# Plot holes that ruin movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304 "2009-12-15T03:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/41 "2009-12-15T21:38:27Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > None, as no decompression I have ever heard of would make someone explode, Outland notwithstanding. Yeah, but we’re dealing with movies physics. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/42 "2009-12-15T21:44:21Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s interesting that no one has actually mentioned a plot hole yet. > > It’s just been a listing of things that the poster decided was implausible. Sometimes it was, other times it wasn’t, but some of these things were just dramatic license used to make the film interesting. A work of fiction is about the story, not the accuracy. What’s your definition of plot hole, then, and does “dropped major character from the story without explanation” fit? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/43 "2009-12-15T21:51:04Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The planes didn’t divert to their alternates because the pilots didn’t know anything was wrong. The Dulles controllers (actually Col. Stuart’s men, but they didn’t know that) were telling them to hold. They probably told them that conditions were as bad, or worse, at the nearby alternates. > > In those cases where the real controllers were able to contact the planes (there’s a line where they mention reaching some of them on the Airfones), they did divert. > > That movie has some big plot holes, to be sure, I just don’t think that’s one of them. I haven’t seen the movie since it was in the theater, but wasn’t there a part later on where the tower managed to contact every plane - they used the outer beacons as transmitters or something? IIRC they just told them something’s wrong, don’t listen to the regular radio (since the terrorists had just crashed a plane by retuning the ILS or something), but they could have just told them all to divert to another airport. > [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Simply putting on life-support suits, opening all the airlocks and waiting for it to eventually flush out of the ship wouldn’t work at all. Given how vast the ship was (and how narrow a lot of the hallways were) it probably would have taken weeks for all the air to get sucked out, and by that time the creature would have sensed something was up and hunkered down in a cocoon. (Given the fossilized state of the “Giger” ship they found the creature on, it is clear that the creature could survive a looooooooooooooong time in hostile environments.) Opening up the airlock would only work in a small, centralized enclosed ship the size of the escape shuttle. Weeks? Unless those hallways were only microns wide, all the air would be gone in seconds, regardless of the size of the ship. It’s not like turning a ketchup bottle upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/44 "2009-12-15T21:51:39Z")
Speaking of Episode I, they offer a ton of money to buy Anakin and some spare parts and flying Gonzo says, “Republic Credits, those are worthless here.” That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in a serious movie. The galactic core is hours away. If the money isn’t accepted on Tattooine go to someone with a starship (at Mos Eisley, say) and offer him the money. If someone there won’t accept enough money to buy a starship for a ten hour drive to a Republic outpost they’re fucking insane. Anyone with a starship could have converted their money into goods they could sell on Tattooine. Someone on that fucking planet would have accepted Republic money, fuck it’s moronic. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/45 "2009-12-15T22:22:07Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Weeks? Unless those hallways were only microns wide, all the air would be gone in seconds, regardless of the size of the ship. It’s not like turning a ketchup bottle upside down. I don’t think so. All throughout the ship, we see interior airlock hatches that seal off each section in separate units. When Dallas crawls through the air ducts, he has to pass through numerous heavily plated sphincters. That seems to imply there are safety measures ensured to _prevent_ a sudden, general loss of air throughout the ship. In fact, ISTM that when constructing a vessel expected to travel between two different star systems, a key component of the design would be to ensure that rapid decompression throughout the entire ship would be next to impossible. I suppose it could be argued that the crew could have somehow over-ridden a huge labyrinth of safety features that were put in place to protect them, but the one person on the ship who’d be knowledgeable enough to figure out _how_ to do that was secretly plotting to keep the creature alive! ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/46 "2009-12-15T22:30:23Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Not sure what bothers you abou that sequence. Diesel/electric subs run on the surface except when engaged in active attack/defense. > > A run from one port to another might never require a submersion, if they do not happen to encounter an enemy vessel or aircraft. I would be unusual for the Germans not to post topside lookouts and the OOD(?) out on the bridge, though, while running on the surface. What, is Indie gonna hide behind the deck gun? Edit: Sorry. Note: Finish thread before commenting on contents. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/47 "2009-12-15T22:35:33Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > he has to pass through numerous heavily plated sphincters. Just to say… that’s not a phrase you read every day. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/48 "2009-12-15T22:38:27Z")
