Plot hole: Although this film is a virtual jigsaw puzzle of flashbacks, the dynamic between Dan, Laurie and Rorschach pretty much defines the movie's continuity in the present. However, when Rorschach is framed for murder and arrested, he goes directly to a maximum-security prison, apparently without trial, conviction or sentencing (all of which would require months of due-process, at least). Even if this lapse of time is some sort of artistic device to rapidly advance Rorschach's story, there is no corresponding lapse of months in the relationship between Dan and Laurie, which runs parallel with Rorschach's story. Either there is no due process for Rorschach in this story, or there is a glaring plot hole.
Charles Austin Miller
27th Dec 2019
Watchmen (2009)
3rd May 2019
41 (2012)
Plot hole: In this Australian time-travel fantasy, a college student discovers a one-way time portal that allows him to travel one day into the past each time he uses it. While he at first attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a traffic accident that occurred a day earlier, he eventually travels back 50 years (one day at a time) to save his young grandfather. However, in order to go back 50 years (one day at a time), he'd have to repeatedly climb through the portal over 18,000 times. Apparently, it's not an issue, because the movie just glosses right over it in less than a minute.
21st Oct 2018
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Plot hole: Even if Dr. David Trent's and Annabelle Loren's elaborate plan had worked flawlessly (framing Nora Manning for Frederick Loren's death), the fact remains that they faked Annabelle's death for everyone to see, which would immediately arouse suspicions for investigators. Even if Annabelle and Dr. Trent somehow fled the scene before the police arrived the next morning, their actions would still raise many questions that implicated them; thus, their clumsy and convoluted scheme was far from being the "perfect crime" they imagined.
10th Jun 2018
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Plot hole: At the very end, when Leo Davidson crash-lands in Washington, DC, on the very steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the modified Lincoln statue depicts General Thade (the founder of the ape civilization on Earth) as wearing mid-19th Century clothing. This suggests that Thade escaped from his home planet Ashlar (aboard the recovered single-passenger Delta Pod, no doubt), entered the time-rift, and arrived on Earth in the early-to-mid 19th Century to begin taking over the human population. So, Thade by himself (with no advanced scientific knowledge) completely conquered human civilization on Earth in only about 150 years, which is absurd even for space fantasy.
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Suggested correction: This is based on a lot of assumptions. Firstly, it's a perfect duplicate of the Lincoln memorial even though it's a different past, where humanity isn't the dominant species so it's obviously fantastical. Secondly, nobody says it's an historical accurate sculpture, in the middle ages and Renaissance they often depicted historical figures with modern clothes on. Just the sculpture doesn't give you the story behind it.
Judging from the closing shots of Washington, DC, Thade's ape civilization is a virtual duplicate of human civilization, right down to the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, The Mall, the city itself, the makes and models of automobiles, and even the police uniforms. It's identical social evolution, except with apes in charge. The real Lincoln Memorial was constructed decades after Lincoln died (when fashions had dramatically changed) to memorialize a fallen president, realistically depicting him wearing his own 19th-Century clothing. If the apes followed an exact duplicate of human development (which is obviously the case in this film), then the Thade Memorial was constructed to realistically memorialize Thade, wearing his own 19th-Century clothing. This attempted correction makes no sense at all.
The idea alone that the apes evolved and build a society identical to our own makes it clear that the fact that they have a memorial of General Thade in 19th century clothes completely irrelevant to anything about any historical accuracy you might be referring to, as it isn't there. You can make an entire list of all the hundreds of things that don't make any sense in that scene, if that pleases you. But the clothing on a spoof of the Lincoln memorial doesn't make it a plot hole that Thade couldn't have taken power over such a short period. It's not supposed to make sense. Hell, Leo could be having a nightmare for all we know.
It's called a "plot hole," a poorly-reasoned concept with equally bad writing and production that does nothing to bring the plot full circle.
It's called a "plot hole," a poorly-reasoned concept with equally bad writing and production that does nothing to bring the plot full circle.
Additionally, the original mistake is making the assumption that the statue is of Thade. It could very well be (more likely in fact) that Thade made it to Earth in the distant past, causing the switch from human to ape evolution, and the statue is simply an ape who resembles Thade, possibly a descendant.
