Plotholes and other things that annoy you (Spoilers)

[Skummy]

The Citizen Kane one is the big one for me.

Also;

Also, Star Wars doesn't happen if they shoot down the escape pod at the start of the movie. Like, you know, you'd consider doing when an escape pod strangely starts hurtling towards Tatooine. Not really a "plot hole" as much as a "silly Imperials" though.

This one always bothered me. They let it go because there are no life signs on board - in an universe where intelligent robots are commonplace.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Why wasn't there a cane in Citizen Kane?

[Skummy]

Why wasn't Kane in Citizen Kane?

[TheLastInLine]

In Batman Begins, Bruce refuses to kill the prisoner because he doesn't believe in killing, and then he proceeds to blow up the entire building that several hundred people are inside of.

I never noticed that. It is weird. But to be honest, I never had a problem with Batman killing people. And I'm not just talking abut the movies. Just think about how many lives he could save if he would just kill the Joker. What doesn't sit right with me is when he dies it with a Smile on his face like in Batman Returns when he shoves that bomb in the fat clown's pants and pushes him down the shaft or whatever that was.

In Ghostbusters II, how seemingly everyone has declared the Ghostbusters to be frauds, in spite of the events of the first one, especially considering how many people saw Mr Stay-Puft.

That one always bothered me, even as a kid. Like, no body saw the GIANT marshmallow monster trashing the streets of New York? The entire city turned their heads in unison? Even if you're the biggest anti-supernaturalist it is pretty hard to find a rational explanation for this one.

Iron Man 3

So Tony Stark has this "house party protocol" that activates all the suits he ever made and turns them into a AI-controlled private army. And obviously Mr. Stark waited to use said protocol until the end of the movie as a last resort. I mean, it's not like there were any other situations in which this might have been useful. You know, like when a bunch of military helicopters are trying to kill you and your wife. Or when you're trying to save a bunch of people falling out of a crashing plane. Nope. Instead he puts the life of his wife at risk, let's his property be destroyed and pulls a stunt to save all those passengers that was very likely to go belly-up. Sorry, you can't just reveal that he commands an army of Iron Man suits in the last 20 minutes of the movie and then not expect me to ask why the hell he didn't summon it earlier.

Harry Potter - Deathly Hollows

There is a lot of stuff I don't like about the book and the movies, but this one always stood out to me. Why does he believe Rita Skeeter's story about Dumbledore so easily? I know there is the correspondence between Dumbledore and Grindelwald and they used to share the same beleifs and world view's for a short amount of time. There is something to it and to someone who idolized Dumbledore since the first time he met him (okay, there was a period in "The Order Of The Phoenix" in which he turned against Dumbledore, but that was only because at the time he didn't know the big picutre) might become disillusioned and more critical of the man. And maybe, if he never met Skeeter and experienced her methods of "journalism" first-hand I might beleive it. But he knows she goes about her job. He knows that she purposefully misinterprets things, puts thigs out of context, blows things out of proportion and even makes facts up to fit her story. She did it to him and to Hermione! And yet he believes every word and falls into this faith crisis about his teacher.

Also the whole thing about how disarming someone maked the wand change it's owner. That was never mentioned before and Rowling pulled that straight out of her ass only so that her stupid finally would work.

Edit 2:

Terminator 3:

How come all the events in Terminator 3 still happen? All the chips that served as a template for or inspired them to create Skynet were destroyed, the guy that came up with Skynet is dead and I doubt that they could create smoething like Skynet just from that part of the arm that was left behind. It was established that Skynet was reverse-engineered from the CPU. So theoretically Skynet doesn't exist. But I guess we could shalk that up to "nobody ever got time-travel right".

Avengers:

When did Bruce Banner learn to control his anger? The whole movie he was scared about not having control over himself once he turns into the Hulk. That is why he lives in exile. At one point he turns into the Hulk and nearly destroys the airship. But just before the final battle he says something about always being angry or something like that and suddenly he has full control over himself. What happened?

Edit 3:

The Dark Knight

For someone who according to his own words doesn't have a plan, Joker seems to be working on a very thight schedule. Also his crew of Arkham Asylum inmates who all are supposedly insane seem to be strangely dependable.

