Best thriller movie stupidity of all time

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

Forbidden Planet picture

Stupidity: All of Robbie's circuits have been burned out as a result of Morbius ordering him to kill the Id monster. The crew only has 24 hours to get the ship loaded and a safe distance away from Altair IV before it explodes. But one or more of the crew spends the little time they have fixing Robbie, a very sophisticated piece of technology, who is working the controls at the end of the movie.

Mike Lynch

More Forbidden Planet stupidity
Gemini Man picture

Stupidity: Spoiler. In a typical 'why didn't he do it before?' twist that kinda invalidates the rest of the movie, it turns out that the villain has had a third Will Smith clone all along, ready for deployment in Yemen and with fear and pain genetically removed, ready to blindly kill anyone, combined with so much body armor that even point blank AR-15 carbine shots barely faze...but he sent the 'prototype' he raised like a son instead, in a hoodie and baseball cap.

Sammo

More Gemini Man stupidity
G.I. Joe: Retaliation picture

Stupidity: Roadblock aborted the launch, but all the satellites explode. That is one hell of a weird abort sequence...and interestingly enough no authentication of any kind is required to abort. (01:30:00)

More G.I. Joe: Retaliation stupidity
Fist of Fury picture

Stupidity: At the end, the police inspector talks Bruce Lee into surrendering, and about 8 people (including the inspector) escort him out of the school. As soon as they're outside, Bruce sees a formation of heavily-armed police preparing to fire. Realizing he was betrayed, Bruce Lee charges, screaming, straight into a barrage of gunfire as the action freezes for credits. However, before the action freezes, there's NO reaction from anyone standing behind Bruce Lee, even though they are directly in the line of fire. Even the police inspector (who knew the police gunmen were waiting outside) just stands there instead of immediately diving for cover.

More Fist of Fury stupidity
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky picture

Stupidity: Just after Ricky has beaten up Tarzan, the warden has the ceiling of the cell Ricky is trapped in lowered in an attempt to crush him. However, earlier in the scene, Tarzan made a huge hole in the wall of the cell to get into it. The hole in the wall is even visible in the background when the ceiling begins to lower. Ricky could have simply run out of the hole in the wall to get out, rather than try to hold the ceiling up with his bare hands. (01:02:48)

Casual Person

More Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky stupidity
The Mauritanian picture

Stupidity: While awaiting their flight home, Nancy told Teri, "Think I miscalculated the tea. I'm not gonna last three-and-a-half hours [on the non-stop flight with no restroom facility]." Nancy then went into the gift shop where Stuart Couch introduced himself, asked if he could get her a drink, and bought her a bottle of beer. Nancy drank at least some of the beer on screen, even though she was already concerned about drinking tea before her flight. (00:59:28 - 01:00:30)

KeyZOid

More The Mauritanian stupidity
Agent Game picture

Stupidity: As soon as Bundy got into the building (instead of when he was still outside), Kaminsky asked him for a "camera check." Bundy had a yellow button with a big star in the center pinned to his jacket's right lapel. Bundy put some fingers next to the button and raised his lapel with the others, making it obvious he was wearing a camera. When Manson got into the lobby (area likely to be under video surveillance), Reese (who saw Bundy and Manson outside) came into the building to give them weapons. (00:03:50)

KeyZOid

More Agent Game stupidity
Ninja III: The Domination picture

Stupidity: If the ninja can inhabit a dead body (and one that has been dead for a LONG time, even) without any penalty in his agility and powers and it is stated that only another ninja can truly kill him (which surely seems correct, since he would still fight even when hit by hundreds of bullets), the whole movie plot that involves him possessing Christie - who is a reluctant and part-time host - does not quite make sense.

Sammo

More Ninja III: The Domination stupidity
Doomsday picture

Stupidity: This highly trained squad of soldiers is sent into a known contaminated zone with all manner of chaos going on within in...and the second one of them sees a woman outside his APC he ignores a direct order and pops outside to see how she's doing.

