What is the sub-genre/trope of the characters in a multi-POV story all coalescing in violent mayhem called?

Question

Imagine your typical multi-POV story, with an urban setting and within the action genre, boasting a lot of not-so-upstanding citizens for characters. These characters are spread about, some with plotlines that are obviously related, and others not. Their motivations and stakes are often made clear, and a lot of the tension is built around the conflicts between the POV characters, and not between them and some non-POV character(s). In addition, one of the POVs is usually a kind of shared one, covering a possé.

And then, the intertwined plotlines all coalesce at the climax of the story, in a violent and chaotic way, that is often humorous and ironic. Usually, there's a fair share of misunderstandings involved.

I feel like I know of a lot of examples, but unless I remember them, I'll just have to list two (my best example and my most recent one):

1. This is the best example I know of; it is my personal epitome of this sub-genre/trope: Locked, Stocked and Two Smoking Barrels
2. This is a pretty bad example, and it may instead just possess a small semblance of this sub-genre/trope, but here it goes: The Gentlemen. It has the multi-POV structure, it has the possé and it has the violent ending that offs a lot of the characters. In my opinion though, it may not kill off enough characters to be seen as a proper example of this sub-genre, nor

Now, some may argue that this is a trope found within the action genre, and not a sub-genre of action. I'm leaning more towards the latter. This kind of story isn't just made by having a finale of the nature I explained above. No, to pull this off properly, one must also lay the seeds all throughout the story and have lots of POVs; this format has narrative-wide effects and is thus best characterized as a sub-genre, in my opinion. I am not sure about this, however.

So, on that note, what is this sub-genre/trope called?

Answer 1

If the device being referred to is not a

• subversion of the cavalry trope (which does not require a regular unit of cavalry)

then it falls in

• the heroic bloodshed trope

The heroic bloodshed trope

Characters spin, roll, and dive across the room while blasting away during shootouts, often with two guns at once (see page on tvtropes).

The cavalry trope

The cavalry trope includes a group of individuals appearing at the climax to change the otherwise adverse tide. This can benefit the MC or their antagonist.

The subversion occurs when the cavalry is annihilated.

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What about the multi-POV?

The multi-POV story part on the other hand is just a description of a narrative technique where by construction the narrative alternates among the POVs. The satisfying climax in which all subplots connect in a final showdown is just one of the many ways of resolving such a story arc and it is not genre specific.

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Why is it a trope and not a subgenre of the action genre?

Let's start from the examples in the OP. They belong to the crime genre more than to the action genre. However, the climatic convergence of a multi-POV shootout is not specific enough to the genre to qualify for their own subgenre of crime.

In fact, such items can be found elsewhere, just to cite two obvious examples from other genres:

1. fantasy: the Lord of the Rings has multiple POVs, all converging to the battle of Minas Tirith, which is a slaughterfest, 'violent and chaotic'.

2. science fiction: nearly half of Star Wars episodes have multiple POVs all converging in a final battle of sort in which the cavalry of either side suffers significant losses.