There is a very large collection of such things at TVTropes, mostly under the [Wall Banger](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WallBanger) category. **WARNING** : It is a confirmed scientific fact that it is impossible to go to TVTropes without spending at least 6 hours there. Be advised. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/49 "2009-12-15T22:38:36Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I would be unusual for the Germans not to post topside lookouts and the OOD(?) out on the bridge, though, while running on the surface. > > What, is Indie gonna hide behind the deck gun? > > Edit: Sorry. Note: Finish thread before commenting on contents. I am also compelled to note that the scene ends with the sub diving. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/50 "2009-12-15T22:41:29Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I am also compelled to note that the scene ends with the sub diving. I don’t recall. What gets shown on TV is truncated. I DO recall the Germans all going below, _as if_ they were going to dive (I dont recall if the bridge hatch is shut during the scene), but I don’t know if the dive was shown. does the diving alarm sound? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/51 "2009-12-15T22:45:49Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Just to say… that’s not a phrase you read every day. Some people have the most filthy minds. And some people have the most filthy… Anyway, to get back to the original thread, I’ll throw out the same example I always through out when this subject comes up - **E.T.** In the first few minutes of the film, a spaceship lands and lots of adorable li’l aliens get out and trot around among the redwoods. But then, the Big Bad gum’mint guys show up, and prevent the titular E.T. from getting back to the ship before it takes off. E.T. runs away from the gum’mint guys and gets back to the landing point only to see the ship flying away, already ten feet over his head, so close and yet apparently so far away. Later on in the movie, E.T. not once but twice telekinetically flies himself, Elliot (on his bike) and - in the second instance - most of the kids from the neighborhood on their bikes miles above the ground. Sooooooo…if E.T. is capable of levitating himself (and others) MILES above the Earth’s surface, why then didn’t he just levitate himself up to the spaceship that was a mere ten feet in the air in the first scene? ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/52 "2009-12-15T22:50:09Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Alien doesn’t stand up too great to close examination. A friend of mine loves to compare the plot of that movie to a tiger getting loose aboard a modern submarine and _almost winning_. \*\*This \*\*I would pay to see. Tell your friend to send his _Tigers on a Sub_ screenplay to Samuel L. Jackson’s agent ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/53 "2009-12-15T22:51:46Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned **Signs** , what with the alien species invading a planet of acid with no protective gear whatsoever. Again, I just imagine that they are boogie-men, or demons, rather than ET’s. But the film strongly implies they are space aliens. This one is especially infuriating in that a few very minor changes could solve the whole issue. ---
**Author:** ![in\_hiding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/54 "2009-12-15T23:03:33Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned **Signs** , what with the alien species invading a planet of acid with no protective gear whatsoever. > > Again, I just imagine that they are boogie-men, or demons, rather than ET’s. But the film strongly implies they are space aliens. > > This one is especially infuriating in that a few very minor changes could solve the whole issue. If you are thinking about the aliens, you didn’t understand the movie. … … yeah, yeah, okay, the details were pretty dumb. But I loved that movie, so I’ll defend it, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/55 "2009-12-16T01:12:58Z")
Wargames is one of my favorite movies, but I’ve always been bugged by the scene where David Lightman is being questioned by McKittrick (Dabney Coleman). McKittrick asks why Lightman dialed into the WOPR again after the first time, and Lightman says that the WOPR called him. McKittrick’s reply was “computers don’t call people,” and that was never mentioned again. It’s not plausible that Lightman wouldn’t continue protesting about this or that or that records of the phone call wouldn’t show that the WOPR did call Lightman. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/56 "2009-12-16T02:03:29Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned **Signs** , what with the alien species invading a planet of acid with no protective gear whatsoever. > > Again, I just imagine that they are boogie-men, or demons, rather than ET’s. But the film strongly implies they are space aliens. > > This one is especially infuriating in that a few very minor changes could solve the whole issue. Yes! Yes! Great example, as this completely ruined an otherwise good movie for me. Not only did they invade a planet of acid with no gear, but IIRC, they just kinda stood around while Jaoquin splashed water on them with a baseball bat. And I was like… it really looks like he could just hit them with the bat because they’re just standing around all frail like. And they were supposed to be SCARY? Grar. A shotgun would have been way more effective than some kid leaving glasses of water everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/57 "2009-12-16T02:09:42Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > \*\*\* Spoilers for 2012 below \*\*\* > > Is there a website that tracks major plot holes for movies? I saw 2012 this week, and I liked it for about 3 days, and then my brain, working against me, figured out a gigantic plot hole that I can’t get past. This happens to me from time to time, and I’m just curious if anyone out there reviews movies from a Gigantic Plot Hole perspective. > > I found a site called [moviemistakes.com](http://moviemistakes.com) that points out crap like this: > > After the survivors escape from Las Vegas in the Antonov they are obviously worried about fuel