Best mystery movie questions of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Panic Room picture

Question: I don't really understand why Jodie Foster's character didn't tell the police something was wrong when they came to the door. I know she was worried for her daughter but the robbers couldn't overhear and she could have asked the police to come back later, giving her a chance to smash the cameras. Also, considering that she emphatically denied there was anything wrong, why did the police return later with all the guns etc?

Answer: But if Jodie Foster was so keen to placate the burglars and protect her daughter's life then why did she smash the cameras after the police left? It doesn't make sense.

She smashed the cameras, so the thieves in the Panic Room couldn't see what she was doing. That's why the thieves had said, "Why didn't we do that?"

Answer: The cop told Jodie "if you can give me some kind of signal." Jodie runs her fingers through her hair, that's the signal.

Answer: One doesn't ask the cops to come back later, especially when one's daughter's life is a stake. Also, the cops came back because they just didn't believe her and felt that something was up (call it intuition).

Not only that, Jodie Foster said that "they were good", why would she say that they are good if not that they were right?

More Panic Room questions
The Village picture

Question: Does anyone know if Noah knew all along that the elders were dressing up as the "monsters?" I think he did, and that he thought it was just a game. Is that why he laughed and clapped every time the bell went off and they had to hide? Perhaps the elders didn't hide this from him because he was simple-minded and couldn't talk. So, when he went after Ivy in the woods, he thought it was all for fun. Does anyone else agree with this?

Answer: When the Elders found Noah missing, they referred to a costume that had been hidden under the floorboards. My guess is that at some stage Noah found that costume and may have figured out that it was a game then. I doubt if the Elders realized this until he went missing. Also, given that Noah had already stabbed Lucius, I don't really think that he was joking when he went for Ivy in the woods.

kendra jackson

Answer: Noah had figured out shortly before the movie begins that the monsters were a hoax made by the Elders, having found a creature suit in the "punishment room." This can be seen early when everyone is eating. They hear howling from the woods (it's actually sound devices in a big tree deep in the forest that create sounds from the wind), and Noah simply laughs at it. He probably thought it was all a game, never understanding the true purpose of why the Elders created the hoax. During the Covington Woods quest, he most likely went to kill Ivy. Recall the "daring game" played by the children. We learn that creatures imitate their victim before they attack. Noah does the same to Ivy. She snaps her cane, and the creature also snaps something. She throws a rock, he does the same. Noah was actually smarter than we think. He was THE creature, the usurper of the Elders' hoax. So, he tortures Ivy mentally first before trying to kill her. He was kinda sadistic (he also massacred the livestock).

More The Village questions
Before I Go to Sleep picture

Question: Near the end while Mike is in the car talking to Chrissie, why does the cell phone on the console show a call from Claire if Claire is not conspiring with Mike and is ignorant of his deception?

Answer: It wasn't his cell. He took Chrissie's cell.

More Before I Go to Sleep questions

Answer: Yes! There was a real Heather Jasper Howe! Like the fake Heather Jasper Howe's True Identity is Jonathan Jacobo! He was arrested with Ned.

Answer: Yes.

More Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed questions
The Gift picture

Question: When Annie and her boys are coming home from the neighbour's place, next door, there's a blue light coming from the main bedroom. Leaving her boys, Annie goes into the house and there is all this noise that sounds like a radio not completely tuned in, of an evangelist preaching really loudly. Now, where is all this noise coming from: Annie's mind, Donnie's car radio parked outside? Or is it just for our benefit?

kh1616

Answer: The TV in Annie's room.

The TV wasn't on before, and Annie is suspicious of the noise and light, which she wouldn't be if it was just the TV.

More The Gift questions
Shooter picture

Question: In the movie they state the colonel cannot be charged because the crime was committed outside of the United States. All active members of the US military like the colonel are subject to the uniformed military code of justice no matter where the crime was committed, so how did the colonel prevent the military justice system from being able to charge him?

Answer: You are completely correct. This is a clear mistake, the colonel could (and would) most certainly be charged for his crimes.

BaconIsMyBFF

Though unlike the movie, it's not up the attorney to decide if a military member gets charged, it's up to the judge advocate general.

Actually it's not a mistake. The colonel is not a member on active duty in the service. He's ex military. He's the one running the contractor group that carries out the senator's dirty deeds.

Answer: Receiving retirement pay and being in the IRR confers jurisdiction, even over retired military personnel.

Answer: "The colonel" was not active duty military, BUT as a retiree he is still subject to the UCMJ.

How are retirees subject to the UCMJ?

They're not, generally. Some service members who've served for more than 20 years but less than 30 are or were subject to the UCMJ. There was a recent legal opinion overruling this though. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/08/09/new-bombshell-legal-opinion-says-military-retirees-cant-be-court-martialed.html.

