Stupidity: Kord Headquarters goes into "lockdown" after the Scarab is stolen, which in this building, apparently means allowing all the guests to leave.
BaconIsMyBFF
16th Dec 2023
Blue Beetle (2023)
30th May 2023
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Stupidity: There is no reason why any person as intelligent as Janet would keep the knowledge of Kang secret from her family. The extended Pym family are the only people in possession of the one thing Kang needs to escape. The brief explanation she gives is that she wanted to protect her family, but this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and she makes no attempt to explain how this secret keeps anyone safe.
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Suggested correction: She is obviously scared out of her mind concerning Kang. She, through her fear, had hoped that him being trapped in the Quantum Realm would stay permanent as long as nobody knew about it in the normal universe. In that way, she tried to protect not only her family but the entire universe.
Not only does she not say that she is "scared out of her mind", she also doesn't act like it either. There is no indication that she is so frightened by Kang that she has lost her senses - quite the opposite, actually. She appears to function rationally and intelligently in every other area concerning Kang, except of course for simply telling anyone how dangerous the Quantum Realm is because the movie wouldn't have a plot otherwise. It's pretty egregious and wildly ridiculous.
Of course, she doesn't say that or act like that. But what she saw of him, when she touched his ship, scared her enough to go to all that trouble to keep him in the quantum realm at all costs. She thought it would be safe to leave, that he was trapped forever. Her judgment was wrong, probably caused by her fear. She is only human.
"Fear" is not enough to get past this level of stupidity. My point is that she doesn't act so frightened; she isn't irrational in any other way. It's just a flat-out, stupidly written element of the film that is impossible to believe. There is no way on God's green earth she should keep this secret, even after her family has made it to the quantum realm. I get that the movie is trying to say she is frightened, but this goes well beyond making any kind of sense at all; it's ridiculous.
Part of the stupidity also involves Janet's action in the mid-credit scenes of "Ant-Man and the Wasp," where she actively helped send Scott into the Quantum Realm to get quantum energy. If she was so afraid of a signal being sent to the QR, she wouldn't have let Scott go without explaining the dangers of going. This film seems to ignore that and instead seems to focus on Janet simply not wanting to discuss her involvement with Kang and her guilt, thinking no one would go back to the QR.
19th May 2023
Bloodsport (1988)
Stupidity: Amongst the dubious statistics attributed to the real Frank Dux at the end of the film is the claim that he holds the record for "Most Consecutive Knockouts in a Single Tournament - 56." A single tournament with at least 56 rounds would include over 72,000,000,000,000,000 entrants.
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Suggested correction: While the entire film could be considered fiction based on Dux's dubious claims, your statement is only valid for a single-elimination style tournament. There are other types of tournaments, such as a round robin which would only require 57 contestant (Dux plus at least 56 guys to knock out).
The kumite is a single elimination tournament. It wouldn't make any sense to have a full-contact tournament, where the action is so (legally) violent that fights routinely end in severe injury or even death, use any other form of bracket.
Nothing is stated that every tournament Dux was in was the Kumite as depicted in the film. Just that he retired undefeated in the Kumite.
The records listed at the end of the film are kumite records. The information comes from Frank Dux himself who made the claims on more than one occasion. When it says 56 consecutive knockouts, it is referring to the kumite and not some other, possibly round robin (which honestly would still be a ridiculous claim) tournament. It is likely the makers of the film believed "consecutive knockouts" meant "single tournament."
I guess everything I've read on him over the decades never made it clear it was talking about one type of tournament with all the accomplishments he's claimed to have. And I've read the same repeated factoid about how many contestants 56 rounds would have that you read.
10th Jul 2022
Snake Eyes (2021)
Stupidity: The Arashikage clan has sworn to protect the jewel and placed it in a safe that can only be opened with the blood of the family. This presumes that no-one in the family will ever have a change of heart, which is actually shown happening with two members: Kenta and later Tommy when he uses the jewel in the climax. It also presumes that the Arashikage clan trusts that none of their family members will ever have illegitimate children until the end of time.
