# Biggest Plotholes in Blockbuster Movies (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449 "2004-02-04T06:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RainGrowsBrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RainGrowsBrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RainGrowsBrite)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/61 "2004-02-05T20:12:33Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > In _Kindergarten Cop_, Cullen drops Dominic after being bitten by Kimble’s pet ferret. Question is, where’d Kimble (a cop from LA) get the ferret? Certainly not in [California](http://www.ferretsanon.com/). Although, it is true that you cannot buy or sell Ferrets in California, you can infact own them and keep them. It a very weird and stupid law, but its true. You can go to most any general pet store and buy supplies for Ferrets, but you must do your purchasing out of state. Very dumb- makes no sense, but it is California. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/62 "2004-02-05T20:47:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Except for the fact that THERE’S NO FRICTION IN SPACE. Jeebus. One squirt of fuel to go one way forever, and another squirt or two to turn around and go back the way they came. Untrue. Just because there’s no friction, that doesn’t mean there’s no inertia or momentum. If you’re travelling in a certain direction at 5 mph, and only have enough fuel to decelerate yourself by 3 mph, you’re still travelling away from your target. Remember, just because a movie is “bad” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s full o’ holes… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/63 "2004-02-05T20:57:02Z")
> [@Erroneous](#): > > Spring! Yes. That’s what I meant. Anyway, my point was that it’s sufficiently warm down here at that time of the year. Heck, you could probably justify an extensive cooling system in Sydney even if the Games were held during winter. Not that it’s _that_ warm at that time of year, of course, but it never gets too cold, either (none of this insane -40 stuff I’ve been hearing about from the USA recently). Whatever. The average high in Sydney for the month of September is 69F (20C) with lows of 50F. Certainly not hot enough for such a system. The characters in the novel were complaining about temperatures of around 100F, a full 30 degrees above average. Certainly this could happen on some given day but it’s way too unlikely for a cooling system to be installed. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/64 "2004-02-05T20:58:58Z")
Oops… Hit submit before citing. [Cite](http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=94767&Units=both) Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/65 "2004-02-05T21:09:36Z")
Sorry. One more cite: From [here:](http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/23/1064082968472.html?from=storyrhs) > [@](#): > > The average temperature for September [in Sydney] is 19.8, and the mercury rises above 30 in September only once every three years, on average. 30C is about 85F. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/66 "2004-02-05T21:35:55Z")
> [@RainGrowsBrite](#): > > Although, it is true that you cannot buy or sell Ferrets in California, you can infact own them and keep them. It a very weird and stupid law, but its true. You can go to most any general pet store and buy supplies for Ferrets, but you must do your purchasing out of state. Very dumb- makes no sense, but it is California. 😕 Currently, the importation of ferrets into California is only legal by permit and those permits are issued for specific purposes, such as for medical research or for transportation of confiscated ferrets or rescued stray ones out of state. Importation and possession of ferrets as pets are not permitted in California. [cite](http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret_issues.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/67 "2004-02-05T22:02:03Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Remember, just because a movie is “bad” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s full o’ holes… Although you are right about the other stuff, this statement can be countered with one line from that movie: “That DNA looks human” ---
**Author:** ![greenphan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@greenphan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenphan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/68 "2004-02-05T22:09:04Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Hate to break it to you, but this is not a plot hole. Connery had to go back and forth between his cell and the escape hole several nights to get it large enough. The only way to get back to his cell through a door that locks from the inside is under the flaming things. No, because Connery comments that he remembers the pattern to the flaming jet things but will have to reverse the pattern to get through it. THEN he goes to the door that locks from the inside to let the Navy Seals in. That isn’t to say that the door locked from the inside when Connery was imprisoned there. When he returned with the Seals, it’s plausible that the door was locked with something like a Master lock or a piece of wood… Of course, what purpose did the flaming jets serve and why were they still functional after Alcatraz had been decommissioned for years? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/69 "2004-02-05T23:08:30Z")
> [@greenphan](#): > > Of course, what purpose did the flaming jets serve and why were they still functional after Alcatraz had been decommissioned for years? They should really remove that from the current Alcatraz tours - we lose more visitors that way… 🙂 More fun with computers: • _Goldeneye_. You can trace any computer in the world by “sending spike” - including the CIA. This program also includes an avatar of one of those wharf artist’s renderings of the bad guy’s smiling head. • _Swordfish_. Any laptop can be used to break encrypted banking systems in 30 seconds if you know what you’re doing. Especially while you’re getting head at the same time. • _War Games_. Let’s just say the whole movie. This covers using a soda tab to get a pay phone dial tone to having NORAD’s main control room monitors hooked up to the same tiny voice-synthesizer box that was in Matthew Broderick’s room (hooked up to a stereo it seemed) to having Joshua break a high-level password one character at a time. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/70 "2004-02-06T00:30:23Z")