More Shooter questions

Chosen answer: He is taping up the car window that he broke in order to keep some of the winter weather out.

shortdanzr

Answer: He taped the door edges so they wouldn't leave fingerprints on the car.

More The Bourne Identity questions
Scream 3 picture

Question: Was Roman just playing dead in the coffin or was it a dummy? Hard to believe that he could be pretending because Gale checks his pulse.

Answer: No it was Roman. There is a technique you can do where if you apply pressure on the correct artery you can stop the pulse. EXTREMELY dangerous though.

More Scream 3 questions
I, Robot picture

Question: If Lanning really had leaped from that distance, wouldn't he be unrecognizable upon impact and not with only a little bit of blood coming from his mouth?

Answer: He'd certainly have a lot of internal injuries that aren't visible, would probably have more injuries showing than that trickle of blood, but wouldn't necessarily be "unrecognizable."

Phixius

More I, Robot questions
The Thing picture

Question: Why did Kurt Russell sound the alarm when the thing was attacking the dogs? He was nowhere near the area and could not see what was going on. Also before he pulled the alarm, the sound he would hear was too faint to think something was wrong.

lartaker1975

Answer: Remember that he'd just spent the whole day investigating how something mysterious and horrible destroyed the Norwegian camp, so he's already in a spooked state of mind. Hearing the dogs screaming at night is already unusual on its own, and also reminds him how this whole episode all started with a crazed Norwegian trying to kill a dog. Deep down he knows whatever happened to the Norwegians is now starting at their own camp.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: He sensed something was wrong and wanted as much help from the others as possible.

Answer: Having investigated the Norwegian camp, he could have conceived that the use of fire would be helpful. As such, he would need fire extinguishers after combating whatever the thing might be with the flamethrowers. It could have been foresight on his part that by ringing the fire alarms, somebody was more likely to bring fire extinguishers with them, thus allowing better control of the fire.

More The Thing questions
The Prestige picture

Question: In Angier's final performance Borden watches Angier's duplicate drown in the tank. Does the other Angier still reappear for the audience, and take a bow? They never explain this in the film. If he does take the bow, Borden would never have been accused of murder. If he doesn't take the bow, how does the duplicate know not to do so? The duplicate would have no idea that Borden was below stage.

Answer: Angier always wants to take revenge on Borden as he is the reason behind the death of his wife. He knows that Borden is in the crowd the two times, first time, Olivia suggests Borden to watch the new "Transported Man" trick of Angier, where Borden finds out the trap door in the bottom of the machine, second time, Borden wants to know how Angier flies that distance with in seconds through the trap door. As expected by the Angier in the final play, Borden reaches the back stage where actual Angier is drowning (it is as always actual Angier drowns and the replica of Angier appears at some distance in every performance). So, as per the plan the replica hides to create an impression that Borden intentionally murders Angier. Note: the replica of Angier has the same ability and sense like actual Angier.

Rajesh v

It's never stated whether the "real" Angier drowns or takes the bow, but it's implied that it doesn't matter - as the clone is a perfect copy, they are both "Angier." Angier at one point says, referring to toll the trick has taken on him, that each time he did it, even he himself didn't know whether he would be the man in the box or the prestige. Similarly, when Angier asked Tesla which hat of all the duplicates was his, Tesla replied "They are all your hat."

Answer: No, he does not appear to take a bow. The set-up is as follows: Angier invites the audience on stage to observe the machine, but in reality it is so he can watch for Borden trying to work out the trick. When he sees Borden in the audience, he also knows Borden will not learn anything from the stage, and will go backstage. He then clones himself, and the clone is created with the exact knowledge he had at the time of the cloning, including Borden's presence and the trap the original Angier had set. So the "new" Angier hides away the best he can, letting Borden be framed for the murder of the "original" Angier. Had he appeared, not only would it ruin his plan of framing Borden, but it would also reveal how he had done his trick, and he would not allow any of those to happen, no matter what.

Twotall

More The Prestige questions

Saw (2004)

Saw picture

Question: This question applies to the whole series. Why do some of the people who actually manage to survive Jigsaw's traps end up working with him instead of either helping capture him or killing him and insuring that no more innocent people get killed?

Answer: Jigsaw's traps would more than likely leave a person mentally unstable, which could result in Stockholm Syndrome, a condition which involves a victim sympathising with their captor. In fact, after Lawrence Gordon escapes the bathroom after severing his own foot, Jigsaw nursed him back to full health, thus gaining his trust (this is shown in Saw VII). He also plays mind games on people, which is shown in a flashback in Saw III in which he convinced Amanda to side with him. In her unstable state of mind, she realised that he was the first person in her life she could actually relate to, and thus became an accomplice.

EK8829

More Saw questions
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane picture

Question: ***SPOILER WARNING*** I don't understanding the ending to this film. What was Mandy's reason for killing people? Is this a flawed character motivation, or did I miss something?