29th May 2022
Snake Eyes (2021)
Stupidity: While Tommy and Snake Eyes are trying to escape the docks in the truck, the Yakuza men surround the truck and stab over a dozen swords in all parts of the cab. Not one of the men ever thinks to use their sword to slash the tires, allowing the heroes to make an easy escape.
29th May 2022
Snake Eyes (2021)
Stupidity: A lock which can be opened with your blood is horrible security. Leaving this as the only security measure on the safe, instead of also using a combination lock or other biometrics such as fingerprints, is done just so Snake Eyes has an easy way into the safe. A person's blood can be obtained through several means, most obviously by killing them, making this a completely unrealistic security measure.
6th Jan 2022
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Stupidity: The Analyst wishes to hide the true identity of Neo from anyone inside the Matrix, so his appearance is altered. But in this new Matrix Neo is also named Thomas Anderson, his name from before he was pulled from the Matrix originally, and he is a famous game developer that created a video game series called "The Matrix." It is frankly astounding that anyone actively looking for Thomas Anderson would not immediately see through this ruse and instead would be fooled by balding hair.
3rd Jul 2020
The Untouchables (1987)
Stupidity: There is no logical reason for a bookkeeper to be present at the liquor deal on the Canadian border and even less of a reason for him to bring the primary ledger with him. This is compounded by the fact this is merely a secondary bookkeeper and the main bookkeeper is subsequently subpoenaed by the district attorney.
4th Jan 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Stupidity: Hans keeps a major part of his plan secret from his own team: that the electromagnetic lock will be disabled if the FBI shuts down power to the building. The mercenaries hired as muscle don't need to know the minutiae of the plan, but it seems ludicrous that Theo wasn't told. Theo states on more than one occasion that he can't proceed past a certain point and that he hopes Hans has a plan for the final lock. Evidently, Hans was keeping this information secret simply to amuse himself, which makes little sense considering how much planning went into the heist.
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Suggested correction: Or because he simply doesn't trust anyone with that kind of knowledge. He neither trusts them or cares about them, it's all him.
So he trusts that Theo would be on board with all the murder and mayhem, open all the other locks, be in a tactical lookout position when the police try to breach, and drive the getaway vehicle. But he doesn't trust Theo enough to tell him the last lock will open when the power goes out?
It's not about trust; Hans needs Theo to do what he is there for and that is all you mention up to the final lock. He has a plan for the final lock and so there's no need to discuss it with the team, since it won't be any of them responsible.
The more people that know the plan the more chances of someone talking. Especially when they are hired mercenaries.
Theo was already on board with taking hostages and committing murder. Him knowing that the power needed to be shut off to open the last lock doesn't appear to be particularly important information you would need to keep from someone to keep them from talking.
If he's the only one that knows the final step to get the money, then at least up until that moment he is absolutely indispensable to the plan and ensures no-one would double-cross him. In any case I'm not sure being more cautious than necessary really qualifies as "stupidity."
8th Jul 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Stupidity: Beck wants to kill Peter's friends because they know his secret. Instead of using Edith to attack them directly with a drone strike, or using his illusion technology to lead them into the path of a train like he did with Spider-Man, he instead has a henchman drive them onto a bridge and leave them in the path of his next Elemental attack. Because absolutely nothing is forcing them to stay on the bridge, they all casually walk off the bus and out of immediate danger. It is unfathomable that a man as intelligent and resourceful as Beck would take such an idiotic approach, especially considering all he had at his disposal and how desperate he was.
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Suggested correction: He wanted it to seem like they were killed in the Elemental attack because it was cleaner. If they were killed by a drone it would be much more suspicious than being killed in the disaster. Once the plan goes wrong, he does simply send an Edith drone after them. If it wasn't for Spider-Man's timing, he would have been successful as well.
