony. [[GeniusDitz They're a federation of independently-liberated states.]]\
93'''Tony''': Don't make me hurt you, Mikey.
94* TheDragon: U.S. Marshal Robert [=DeGuerin=], as he was assigned by Harper to eliminate Kruger and Cullen in order to cover their tracks of the scandal.
95* DrivenToSuicide: Cullen's boss finds out she's carrying a camera and working for the FBI. He takes a revolver from his desk and [[BaitAndSwitch appears to be about to shoot her]], but sticks the gun in his mouth instead and pulls the trigger.
96* DualWielding: Once with handguns, but most famously with '''''railguns'''''.
97* ElectricTorture: Johnny Casteleone invokes it on himself unintentionally when, attempting to fake a heart attack as a diversion while Kruger and Cullen infiltrate Cyrez, he removes a heart monitoring device, causing the doctors to try to defibrillate him (while he was still conscious and actively ''fighting'' the doctors).
98* EnemyMine: The Mafia teams up with a Witness Protection Agent (who also faked the death of one of their former members) and the Mafia defector in question, in order to take down the villainous Russian terrorist organization -- because the terrorists are using their docks to ship [=WMDs=] without their permission. Somewhat plausible as the Mafia guys in question are the defector's cousins rather than the guys he actually ratted on.
99* EvenEvilHasStandards:
100** Apparently, the Mafia aren't bothered by terrorists having [=WMDs=], but they certainly don't like it if those same people are using their docks without their knowledge, and also just so happen to be Russian terrorists.
101** They also don't like their associate Canelli, but they still think that Johnny went too far by ratting him.
102* FakingTheDead: One of John's specialties as a Witness Security agent, with the BatmanColdOpen with Casteleone and then using a car bomb on the closing scenes to keep [=DeGuerin=] and his goons off keeping hunting him and Lee down.
103* EveryCarIsAPinto: The limo parked on the level crossing explodes spectacularly when the train hits it.
104* FlechetteStorm: The bouncing-Betty grenade fired into Cullen's house.
105* ForWantOfANail: Kruger wouldn't have been able to stop the railgun sale in time if the villains had thought to buy off the mob family that controlled the local dockworker's union. They end up helping him specifically because the deal was being made on their docks without them getting their cut.
106* FourEyesZeroSoul: Harper is a bespectacled man who is the BigBad and is clearly motivated just by greed, while ordering murders to cover his tracks without any hesitation or sentiment.
107* FriendOrFoe: The receiver on Kruger's shotgun melts, so he throws it at the enemy. A mook picks the shotgun up to examine it and promptly gets shot by the railgun sniper, thinking it's Kruger.
108* FriendlySniper: Sal is a fairly jovial mobster, and arguably the happiest to see Johnny alive and kills a henchman with a scoped rifle in the climax - with a MoeGreeneSpecial, no less.
109* HackedByAPirate: Inversion -- [=DeGuerin=] has several scientists shut down the computers when it was becoming obvious that Arnie and Cullen were using her former boss' computer console to access the disc copy she had (long story short, she copied a second disc in case it turned out the FBI were going to sell her out), to prevent ''them'' from hacking the secrets they had. Upon the computer being hacked, a message then pops up that states "You Have Just Been Erased!"
110* TheHeavy: Harper is the real BigBad, but [=DeGuerin=] is the one who moves the movie forward by actively trying to kill Kruger and Cullen.
111* HeKnowsTooMuch: They, rather. Cullen is already in danger because of what she knows, and when Kruger gets wise, he ends up in danger too.
112* HiddenDepths: PlayedForLaughs. Mikey, one of Johnny Casteleone's cousins, comes across as plain DumbMuscle, but he still has more knowledge of the politics of [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell post-Glasnost Russia]] than Tony Two-Toes, the group's leader.
113* HighAltitudeBattle: A parachuting Arnie with a Desert Eagle vs. a jet aircraft trying to ram him.
114* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The man-portable EM-1 railgun, which became a fixture in the arsenal of many first-person shooters of the time following the movie.
115* InfraredXRayCamera: Can see through walls and even [[DemBones through skin!]]
