Stupidity: After Julie tells Louis that Peyton is still alive, she notices the Bellisarius memorandum on his desk and realises he was involved with the destruction of the lab. If Louis had kept the memorandum in his desk instead of in plain sight, he would never have been found out.
Stupidity: When a cop goes to Kevin's house after being requested by police, he simply knocks on the door and after a few seconds walks away assuming no ones home. Had he actually bothered to announce himself as a cop, Kevin would have opened the door and he would have been found safe.
Stupidity: During the final battle, Gomm kills one of the rednecks by sticking his tentacles into the man's eyes. However, the entire scene is shot very sloppily. The man has his gun trained on Gomm for almost 10 full seconds, and just stands there while the tentacles come out slowly, Gomm laughs, and then the tentacles shoot forward. Given the amount of mayhem and creatures, there's no reason for the redneck to have not just shot Gomm during that period of time.
Stupidity: Harrigan leaves his partner's badge on his grave where anyone could take it and use it to impersonate a cop or abuse it in other ways. (00:50:15)
Stupidity: In the bar scene, Jack gets into a fight with a guy he busted a few years back, then Reggie turns to the bartender and asks for a gun. The bartender hardly hesitates and hands it over. There is just simply no scenario where a bartender would hand a loaded gun to a patron they had just met.
Stupidity: The system prompts a message for the bank clerk saying that the subject trying to withdraw cash is armed and dangerous and to alert the local authorities. It also alerts the 'subjects' themselves though, since it beeps a persistent alarm tone! Seems a rather poorly designed system that would endanger the staff. (00:50:10)
Stupidity: When Drake cuts off power to Hayes' apartment, the cops can't physically make a landlord abide by the laws, and seeing a judge would take months. In the meantime, by keeping the power off in the apartment, Hayes would have had no choice but to abandon his scheme and move on to another victim. With no power in the apartment, it's unusable and unlivable.
Stupidity: Dr Faxx knew full well that Nuke was Cain's greatest weakness, but it never occurred to her to mention to the old man that holding a canister of it in front of him during the exhibition could have serious consequences. Not very bright.
Suggested correction: Some people just aren't good at their job or are too lazy. The cop didn't like the idea of being sent on a possible fake call and didn't put in the extra effort. Or he was simply waiting for someone to ask who it was before identifying himself. Plus the cop would have had no idea Kevin was hiding and not answering the door because he was scared nor that saying he was the police would get him to answer the door, he could have simply thought a kid left alone would answer the door to anyone.
Bishop73
Even if he thought it was a fake call, he still should have identified himself. By doing this, he could have confirmed that Kevin was indeed left alone.
And the script could have been written a 100 different ways to prevent Kevin from being left home alone, but that doesn't mean there's a plot hole or movie mistake.
Bishop73
Creating series of silly explanations for obvious mistakes/plotholes never resolves them. He should have identified himself regardless of the circumstances.
Exactly.
Perhaps the officer's failure to identify himself (as well as other deficiencies in the way he responded to the call) would more accurately be classified as a "character mistake"? This may result in fewer criticisms (corrections) while not negating the "stupidity."
KeyZOid
Maybe it should be. Because he acted much too unprofessionally for a police officer.