When you think about the ten worst plot moments in cinema, it’s hard not to feel a mix of awe and frustration. Films can lift us to soaring heights, but a single gaping inconsistency can pull the rug out from under the whole experience. Below we break down the most infamous holes that have left audiences bewildered, annoyed, or downright angry.

Ten Worst Plot Holes in Film History

1. The Karate Kid

One of the most beloved movies of all time, The Karate Kid, has spawned four sequel movies and one television show in the form of Cobra Kai. This film was initially perceived as an underdog story in which the main character overcomes the odds and strikes back against high school bullies by defeating them in a local karate tournament. Daniel, the protagonist, and Johnny, the lead antagonist, are finalists in the “All Valley Karate Tournament.” The referee has warned both contestants that blows to the face will result in disqualification. The two engage in battle in the thrilling climax.

Nonetheless, Daniel uses an illegal kick to the face to win the final point and become the champion—just moments after a final warning was issued. In the series mentioned above, Cobra Kai, which takes place roughly thirty years later, Johnny is still mad about the missed call by the ref.

2. Die Hard 2

The Die Hard franchise is one of the most popular in Hollywood history, and the second installment is no exception. It’s full of action and witty one-liners from Bruce Willis. Wherever you land on that debate won’t shield you from the gaping plot hole in this movie. The premise is that a group of terrorists has taken over the Washington, D.C., airport, preventing airplanes from clearing the runways. The plan is to stop incoming planes from landing. If the terrorists’ demands are not met, the circling airplanes will run out of fuel and crash.

Here’s the thing, Washington is within proximity of many other airports. The key for the protagonist is that his wife, Holly, is trapped on one of the planes stuck in limbo. Her plane circles the airport for almost the entire duration of the movie. It’s hours before they land. That plane could have made it to nearly any other airport in the country with the fuel it had. It seems unlikely that any aircraft coming into D.C. would have sufficient gas to reach a safe location.

3. Toy Story

In the original Toy Story, when the character Buzz Lightyear is first introduced, his character, unlike the other toys, does not believe he is a toy. It is established early on that he genuinely believes he is a Space Ranger.

The movie opens with a group of toys that belong to a boy named Andy. They are fully aware that they are toys. They only come to life when no one is in the room. The moment anyone enters or a light goes on, they all become lifeless. Then, Andy gets a new toy for his birthday, which also comes to life.

The new toy, Buzz, interacts with the community of ragtag toys as if he is a “Space Ranger” stranded on a remote planet. However, despite being wholly convinced that he is a Space Ranger, Buzz plays dead along with the others every time. If he’s looking for a way back to his home world, why not speak to the dominant species on the planet about it?

4. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

One of the greatest plot holes in movie history and literature comes at the end of this nearly ten-hour trilogy (not including extended versions, of course). From their beginning in The Shire, Frodo and company have endured more than any Hobbits ever have and then some. They have lost friends, traveled the realm on foot, fought monsters, and “simply” walked into Mordor.

All the while, massive battles are being fought, and thousands are dying. Ultimately, Frodo and Sam accomplish their task and are ready to face death. But Gandalf swoops in on an army of giant eagles. They fly in, pick up the Hobbits, fight off Sauron’s forces, and swiftly escape. Readers and movies goers have been puzzled for years about why they didn’t just start on the backs of giant flying eagles. Fan theories aside, this plot hole is hard to get around.

5. The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time. It has been praised for its acting, dialogue, cinematography, and more. Starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, it chronicles the time spent in prison by Robbins’s character Andy Dufresne after being falsely convicted of a double homicide. Andy is an intelligent guy and wins the corrupt warden’s confidence. He uses the warden’s corruption and overconfidence to funnel money into his own private account.

While accumulating cash for years, Andy spends nights digging a tunnel from his cell to the outside. Every night when he returns to his cell, he covers the hole in the wall with a poster of Raquel Welch. Until one night, he makes his escape. The following morning the warden is alerted to Dufresne’s absence. They search his cell and tear the poster from the wall exposing the escape route. There was no way for Andy to reattach the poster to the wall from the tunnel. It may not have mattered in the end, but it’s a bit of a letdown in an otherwise breathtaking movie.

6. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars is one of the most beloved and talked about movie franchises of all time. The first film debuted in 1977 and introduced one of film’s most notorious villains, Darth Vader. Throughout the original trilogy, Vader displays great power through the Force and a blatant disregard for life. He becomes infamous for killing his own men for failure or lack of progress. However, at the trilogy’s climatic end, he redeems himself by saving his son from the evil Emporer.

Vader kills the Emperor in a way that no one can survive. He throws his former mentor down a seemingly unending shaft at the center of a space station just moments before it is blown to space dust. Over thirty years later, in the third installment of the sequel trilogy, Emperor “Palpatine somehow returned.” The whole point was that Vader would bring balance to the Force. How did he become a Force ghost if he didn’t kill the Emperor, and how did he survive such a thing?

7. Back to the Future Part II

The original Back to the Future was a blockbuster hit that teased a sequel in the final scene. Four years later, viewers got to see what the crisis was that sent Doc Brown back to 1985 to enlist the help of Marty McFly and his girlfriend, Jennifer. This movie starts precisely where the first one ends.

The whole lead-in and catalyst for the film are that Doc brings Marty from 1985 to the future. With that said, Doc could have just gone back a few days and warned Marty of the upcoming disaster. There was no need to bring teenage Marty and Jennifer on a dangerous mission to the future.

8. The Dark Knight Rises

The first two installments of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy were above reproach. They both delivered a modern and socially responsible take on the classic superhero Batman. Unfortunately, the third film fell short and was full of plot holes. Most of these focus on the Gotham Police Force. The villain, Bane, traps the entire GPD underground for an undisclosed amount of months (estimated between three and five!). The number of officers was said to be in the thousands.

There are three plot holes here. First, there was no reason Bane would not kill them all while he had them trapped, knowing they would come after him if they ever escaped. Second, what did they live on while trapped underground? Finally, when the officers emerge, they are all clean-shaven in clean and pressed uniforms. How?

9. Signs

M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film Signs with Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix has been hailed as a masterpiece. In most ways, this movie does live up to the hype. It is suspenseful and explores multiple themes, including faith and extraterrestrials. Shyamalan is known for his mind-bending plot twists. And Signs remains one of his most famous movies even two decades later, but this plot twist is more of a Grand Canyon-sized plot hole.

The story is about an advanced race of aliens planning an invasion of Earth. While superior physically and tactically to humans, this alien race has kryptonite-like weakness in the form of… water. So a highly advanced and intelligent race has traveled thousands of light years to conquer a world comprised of over 70% water and rains regularly, knowing that the slightest contact with water could kill them. Okay.

10. Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice

This movie had the potential to propel Warner Brothers’ DCEU to the same heights as Disney’s MCU. Unfortunately, it fell short, way short. The title character of Superman has precious little screen time and even fewer lines. The villain Lex Luther’s most notable physical trait has been altered, and the story goes nowhere fast. The introduction of Wonder Woman seemed forced, and most of the film consisted of brooding. It is called Batman v Superman, which is the one thing the film gets right.

For two hours, these two were at each other’s throats. Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne passive-aggressively attacked each other’s cities. The two heroes battled it out in dark alleyways. At the climax, Batman is on the verge of killing Superman as he had intended, thanks to Luther’s machinations. At the last second, Superman spits out the name of his mother, who Luther has kidnapped. The name Martha coincidentally happens to be the name of Bruce Wayne/Batman’s mother. Instantly all is forgiven, and the two team up to save Martha and the city. The end. That’s not just a plot hole the size of Krypton; it’s insulting.

Are you a movie lover on the hunt for the top 10 most heart‑racing, jaw‑dropping plot twists that make you gasp, gasp, and then replay the scene over and over? We’ve dug deep into cinema history, pulling out the most unforgettable moments that left audiences reeling and critics buzzing. Grab your popcorn, brace yourself for spoilers, and get ready to relive the shocks that defined entire genres.

Warning: spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution, or better yet, hit pause and watch the films first.

Why These Are the Top 10 Most Shocking Twists

1. The Invitation (2016)

The Invitation thrusts you into a seemingly ordinary dinner party that quickly spirals into a nightmarish showdown. Will, the uneasy guest, joins his ex‑wife Eden and her new husband David, only to suspect something far more sinister lurking beneath their polite smiles. As the evening unfolds, subtle clues pile up, hinting that the hosts have a hidden agenda.

