Best movie plot holes of all time

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Ice Age picture

Plot hole: In the Ice Tunnel scene, Manny, Sid, and Diego come to a stop on the vertical block of ice. It breaks, and they slide through a 'field' of icicles sticking out of the ground. Their 'sled' is shaved down to nothing, indicating that the icicles are sharp. After going through the same tunnel as the baby, how did the baby make it through that field? (00:46:53)

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Suggested correction: A possible reason for the sled slowing down is not due to the ice tunnel but the sheer several tons of weight the sled had on it while it was sliding through the tunnel.

Good point. Without the weight, the icicles would had slowed down the sled instead. And since the baby hardly weighs anything at all, it wouldn't have been able to slide through the field, it would've just collided with the front icicles and stayed there. But it still leads back to question of how the baby got through the field.

Rassdyt

Not true, their "sled" is destroyed by the icicles.

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The Running Man picture

Plot hole: In the unedited video footage of the helicopter incident shown to the crowd, the last shot of Arnie getting knocked out is seen from his perspective and as such could never have been filmed by any camera.

Gavin Jackson

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Where Eagles Dare picture

Plot hole: Why do all the Germans abandon the cable car control room after the alarm has been sounded? If the cable car is critical for access to the castle then you would expect a hard core of SS troops to remain behind to control access and protect the machinery in the event of an attack. (01:42:55)

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Sing 2 picture

Plot hole: Johnny's dad jumps in his truck and gets to Johnny in moments. That same journey was shown to be an overnight bus journey for everyone else.

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The Parent Trap picture

Plot hole: The parents meet and get married on the QE II and then we jump to the girls getting to camp 11 years and nine months later. We learn their 12th birthdays are on October 11, so at the time of the camp (which must be around July/August) they are 11 years and around 9 months old. They should only be 11, given it takes 9 months to grow a baby, but instead they're nearly 12.

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Suggested correction: Elizabeth James got pregnant sometime within the 11 years. Their parents sent them to camp in July because in October they both turn 12. So they are 11 years 9 months old.

The mistake is valid, but perhaps not specific enough about why. The opening scene takes place Jan 8, 1986 (as seen on the marriage licence). Then it says 11 years and 9 months later, which would mean in the next scene it's October 1997 (when it's July 1998). It's 11 years and 9 months after the twins' birth and/or the parents' divorce. But we're not actually shown that part.

Bishop73

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The Transporter picture Video

Plot hole: When Frank Martin steals the Mercedes, how does Lai manage to open the rear door, get in the back and hide - all with her hands bound behind an office chair? Not to mention actually closing the door and hiding herself (and the chair) in the rear footwell long enough for Frank to drive off and not notice her until they are out on the road. (00:29:25)

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Now You See Me picture

Plot hole: Each of the four magicians are given a tarot card that has a date (March 29), a time (4:44pm), an address (45 East Evan St), and a city (NY). When they enter the building on that date, they know which apartment to go to. The problem with this is that it was never stated on any of the cards which apartment to go to once they reached 45 East Evan Street. (00:08:40 - 00:10:05)

Casual Person

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Live Free or Die Hard picture

Plot hole: Since they took down the telephone network, it would have been impossible for Justin Long to even be speaking to the emergency response woman for the car, much less send a signal to start the car up.

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Suggested correction: Is it possible this is a satellite phone call akin to Onstar?

manthabeat

No, the BMW system requires a cell signal to work, which was taken down earlier in the movie.

BaconIsMyBFF

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The Lovely Bones picture

Plot hole: So he needed the help of a big strong burly guy to flip the safe with the body, end over end to the pit, but he somehow was able to easily get it out of his basement and into the back of his car by himself?

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Better Watch Out picture

Plot hole: How does a tied up Ashley glue duct tape to her wound at the end? And on top of that without Luke noticing later on when laying out of the crime scene.

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The Sting picture

Plot hole: Doyle attends Gondorff's betting shop three times, and he listens to the announcer calling three races from three different race tracks - Narragansett in Rhode Island, Belmont in New York, and Riverside Park in Missouri. He cannot possibly miss the fact that the same announcer calls all three races! J.J. Singleton, the race caller, has an instantly recognisable voice, and Doyle wouldn't be fooled for a second. Each race track would have had its own announcer.

