# Movies with stupidly large plotholes... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2001, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386 "2001-01-10T19:35:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/21 "2001-01-11T03:16:41Z")
The thing that bother me about the Truman Show (it’s kind of a plothole in that it’s such a huge thing and is never adressed in any way- at any rate it made suspending my disbelief difficult) is that for the corporation to do what it did to Truman it would require the complete overturning the the Constitution/the basic concept of human freedom/the fundemental principles upon which this great nation is founded etc.,etc.\* I mean you can’t suspend the protection of the law for just one person (well if you did it would still require overturning the Constitution) so we’re talking about a country where people are other people’s property, where the rights of the owner over the ownee are absolute, including the right to kill him (Ok, Ed Harris didn’t want to kill Truman but he obviously was willing to risk it, and apparently had the right to do so). And in the real world there cound not even have been a pretext that people were not property. What sort of Orwellian nightmare is he walking out into at the end? - Ok I realize we had those princples, in theory, and slavery at the same time, but…I still think it would take a complete negation of those principles for us to go back now. ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/22 "2001-01-11T03:26:57Z")
There was a film made a few years back starring Richard Gere, Edward Norton and Laura Linney about the murder of the Archbishop in Chicago. I believe it was called **Primal Fear** (?!?) To make a long story short, it was a huge news story, made headlines nationwide. Norton was on trial, but there were skeptics who felt that this boy couldn’t have committed the murder. **Any** decent journalist could’ve sniffed out the truth about this guy. A little background search…BOOM! Case closed. Simple. Elementary. Nobody in the film…none of the high-priced lawyers, no one in the media, it figured out. I wasted six dollars and two hours of my life on this crap. It was a hit movie, so _somebody_ out there must’ve seen it. Comments? ---
**Author:** ![FEotU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@FEotU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FEotU)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/23 "2001-01-11T03:29:41Z")
What about Armegeddon? When the shuttles docked with the Russian station to refuel, where did the fuel go? They had already jettisioned the external tanks, and space shuttles don’t have large internal tanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/24 "2001-01-11T03:54:52Z")
Don’t know anything about the plot of that stupid movie (which I have yet to see) but perhaps the shuttle bay was retrofitted with a fuel area? Or was that being used for mining equipment or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Obvious\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Obvious\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obvious_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/25 "2001-01-11T04:40:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*\*Originally posted by tracer \* > > Even then, you would have to feed the cows. How are you going to grow crops to feed the cows (or the humans, for that matter) if you don’t have any sunlight? Plants need sunlight to survive and grow. \*\* Morpheus states that the dead are liquefied as food for the living. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/26 "2001-01-11T04:50:17Z")
Which is the big thermodynamics plot. Again, covered before. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bedhog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@bedhog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bedhog)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/27 "2001-01-11T04:51:58Z")
I can’t for yhe life of me remember the name of the film, but it was a Scottish film starring Ewan McGregor. The basic premise was that 2 men and a woman share a house and get another roommate, who then dies of a heroin overdose (but with a suitcase full of cash in his possession). The three remaining roommates then go to outlandish lengths to dispose of the body so that they can keep the cash. It actually was a pretty good film, but I could never figure out why they just didn’t hide the money, then call the cops or ambulance (or whoever) to dispose of the body properly. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/28 "2001-01-11T05:04:34Z")
You’re thinking of _Shallow Grave_, 1994, Dir: Danny Boyle. Sorry, don’t have a clever answer as to why they didn’t just turn the body over to the authorities and hang on to the dosh. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/29 "2001-01-11T05:06:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Another one about Matrix… you know how they had a first person who was able to manipulate and eventually escape the matrix. Well, from what I remember seeing, anyone being in the matrix for that long had atrophyed (sp?) muscles and poor organ development. So how did “the one” make it if there were no other humans around outside of the matrix? There’s a theory that the Oracle was actually a rogue A.I. I guess we’ll have to wait for the sequels. > [@](#): > > I can’t for yhe life of me remember the name of the film, but it was a Scottish film starring Ewan McGregor. The basic premise was that 2 men and a woman share a house and get another roommate, who then dies of a heroin overdose (but with a suitcase full of cash in his possession). The three remaining roommates then go to outlandish lengths to dispose of the body so that they can keep the cash. It actually was a pretty good film, but I could never figure out why they just didn’t hide the money, then call the cops or ambulance (or whoever) to dispose of the body properly. _Shallow Grave_. Good flick. I think they knew that the dead guys enemys would come sniffing around for the money, and wanted to remove any trace of the fact that he had ever stayed there. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/30 "2001-01-11T06:09:32Z")
Okay, my friend & I worked at a video store and we grabbed a couple of screeners (several months before films are released to rent, vid stores get these to check out) one night to check out. The two movies were **American History X** and **I Still Know What You Did Last Summer**. Unfortunately, we watched **AMX** first. Unfortunately, because it is such an awsome movie and we _then_ checked out the crapfest that is **I Still Know…**! It has one of the biggest plotholes I have ever seen! Truthfully, most of the “plotholes” that have been brought up so far are just are more character traits and occurances that don’t make sense. That’s not a plothole, because characters in movies often do strange stuff for no reason. I would say that a real plothole is something that completely breaks down the logic of the film. Example: **I Still Know…**. SPOILERS . . . . . . There is a character that buys a gun to go save what’s-her-face (the star, I can’t remember her name). Lots of killings and such happen before he gets there. Then he finally gets there and…WHOOPS, he forgot to get bullets. Now, that’s not the plothole; it’s stupid (why would anyone ever do that?) but it’s not a plothole. However, the killer is again trying to kill someone at the end, when bam! He’s shot, because they’re in the same place where the gun was disposed of. Wait, but there’s no bullets…oh, that doesn’t matter, the killer’s dead, hooray! What??? Where did the bullet’s come from? A plothole big enough to drive a truck through. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/31 "2001-01-11T07:40:38Z")