and making it all the way to China. As any fool knows, lightening a plane increases range and yet, oddly, it never seems to occur to them to ditch all the heavy and now useless automobiles into the ocean. Luckily, the cars come in handy to manufacture an exciting exit from the plane at the end of the flight. > > That’s not the sort of thing I’m talking about. I can suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy some mindless entertainment. What I can’t get past is stuff like this: > > The big plot twist in the movie is that the “ships” are boats (submarines), not spaceships. Maybe it was just me, but I was thinking spaceships the whole time, and I felt that the “They’re not spaceships” line was the “a-ha” moment. All well and good, until I realized that the boats weren’t entirely stout. Well, they were, but that’s because they were built in the mountains. If they had been built in a dry dock like everything else, they could have just sent them out to sea and not worried about smashing into Everest. So we have not-so-stout boats that don’t even really need to be stout floating around for less than a month before the end of the world is over and civilization can begin again. So I wonder… couldn’t pretty much any submarine have been just as effective? Or a hot air balloon with 30 days of fuel? Or a blimp? Or a kayak and a shitload of chutzpah? I mean, at the “a-ha” moment, the game changes from “the world is ending, get off the planet” to “there’s going to be a lot of earthquakes and floods, figure out how to float around for a month.” And it seems to me that if you made a public announcement on day 1 and gave people 3 years, lots of these boats/submarines/blimps could be produced, savings millions if not billions of people. Instead, they keep their small-scale “save humanity” plan secret and only manage to save 400k. Seems like all the world governments should be tried for murder, if you ask me. > > So, first of, for those who have seen the movie, am I right? And if so, am I right to let that ruin the movie for me? > > Also, is there a website where people have aggregated major plot holes like this? I haven’t seen the movie but I totally get what you’re saying. That’s the kind of shit that bugs me. Particularly since you can still make a spectacular disaster movie with people going to get into the local, ‘arc’, or whatever. It’d be a much more interesting film. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/58 "2009-12-16T02:15:50Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I don’t recall. What gets shown on TV is truncated. I DO recall the Germans all going below, _as if_ they were going to dive (I dont recall if the bridge hatch is shut during the scene), but I don’t know if the dive was shown. does the diving alarm sound? Definitely diving alarms, cranks being turned, basically every movie scene that makes you think a sub is diving. The other annoying thing about that scene was when [Chocolate Mousse](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846607/), who apparently has the best eyesight in the world, says “I found him - THERE!” without actually looking first in the sub’s direction, and then the whole ship starts cheering, while Indy salutes them. That’s pretty risky of them. Wouldn’t someone in the sub…_hear_ that cheering? ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/59 "2009-12-16T02:37:55Z")
I don’t know if this would qualify as a plot hole, or just hugely stupid writing, but the crash scene from “Show Walker” instantly wrecked the movie for me. One thing I require in a movie (or book, for that matter) if that the action be consistent with some sort of reality. Now I realize that a movie about werewolves, or about ghosts, or about time travel must by definition have some rather illogical elements. But these elements must make sense within the context of the movie, and is fact one of the things I find enjoyable about these stories is how the author/directors handle them, making them seem somewhat logical. However, the scene in “Snow Walker” of that DeHavilland Beaver crashing because of some sort of control problem after an engine failure made no sense at all. I can think of no situation where, on a calm day, flying over an almost perfect landscape for an emergency landing in a float plane, a pilot would loose control of an aircraft in the way shown in the movie. A beginning pilot with eight or ten hours of dual and a like time of solo would have been able to handle that situation. Heck, I’ll bet I could still do it OK and I haven’t been at the controls of an aircraft for almost 30 years. Remember, those old bush planes were designed for landing in weird places under all conditions. And then to have the pilot, after the crash, stomping around the plane in a hissy fit, screaming and kicking the floats — that was the last straw. The first concern of any commercial pilot in that situation would be to look after his passenger, not display a tantrum like a frustrated two year old. I kept contrasting his behavior with that of Captain Solly Sullenberger whose final act was to search through his sinking airliner to make sure that all his passengers had been evacuated. Anyway, the crash scene completely took me out of the movie. The silly part was that it wasn’t required for either plot or character development. The redemption and salvation story of the movie would have proceeded just as well if the airplane had had a normal forced landing, and the pilot had already established his character as an arrogant and insufferable little twit. The tantrum scene wasn’t needed. I ended up being mad at both the writers and the director for such a piece of gratuitous stupidity, and stopped watching. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304/60 "2009-12-16T02:54:46Z")
In regards to Indiana Jones on the submarine, the script originally called for a scene of Jones lashing himself to the periscope with his whip and riding the sub to the island that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-that-ruin-movies/521304.md?page=4)