Jon Sandys

More Doomsday stupidity
Saw X picture

Stupidity: If you pay attention to John's computer desktop, it's hilariously clear that it's just a mockup made for the movie. There are about a dozen files on his desktop that literally just say "File." Every icon has an unrealistically generic name. Etc.

TedStixon

More Saw X stupidity
Sudden Death picture

Stupidity: The secret service officer near the elevator gets shot right in the middle of his head by the Penguin mascot, and she drags his dead body into the elevator. Suddenly he's able to moan and groan and she shoots him again. The guy was very shot in the head, as in graphically. How is he suddenly alive enough to moan?

manthabeat

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: A bullet to the head is not guaranteed to kill someone. Movies and video games have taught us that being shot in the head is instant death, but that just isn't the case.

BaconIsMyBFF

Pretty sure you wouldn't wake up in seconds after a bullet to the head.

manthabeat

Correct. You probably would just lay there stunned while moaning and groaning... exactly like the scene depicts.

He didn't "wake up", he moaned. Which is 100% possible and actually happens quite frequently.

BaconIsMyBFF

More Sudden Death stupidity
Crow Valley picture

Stupidity: David was seriously injured by Olivia a few times (e.g, hit by her car and on the head with a baseball bat). When Olivia went into the bedroom, David was able to knock over his chair, get a knife off the floor, and free himself from being duct-taped to the chair. David took the car keys but left the knife on the floor, even though he was weak and vulnerable and Olivia had previously chased and caught him. When David returned to the cabin, Olivia came in with the knife and keys. (01:02:55 - 01:09:49)

KeyZOid

More Crow Valley stupidity
Airport picture

Stupidity: If Guerrero had limited money and wanted to be sure to blow up the plane over water, he certainly could have bought a ticket to a much cheaper destination than Rome, such as a Caribbean island.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: "The North Atlantic leaves no traces." He wanted to down the plane where recovery and investigation would have been practically impossible.

More Airport stupidity
Don't Tell a Soul picture

Stupidity: After stealing the candy tin full of money, Joey gave it to Matt. Standing in front of the house, Matt opened the tin to see all the cash ($12,600). Joey asked him if anyone saw him, and Matt replied, "No. Let's go before they do." Instead of "hiding" the candy tin in his backpack, Matt carried the tin out in the open - and soon ran into a man wearing a security guard uniform.

KeyZOid

More Don't Tell a Soul stupidity
Escape From New York picture

Stupidity: When the duke approaches the wall at the end, Snake dives on him and briefly knocks him out. Snake could have easily grabbed his gun back and left the duke unarmed (or even just killed the duke there and then), but just gets up and runs, leaving it with him.

Gavin Jackson

More Escape From New York stupidity
Underwater picture

Stupidity: Norah is an experienced engineer and handywoman, still, she doesn't even bother herself for a second to at least TRY to fix the faulty escape pod.

Dangar

More Underwater stupidity
Detective Knight: Independence picture

Stupidity: The patient was wearing a white and gray striped tie when he was walked into the ambulance. The EMT did not remove or even loosen the patient's tie (to facilitate breathing). Instead, the tie was moved from the front to along his shoulder/neck, apparently to get it out of the way while she was cutting off the patient's shirt. (00:07:50 - 00:08:20)

KeyZOid

More Detective Knight: Independence stupidity
Double Threat picture

Stupidity: After Jimmy killed Ask and went to find and rescue Natasha from Ellis, he left without taking a weapon despite knowing how dangerous the situation could be. (01:21:40)

KeyZOid

More Double Threat stupidity
Another 48 Hrs. picture

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.

jshy7979

More Another 48 Hrs. stupidity
Antidote picture

Stupidity: The location of the small hole near the bottom of the wood-trimmed wall where Everette passed Sharyn a note and pencil would have taken much more time and effort to accomplish compared to merely penetrating the wall a little higher (where there would not have been wood trimming/baseboard on both sides). (00:10:00)

KeyZOid

More Antidote stupidity

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.