The Dark Knight Rises:

Why didn't Bane and Talia just blow Gotham Up the second they get control over the nuke? And how does Batman survide the blast and the radiation of a nuke? With only like 2 seconds left on the timer it is impossible to escape. And why isn't Blake blind despite staring right into the explosion? And why isn't Gotham a Fallout-esque Wasteland? And what did Blake ever do to deserve to become Batman? How could he figure out that Wayne is Batman just by looking at him? Why is Officer Gordon suddenly retarded? I always thought that he probably had it figured out (remember that scene after Bruce saves Reese from getting killed by running a red light and raming a care that was about to ambush Gordon's plice truck?) but didn't care because for him Batman was a symbol. And then comes that one scene before Batman flies away to sacrifice himself. By that point everyone and their dog know that Bruce is Batman. Which makes it even more painful to se Gordon walk up to Batman and ask "Who are You?", And why didn't anybody think it was a bad idea to sent the majority of the policeforce into the sewers? And why did Batman after becoming a Howard Hughes-like recluse because Rachel died forgot about her so easily and fucked Talia? He locked himself away for 9 years and after Alfred makes a claim that he can't even back up with evidence he simply forgets about here and fucks the next girl that he come across? I knew that this would happen, but it happened so fast. This should've been a huge part of the movie but instead they spent like 15 minutes on it and move on. They never even mention again that Alfred HAS LEFT THEM! Bruces father figure, the man who always know the right words to say at any occasion, leaves and apart from that one moment when no one opens the door he doesn't seem to care. And did they have to do the Talia plottwist? What was the point of that other than pleasing all the comic-nerd that knew who Talia was? Her character added nothing to the movie and was in it way to little for me to care about her and that twist. And in the end it didn't change anything. And it robbed bane the chance to be anything more than a gloryfied henchman.

I know, wall of text. The strange thing is I still enjoyed that movie...

Edited December 14, 2013 by TheLastInLine

[MalaCloudy Black]

Banner's control of the Hulk/The Hulk's anger have always been ever-changing things, even in the comics. Some people write him as a mindless brute, some people write him with a modicum of intelligence, and some people write him as Bruce Banner being fully in charge. It really varies wildly, so I'd expect no less from the movie counterpart.

[TheLastInLine]

Banner's control of the Hulk/The Hulk's anger have always been ever-changing things, even in the comics. Some people write him as a mindless brute, some people write him with a modicum of intelligence, and some people write him as Bruce Banner being fully in charge. It really varies wildly, so I'd expect no less from the movie counterpart.

That's not an excuse. In the first Marvel Studio's Hulk movie and the first two thirds of the Avengers they portray him as a mindless brute. You either stick to that and give us an explanation for why he suddenly can control himself or you don't portray him like that. This is inconsistent writing.

But apart from that I LOVE that movie.

[Benjamin]

Oh, let's not get started on Harry Potter. We could fill a book (seven books, actually) about plotholes from there.

[TheLastInLine]

Oh, let's not get started on Harry Potter. We could fill a book (seven books, actually) about plotholes from there.

Would you care to elaborate?

[Benjamin]

There are a bunch of plotholes and errors, both large and small, that are in the Harry Potter books.

EDIT: And I love the books, by the way. I think they're great fun, is really imaginative and a splendid way to get kids to start reading. But Rowling isn't the best writer (although I haven't read her last book), but she does have a lot of leaks in the Harry Potter universe, especially as she expanded it during Deathly Hallows.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Benkid

[Matt]

Yeah Harry Potter is very bad for introducing things that contradict what's happened previously to make the plot work.

[gunnar hendershow]

And since Harry Potter is a children's series it really doesn't matter, it's a staple of children's fantasy and sci-fi to introduce convenient plot elements just to keep the story movie.

They can be still fun to mention though, but don't think too hard about it.

[Your Mom]

Terminator 3 could be as simple as they sent more than one robot back right?

[TKz]

Banner's control of the Hulk/The Hulk's anger have always been ever-changing things, even in the comics. Some people write him as a mindless brute, some people write him with a modicum of intelligence, and some people write him as Bruce Banner being fully in charge. It really varies wildly, so I'd expect no less from the movie counterpart.

That's not an excuse. In the first Marvel Studio's Hulk movie and the first two thirds of the Avengers they portray him as a mindless brute. You either stick to that and give us an explanation for why he suddenly can control himself or you don't portray him like that. This is inconsistent writing.

But apart from that I LOVE that movie.

They made a point in all of the Hulk films that he can't control the Hulk, just aim him and hope for the best. The only reason he transforms is because generally, the rule is that Hulk comes out when Banner's angry or about to die, which is about to happen when he transforms. It's also made kind of clear in the end of Incredible Hulk that Banner has retained some level of control over when he can transform into Hulk.

[Gabriel]

It's been a bit since I watched Avengers, but when Banner transforms against his will, isn't it always because of some outside force? Like, when Loki is in his cell and mindfucking every one of them so that they all get angry with each other.