> [@Tars Tarkas](#): > > Although you are right about the other stuff, this statement can be countered with one line from that movie: “That DNA looks human” I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard that and immediatly went “WTF?” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/71 "2004-02-06T01:25:31Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > • _War Games_. Let’s just say the whole movie. This covers using a soda tab to get a pay phone dial tone I havn’t seen the movie in years, but you used to be able to get free phone calls with a paper clip. The trick hasn’t worked since the ‘fortress’ phones… so, hm, '88 or so. You poke one end through the mouthpiece and the other through a little hole on the phone body, presto, dial tone. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/72 "2004-02-06T01:45:30Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I havn’t seen the movie in years, but you used to be able to get free phone calls with a paper clip. The trick hasn’t worked since the ‘fortress’ phones… so, hm, '88 or so. > > You poke one end through the mouthpiece and the other through a little hole on the phone body, presto, dial tone. Really? I don’t guess there’d be a Cite for that, but I do remember trying to get this to work after seeing the movie to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/73 "2004-02-06T01:59:10Z")
I remember the paperclip trick. It was shown to me in 1985 or thereabouts. Haj ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/74 "2004-02-06T02:09:57Z")
> [@](#): > > he idea that true love brought back Keannu in a story about weird, high tech, alternate reality completely ruined the entire movie for me. I thought it was just that he was The One and could not die, then. Trinity was just talking. > [@](#): > > When they received the distress call from the outpost, why didn’t the ships land them in the compound instead of making them hum miles through bug-infested ravines? That’s not as bad as the idea of hunting an army of ground-dwelling insects with nothing more than infantry. They aren’t even really mobile infantry - they have no ground vehicles, tanks, and we saw exactly two planes in the whole film. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/75 "2004-02-06T02:20:16Z")
And how exactly did giant bugs on a planet in another system ever learn how to hurl huge boulders through millions of light years of unoccupied space at Earth, and what was their motivation? ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/76 "2004-02-06T02:20:35Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > • _War Games_. Let’s just say the whole movie. This covers using a soda tab to get a pay phone dial tone… We used to do that. With some phones it required the use of a flexible metal strip, similar to one from a canned ham. ---
**Author:** ![toomuchtv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@toomuchtv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toomuchtv)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/77 "2004-02-06T02:22:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Mel Gibson in [The Patriot](http://imdb.com/title/tt0187393/), a farmer who hasn’t seen military service in 20 years… wipes out an entire platoon of trained and well armed British regulars using only single shot rifles… Plus regardless of conventional wisdom, redcoats didn’t stand in a row and fire while we picked them off from the trees- they’d been fighting wars in America for the entire 18th century and knew guerilla tactics quite well. Gibson would have been smoked as soon as he got two shots off. I’m not arguing that The Patriot was a great movie or anything, but… Gibson’s character is loosely based on Colonel Francis Marion, aka “The Swamp Fox” of South Carolina. Encarta ([http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia\_761558037/Swamp\_Fox\_The:\_Francis\_Marion\_the\_swamp\_fox.html](http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761558037/Swamp_Fox_The:_Francis_Marion_the_swamp_fox.html)) says Marion “organized a small force of poorly equipped men, training them in guerrilla tactics. Living off the land, Marion and his men harassed British troops by staging small surprise attacks in which they captured small groups of British soldiers, sabotaged communication and supply lines, and rescued American prisoners. After these attacks Marion withdrew his men to swamp country unfamiliar to the British. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, a British commander, gave Marion his nickname when he complained that it was impossible to catch the “swamp fox.” Near the end of the war, Marion and American General Nathanael Greene joined forces. In 1781 they successfully fought at the Battle of Eutaw Springs and forced the British retreat to North Carolina.” No mention of Marion partying on a beach with his dead wife’s babe of a sister. Other than that, this sounds a lot like the movie I saw… ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/78 "2004-02-06T02:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Although you are right about the other stuff, this statement can be countered with one line from that movie: “That DNA looks human” Still not a plot hole… 'cuz the plot wasn’t really all that dependent on that scene… ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/79 "2004-02-06T04:01:39Z")
**Armageddon:** : Funny how during the Cold War NASA and the Soviet Union’s Space Agency found time to make MIR’s access hatches compatible with the brand-new shuttles (X-71, if memory serves) that NASA was yet to start designing, more less actually constructing the prototype. **Goldeneye** : James