The climactic reveal shatters every expectation: Eden and David belong to a death‑obsessed cult that worships “transcendence” through murder. Their genteel soirée is, in fact, a meticulously planned killing ritual targeting their unsuspecting friends. The revelation lands like a bolt from the blue, leaving viewers perched on the edge of their seats until the final, chilling seconds.

Critics lauded the film for its suffocating tension and masterful performances, awarding it an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers highlighted the clever balance between atmospheric dread and the slow‑burn reveal, noting how the movie’s subtle foreshadowing kept the audience guessing without ever feeling forced.

Every lingering glance, every off‑hand comment serves as a breadcrumb toward the horror awaiting the guests. The director’s meticulous pacing ensures the twist feels both inevitable and shocking, rewarding attentive viewers with a payoff that resonates long after the credits roll.

2. The Gift (2015)

The Gift follows the uneasy lives of Simon and Robyn, a married couple who relocate to Los Angeles and unexpectedly reconnect with Gordo, an old high‑school acquaintance of Simon’s. Gordo begins leaving enigmatic packages at their doorstep, gradually inserting himself into the couple’s routine with an unsettling persistence.

As tension mounts, the film barrels toward a gut‑wrenching conclusion: Simon, once a high‑school bully, had tormented Gordo, driving him to a nervous breakdown. The seemingly benevolent gifts were, in fact, a meticulously crafted campaign of psychological torment designed to force Simon to confront his past sins. The narrative flips, revealing Simon as the true antagonist who has been manipulating his wife’s perception all along.

Acclaimed for its razor‑sharp script and unsettling atmosphere, the movie holds a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised its deft handling of moral ambiguity, noting how the twist forces audiences to reassess every interaction and question who the real villain truly is.

The film’s deliberate pacing, coupled with subtle visual cues—such as the recurring motif of unopened boxes—builds an undercurrent of dread that culminates in a climax both shocking and thematically resonant.

3. Frailty (2001)

Frailty centers on an FBI interrogation of Fenton, who claims his brother Adam is the notorious “God’s Hand Killer.” The narrative weaves a disturbing family saga where the brothers recount a childhood steeped in religious fanaticism, all under the watchful eye of a seemingly devout father.

The jaw‑dropping twist reveals that the father, a self‑styled prophet, believed he was eradicating demons by killing those he perceived as evil. He indoctrinated his sons, turning them into instruments of his warped divine mission. This revelation recontextualizes the entire story, painting the family’s horror as a perverse crusade rather than mere madness.

While critics offered mixed reactions—praising Bill Paxton’s dual role as director and lead, and Matthew McConaughey’s compelling performance—some found the twist predictable. Nonetheless, the film has cultivated a cult following, appreciated for its atmospheric tension and philosophical musings on faith and fanaticism.

Subtle visual hints, such as the father’s lingering glances at his hands and cryptic remarks about having “the vision,” serve as foreshadowing. These details reward attentive viewers with a deeper appreciation of the narrative’s dark underpinnings.

4. The Machinist (2004)

The Machinist stars Christian Bale as Trevor Reznik, a gaunt factory worker plagued by chronic insomnia. As his sleep deprivation deepens, Trevor begins seeing a mysterious coworker named Ivan, who appears in places no one else can see.

The film’s shocking climax reveals that Ivan is a hallucination, a manifestation of Trevor’s fractured psyche. In truth, Trevor is responsible for a catastrophic accident that led to a coworker’s death, and his mind has constructed Ivan as a coping mechanism to avoid confronting his guilt.

Clues litter the film: fleeting glimpses of Ivan in impossible locations, distorted reflections in mirrors, and recurring motifs of clocks ticking down. These subtle hints build an unsettling atmosphere, keeping viewers guessing until the final, gut‑punch revelation.

Even when the audience spots the breadcrumbs, the film’s masterful ambiguity ensures the emotional impact remains potent, cementing its status as a psychological thriller that lingers long after the screen goes dark.

