History Film / CloakAndDagger

* EasterEgg: A pretty dangerous version -- playing a perfect game of "Cloak And Dagger" with the MacGuffin cartridge triggers the secret data to be displayed.

* DeadlyDodging: Jack Flack tells Davey to use the "Crossfire Gambit" when he's being pursued by two armed men. He hides under a bridge, and lets the first one pass, then jumps out and runs right past the surprised mook, while the other one fires...right into the book.

* DeadlyDodging: Jack Flack tells Davey to use the "Crossfire Gambit" when he's being pursued by two armed men. He hides under a bridge, and lets the first one pass, then jumps out and runs right past the surprised mook, while the other one fires...right into the mook.

* AdultFear: Your wife has died, and your son has retreated into a fantasy world that is interfering with is real life. Some of this is an understandable way to deal with a loss, but your son is taking it entirely too far, to the point where he is hallucinating his imaginary friend, and (you think) he is now suffering from a delusion that he is really being chased by "the bad guys." And it gets even worse when you realize that that [[CassandraTruth someone really]] ''[[CassandraTruth was]]'' after him, and [[spoiler: you think they may have killed him, and you might have prevented it if you had listened to him earlier....]]

* AdultFear: Your wife has died, and your son has retreated into a fantasy world that is interfering with is real life. Some of this is an understandable way to deal with a loss, but your son is taking it entirely too far, to the point where he is hallucinating his imaginary friend, and (you think) he is now suffering from a delusion that he is really being chased by "the bad guys."
** And it gets even worse when you realize that that [[CassandraTruth someone really]] ''[[CassandraTruth was]]'' after him, and [[spoiler: you think they may have killed him, and you might have prevented it if you had listened to him earlier....]]

* AdultsAreUseless: Davey's father, the police, and several other characters [[CassandraTruth refuse to believe Davey and will not help him in any way]]. [[spoiler: Even the grandparent-like elderly couple who help Davey escape the hit men turn out to be Evil Old Folks.]]
** It's justified -- and even deconstructed -- in that Davey's fantasy spy stories have destroyed his credibility, and most of the adults believe, reasonably, that he is CryingWolf. (For example, the security guard at the beginning orders an immediate lockdown of the building after Davey reports a murder, and he only comes to doubt Davey after they fail to find a body. And Lieutenant Fleming [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure is sympathetic when Hal tells him of the recent death in the family, and he is willing to let the matter drop,]] but he tells Hal, correctly, that Davey needs psychological help. Hal, Davey's father, should have had more faith in his son, but Hal [[ParentsAsPeople is dealing with the recent death of his wife, he has to raise his son on his own, and he is justifiably worried his son is withdrawing into a fantasy spy world to deal with his mother's death.]] More than anything, Hal is WrongGenreSavvy; once he realizes Davey has been telling the truth, he goes into PapaWolf mode.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: George and Eunice [=MacCready=] may not make an honest living, but they become very indignant with Rice, Alvarez, and Haverman for their failure to be discreet and maintain a low profile, especially when the latter three try to publicly murder Davey (see [[WouldHurtAChild Would Hurt A Child]] below). Eunice even says something to this effect as she and George are in the car while discussing their plans to flee the country, and he agrees. Of course, this changes later when Davey has the upper hand against them, and they retaliate by kidnapping him at gunpoint.

--> DAVEY: He could see you!
--> JACK: (wincing) I doubt he had the imagination.

* RealityEnsues: Davey is able to escape from Rice and his henchmen by stealing Rice’s car... but since Davey is eleven years old, has never driven a car, and can’t even see out the windshield and hit the gas at the same time, the car goes careening out of control. Davey is barely able to get out of the parking garage, and he crashes the car shortly thereafter.
** A darker version of this trope shows up later, when Rice and Alvarez are hunting Davey down. Jack keeps acting like it’s all in fun, wanting to play by the rules of a game. By now, Davey has seen two men get killed, has been stuck in the trunk of a car with the corpse of someone he knew, and he’s trying to save a friend from getting blown up by a bomb. He’s scared to death, knowing what’s at stake, and he says, “My Dad was right. I don’t want to play anymore.”

* WrongGenreSavvy: Davey think's -- at least at first -- he's in a more kid-friendly spy story, a la his board games or SpyKids, or perhaps a lighter Film/JamesBond story. Actually, he's in a grittier, darker spy story, akin to Film/{{Ronin}} or a JohnLeCarre novel (more family-friendly, but still pretty brutal).

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** It's justified -- and even deconstructed -- in that Davey's fantasy spy stories have destroyed his credibility, and most of the adults believe, reasonably, that he is CryingWolf. (For example, the security guard at the beginning orders an immediate lockdown of the building after Davey reports a murder, and he only comes to doubt Davey after they fail to find a body. And Lieutenant Fleming [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure is sympathetic when Hal tells him of the recent death in the family, and he is willing to let the matter drop,]] but he tells Hal, correctly, that Davey need psychological help. Hal, Davey's father, should have had more faith in his son, but Hal [[ParentsAsPeople is dealing with the recent death of his wife, he has to raise his son on his own, and he is justifiably worried his son is withdrawing into a fantasy spy world to deal with his mother's death.]] More than anything, Hal is WrongGenreSavvy; once he realizes Davey has been telling the truth, he goes into PapaWolf mode.

