A 2011 3D action movie made by the same people who had done My Bloody Valentine 3D. Nicolas Cage plays Milton, a man who has broken out of Hell to prevent the cult that murdered his daughter and kidnapped his baby granddaughter from sacrificing said granddaughter. He is being pursued by the Accountant, a supernatural operative of Satan who has been sent to bring Milton back to Hell. Along the way, he picks up a waitress named Piper in his quest to save his granddaughter.Not to be confused with braking angrily.
Badass in Distress: Piper, but both times she gets herself out of it: she fights through a mook and Jonah to take a flying leap out of a moving vehicle onto the hood of another moving vehicle, and later lifts the Godkiller off of the supernaturally-powered Accountant.
BFG: The Godkiller, a five-barrel Hand Cannon that can blow stuff up real good, and is the only thing capable of killing demons. Milton stole it from Satan on his way out of Hell.
Bittersweet Ending: Milton's saved his granddaughter and killed Jonah King, but he's still going back to Hell.
It's implied he'll break out again, eventually.
Book Ends: The film starts with Milton speeding his way out of Hell, and ends with him going back in.
Bounty Hunter: The Accountant, arguably. Though he doesn't work for money.
Brick Joke: At one point, Milton turns down a beer, saying that the next alcoholic drink he's gonna have will be from Jonah King's skullcap. At the end, he's literally using Jonah's skull as a drinking cup.
Cardboard Prison: It's said that John isn't the first to break out of Hell, and he won't be the last.
Although it's implied that whenever someone escapes from Hell, someone like the Accountant hunts them down and eventually drags them back. For example, his reply when Piper threatens to kill him in order to stop him from taking Milton:
"Someone else will come. Someone else always comes."
Chick Magnet: Milton, with a smattering of Kavorka Man. He's downright rude to both waitresses, his hairpiece is godawful, and he's not actively looking for a hook-up (though the second time he doesn't turn it down), yet somehow they are both lusting after him the minute he walks in the door.
Cult: The Satanists who are trying to sacrifice Milton's granddaughter.
Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted, remarkably, by the Devil of all people, who isn't really depicted as evil at all. The Accountant describes him as a guy who made one big mistake and, as punishment, has to spend eternity as the warden of the universe's worst prison. And as if that weren't bad enough, he has cults and madmen committing wanton acts of murder and claiming that HE made them do it.
Every Car Is a Pinto: Every time The Accountant's hydrogen truck bumps into a police car, it almost always explodes for some reason.
Faking the Dead: Milton, despite already being dead and eventually shrugging off a bullet through the eye, manages to pull this off in order to get Piper to leave him behind and take his granddaughter with her. The Accountant claims he's seen better performances.
Fate Worse than Death: Hell, obviously. Milton's punishment was being forced to watch his loved ones suffer. In the case of his daughter, witness her being brutally murdered and her body defiled.
The effect of "the Godkiller". No Heaven. No Hell. No anything. You literally cease to exist.
Good Thing You Can Heal: The dead and demonic can slowly regenerate damage. The only exception? Wounds from the Godkiller.
Gorn: Hands blown off, kneecaps blown out, bullets in the eye... and all in glorious 3D!
Hoist by His Own Petard: Minor example: Jonah's necklace, the "symbol of power" behind his "Satanic pact," is used against him. Twice.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Played with. Point blank while both were standing still, Jonah managed to execute one of his mooks & blow out Milton's eye with a single bullet apiece. When aiming at a windshield four to seven feet away on a car that's currently keeping pace, Jonah closes his eyes, turns his head, and unloads as fast as he could. Sure, he totals the engine, but come on. This tends to follow with every attempt on the good guys, except for plot points such as Milton shrugging off the cop's torso shot.
In fairness, he was fanning the hammer as he was firing, which does reduce accuracy to laughabley bad levels.
Ironic Hell: There's fire and burning in Hell, but the worst part is that you're forced to watch the suffering of your loved ones, and you're completely unable to do anything about it. Or at least most of the time, as some people apparently get angry enough to break out.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Accountant is really a nice guy who enjoys his job a little too much.
Kicking Ass and Taking Names: Both Milton and the Accountant pull this: Milton mows down a bunch of would-be assassins while having sex, and the Accountant causes a massive explosion in the middle of a roadblock while head-bopping to "that's the way I like it."
Large Ham: William Fichtner is clearly having a lot of fun every moment he appears on screen.
Billy Burke as well.
Law of Inverse Recoil: Averted when Piper fires the Godkiller at the cultists. Milton doesn't have this problem, but then again, this isa guy who fought his way out of Hell.
Like a Badass out of Hell: Milton. Specifically referenced by The Accountant in the opening narration, albeit including the appellation 'Mother-Fucker.'
Specifically a type 1.
Love Redeems: Toyed with. While Milton's whole motive is born of love and the desire to rescue his grand-daughter, the film makes it clear that Milton is perfectly aware that, given the way he lived his life, he probably deserved to end up in Hell.