Answer: The reason for Mandy and Emmett killing off the characters is pretty much left open for interpretation, but it seems the reason they killed them was because before Mandy became "hot over the summer" (as Dylan says at the beginning), Emmett and Mandy were treated like outcasts, and after Dylan's death, Emmett probably took a lot of the blame. It's possible that Emmett and Mandy were tired of how the popular crowd had treated them before. At the end, they made a pact to kill themselves. But after finding out that Emmett is just like the others, Mandy backs out and decides not to, but Emmett doesn't take it very well and decides to kill her too. Mandy fights him off, and she saves Garth, who seems to be the only one at the ranch who saw her as a human being and treated her with respect. So any of these reasons may have been motivation (although their actions are extreme), but overall there seems to be no obvious reason.

Hamster

Answer: It's likely that Mandy developed a taste for murder subsequent to the Dylan incident, in which she evidently was more complicit than would seem at first glance.

More All the Boys Love Mandy Lane questions
Amistad picture

Question: In the last scene of the film the ship appeared to me to be sailing in a westerly direction (sun sets in the west). Wouldn't the ship need to go east from USA to sail to Sierra Leone?

Maureen

Chosen answer: It's likely that the scene was set in the morning, meaning they would be going east.

Greg Dwyer

More Amistad questions
Who Framed Roger Rabbit picture

Question: Does "pattycake" also mean something sexual? We were obviously at first supposed to think Jessica and Acme had sex, but if they were, why would she say "pattycake" and why does Maroon say "You're not the first guy whose wife went pattycake on him"? Am I missing out on something?

MikeH

Chosen answer: According to the director, Pattycake is the toon equivalent to sex.

Greg Dwyer

More Who Framed Roger Rabbit questions
The Bourne Supremacy picture

Question: When Bourne interrogates Nikki (under duress) in the underground station, Nikki insists that Bourne had never worked in Berlin, much less completed his first mission there. But it is established that Bourne had killed the Neskis in Berlin on what is described by Conklin as his first mission. Assuming Nikki has no reason to lie and that she would have accurate information about Bourne's activities, what might explain that issue?

Dusibello

Chosen answer: Conklin ordered Bourne to kill the Neskis, telling him it was a training mission, when in fact it was an unofficial, off-the-books assignment to cover up his and Abbott's corrupt dealings with Gretkov, which Neski was about to expose. Nicky did not know about this Berlin mission as it was not an official Treadstone operation.

Sierra1

Conklin did not tell Bourne that it was a training mission. Conklin told Bourne "this is not a drill soldier...this is a live project, you're a go."

Partially correct. After Bourne eliminates the Neskis, Conklin says "Congratulations soldier, training is over." This implies that while the mission was real, Bourne was still an asset in training, and off the books.

By "not a drill" and "live project", Conklin is telling Bourne to actually kill the Neskis - like killing the hooded man for Hirsch, it's training him to do anything for Treadstone. It could be that the edit is out of chronological order, but the order of the scenes implies that after Bourne has done the job and returned to the car, Conklin says "Congratulations, soldier. Training is over."

Sierra1

More The Bourne Supremacy questions

Chosen answer: Nope. It was deliberately left vague.

Brad

More The Game questions
Scream picture

Question: A small thing that I was curious about: when Billy and Sidney are in the police station, they are in two rooms/areas that are only separated by a glass wall. In real life, would a suspect be kept so close to the person they are accused of attacking?

Answer: No, this is completely incorrect from the film makers. US police stations by law have to have an interrogation cell deliberately so as to avoid the accused person intimidating witnesses or the victim, as billy does to Sydney. Even if the interrogation cell were being used when Billy is brought into the station, he would then be put in a holding cell to wait his turn - they categorically would not just allow him to sit in the public, non guarded part of the station near the accuser.

swordfish

More Scream questions
Gothika picture

Question: Why does Miranda see a dead boy at the end? Her husband didn't "do" boys according to the Sherriff. Will she see every missing person now?

Answer: Probably, she has a sixth sense which will most likely help angry spirits bring down the person or persons who killed them or caused them to die.

T Poston

More Gothika questions
Cube picture

Question: How did Quentin find others in the last scene? he was left unconscious and he had no way to figure out where others went after that (considering his lack of knowledge in mathematics) so how could he possibly make his way to the bridge room?

Answer: It's established that sound travels throughout the structure reasonably well. Also, they didn't travel relatively far, even with the rooms shifting.

Actually, considering the distance that they travelled and the injuries he sustained, Quentin would have had extreme difficulty catching up. It looks like the 3 travelled upwards at least 12 cubes, meaning Quentin would have had to climb up each one with the chance that any of the rooms could be trapped fast enough to catch up to them with enough strength left over to kill Leaven.

Adrenaline is an extremely driving force, so I'd still consider it entirely possible it happened that way.

More Cube questions

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.