Classic movies with giant plot holes
These successful films actually treated us like idiots
It's a wonder how certain films manage to paper over rather blatant holes in their storylines. Sure, it's Hollywood, it's where the magic happens, but we're not daft. We know when we're being treated like buffoons. Well, it stops right here. Here are a few of the plotlines of some hugely successful films which don't quite work for us...
[See more: How the world could end - according to the movies]
Reservoir Dogs
It's the Mexican stand-off at the end of the film. Boss Joe Cabot's gun is aimed at Mr Orange, who is lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Mr White is pointing his gun at Joe, while Nice Guy Eddie has his gun pointed at Mr White. They all fire, and bang, the film is neatly concluded. Except for the fact that Eddie is dead, but no one shot him. Apparently, in the script, Mr White was supposed to have turned to kill Nice Guy Eddie after killing Joe, but the exploding squibs under his tracksuit went off by mistake and Eddie, played by Chris Penn, fell to the ground before he could be 'shot'. Tarantino is said to have kept it in to give geeks something to argue about.
No wonder Keanu looks confused...
The Matrix
Yes, it's daft as a brush, but still it's worth pointing out just why The Matrix is so daft. So the machines create the world around us to keep us all sedated, right? But why create a world with fully functioning computers so that the inhabitants can hack into their code and realise that it's all a big fake? Better surely to use farm animals - say cows - in the Matrix, rather than inquisitive humans with access to the internet. Seems obvious.
Back to the Future
Time travel is a thorny area. It doesn't really make much sense from the get-go. But there's just a couple of niggling issues with the creation of the McFly family that we'd like to address. So, if 'Calvin Klein' turns up and gets the teenage George and Lorraine together, why don't they remember either him or the fact that he inspired George's career in sci-fi literature? And is it not a bit weird that their son looks exactly like him?
The Shawshank Redemption
After many years in chokey, Andy Dufresne finally completes his massive tunnel, crawls through all that poop and climbs out of a big hole in a field. Cleverly, he has disguised the enormous hole in the wall of his cell with posters of sexy actresses, including Raquel Welch and Rita Hayworth. But hang on... how does he stick the poster back over the hole once he's in there? Hmmm.
All this could have been avoided with the help of a massive eagle...
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
This one's courtesy of ‘Family Guy’, when Chris and his manager at the mini mart point out a rather salient issue that might have made Frodo's journey to Mount Doom far more pleasant. If he jumps on a big flying eagle at the end to escape the volcano, couldn't he have just done that at the beginning? Y'know, instead of taking on the arduous, perilous quest with millions killed in the ensuing battle along the way? Even better, just give the ring to the massive eagle, and he could do it. Just a thought.
Minority Report
The entire premise of Minority Report is that the pre-cogs - that's the pasty, tortured types who live in a bath – can see the future. They see the crimes happening, and then they carve little balls out of wood, sand and varnish them beautifully, before send them up a plastic tube to Tom Cruise. Obviously. But if they can see the future, why do they see him committing a murder? And not, as it turns out, not committing a murder. Which is what he does. If they predicted the future, they'd be predicting people getting arrested. Confused? So are we.
[See more: First look at 'War Horse' trailer]
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
It's all a question of timing. As we're told throughout the saga, training to become a Jedi is quite the undertaking. You can't just do it in a few hours. Or can you? Let's go over the rather shaky sequence of events, shall we? Luke heads off to Yoda's manky swamp planet, while the Millennium Falcon containing Han, Chewie, Leia et al gets chased by the Empire to Cloud City. They arrive, get captured by Darth Vader, upon which Luke has pretty much finished his training. So either the Millennium Falcon was being chased for months and months on end, or Luke's Jedi training takes an afternoon. It's harder to get your bronze Duke of Edinburgh.
Transformers
The name of Shia LaBeouf's character is unfeasible enough (Sam Witwicky? Really?), let alone this supremely daft plot. So Witwicky is selling on eBay the very glasses that the Decepticons want, the ones left him by his explorer great grandfather, and the ones with the location of the AllSpark (don't get us started on that) printed on them. No what's easier than smashing a city to pieces trying to get them? That's right, setting up an eBay account and pressing 'Buy It Now'. Odd that such a thing was beyond the technologically superior Transformer race.
Disagree with us and reckon these films make total sense? Or can you think of more movie heavyweights that treat us like idiots? Lets us know in the comments below...