10th Jun 2018
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Plot hole: We know that Pericles the chimp (in Alpha Pod), then Leo Davidson (in Delta Pod), and then the entire Oberon space station are all pulled into the time rift and end up on planet Ashlar, each arriving at (drastically) different times. Apparently, just before the Oberon crashed on Ashlar, Commander Vasich sent a mayday transmission ("We're going down!") which is actually received by the Oberon itself before it entered the time rift. Commander Vasich and the Oberon crew are startled to see a very elderly Commander Vasich in the mayday transmission. This implies that Vasich and the Oberon crew instantly aged by decades while going through the time rift; yet, Leo Davidson and Pericles the chimp didn't age at all.
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Suggested correction: The mayday was broadcast years after Leo and Pericles had disappeared into the future, whilst still orbiting the planet, Vasich isn't as old as the later video recording Leo watches at the end of the movie, possibly a decade older. Eventually, after years of orbiting they crashed onto the planet, probably because they attempted to get closer. Then decades pass after the crash until finally the apes on the crashed ship take control. It's possible the Oberon never went into the time portal itself. It crashed in the past after all.
According to the backstory, Alpha Pod, Delta Pod and the Oberon were pulled into the time-rift in quick succession, and they almost instantly arrived at their respective destinations in time (in the case of the Oberon, it travelled back thousands of years to a time when Ashlar was uninhabited). If the Oberon then orbited Ashlar for decades before crashing, then the Oberon crew and Commander Vasich certainly knew that there was nobody to respond to their radio transmissions. but after decades of silence, the elderly Vasich suddenly transmits a mayday signal just before "going down"? No, this is a plot hole, just like the ending in which General Thade (the founder of the ape civilization on Earth) is depicted in statuary as wearing mid-19th Century clothing.
No, they didn't broadcast, they made a video log. They decided to record what happened.
Or, the went through the time-rift, stayed in orbit for as long as they could and got a signal from the rift coming from the past station and send a distress signal to them. Not knowing they were sending a signal to themselves.
25th May 2018
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969)
Plot hole: At the very beginning, as the passenger ship is foundering in a powerful storm, the little boy places his kitten in a box and tucks the box inside his shirt just moments before he is cast into the churning sea. Sinking into the depths, the boy and other passengers are presently rescued by Captain Nemo's team of divers, who supply the drowning passengers with oxygen until they board the submarine Nautilus. Once aboard, the little boy opens his hidden box to reveal a wet but very much alive kitten that could not possibly have survived submersion for that length of time in a box that was not waterproof.
21st Jan 2018
Last Action Hero (1993)
Plot hole: It is firmly established in the last half of the film that movie characters and movie weapons do inflict damage and death in the real world. However, early in the film, a bundle of dynamite comes straight through the movie screen and explodes in the real world movie theatre. That quantity of dynamite should have gutted the theatre, easily; but, when Danny Madigan and Jack Slater cross from the movie world back into the real world, there is absolutely no damage to the theatre.
12th May 2017
Sin City (2005)
Plot hole: At the end, Hartigan races out to the Roark Farm to save Nancy, where he takes out two guards quietly, with a switchblade knife. As he dispatches the second guard, we see the ruthless cannibal killer Kevin just yards away, inside the house, reading. Hartigan then makes a blunder, starts rushing, and he is shot by a third guard. Hartigan kills the third and a fourth guard with two handgun shots. Obvious question: With three gunshots in rapid succession just outside the remote house, why didn't the hyper-alert and agile Kevin come out and rip Hartigan to shreds? No, the generic contention that "Kevin wasn't concerned with Roark's son" is not an answer. When Marv infiltrated and attacked the Roark compound (twice), Kevin immediately engaged Marv. In both instances, Kevin responded to attacks on the compound without even knowing who was attacking. But Kevin completely ignores Hartigan's attack, which seems like a plot hole.
23rd Jan 2017
Ash vs Evil Dead (2015)
Home Again - S2-E9
Plot hole: Old Ash travels back in time to 1982 to snatch the Necronomicon before Young Ash ever finds it (which should, presumably, erase all of the evil events from the original Evil Dead film right up to the present). Upon escaping the cabin, Old Ash finds that the timeline has self-corrected, and his amputated right hand has reappeared on his arm. But he is still in the 1980s. If the timeline had truly self-corrected, then Old Ash's car, his friends, and he himself would have vanished instantly from the 1980s, because the purpose of their mission never existed.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Time travel is not real. The rules of it are dependent on what the writers deem fit. Ergo, this isn't a plot-hole.
