There are three staple ingredients used and reused by lazy screenwriters. The first is the mobile phone. Need a plot problem solved instantaneously? have a main character get a phone call with the relevant information that moves the plot forward.
The next ingredient is the shoot-out where all plot difficulties are solved in one go, where the villain gets his comeuppance. Shoot-outs should come at the start of a film to save us wasting two hours waiting for the inevitable. Get it over with as soon as possible.