I can't recall a point in the movie when Banner just randomly transforms without some kind of outside force making it happen... which would make that a non-plothole, because when he's not being tampered with, he's completely in control, just as he said he was.

[Jimmy]

Also, I'm pretty sure The Joker just says he doesn't have a plan to send Harvey Dent into madness. Of course he has plans, but it's believable that he doesn't. He plays Dent, which, ironically, was part of a plan.

[TheLastInLine]

It's been a bit since I watched Avengers, but when Banner transforms against his will, isn't it always because of some outside force? Like, when Loki is in his cell and mindfucking every one of them so that they all get angry with each other.

I can't recall a point in the movie when Banner just randomly transforms without some kind of outside force making it happen... which would make that a non-plothole, because when he's not being tampered with, he's completely in control, just as he said he was.

I can't remember them hinting at his ability to control his powers. I get that when he hulks out before the big battle he does it by his own accord and not out of anxiety or anger. But it still seems weird to me that he does it with such surprising ease despite him bein scared of hulking out during the entire movie. Maybe if they added a line of Dialoge instead of just this vague "I'm always angry" mantra it would have been more clear to me. But as is, this is just a minor annoience in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

Also, I'm pretty sure The Joker just says he doesn't have a plan to send Harvey Dent into madness. Of course he has plans, but it's believable that he doesn't. He plays Dent, which, ironically, was part of a plan.

Point taken. Still doesn't explane why a bunch of Arkham Inmates and street thugs are somehow the most reliable crew in town. I know a lot of it has to come down to rigid schedule and planing. But there sre just some thing that sre a bit too hard to forsee [for example i doubt that he planed on being captured by the police. I think Gordon's Resurrection took him by surprise. Or does he have thugs with explosives implanted into them on standby?].

I know it sounds like I must hate this movie but you couldn't be more wrong. It is my favorite comic book move. It's just that when it comes to the joker there seems to be a lot of coincidence involved.

Edited December 14, 2013 by TheLastInLine

[Your Mom]

Wasn't the deleted scene with Banner something about that? I remember it explained why he came back but I dont remember all of it

[Matt]

And since Harry Potter is a children's series it really doesn't matter, it's a staple of children's fantasy and sci-fi to introduce convenient plot elements just to keep the story movie.

They can be still fun to mention though, but don't think too hard about it.

Oh absolutely, other than the aforementioned wands changing hands thing (which was a real "what? Since when? Why has this not been the case for the last 6 and 3/4 books" moment).

But for the sake of a couple of examples, in prisoner of azkaban they show that wizards are capable of going back in time. Why didn't someone just go back and kill Tom Riddle?

Also why couldn't Harry see the thestrals before cedric died? We know he witnessed and remembers his mum's death.

[TKz]

It's been a bit since I watched Avengers, but when Banner transforms against his will, isn't it always because of some outside force? Like, when Loki is in his cell and mindfucking every one of them so that they all get angry with each other.

I can't recall a point in the movie when Banner just randomly transforms without some kind of outside force making it happen... which would make that a non-plothole, because when he's not being tampered with, he's completely in control, just as he said he was.

I can't remember them hinting at his ability to control his powers. I get that when he hulks out before the big battle he does it by his own accord and not out of anxiety or anger. But it still seems weird to me that he does it with such surprising ease despite him bein scared of hulking out during the entire movie. Maybe if they added a line of Dialoge instead of just this vague "I'm always angry" mantra it would have been more clear to me. But as is, this is just a minor annoience in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9cByNCQwXA

Obviously they've shied away from mentioning it as being a big part of the franchise since switching to Ruffalo, but it's definitely still part of the canon.

And as for Iron Man 3, it's a pretty fair bet that with the mansion collapsing around them, he may not have had the chance to sort it all out. I'm pretty sure they make a point of it taking a while as well, as Tony has to wait for them to arrive and stuff.

[thatblindgeye]

With Iron Man 3, couldn't it just be chalked up to "JARVIS are the suits ready to be mass deployed and AI controlled? No? Okay." sort of thing? I can't remember most of the movie so maybe something in it just dismisses that as a possibility.

That Back to the Future one posted is something I've ALWAYS thought about. Still a really enjoyable movie, but definitely a big plot hole. Time travel, though, so eh.

As far as Banner, I took it as him being able to control his anger, but there still being things that force him into The Hulk. He might be able to subdue his anger to keep from transforming under most circumstances, but he's aware that being in an enclosed location like an airship could go bad if something were to force him to transform (like it did). I dunno, it never bothered me. Him saying that he was always angry and transforming at will was one of the best moments in the movie for me.