By that rationale, plot holes don't exist in any films, because the screenwriters are making all the rules. But, of course, plot holes do exist because screenwriters forget their own rules. In this case, the screenwriters chose to go down the path of correcting the Evil Dead timeline, but then they forgot to correct the timeline.
Baal was messing with time.
16th Oct 2016
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Plot hole: Marty Mikalski discovers a micro-camera in the cabin and is immediately grabbed by the cursed zombie Judah Bruckner, who drags Marty through the window and plants a machete in Marty's back. In that shot, the machete is obviously buried in Marty's back, which should have broken ribs both back and front, severed spinal nerves, penetrated arteries (as well as the right lung), and protruded from his chest. Marty was dead on arrival in that one stroke. Yet Marty emerges at the end of the film as the hero, with no gushing blood from his back or chest or mouth, and no explanation of how he miraculously removed the machete from his back.
26th Jan 2016
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Plot hole: During the warp-speed chase, the Vengeance literally blasts the Enterprise to pieces, and dozens if not scores of Enterprise crew members are killed and injured in the carnage. The medical crew, including Chief Medical Officer McCoy, should have been working feverishly on the wounded and dying for hours, at least. Instead, as Kirk asks Khan for help, the Sickbay is practically deserted, and McCoy is almost idly conducting blood experiments on a dead tribble. There's no sense of a catastrophic medical emergency whatsoever. It's as though the Sickbay sequence was shot for a different script in which there was no emergency, and then lazily inserted into a rewritten script.
29th Oct 2015
Pacific Rim (2013)
Plot hole: Gypsy Danger grabs the wounded Kaiju and falls into the interdimensional rift, which opens in response to the presence of Kaiju DNA. That's how Gypsy Danger entered the Kaiju dimension, but Mako and Raleigh somehow escape the Kaiju dimension in their life pods without using Kaiju DNA. Obviously, the rift allows physical objects and energy to pass unobstructed from the Kaiju dimension into our dimension, but not the other way 'round. If this is the case, then Gypsy Danger's thermonuclear detonation in the Kaiju dimension should have burst through the interdimensional rift, as well, at least for a second or so, at roughly the speed of light. Given that Raleigh and Mako had only a 16 to 20 second head start ahead of the blast, they should have been vaporized.
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Suggested correction: Rorschach was a famous and dangerous outlaw. We are talking about an alternate 80's here with Nixon as president and a nation-wide ban on masks (the Keene Act). Rorschach probably faced the death penalty for his long list of crimes, besides the murder he was finally captured for (not to mention to handful of cops he seriously injured whilst trying to evade capture). I don't think it's strange that his trial was quick or not fully by the book. They made sure he was locked away fast and quietly. The justice system probably works a lot faster in a world of masked vigilantes.
lionhead
Yes, Rorschach was a vigilante; but, before masked superheroes were outlawed, Rorschach was also responsible for sending dozens (if not scores) of far worse criminals to prison, thus benefitting society. This much is stated in the film. His contributions to justice would certainly carry weight, and testimony in his favor would have to be considered in any legal proceedings against him. Also, after his capture, authorities were still trying to assess his mental state, which implies that some sort of due-process was still in place. Rorschach should have received a months-long trial, at the very least.
Charles Austin Miller
To be fair, the original, Hugo Award-winning "Watchmen" graphic novel makes the same continuity leap when it comes to Rorschach's fate. Rorschach keeps a secret diary that dates everything, but it egregiously skips over his trial and sentencing, even though the relationship between Dan and Laurie remains consistent. So, we can say that the movie is faithful to the novel, but the novel itself is flawed with a gaping plot hole.
Charles Austin Miller
The cops of that city don't care about his past deeds, which includes dropping the body of a criminal in front of the police station with the message "Never." They don't like him. Not even his colleagues liked him. That was a long time ago too, he's been the sole masked vigilante for a long time and I bet the cops just started disliking him more and more for his antics. Thus, a quick trial.
lionhead