But that is the major problem, and why I think it was an egregious mistake in the movie. The plan "goes wrong" because it was idiotic. So idiotic that it is unrealistic that Beck, a highly intelligent person, would have made such a glaring oversight. Leaving the kids on the bridge but not trapping them at all allowed them to make an easy escape.
I think the point is that Beck thinks he is the smartest person in the room and that this plan is going to work. Should he take into account MJ and co's free will, yes, but he is so maniacal (and not thinking rationally) that it does not cross his mind. This is proven by the fact that as his plan is failing around him that he still wants his suit pressed and ready to meet the Queen because it will work out in the end in his mind. Also, to your point, having them walk in front of a train or walk off the bridge, would not make him a hero. He needed real casualties and Peter's friends were the place to start. Finally, in the sequence showing Beck and his team preparing for the attack, he was focused on the theatrics of the attack and, again, thought the size of it alone would work (he wanted it bigger, scarier, more forceful).
Suggested correction: Fury is well aware of the drone system (he berates Peter for misusing it earlier). If Beck simply utilised EDITH to kill the students, it would give away that Beck was using the drones for his own gain. Once Fury was dead, he could have used EDITH had the original plan failed, but he certainly couldn't do it until after Fury (and potentially other SHIELD agents) had been taken out. He was going to attack London no matter what, so he took the opportunity to take out Ned, MJ and Betty at the same time.
This doesn't stop him from using a targeted drone strike to kill the kids, he was planning on using it to kill Fury anyway. The fact that he fails in his strike against Fury is irrelevant to the fact that he needed those kids dead and decided to take a round-about way of accomplishing this goal. Again, he doesn't have to use a drone strike, he is perfectly capable of using the illusion technology to force the bus off a cliff or into some other immediate danger. Having a henchman drive the bus to a bridge and hope the kids are dumb enough not to escape danger when literally nothing is forcing them to just stand there and be killed is ridiculously idiotic.
Suggested correction: Characters, even intelligent ones, are allowed to make bad tactical decisions. Real-life history is replete with examples. Just because it seems unlikely doesn't make it a plot hole.
True - this was originally submitted as "stupidity", which is slightly different, but this seemed like such a massive oversight that it qualified as a plot hole.
Suggested correction: Beck's intentions were to make it look like the kids were killed in the attack by the monster. Had he just killed them with a drone out right, it would have obviously looked like murder and foul play bringing in more investigations and potential problems for him.
But again, he doesn't need to use a drone strike he can use the illusion technology to trick them into an accident. Even what he chooses to do (just leaving them on the bridge) would have also been fine had he trapped them there at all. Just leaving them there without trapping them is so stupid it is unbelievable. It's like leaving someone on train tracks but not tying them up.
Suggested correction: He was an insane person and wasn't thinking fully rationally.
20th Jun 2019
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Stupidity: The eco-terrorists leave the Orca completely unattended allowing Madison to take it without anyone realizing until she is long gone. In addition, they don't post any guards at the exit of the bunker and Madison simply walks away without anyone noticing her at all.
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Suggested correction: They leave the Orca in their empty command room within a bunker filled with loyal men. There is no way anyone could have broken in and stolen it. Madison had the advantage of already being in the bunker and even then had to navigate through the air ducts in order to steal the Orca and escape. They wouldn't have armed men visible immediately outside because they didn't want anyone to notice that they were there.
Either one of these issues by themselves wouldn't be particularly stupid but the combination of them both would indeed allow someone to just walk in and take the Orca. You don't need to post a visible guard at the exit, but nobody is watching the exit at all.
9th Jan 2019
The Mummy (2017)
Stupidity: Dr. Jekyll must take an injection to keep himself from turning into the murderous Mr. Hyde. Hyde obviously doesn't want Jekyll to take the injections because he wants to remain in control of the body. The time between when he begins to feel himself turn into Hyde and when he has fully transformed is ridiculously brief. Why then does he keep the syringe locked in a box in his desk rather than on his person at all times?
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