∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

SubpagesImageLinks
Main
main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
new edits
workshops
reviews
YKTTW
tweets
random
Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You
Watch our movie—or else.

"December 1, 1903: Edwin Porter's The Great Train Robbery debuts. The plot: a wisecracking former cop fights train-jackers at 15 mph. Thrilling audiences with its pioneering realism and papier-mache trains, the final scene — in which the villain turns and fires his gun directly into the camera — was said to have so terrified the audience that they would often shriek in terror, screaming out 'Yippie ky yay, motherfucker!' as one."
— More Information Than You Require

When a character points a weapon at the camera so it looks like he is about to attack the audience with it. Sean Connery is not actually required, but doesn't hurt at all.

The more aggressive Sister Trope of Pistol Pose, this trope is frequently used on movie posters, DVD/VHS cases, and book covers. The star of the work is pointing a gun directly at the audience. It's that simple.

Note that while this usually involves guns, other weapons and even fists can also be used. The "Superman Is About To Punch You!" variant, in particular, is quite common on comic book covers. And certain movies◊.

This trope is often used in movies themselves as well, although the MPAA prohibits its usage in green-band (all ages) trailers. If the character actually attacks the audience, it's The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You.

See also Pistol Pose, Stab the Sky. Often overlaps with Floating Head Syndrome. Sword Pointing is a variation. Not to be confused with Bond Gun Barrel (which, nonetheless, often features this trope, sometimes literally).

Cover/poster examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live Action TV 

    Professional Wrestling 

     Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 

    Visual Novels 

     Western Animation 
  • Avatar Korra is about to punch...one or two centimeters to the left of your head. Her friend Asami, however, really is about to electrocute you right in the face.

In-story examples:

    Anime & Manga 

    Film 
  • In the openings of most James Bond movies, via the famous Bond Gun Barrel sequence:
    • Each of the Eon productions before Quantum Of Solace included a variation on the sequence.
    • Originally, Never Say Never Again and Casino Royale 1967 were intended to open with gunbarrels - the latter featuring a pop-gun wielding David Niven. These were removed before release.
    • The 2006 version of Casino Royale 2006 was the first to actually incorporate the gunbarrel sequence into the plotline, with the audience being treated to the POV of a mook as he is shot by Bond.
    • The 1974 French knock-off From Hong Kong With Love opens with Bond attempting to shoot you... but his gun is empty. The camera shoots back, and kills him!
  • The Great Train Robbery ends with a bank robber pointing a pistol at the camera and firing. It's the Trope Maker and very likely the Ur Example. Cinema was so new that some audience members ducked.
  • Goodfellas ended with Joe Pesci shooting at the audience in an homage to The Great Train Robbery.
  • City of God makes very memorable usage◊ of this trope.
  • The trailer for the Watchmen movie originally had an assassin pointing a gun at the camera in one scene. After being told by the MPAA that it would need to be removed in order to get a green band, director Zack Snyder digitally altered it into a walkie-talkie.
  • The Proposition: Danny Huston, Guy Pearce, and Ray Winstone are all going to shoot you. Or maybe someone just behind you and to your left.
  • The movie version of Patriot Games does this during the scene where Sean Miller (Sean Bean) executes Dennis Cooley.
  • Zardoz has Sean Connery shooting at the camera, in a red nappy.
  • John Woo's The Killer does this a lot, most famously the scene where Chow Yun-Fat takes out his target at the restaurant during the first major shootout of the movie.
    • Not to mention the vision that Jenny has of Ah Jong firing directly at the camera, with a sea of blood behind him.
  • In Serenity, both Mal and River point their guns at the camera at different times, and at the end of the movie, River is glaring directly at the camera after slaughtering an entire army of Reavers, looking for all the world like she's about to take those bloodstained blades in her hands to the audience next.
  • The Big Lebowski: John Goodman is going to shoot you unless you mark it zero!◊
    • Also, one of Maude's henchmen punches you out.
  • When performing the theme song to The Three Caballeros, Panchito points one of his guns at the camera and it sings the lyric "and we'll stay so".
  • The second shootout (the one not dictated by Steve Buscemi) of Desperado features Antonio Banderas firing two full clips into the camera, and in the extras Robert Rodriguez points out that the force of the blanks and the closeness of the pistols knocked off the flash dampener.
  • In House of 1000 Corpses Bill Moseley is going to shoot you! (Pause for about thirty seconds.)
  • Once Upon a Time in the West: Frank's first Kick the Dog moment, which abruptly cuts to a train's whistle.
  • The Three Stooges even got in on the act during two shorts that were attempts at 3-d, 'Spooks!' and 'Pardon My Backfire'. Moe Howard Is About To Poke Your Eyes!◊
  • Happens in-character in Back To The Future Part II, when Marty encounters a holographic The Shark Is About To Eat You! advert for Jaws 19.
  • Near the end of The Avengers Loki finds himself confronted by the Avengers, leading to a Team Shot combined with Jeremy Renner Is About To Shoot You With A Bow And Arrow.
  • In Grosse Pointe Blank, John Cusack shoots you. At point blank, naturally.
  • The Men In Black (especially K) will occasionally neuralize you. Also happens at the end of the theme park ride.
  • The Stinger for American Gangster is Denzel Washington shooting you.
  • The TV spot for Django Unchained has Jamie Foxx shooting you at near-point blank.

    Literature 
  • 1984:
    A new poster had suddenly appeared all over London. It had no caption, and represented simply the monstrous figure of a Eurasian soldier, three or four meters high, striding forward with expressionless Mongolian face and enormous boots, a submachine gun pointed from the hip. From whatever angle you looked at the poster, the muzzle of the gun, magnified by the foreshortening, seemed to be pointed straight at you.

    Live Action TV 
  • Chris Elliott is about to shoot you in his domestic sitcom/cop drama mashup Action Family where he guns down his teenage daughter's scuzzy boyfriend - not that he's guilty of Chris's partner's death, he's just conveniently there for the wrap-up/happy ending.
  • In the Firefly episode "Heart of Gold," Mal levels his pistol dramatically at the camera, and then gets startled by Inara and lets out a very undramatic "Bwa!" of surprise.
  • The opening of Sledge Hammer! ends with Sledge saying "Trust me, I know what I'm doing" and shooting the screen.
  • When thugs interrupt Xena's bathing, you get a point-of-view shot of her punching you in the face.
    • This camera angle (fist coming at the camera) used to be quite common in 1970s TV, for example in an episode of The Rockford Files in which a thug knocks Jim Rockford out in this manner.

    Theater 
  • In the finale of Assassins, the assassins all draw their guns, walk to the foot of the stage, and fire on the audience.

    Video Games 

    Web Comics 

    Western Animation 

Other examples:

Waldorf: Statler and I...
Statler: Are about to pelt you!
Both: Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!
Pistol PoseComing AttractionsPreview Piggybacking
Red and White Comedy PosterFilm PostersStab the Sky
Scene CoverCover TropesSuper Dickery
Scooby StackStock PosesSgt Peppers Shout Out
Sawed Off ShotgunWeapons and Wielding TropesShort Range Shotgun
alternative title(s): Target The Audience; Sean Connery Is Going To Shoot You; Superman Is About To Punch You
new edits
workshops
edit page
view source
random
TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy
143247
2