You know what's incredibly difficult? Making movies.
Turns out that when there's a thousand moving pieces, all working towards the same goal of telling a tale on-screen for potentially millions of people to see, the little things get left behind. Maybe a character isn't wearing the same hat from scene to scene or maybe a different ending was filmed but left on the proverbial cutting room floor.
However, it's in those missteps sometimes a much bigger, story related issue gets ignored and that's where plot holes are born.
Reddit user, The_Thunder_Child, wanted to know when story fell aside when they asked:
What's the worst plot hole you've seen in a well regarded movie?
Some plot holes are worse than others, as demonstrated by the ones below. While, sure, other options were made, and if any of us were in the same situation as the following people we don't know what we'd do, these still make everyone in the film look silly.
What A Weirdo...For Believing In The Thing Currently Happening To All Of Us
"In Independence Day when the army is briefing the volunteers for the assault on the alien mothership, everyone looks at Randy Quaid like he's crazy for saying he was abducted by aliens… as the world is currently being invaded by aliens"
"That always bothered me. They're all like, "get a load of this guy, he believes in aliens, what a whacko!" While they're all currently refugees of an alien invasion."
A Skywalker, You Say?
"Obi Wan hiding Luke from his father by moving him to his father's home planet and using his father's surname."
"Not a plot hole. Vader never went to check there because he doesn't like sand."
Giving Your Brother The Space He Needs?
"Fred and George Weasley (and later Harry himself) having the Marauder's Map and not seeing the massive Peter Pettigrew on top of Ron's name for years."
I Want To Play A Game
"Saw."
"Why didn't he just use the saw to get the phone that was just barely out of reach instead of cutting off his f-ckin foot?"
Pick Better Procreation Times
"The baby in A Quiet Place. Like... bruh. The planet has been invaded by creatures that attack anything that makes noise. Why would you want to bring a baby - something known for making lots of noise and being unable to control it - into such a world? You're endangering the baby and the rest of your family."
Reeeeeeally Stretching Time Out Here
"The Shawshank Redemption. Let's talk time:"
"Andy most likely leaves his cell and heads into the tunnel around midnight, maybe 1-2 AM. It takes him about 1-2 hours to crawl through the pipe, so he hits the river at 4-5 AM."
"Most prisons start waking up at 6 AM, where the count would most likely be done. Most banks open at somewhere between 8 and 10 AM. Somehow, without The Warden having even reported that a prisoner was missing to the police, Andy managed to:"
"- Travel to several banks in the city and withdraw various amounts of money"
"- buy a car and spend time traveling north to the tree where he and his wife banged"
"- took the walk that took Red nearly an entire day to get to said tree and place the letter, the box, and the strange rock."
"- return from said walk and leave the state."
"I know you could argue that The Warden didn't want to say what Andy had on him, but that Andy got away scott free makes no damn sense."
Science is hard.
We can just leave it at that.
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The Actors Who Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The RoleFew people bought into the idea of Bryan Cranston in the role of Walter White before Breaking Bad...
Things Weigh What They Weigh
"I love the MCU, but one plot hole I've seen in the movies comes from Ant-Man. In the beginning of the movie, Hank Pym explains that when you use the Pym particles to shrink, you have the same mass. This way, when Scott shrinks to an inch tall and punches someone in the face, it's like being punched by a grown man, even though he's very small."
"Anyway, fast forward and there's a scene where Hank reveals that he has a tank on his keychain that he shrunk using the Pym particles. If this is the case, then how was Hank carrying the tank around if it still has its same mass? He shouldn't physically be able to carry it."
Maybe He'd Drive Slower?
"In Back to the Future. Doc paints a line on the road so Marty will hit the wire and get the lightning bolt into the flux capacitor at exactly the right time. The movie even says Doc has adjusted for wind resistance etc. BUT when Marty goes to drive the car won't start. The alarm clock goes off and he is still stalled."
"So technically Marty leaves late yet still hits the wire on time. So Doc's math was wrong and no one said a word. If the car had not stalled, Marty would have been too early, missed the lightning bolt, crashed into the movie theater and never got home."
But Then You'd Have To Chart The Weather And Who Wants To Do That?
"Signs. There's clouds, rivers, oceans, rainstorms, fog, high humidity, blizzards. Aliens invade Earth and none of these things occur?"
And then there's these, plot holes so unbelievably huge that the moment you pull on these story threads the entire story collapses, leaving you with a mess of conjoined scenes with no narrative follow through.
So, Santa Isn't Real, But He Is Real? Then Who Left All The Presents Before?
"every christmas movie that centers around santa being real and adults not believing in him. Who is actually leaving the presents? Because if it's the parents, then santa isn't doing his job, but if it's santa, where on earth do the parents think the presents are coming from??"
"I think about this every single year, especially at the end of The Polar Express when the parents don't hear the bell ringing. Who do they think brought the bell??"
How Did You Know About All The Parts You Weren't There For?
"Saving Private Ryan opens with Ryan visiting the grave of his fallen comrade and flashing back to the Omaha beach landings. Only problem is, Ryan wasn't at Omaha beach, so how could he be flashing back to it?"
So The Movie Can Happen?
"Why did Mother Gothel tell Rapunzel her real birthday? if she had given her a fake one, she never would've suspected that the floating lanterns had anything to do with her, and she wouldn't have wanted to go see them so badly because she wouldn't have know they were released every year on her birthday, she would've remained completely oblivious."
His Crew He's About To Betray Would Walk By And See It Happening
"The Matrix: When Cypher is having the meeting with Agent Smith to plan the betrayal, the meeting is IN the Matrix. They already established that you can't log yourself in or out of the matrix, someone else has to do both, and that someone watches what you're doing on the screen while you're in."
...Oh Yeah!
"Cinderella, she is told by the fairy godmother that everything will turn back to what it originally was at midnight. Her dress, carriage, and horses do so why don't her glass slippers?"
"Because her slippers were made by magic from scratch, unlike the others that were just transformed?"
"This is how my 8 year old daughter explained it to me and it made sense... My question..."
"In a kingdom of Several women, how did nobody else have the same shoe size? Even if they fit snugly or loose, it could be explained right?"
Because Body Language?
"The little mermaid. Girl, just write things down."
"I was about to say "she wouldn't know how to write in English!" but then I remembered the contract written in literal English that she literally signed in English and just .........."
Science Is Hard
"In the film "Gravity" George Clooney is hanging onto a tether and insists Sandra Bullock cut him loose to save herself. This is complete nonsense as there is no physical force pulling him away. With the slight tug on the tether he would have floated over to her. It's a monumental plot hole. The director got an Oscar when he should have been imprisoned."
"Gravity's entire plot hinges on the audience not understanding the title."