116* IronicEcho: When the villains succeed in destroying the disc being deciphered at Cyrez HQ, they send Kruger a message saying "You've just been erased." Kruger repeats the message to the villains at the end of the film.
117* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Although Harper is the ultimate BigBad, [=DeGuerin=] serves as Krugers personal nemesis, being the one to betray and attempt to kill him.
118* IWorkAlone: Kruger refuses to work with other agents in the Witness Protection program to prevent the possibility of a leak. [[ProperlyParanoid Turns out to have been a good thing]].
119-->'''Kruger:''' I work alone. If anyone comes to you and claims that I sent them [''hands Cullen a revolver''] use this.
120* KissOfLife: Subverted. [=DeGuerin=] shoots a woman in the chest, then pretends to give her mouth-to-mouth when his colleagues arrive to see what happened -- he's actually blocking her mouth and nose in order to finish her off and to prevent her from speaking.
121* LargeAndInCharge: Tony Two-Toes is a hefty, serious man with a strong air of control.
122* LendingABackhand: Deguerin stages an alert to evacuate protected witnesses on the pretext that their identities have been exposed. In truth, it's a ploy to establish a RedHerring plot while Deguerin targets whistleblower Lee Cullen. Deguerin pretends to administer CPR to his witness, but in fact, he's suffocating her to cement the ruse.
123* LimitedWardrobe: From the shootout at the zoo till nearly the end of the film, Lee remains in the orange sweater and blue jeans she was wearing when she fled the apartment.
124* LockAndLoadMontage: One of these is shown during the opening credits and there is a brief one when Kruger gears up for a federal raid. The one on the opening serves as a ChekhovsGun in that it shows the audience the belt knife Kruger uses to escape TheMole later on.
125-->'''[=DeGuerin=]''': I can't believe you stuck me with that ''mail-order piece of shit!''
126* MadeOfIron: Kruger gets a large wooden splinter driven completely through his thigh, yet just pulls it out and continues running and even jumping. In RealLife, he would be gushing blood, in agonizing pain, and unable to stand, let alone move.
127** Throughout the whole movie, Kruger suffers injuries that should put him out of contention, but at the end, needs only an arm sling.
128** [=DeGuerin=] survives getting dropped from a crane, only needing a walking cane afterward. His injury is even ''less'' noticeable than Kruger's.
129* TheMafia: Johnny's former employers. Later turns into an EnemyMine between them and Kruger to get rid of the Russians and [=DeGuerin's=] operation.
130* MagneticWeapons: The EM-1 railguns.
131* MistakenForAliens: Kruger is mistaken for an alien [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnJatP5Ebu8 by two kids in a junkyard]] that see him crash-land with his parachute.
132* MoeGreeneSpecial: FriendlySniper Sal serves one up to a railgun sniper nested on a cargo crane at the docks. As a bonus, the audience gets to see it from the target's point of view as his super sci-fi scope locks on to Sal's muzzle a second before he fires.
133* TheMole: [=DeGuerin=].
134[[/folder]]
135[[folder:Tropes N-Z]]
136* NeckSnap: Arnie snaps quite a few necks in this movie, including one where, instead of twisting the mook's head, he instead traps his head with a fridge door and ''twists the torso''.
137* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: Maybe not ordinarily, but when someone's selling advanced firepower to the Russians, ''on their docks'', TheMafia aren't going to take it lying down.
138* NeverMyFault: Before killing himself, Lee's boss is utterly indignant at being called out for committing treason and says that it's; the governments fault for not paying him what he feels his weapons are worth.
139* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: The zoo shootout takes place in a reptile house, and Kruger uses one of his remaining bullets to shoot open an alligator tank and set vicious man-eating gators on the hapless mooks. The one gator that attacks Kruger gets a headshot for its trouble.
140* NewMeat: Deputy Monroe.
141* NonActionBigBad: Harper has no combat or law enforcement training and is pure politician, relying on [=DeGuerin=] and other corrupt agents to do his dirty work.
142* TheNotLoveInterest: Lee and Kruger. Any other movie would have had them hook up at some point, but they never do. Even that final melodramatic scene--the shootout is over, lights are flashing, the wind is blowing--that seems ripe for a BigDamnKiss turns into nothing but... a Big Damn ''Hug''.
