Best drama movie plot holes of 2004

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Flight of the Phoenix picture

Plot hole: This film is set in 2004. The thought that no search and rescue operations would be put in place after an aircraft disappeared from radar during a routine flight is absurd. The Chinese are paranoid about intrusion on their territory and the downed aircraft would have been located by a simple satellite search within hours of it crashing. Chinese military satellites crisscross the Gobi and they are equipped with optical cameras, microwave and infrared detectors and radar, so spotting a metal aircraft on the ground would be simple even if it was hundreds of kilometres off course. The crew would have been visited by Chinese military helicopters (and probably arrested!) as soon as the storm had died down.

PEDAUNT

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Suggested correction: The Chinese government, for whatever reason, may have denied there was any crash at all if it suited their purposes, and the oil company that owned the plane would have little recourse. The Chinese have done this before. For the purpose of the plot, the survivors decided that they had to save themselves rather than wait for rescue and that was completely plausible.

Suggested correction: It's now 2021, and we still can't find Malaysian Airlines MH370. So this suggestion of planes always being found is laughable.

stiiggy

MH370 crashed into the ocean, and in fact some wreckage has been found. The Chinese military does not have the south Indian Ocean under satellite surveillance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, unlike the Gobi desert where a crashed plane would be spotted within hours of it going missing.

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The Butterfly Effect picture

Plot hole: When Evan is in jail with the religious prisoner trying to get him to help him get his journals back he goes to the scene where he is drawing that homicidal picture in kindergarten, but he gets up and puts the spikes that holds documents through his hands, creating a stigmata-style scar. The religious guy in the cell with him is so amazed because of this he thinks Evan is a prophet and he decides to help him. If Evan had gone back in time and got those scars on his hands, he would have changed the original timeline and would have arrived in jail with those scars the whole time. Some people try to correct this using the "If I can create scars, then can I fix them?" statement Evan made to defend the mistake and suggest he can create instant scars but he was using the word "scars" to refer to the negative events; not literal scars on his body. The scar he got when he burned himself in the past didn’t magically appear on him the moment he returned from the past; it became part of a new, slightly altered timeline (just like the scars on his hands should have been) and it let him know he can change history.

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Suggested correction: This isn't necessarily a correction so much as a possible explanation. It's possible that the religious inmate (I think his name was Carlos) just simply didn't see the scars on Evan's hands when he first came to the prison in the timeline where he got the scars or Evan knew to hide them in the scar timeline (due to the fact that it was the sole purpose of him going back) and due to his fanaticism he didn't question him a second time.

Nope, after jamming those things in his hands Evan simply came into the prison with the scars already on his hands and would have never thought of showing the religious guy his powers using that particular moment in the past to convince him, or doing what he did a second time as he already had done it. It doesn't matter if the religious guy didn't see them before, they won't be the object of Evan convincing him. He would have had to try it some other way, each and ever time. That how this time travel works and its definitely a plot hole that it worked as it did, whilst it shouldn't have. Of course, it's a time travel movie and they never make sense.

lionhead

Additionally, the inmate was looking at Evan's palms when Evan traveled back, and when he returned to the present, the inmate remarked that the stigmata marks came out of nowhere.

Phaneron

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King Arthur picture

Plot hole: When the two Legionnaires open the gate of the Hadrian's Wall, they lean forward with their shoulders against the doors as if to push, but they are really pulling. (00:33:10)

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In Good Company picture

Plot hole: When Dan is chasing after Carter to catch him and Alex together at the restaurant, there's very little chance he could have had any idea where Carter was going. He couldn't have told the cab driver to "follow that taxi" because in the time between Carter getting in a cab and Dan getting in a cab about 5 taxis drive past, so how he happens to end up at the same place is a miracle.

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Criminal picture

Plot hole: In the scene where Michael Shannon attempts to rob John C. Reilly and Diego Luna, he takes the briefcase, looking for the check, but it is empty. Diego Luna then reveals he has the check in his pocket. In none of the previous scenes does Diego Luna have a chance to take possession of this check. The check remains in the briefcase, and the briefcase is always in John C. Reilly's possession.

Rochelle McCarty

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Suspect Zero picture

Plot hole: During the end of the film chase scene, Agent Mackelway calls Agent Kulok and gives her a vague location of where they are and asks for back up. Considering Mackelway had been kidnapped and driven out into the country, it should have taken Kulok much longer to arrive at the scene instead of the few minutes that are indicated.

Aaron Lassman

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Wicker Park picture

Plot hole: It's hard to believe that no one except Alex has a cell. These are fairly successful people, especially a traveling Matthew. No one having cell phones is highly unlikely.