The one that always bugged me was in **Die Hard 2** , the one that supposedly takes place at Dulles airport. Because they can’t talk to the Dulles control tower, the planes all have to stay in a holding pattern until they run out of fuel and crash. Funny, I wasn’t aware that Washington DC was so remote that the planes couldn’t just land somewhere else. They all circled Dulles for at least 2 hours. There are are at least a dozen suitable airports within a 2-hour radius of Washington, aren’t there? A minor one, compared to the first point, but still a plot hole: Part of Bruce Willis’s plan involves leaving the underground tunnels through a manhole in the middle of a runway. Any manhole strong enough to withstand having a 747 roll over it would be far too heavy for Willis to lift. –sublight. ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/32 "2001-01-11T08:50:35Z")
More on the Matrix: I can’t believe no one has nitpicked this one yet. The Matrix is a world that is completely controlled by the AI’s, right? Well then, why don’t they just create a 3 foot thick steel cube around the rebels when they’re running around doing their actions? And why do the Agents give themselves humanoid bodies with all the same weaknesses as humans. If it can be beaten with a bullet to the head, it doesn’t strike me as a very well designed body. They could just take the form of some giant indestructible death machine and just grind up the rebels or something. Or they could just use high powered explosives to kill the rebels. The agents wouldn’t die, just the bodies they were using. Or they could just blow up the place the oracle lived in, killing her and all the potential “The Ones” as well. Of course the answer, as in so many cases, because there would be no movie. However, I’m willing to forgive these infractions in the case of the Matrix, because it’s a good flick. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/33 "2001-01-11T12:16:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Any manhole strong enough to withstand having a 747 roll over it would be far too heavy for Willis to lift. > \*\* Ummmm, you haven’t seen Unbreakable have you? Bruce Willis is _strong_. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/34 "2001-01-11T12:39:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > \*\*The one that always bugged me was in **Die Hard 2** , the one that supposedly takes place at Dulles airport. > \*\* Not to mention (amongst about 25 other points) if the control tower wanted to contact the planes in the air, then why not use the radios of the planes on the ground? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/35 "2001-01-11T12:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > I’d agree with you, were it not for that final scene (used extensively to promote the movie) where she confronts her husband at gunpoint and “law professor” Tommy Lee Jones agrees with her analysis of double jeopardy… \*\* I very much agree, **Max Torque**. From the moment I first heard about that movie, I was skeptical - till I saw the commercials for it, when I became incensed. Talk about altering a law to fit your own needs! For this astute oberservation, I dub thee my personal **God for the Day**. Your duties include hurling lighting bolts at people who piss me off, turning yourself into a bull so you can copulate with maidens fair, and helping me with my tax returns! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/36 "2001-01-11T13:47:10Z")
Not a pothole but something that irked me in the Matrix. When trinity places the gun against the agents head she is standing to the side of him. She pulls the trigger, camera angle changes and the agent flies directly back as though he was shot from the front. sorry as you were just had to let that out. Osip ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/37 "2001-01-11T13:56:47Z")
In Die Hard 2 there’s a brief scene in the early part where the storm has hit, the other airports nearby have been officially closed, all planes on route have been re-routed, and they’re stuck with the ones already in their airspace. It’s thin (but not quite so thin as the layer in snow in Alpena MI at the time it was filmed, which is why you see splashes in the snow mobile scenes) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by poohpah chalupa \* > \*\*There was a film made a few years back starring Richard Gere, Edward Norton and Laura Linney about the murder of the Archbishop in Chicago. I believe it was called **Primal Fear** (?!?) > To make a long story short, it was a huge news story, made headlines nationwide. Norton was on trial, but there were skeptics who felt that this boy couldn’t have committed the murder. > **Any** decent journalist could’ve sniffed out the truth about this guy. A little background search…BOOM! Case closed. Simple. Elementary. > Nobody in the film…none of the high-priced lawyers, no one in the media, it figured out. I wasted six dollars and two hours of my life on this crap. > It was a hit movie, so _somebody_ out there must’ve seen it. Comments? \*\* I saw it, and after I’d read the book btw. Norton’s character lived in a very very tiny town in KY before the big city, and even in the book, it took a lot of digging to get the truth about him. Gere knew he’d done the murder but felt he was insane (had two personalities and only one had done the killing). SPOILER ALERT\>\>… (it wasn’t until the end that Gere realized he’d been played by a scoiopath of extroidinary skill) ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/38 "2001-01-11T14:31:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RiffRaff \* > \*\*First off, I gotta disagree with you on the Truman show. I don’t think any of the things you mention qualify as a plothole. Check it out: > > > [@](#): > > > > Does everyone live in character the whole time? > > Dunno. If they do, how does it make for a plothole? If they do not, how does it make for a plothole? > \*\* I think I can answer this one. Remember the scene with the elevator in that office(?) building? “Inside” the elevator were actors standing around behind the set, definitely out of character. I think the actors were only in character when Truman was present. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/39 "2001-01-11T15:03:31Z")
The plot hole in Silence of the Lambs that always bugged me was that the FBI does not send assign rookie agents to solely handle any cases, let alone cases involving dangerous serial killers. But then Hannibal’s terrorizing of Agent Starling wouldn’t have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386/40 "2001-01-11T15:03:44Z")
My aunt said that the lights on the airplane runways where she lived in northern Canada would go out all the time. The solution was simply to park a bunch of cars along the runway and turn their headlights on. Don’t know why they couldn’t do that during Die Hard 2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-stupidly-large-plotholes/49386.md?page=3)