143* NotMyDriver: Just as they thought they could get away with their crime at the end, [=DeGuerin=] and Harper are trapped on a {{railroad track|s Of Doom}} in their limousine by Casteleone, who impersonated their driver. Cue Kruger letting them know they are screwed with "You've just been erased" on the phone.
144* ObliviouslyEvil: The Cyrex head of security mentions having a large number of security guards who will follow orders while they're trying to trap Kruger and Lee, but who don't know anything about their arms dealing.
145* OhCrap: [=DeGuerin=] and Harper at the end when they realize Kruger had them LuredIntoATrap on {{railroad tracks|of doom}}.
146* OneBulletLeft: In the zoo shootout, Kruger is down to two rounds in his Desert Eagle. [[spoiler:He uses one to shoot a tank full of mook-eating alligators! Good thing he's got one bullet left to shoot the monster croc that comes after him... until said croc knocks the pistol out of his hands.]]
147* PreMortemOneLiner: ''"You've just been [[TitleDrop erased]]."''
148* ProtagonistTitle: John Kruger is nicknamed the "Eraser" because he's good at making his assigned witnesses disappear completely. Oddly enough, even if he's called "John" much more often (the nickname is said twice, at the most), the end titles have Schwarzenegger labelled as "Eraser".
149* PsychoForHire: [=DeGuerin=], who works for Harper, has traits that would qualify him as sadistic and psychotic.
150* PutOnABus: Johnny's wife is neither seen nor mentioned after Kruger relocates them in the opening scene.
151* RedRightHand: One of the guys trying to kill Lee has a easy to miss scar around his right eye. [[MeaningfulName Appropriately, his name is J. Scar]].
152* ReformedCriminal: Johnny and the other witnesses who Kruger gets help from, given Beller's comments that Lee might be the first truly honest person to go through Kruger.
153* RockBeatsLaser: In the climax, Kruger and his mobster allies are up against several mooks who use the deadly railguns with InfraredXRayCamera. They get the upper hand on them with ambush tactics and normal guns.
154* RuthlessForeignGangsters: The EvilPlan of the railgun conspiracy is to sell said weapons to TheMafiya, which Kruger and Cullen instantly recognize will lead to a new era of violent terrorism. The leader of said group also heavily implies at the climax that he [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty wanted to have his way with Cullen before killing her]], but Kruger's attack made him decide to skip to the "killing her" part (Cullen [[DamselOutOfDistress smashes a coffee pot on his head in response]]).
155* SacrificialLamb: Deputy Monroe was shot by [=DeGuerin=] as part of the latter's plan to frame Kruger and cover his tracks during the scandal.
156** The same can be said for reporter Claire Issacs, as she was murdered by Agents Schiff and Calderon on Harper's orders due to a tapped phone conversation between her and Lee about the scandal.
157* SawnOffShotgun: Arnie carries a cut down over-under instead of the usual side-by-side barrel shotgun.
158* ScopeSnipe: One of the railgun-toting bad guys gets this treatment from Sal using a Winchester Model 70, possibly making this a LampshadeHanging.
159* ShootOutTheLock: [=DeGuerin=] gains access to the central vault this way when Morehart's passcode doesn't work.
160* SlowLaser: The EM-1 "railgun" fires pulses that move at about the same speed as ''Star Wars'' laser beams. On top of that, it's not even close to the stated effect of the weapon.
161* SmugSnake: [=DeGruin=] is a high-functioning example, but he can get very cocky while acting as if he's above being judged for his crimes.
162* SniperDuel: One of the mobsters manages to shoot a sniper wielding a railgun using an ordinary rifle... [[MoeGreeneSpecial through the scope]]. And that's the same mobster, who is [[InformedFlaw earlier stated at being unable to hit the broad side of a barn]].
163* TheSociopath: Harper and [=DeGuerin=], a couple of traitorous bastards with no hearts.
164* SuperWindowJump: Kruger and Cullen are out of bullets, so the bad guys are considerate enough to perforate the window glass just before they jump through it.
165* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Schiff and Calderon are both very quickly gunned down from below the floor without a chance to do anything after having survived multiple encounters with Kruger.
166* TakingTheHeat: Morehart clearly intends to do this to get Harper and [=DeGruin=] off the hook. [[spoiler:Kruger simply "erases" all three of them, rendering this moot.]]
