Best thriller movie plot holes of 2011

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Limitless picture

Plot hole: If Bradley Cooper was able to "quintuple" his money every day in the market as he claims to have done, he would have been able to earn the $100k he borrowed from a loan shark within a few days, starting from $800. Alternatively, he is shown in one scene winning a pot in poker where he could presumably also make a large amount of "seed" money from gambling. There was no need to borrow such a small sum of money from a loan shark, making the entire sub-plot unnecessary.

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Suggested correction: The main character says he did quintuple his money four days in a row, not that he could continue to do so. "Presumably" he could do anything, like robbing a bank. Gambling is not a secure source of income, even with knowledge of the odds and every tell, he could also lose a lot of money.

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Wrong Turn 4 picture

Plot hole: No one wonders what happened to all the staff and patients at that sanatorium? No police ever came there and checked the place out after 30 years? And all the patient records, furniture, etc are still there?

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The Thing picture

Plot hole: Through this film (and its predecessor) it is established that the creature imitates its victims perfectly, having all of their knowledge and memory. At the end, when the female lead tells the male lead she knew he was human because of his earring, he reaches for the wrong ear, confirming he is The Thing. Even if The Thing couldn't reproduce the earring, it would have known which ear it was supposed to be in.

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Suggested correction: It is also established in this film that the creature cannot perfectly imitate inorganic materials; the tooth fillings, metal plate, etc. Kate knows that Carter is The Thing and asks him a trick question about his earring to confirm it. The fact that The Thing reaches for the wrong ear means that it didn't know where the earring really was because it cannot perfectly imitate inorganic materials. There is no mistake here.

THGhost

The mistake has nothing to do with The Thing not being able to imitate inorganic material. The mistake is The Thing has all the memories and thus should know which ear was pierced based on these memories.

Bishop73

This goes with my theory that he was actually human because he didn't try to assimilate her when they we're alone and far away from people, and he didn't change when he was threatened and accused which was backed by (potentially false if the theory is correct) evidence which would make it defend itself.

You're obviously wrong here. The Thing imitates the human perfectly including the memory and I'm pretty sure that if you only have one ear pierced you'd know which one is it, therefore the imitation would know.

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In Time picture

Plot hole: In the last car-chasing scene, the timekeeper had switched his car to chase them, then how could Justin Timberlake get the timekeeper's salary (a day's time) from a car that the timekeeper picked up from the streets?

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Suggested correction: I think it is the car of another time keeper. Hence, it may have a time transfer system.

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The Darkest Hour picture

Plot hole: Everybody jumps into the water and emerges on the submarine except for Natalie. They're wondering where she is when they notice a flare. They realise it's her, and they send a search party. She's hiding on a bus maybe one to two kilometres away from the water. Her going there makes no plausible sense. Makes no sense how she held her breath underwater longer than anybody that they didn't see her and why she would go in the opposite direction of the sub. It was done to prolong the scene. (01:09:00 - 01:18:00)

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Colombiana picture

Plot hole: When Cateleya is in prison she changes into a black cat suit. Where has that come from? Where had she hidden that? She is wearing a very skimpy dress and would not be allowed a handbag or anything.

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I Am Number Four picture

Plot hole: Henri, an expert warrior who is shown to be capable of defeating an individual with super-powers as well as entire groups of Mogadarian soldiers, is abducted by two fat web designers and held captive until John comes to rescue him.

Phixius

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Apollo 18 picture

Plot hole: How would any of the EVA/16MM video footage be recovered in the first place? Astronauts took pictures like these on rolls of film, and those were developed well after the end of the flight. If the spacecraft had not been recovered at all, then the footage would simply be a piece of orbiting space junk. (01:22:40)

Jackson Tyler

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Scream 4 picture

Plot hole: In the hospital scene at the end, why does Hicks run in and push Gale out of the way? She had no way of knowing someone was holding a gun on her and was about to be shot, as far as Hicks knew Gale was just standing there talking to someone. (01:40:00)

brianjr0412

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Abduction picture

Plot hole: When Nathan contacts the web site's operator from Karen's house his current location was tracked but the two agents are deployed to Nathan's house instead .

nickdsandford

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Unknown picture

Plot hole: After January Jones has just told Liam Neeson she doesn't recognise him. Neeson is trying to persuade Herr Strauss and two cops that he really is Dr Martin Harris of Langmore University, and suggests they look for a photo of him online. However, the cop using the computer says that it could take him ages to find a photo of Dr Martin Harris, as "there are more than 40 000 in the USA." This is very true, but as Neeson has already told him not only his name but also his place of work (Langmore university) in reality the cop would have found the photo far more quickly.

swordfish

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Suggested correction: The average cop wouldn't be that quick to realise that he could filter the results. Instead of being a plot hole, this is simply a very human initial response to an initial search result.

ReRyRo

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy picture

Plot hole: Smiley is at a hotel asking Sam what happened when he was duty officer on the night Jim Prideaux was shot. What Sam recalls (among other things) is he and Bill Haydon going through Jim's things. Haydon finds a photo of himself and Prideaux and sneaks it away in his pocket unseen by Sam. How could Sam explain that to Smiley when he did not see Haydon's move?

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The Caller picture

Plot hole: The very last scene shows Mary building a wall, apparently in her belfry. But there should still be the original wall that Rose built, with the hole in it that Mary smashed in. By killing Rose / having killed Rose, she prevents further harm, but all effects that took place before that (also the building of the wall), should stay (like her scars). It is very unlikely Mary broke down the whole wall just to add another body. (01:28:25)

Alpha23

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The Grey picture

Plot hole: How did the wolves get across the canyon? Unless they were flying wolves, there's no way they could.

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Suggested correction: Just because we don't see how they got across doesn't make it a plot hole. We see next to nothing of the area surrounding the canyon. There could have been a pass or trail in the distance that the wolves used. The characters think they are gradually walking away from where the wolves' den is, so they decide to use a makeshift zipline to get to the other side rather than go back the way they came and risk running into the wolves again.

Phaneron

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Fast Five picture

Plot hole: The Rock and his team set up the satellite to keep an eye out for Dom's car. That night he goes out to race and wins the Porsche without ever being spotted. The next night they deliberately set out to lure the Rock to them, and the satellite picks them up immediately. (00:52:00)

Jon Sandys

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A Lonely Place to Die picture

Plot hole: When the hikers heard the voice calling out for help, they were yelling "can anybody hear me" and "is anybody there" in English. Once they rescued her and they tried to talk to her, they said she didn't know any English.

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Blitz picture

Plot hole: They let the bad guy go because "lack of evidence", that should not be the case. We know from earlier we have the killer's voice on tape talking to the reporter, admitting everything. (00:40:00 - 01:10:00)

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