Bond diving after a plane fallen off a cliff and, gravity not withstanding, catching up with it (and even managing to land in the cockpit!). So lame, is was actually quite funny. > [@Cyrokk](#): > > I’m not sure if this is a plothole, but when I saw the Matrix on TV (spoiler here), the idea that true love brought back Keannu in a story about weird, high tech, alternate reality completely ruined the entire movie for me. However, I may be wrong on this, since I only sat through it once long ago and it was edited for TV. Am I correct on this? Or is there something in the plot that I completely missed? From a long post of mine on another thread: "OK, now. Imagine, if you will, a dude lying dormant on his jacking-chair thingy; neurologically hooked to a computer-simulated version of reality (let’s call it The Matrix, shall we?). His body has the **potential** to **feel** any physical stimuli effected upon it (a piano falling over his testicular area, the gentle swing of Pepé Le Pew’s tail approaching the nasal region, a woman’s **Kiss** , whatever). But, if proper stimuli is neglected, the body can switch off from the brain, allowing for the latter to be easily tricked into accepting at face value ideas offered by the stealthy simulation, while at the same time unwittingly disdaining (failing to recognize) the body that houses it, as well as any **physical** surroundings. To accentuate this fact, imagine that dude-in-question’s body has forever resided in a lifeless pod, devoid of any physical stimuli and thus without a clear parameter to discern a real, physical stimulus from a virtual, mental one. It is then plausible, make that reasonable and expectable, that the mind would favor the dream / simulation (world of ideas) over the real (physical world). Lacking an objective reference frame to make out the line dividing real from fake and, more importantly, having always received solely conceptual stimuli (world of the Matrix), as opposed to physical perceptions (try living the whole of your life in a pod, basically isolated from any physical interaction), what scenario will the brain accept: One from which it receives actual feedback (imaginary universe posited by the Matrix), or one with which it can not interact (corporeal manifestation sensorially isolated from its surroundings)? Let´s now board our time machine and go back to the baby battery’s birth. With his infant mind still at a _tabula rasa_ stage, the brain gets plugged to the Matrix simulation, effectively superimposing its “reality” over that of the surrounding world. Concurrently, disengage the body from any interaction with its surroundings, preventing any awareness of its environmental neighborhood from arising. What would you get? A profound disconnect between body and brain, corpus and cerebrum divorced one from the other (think **Dubya** ). As the mind develops, it will accept the Matrix “reality” it was always fed, as opposed to the physical reality it was unwittingly forced to renounce since the beginning. Reasonable enough, n’est-ce pas? All righty then, try being a good sport and assume this dude (let’s call him **Neo** ) is actually a gifted being with a superior perception (perhaps he was born with a high midiclorian count). Anyway, try accepting the “Splinter in the mind” Theory. Proceed to account for the training he received being partly responsible for the development of his ability to **see beyond the Matrix**. So, you got a man who, for lack of better options, accepts the paradigm he’s enveloped in, yet due to training and an innate / fortuitous superior perception, does so with a grain of salt (think of Drew Barrymore marrying Tom Green: She could sense something was amiss; it just took a while for her to figure it out). Enter Lady **Trinity**. Have her kiss Neo. **Free your mind** from preexisting connotations of such an event (unbridled display of passion, emotional manisfestation of idyllic love, hormonally charged outburst, what have you). See the kiss for what it is: **A physical stimulus**. Recall now that Neo is at a stage where he does NOT FULLY accept the “reality” offered by your friendly neighborhood, The Matrix. **This** physical stimulus, aka **kiss** , is felt and interpreted by his highly-attuned brain as a sensation external to The Matrix, arising then uncertainty as to the Matrix-postulated scenario’s veracity (contrast this with a regular guy, who could have had Trinity lap-dance on him, and still remain oblivious to that fact :eek: ). At this point, The Matrix is essentially telling his brain that he’s dead (a reasonable inference to be made after having Agent Elrond empty his gun at his chest), while simultaneously he is somehow **perceiving** something…while being **dead**!!! Huh?!? Place yourself in Neo’s Nikes: If I’m so dead, how come I’m getting the distinct feeling of Trinity’s flaming lips gracefully pressing against my mouth? If I was terminated, **where did this huge boner come from?** 😃 Could it possibly be that The Matrix is a lie…that there lies something outside of its realm? I’ll let you fill out the rest. 🙂 Anyhoo, my main beef with the movie was not **The Kiss** , dressed in its _deux ex machina_ disguise, coming in its pink flying unicorn to save the day. Not by a long shot. But I did have one complaint that prevented The Matrix from achieving cinematic bliss: Trinity. As in, why in Yoda´s name wasn’t she played by **Jennifer Conelly**? She´s not only perfect, but she would have been even more ideal for the role, being that she encompasses the triumvirate of traits that define feminine perfection: Beauty, intelligence and natural, hypnotical sexiness. A **Holy Trinity** if there ever was any!" 🙂 Or, more simply, \*\*there wasn`t any love story involved in Neo’s resuscitation \*\*. 🙂 Cheers, quasar ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449/80 "2004-02-06T04:08:54Z")
Hollywood’s plots suck. quasar’s coding sucks. quasar writes scripts for Hollywood. 🙂 Cheers, quasar [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-plotholes-in-blockbuster-movies-spoilers/227449.md?page=5)