167* TemptingFate: [=DeGuerin=], Schiff and Calderon are very confident that they've killed Kruger after they've finished shooting up the warehouse. They don't get long to wallow in that sense of self-satisfaction.
168* ThatsGottaHurt: Two children witness Kruger landing in a car wrecking yard after barely getting his parachute open. One of the kids pipes up "Oh man, did that hurt? It ''had'' to hurt; I saw it!"
169* [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks Throwing Your Knife Always Works]]: Kruger manages to hit [=DeGuerin=]'s elbow with his belt knife.
170-->'''[=DeGuerin=]''': I can't believe you stuck me with that ''mail order piece of shit''!
171* TongueTrauma: Johnny Casteleone almost gets his tongue cut off by a mafia hitman. Kruger intervenes JustInTime to prevent this from happening.
172* TooDumbToLive: Averted. While in witness protection Johnny goes back to a Mafia-controlled restaurant because he was "dying" for a decent meal. He certainly would have died (and his teeth pulled) for it had Kruger not intervened. Even Johnny's wife calls him out on how incredibly stupid this was.
173* TrustPassword: Averted. Lee ''pretends'' to have one with Kruger, but only does so to test a man claiming Kruger sent him. He exposes himself by trying to think of something rather than say the truth; that there is no secret handshake.
174* TruthInTelevision: The "safe house" that Kruger arranges for Johnny Casteleone after faking his death earlier in the film is tending bar in a drag nightclub.
175-->'''Johnny''': I got one question for you: was it your idea to hook me up with the Village People here?\
176'''John''': Well, you're safe, aren't you?\
177'''Johnny''': Well, from the Mob, yeah. I mean no self-respecting wiseguy would ever be caught dead in a joint like this.
178** This actually is quite true; the Mafia has strict rules against members being homosexual, and if one of their members was indeed that, they certainly would be killed.
179* TurnToReligion: Father Rodriguez, who aids the protagonists, reveals that his calling came with the new identity Kruger gave him:
180--> '''Father Rodriguez''': Of course, I wasn't always Father Rodriguez. You might say I was born again, with a little help from our friend here. I've been given a second chance at life. I'm using it to do God's work.
181* UnionsSuck: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] when Kruger employs his previous ward's [[TheMafia mob connections]] to slow down the bad guys. They show up to the docks where the baddies have set up their smuggling operation and demand they only use Union labor. There doesn't seem to be a big difference between "Union labor" and "mob connections", as far as they are concerned.
182* VerticalKidnapping: Kruger takes out his first mook by looping a wire around his neck as he walks out the front door, then yanking him up onto the roof.
183* VigilanteExecution: [=DeGuerin=], the Undersecretary of Defense and other high-ups on the EM-1 railgun conspiracy have too much power and access to goons, so even if being indicted they will surely kill anybody they need to in order to remain free ([=DeGuerin=] sure boasts he will), so John Kruger, Lee Cullen and Johnny Casteleone decide to deal with them the only way they think will be 100% sure -- by having the former two pull off a spectacular FakingTheDead and then killing the big bads by parking their limo in front of a train.
184* VigilanteMan: Kruger becomes like this by second half of the film.
185ch Petrofsky is Eastern European.
186* WhamShot: [=DeGuerin=] subduing the man who was holding his witness hostage... only to then discreetly shoot her before anybody arrives, revealing himself as TheMole.
187* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Subverted. Taking Cullen hostage, [=DeGuerin=] tells Kruger to drop his weapon, and when he does--
188-->Thanks. [''blasts him'']
189* WitlessProtectionProgram: InvokedTrope by the villains: Turns out that the GovernmentConspiracy that is selling out the EM-1 Rail Guns has members within Witness Security, and so they are able to hunt down and try to kill (and successfully kill one of) the witnesses holding information on the secret arms sale. The BatmanColdOpen that establishes the tactics of John "Eraser" Kruger happens because Johnny Casteleone (a Mafia informant that entered the Program and becomes a ChekhovsGunman) decided to risk being found by the Mafia to go back to his favorite pasta place and eat his first proper (by his standards) meal in months.
190[[/folder]]

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