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Suggested correction: There are a lot of things Doyle is processing when he's in the shop. There's a lot happening, and he has a lot on his mind, and increasing pressure and stress each time. It's quite possible that he wouldn't notice the accent of the announcer, something he has no reason to doubt.

Rubbish. During his first two visits, he sits quietly listening to the race announcements. On his second visit, he would recognize J.J. Singleton's distinctive voice and would realize something was very wrong.

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How to Train Your Dragon picture

Plot hole: When Astrid gets on Toothless for the first time, Toothless takes off uncontrollably and tries to scare her. Hiccup seems to have no control over him at this time. How is that so if with the new tail fin, Toothless cannot fly without Hiccup's precise control of the tail fin? That whole sequence would have fallen apart. This mistake was even admitted to on the DVD commentary. (00:53:35)

Quantom X

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Inside Out picture

Plot hole: Joy and Sadness are stuck outside of the control center. They are trying to figure out how to get back, and encounter maintenance workers who are discarding old memories. The maintenance workers show that they have the power to send memories back up to the control center to be played. Why couldn't they send the core memories that Joy had back up the same way? Better yet, why not use that method to send Joy and Sadness back up to the control center? The director of the film is even aware of the plot hole, and said "Yeah, well then we wouldn't have a third act," before explaining how the idea of recalling memories was added in later, "box[ing] [the screenwriters] in a corner a little bit."

manthabeat

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Air Force One picture

Plot hole: At the start when the guys are infiltrating that building they parachute down to the roof. They are dressed in black so they can't be seen, but their parachutes are white. (00:02:50)

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Speed picture

Plot hole: If Jack can speed the train up at the end, why does he not try to slow it down? Even if it can't be stopped completely, using the speed lever to reduce it to the minimum possible would be a sensible course of action. There is nothing to suggest he wouldn't be able to do this as he is able to increase the speed without any trouble. If there was something to show that slowing down the train would be unworkable it would make sense, but seems to more serve as a plot device.

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The Bourne Identity picture

Plot hole: In Paris, why does the assassin go to the ridiculous amount of trouble of swinging into the room on a rope with a machine gun when he came in from the lobby (as proved by the dead woman downstairs)? Alternatively, if his intention was always to surprise Bourne by coming in through the window, why venture downstairs at all? (00:44:07)

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Suggested correction: Either he went up to the apartment and then changed his mind (maybe because of something he heard through the door) or he could only gain access to the roof from inside the building.

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Behind Enemy Lines picture

Plot hole: As Burnett runs through the minefield, he clearly runs right into much of the exploding debris. Why does not even one bit of shrapnel hit him? (00:55:15)

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Halloween: Resurrection picture

Plot hole: When the first security guard, who stayed back to get something to eat, hears something in the laundry room, he walks over to the washing machine where he finds the head of the other security guard inside. He turns around screaming and trips over the security guard's body on the ground with no head. Wouldn't he notice the dead body on the ground when he first entered the room?

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Bullitt picture

Plot hole: The movie is based on one huge plot hole: if it wasn't for the "professional" hitman's sloppy work, Bullitt and his team wouldn't have been needed for much. The hitman enters the hotel room, wounds the policeman, then shoots the target with one shotgun blast to his upper left shoulder area. Any hitman worth his fee knows that this is not likely to be an immediately fatal wound. The hitman had a pump shotgun and should have finished the job right then and there. Surely he had more than two shells. Instead, he sees the target is slumped unconscious, then leaves the hotel room without checking to see that his victim really is dead. Nothing seems to be immediately threatening the hit team, though. The hitman spends the rest of his life trying to finish his job and pays the ultimate price for being lazy.

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Den of Thieves picture

Plot hole: One of the bank robbers, a former soldier, Ray Merrimen just got paroled 8 months ago for a previous felony. This film takes place in California. Convicted felons are prohibited by law from touching or owning firearms. Merrimen is at a public shooting-range with CCTV shooting his firearm. The police officer tracking him since he's a suspect in a new string of former and recent holdups walks into the shooting-range and they just stare at each other. He could've been busted and sent back. (01:03:45 - 01:06:00)

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