The Namesake: The license plate on Piper's car is "DrvAgry."
Offscreen Teleportation: When The Accountant goes from a forest to the diner, when Milton gets from the diner to outside it to just by where Piper's car stops, how The Accountant seems to easily keep pace on foot while everyone's racing around in cars & ignoring speed limits and traffic safety laws, and when The Accountant and Milton vanish while Piper and Webster both glance at the baby for Milton's fake death, then when they re-appear afterwards.
Oh Crap: The Accountant's reaction when he realises that Milton is in posession of "The Godkiller".
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Amber Heard does a consistent job on her Texan accent until the end; she was unable to cry and keep her twang at the same time. Ironic seeing as she's Texan.
Our Demons Are Different: Satan is said to be well versed and an all around pleasant guy, who finds nothing quite as irritating as when babies are sacrificed in his name. Also applies to the Accountant, as he seems to be a pretty nice guy, all things considered. He even lets John drive his car back to hell, while he sits in the passenger seat.
Product Placement: If you want directions to the hiding place of an evil Satanic cult about to sacrifice an innocent baby, Google Maps is the only way to go.
Punch Clock Villain: The Accountant and, surprisingly, even Satan, who simply carry out their duties without malice. A possible subversion even, seeing as both are stuck with jobs that someone has to do, even if people don't like them.
Psychopomp: The Accountant seems to be an unusually aggressive version of this; instead of guiding souls to their destination after their initial death, he's sent out specifically for "repeat offenders." This is further emphasized by his swiss-army-coin being a reference to, among other things, the fee needed for Charon's services.
Although he seems to know exactly when people will die, which seems to imply that he does normally guide the souls of the dead to the Afterlife in his regular capacity.
Refuge in Audacity: This is how Milton stole the Godkiller. The Accountant is amazed that he managed to steal it, to which Milton replies that he simply walked in and took it.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Basically why Milton broke out of Hell, as well as the plot. Also (sort of) the reason claimed behind the cult's actions, going by Jonah's occasional exposition to his followers. "A world that has shunned us, unleash a plague, yadda yadda."
Running Gag: The Accountant telling various evil people that he'll see them again, with various amounts of time attached to it. Implying that that's how long they have to live, and they are going to hell.
Satan Is Good: Not quite, but it seems he's not as bad as he's made out to be. The Accountant describes Satan as being a quiet, well-read man who's simply doing his job as the warden of what is basically the afterlife's prison. Of note, Satan apparently hates it when children are sacrificed in his name.
Jonah King: "I've changed my mind about you Piper; you are too willful to be taught. I am going to kill you, and then I'm going to defile your corpse."
Piper: "Between now and then..." (cracks neck) "...I'mma fuck you up."
Soundtrack Dissonance: In the second half of the movie, Oklahoma police herd Milton and Piper into a roadblock in order to execute them for their earlier cop-killing. Until the protagonists were about to be shot, music was either non-existent or appropriately grim. Then the Accountant drives in from behind the roadblock in a hydrogen fuel truck, speeding straight towards the cops and driving through their cars to get to them, explosions abounding. What starts playing? ''That's The Way I Like It'' by KC & the Sunshine Band, on the Accountants' radio, while he bobs his head to the music.
Stupid Evil: Specifically, violating Rule 104, albeit with a pentagram scar on the cultist in the Oklahoma police department, as shown by The Accountant.
Jonah boasts that he can't be killed by any mortal weapon. The Godkiller, of course, is not in that category.
Trailers Always Lie: The trailer depicts The Accountant as being the main villain when it is actually Jonah (the cult leader who kidnapped Milton's granddaughter). The Accountant is mainly there to get Milton back into Hell.
They also implied that Jonah was the one who killed Milton and that the baby was his daughter, not his granddaughter.
Un DeadAnti-Hero: Revenant pulling a Type IV, specifically a bad husband (implied spousal abuse) who broke out of Hell to kill his way to rescuing his baby granddaughter & manipulate someone into being a living protector who will kill for said baby once the Revenant returns to Hell.
Unusual Euphemism: Subverted. Piper pulls a come-hither move on a bar employee and tells Milton she's off to "paint her nails." Cut to the bar guy literally painting her toenails; he even lampshades it by asking, "Are we going to do it?" However, this could arguably be a form of foreplay.
Well, she did initially tell him that it would depend on how well he would do her nails...
"Aim for their tires."
White and Grey Morality: The Accountant and Milton basically have the same goals, the Accountant is just more manipulative and takes a little time to come around to Milton's point of view.
Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Frank invokes this after he clocks Piper in the mouth, knocking her down. The first hit is justifiable in self-defense, as she was activelywhaling on him. The second hit, not so much, since it was out of spite for her spitting blood on him, and then he would have completely crossed the line by beating her face in for breaking up with him after she was already down and losing consciousness if not for Milton's intervention.
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