RareJewel

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Vera Drake picture

Plot hole: The time line in this movie doesn't make sense. The abortion took place on November 17th and Vera was arrested within the week - and the arresting detective mentions it took place on "Friday" - so we are to assume the Friday just passed. Pamela Barnes apparently took ill very quickly from massive infection after the abortion and was hospitalized on Saturday. The family is getting together on a Sunday to celebrate Ethel's engagement. Vera goes to court on Monday to face her charges - November 20th. Yet the magistrate sets her trial date for 3 weeks to the day - December 18th, which would be 4 weeks from then. There seems to be a week missing somewhere. If there was a week before Pamela took ill, the events seems to imply otherwise.

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Taking Lives picture

Plot hole: Most of the story depends on Costa coming forward as a witness; however, he would have had no reason to do this. It would only make his goal of assuming others' identities more difficult.

throcko

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Suggested correction: Some serial killers try to involve themselves with the investigation, for instance famous serial killer Ed Kemper.

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Dawn of the Dead picture

Plot hole: When Ana is driving away from her home, she stops on the road and a guy opens her door, scaring her into turning her car toward the curb, plowing through a guardrail. She couldn't have picked up a lot of speed, and those guardrails are supposed to always be reinforced on highways/interstates. At that angle she would have had to knock out at least 4 reinforcing beams (they use 'I' beams to reinforce them, and are intended to stop vehicles from passing through them, or slow them down immensely).

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Collateral picture

Plot hole: Near the end Max calls Annie, using the number on the card she gave him, to warning her about Vincent's arrival. But why is there on the card the number of the law library on the 16th floor and not Annie's office number or her cell phone number?

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Suggested correction: The number on her business card is her office line. A lot of office phones are set up so they ring in multiple places throughout the office. A light will blink on the phone letting you know which line is ringing. The line is connected to her office phone, which we see Vincent looking at in her office when she was on the phone with Max, which then gives away her location. This is a very popular way of having phones set up in offices, as it eases communication between co-workers. If one of her co-workers wants to talk to her while she's in the library, they can simply dial her line instead of going up two floors. Furthermore, it is also possible that her cell phone number could be on the card. But Max tried the office number first. He would likely have tried the cell number next, had she not answered.

jshy7979

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The Terminal picture

Plot hole: The Russian with the goat medicine is transferring flights from Toronto. The likelihood that he would be doing that rather than flying into Russia directly from Canada is pretty slim. However, assuming he did, there are two major errors with this scenario. First, U.S. customs is cleared in Pearson Airport in Toronto so he would not be dealing with Dixon at all in New York. Secondly, it's unlikely he would be dealing with customs at all, as it would place all transferring passengers in a holding area and send them on their plane with no opportunity to go anywhere except onto the other planes. While the U.S. reserves the right to interrogate anyone entering the U.S., the fact is it would transfer him out as quickly as possible. (01:07:15)

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Suggested correction: When the movie was made, there were no direct flights to Russia from Canada. Even today, most flights change planes in either Frankfurt, London, Helsinki, etc. There are cheaper flights originating or connecting in the US, so it is very likely he that he would travel to New York to get a direct flight to Moscow. When I travel to Russia, it is cheaper for me to get a flight to Seattle, and fly directly to Moscow, than to fly out of Canada and transfer planes in Europe. Since 911, ALL passengers travelling through the US must clear customs in the US even if only transferring flights. All passengers must deplane, and all luggage is removed from the plane, checked, and loaded again. If the Russian has goat medicine in his luggage, the FDA would definitely be interested in why he has it, and what for.

This is incorrect. You only have to clear customs on a US layover if your final destination is in the US. If your point of origin and the destination are outside the US and you just have a layover in the US you just need to go through the regular transit formalities not customs.

No, you are incorrect. I've done it many times. Post 9/11, if you use the US as transit point between two countries you need to clear immigration and customs. Moreover, you need a visa (or visa waiver).

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The Librarian: Quest for the Spear picture

Plot hole: The plot that a piece of the Roman spear that pierced Christ ends up in a hidden Mayan temple in the Amazon (which is nevertheless still full of gold etc.) makes no sense.

Jacob La Cour

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Cube Zero picture

Plot hole: When the fat guy throws a boot into the ice-spray room, it freezes and shatters on the ground. You can see the length of the shoelace on the ground as well. The shot cuts to the guy in the shaft, and he pulls up the shoelace to reveal the end encased in ice, while the end is halfway into the ice block. This wouldn't be possible, because the other end of the shoelace had no ice at all, and there's no sign either of it breaking.

Knever

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