** It's justified -- and even deconstructed -- in that Davey's fantasy spy stories have destroyed his credibility, and most of the adults believe, reasonably, that he is CryingWolf. Hal, Davey's father, should have had more faith in his son, but Hal [[ParentsAsPeople is dealing with the recent death of his wife, he has to raise his son on his own, and he is justifiably worried his son is withdrawing into a fantasy spy world to deal with his mother's death.]] More than anything, Hal is WrongGenreSavvy; once he realizes Davey has been telling the truth, he goes into PapaWolf mode.

** A darker version of this trope shows up later, when Rice and Alvarez are hunting Davey down. Jack keeps acting like it’s all in fun, wanting to play by the rules of a game. By now, Davey has seen two men get killed, and he’s trying to save a friend. He’s scared to death, knowing what’s at stake, and he says, “My Dad was right. I don’t want to play anymore.”

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The film takes place over, at most, about 36 hours.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's never clear whether Jack Flack is some sort of magical being or if he's really just a figment of Davey's imagination. Jack seems to have more situational awareness than Davey in some scenes and implies that he was also Davey's father's imaginary friend.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Davey think's -- at least at first -- he's in a more kid-friendly spy story, a la his board games or SpyKids, or perhaps a lighter JamesBond story. Actually, he's in a grittier, darker spy story, akin to Film/{{Ronin}} or a JohnLeCarre novel (more family-friendly, but still pretty brutal).

--> '''Davey:''' Jack, where are you?! I can't do this on my own!

* FreudianTrio: Haverman, Alvarez, and Rice fall under this trope as the Id, Ego, and Superego, respectively, in terms of their impulsive behavior, [[RefugeInAudacity as they select some very public San Antonio landmarks in which they conduct their dirty spy business]]. Haverman is the most reckless, while Alvarez falls somewhere in between him and Rice, who is the most discreet (be it ever so slightly.) [[spoiler: Not surprisingly, this is precisely the order in which they are killed. Haverman is killed in a car wreck when he carelessly drives the van into a jewelry store [[HoistByHisOwnPetard after intending to run down and kill Davey]]; Alvarez is accidentally killed by Rice during the aforementioned "[[DeadlyDodging Crossfire]] [[BatmanGambit Gambit]]" when Rice tries to shoot Davey instead; and finally, after picking up the gun from Alvarez's corpse, Davey kills the remaining spy out of rage when backed into a wall when he thinks said remaining spy has killed Jack Flack]].

* GrowingUpSucks: For Jack at least. When the very bloody implications of actual gunplay sink in for Davey & [[MoralDissonance he no longer wants to "play"]], Jack laments that [[LikeFatherLikeSon his father]] eventually stopped wanting to play CowboysAndIndians too

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Jack urges Davey to shoplift a Cloak & Dagger game cartridge from The Game Keeper to give the spies in exchange for Kim rather than the real thing, and surely enough, the "Game Keeper" label on the back not only tips off Rice that it's a faux cartridge, but it ends up leading him right to Morris, who has the real cartridge.

--> '''Hal''': "Jack Flack always escapes!
--> '''Davey''': [[ComingOfAgeStory "I don't need him anymore.]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments I've got you, Dad."]]

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Several scenes suggest that Jack may not be imaginary at all. In several instances, he interacts with the environment and is aware of things that Davey wouldn't be. In a late scene, one of the assassins seems to see Jack. And in his final scene, his dialogue suggests that he was also Davey's father's friend and that whatever he is follows some sort of rules.

* ParentalSubstitute: Davey's military air traffic controller father doesn't spend much time with him due to work commitments, so Davey has invented Jack Flack as a replacement father figure.

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Several scenes suggest that Jack may not be imaginary at all. In several instances, he interacts with the environment and is aware of things that Davey wouldn't be. In a late scene, one of the assassins seems to see Jack. And in his final scene, his dialogue that he was also Davey's father's friend.

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: In a late scene, one of the assassins seems to see Jack, implying that he might not be imaginary after all.

* FreudianTrio: Haverman, Alvarez, and Rice fall under this trope as the Id, Ego, and Superego, respectively, in terms of their impulsive behavior, [[RefugeInAudacity as they select some very public San Antonio landmarks in which they conduct their dirty spy business]]. Haverman is the most reckless, while Alvarez falls somewhere in between him and Rice, who is the most discreet (albeit not by much.) [[spoiler: Not surprisingly, this is precisely the order in which they are killed. Haverman is killed in a car wreck when he carelessly drives the van into a jewelry store [[HoistByHisOwnPetard after intending to run down and kill Davey]]; Alvarez is accidentally killed by Rice during the aforementioned "[[DeadlyDodging Crossfire]] [[BatmanGambit Gambit]]" when Rice tries to shoot Davey instead; and finally, after picking up the gun from Alvarez's corpse, Davey kills the remaining spy out of rage when backed into a wall when he thinks said remaining spy has killed Jack Flack]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Jack urges Davey to shoplift a Cloak & Dagger game cartridge from The Game Keeper to give the spies in exchange for Kim rather than the real thing, and surely enough, the "Game Keeper" label on the back not only tips Rice off that it's a faux cartridge, but it ends up leading him right to Morris, who has the real cartridge.