5. The Game (1997)

The Game plunges Michael Douglas’s Nicholas Van Orton, a wealthy, emotionally detached financier, into a bewildering series of events orchestrated by his estranged brother Conrad. What begins as a seemingly harmless birthday present quickly spirals into an all‑consuming, reality‑bending experience.The ultimate twist uncovers that the entire “game” was meticulously designed to shatter Nicholas’s emotional numbness, forcing him to confront his deep‑seated fears and insecurities. Every chaotic incident, from staged kidnappings to fabricated betrayals, was a calculated move by the enigmatic game architects.

Critics applauded David Fincher’s deft direction and the film’s intricate layering of suspense, though some deemed the finale a touch contrived. Nonetheless, the movie achieved modest box‑office success and has since garnered a devoted fanbase appreciative of its psychological depth.

The narrative’s careful planting of red herrings—cryptic messages, unsettling phone calls, and uncanny coincidences—keeps the audience perpetually off‑balance, making the final revelation feel both inevitable and electrifying.

6. Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, as he investigates a disappearance at a remote mental‑institution. Partnered with Chuck, Teddy delves deeper into the island’s secrets, confronting haunting memories of his past.

The film’s gut‑wrenching twist reveals that Teddy is, in fact, a patient of the very institution he believes he’s probing. The entire investigation is an elaborate therapeutic role‑play, designed to coax him into confronting the traumatic truth of his own involvement in his wife’s death.

What makes the film unforgettable is its relentless mind‑games: subtle visual cues, disorienting dream sequences, and an ever‑shifting sense of reality that keeps viewers questioning what’s genuine. The final, ambiguous shot lingers, prompting endless debate about the nature of perception versus delusion.

7. The Prestige (2006)

The Prestige pits rival magicians Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, against each other in a relentless battle of one‑upmanship. Their obsession with perfecting the “Transported Man” illusion drives them to dangerous extremes.

The jaw‑dropping revelation uncovers that Borden has been living a double life as identical twins, seamlessly alternating roles to execute the illusion. Simultaneously, Angier employs a mysterious cloning device, sacrificing each duplicate to simulate teleportation, thereby preserving his reputation at a horrifying cost.

Key hints—Borden’s missing fingers, cryptic references to “a sacrifice,” and Angier’s obsessive quest for perfection—foreshadow the ultimate betrayal. The film delves into themes of obsession, sacrifice, and the ethical limits of artistic ambition.

8. The Skin I Live In (2011)

The Skin I Live In showcases Antonio Banderas as Dr. Robert Ledgard, an avant‑garde plastic surgeon obsessed with creating an indestructible synthetic skin. His groundbreaking research hides a dark, personal vendetta rooted in tragedy.

The shocking twist reveals that the enigmatic woman confined within his mansion is, in fact, his own daughter, transformed through his experimental procedures after a devastating assault that claimed her life. Ledgard’s quest for revenge against the man who harmed his family becomes a twisted experiment in reshaping humanity.

Critics praised the film’s haunting atmosphere and powerful performances, while some viewers found its disturbing subject matter challenging. The narrative’s exploration of identity, vengeance, and ethical boundaries culminates in a chilling climax that redefines the surgeon’s moral compass.

9. Atonement (2007)

Atonement chronicles the life‑altering consequences of a false accusation made by young Briony Tallis, whose misguided testimony condemns her sister’s lover, Robbie, to a tragic fate. The film weaves a poignant tale of love, guilt, and the power of storytelling.

The heart‑wrenching twist arrives when an older Briony, now a celebrated author, reveals that the narrative we have witnessed is a fictionalized rendition of events she crafted to atone for her lifelong remorse. In reality, Robbie was innocent, only to die in World War II, while Briony spent decades haunted by her irreversible mistake.The film earned critical acclaim, securing seven Academy Award nominations and winning Best Original Score. Audiences and critics alike praised its breathtaking cinematography, compelling performances, and emotionally resonant storytelling.

10. The Village (2004)

The Village immerses viewers in a secluded 19th‑century‑styled community plagued by fear of mysterious creatures lurking in the surrounding woods. Ivy, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard, ventures into the forest to secure medicine for her ailing fiancé.

The climactic revelation uncovers that the village is not a relic of the past but a modern, deliberately isolated settlement. The “creatures” are, in fact, villagers donning disguises to enforce a self‑imposed barrier, preventing anyone from leaving and discovering the truth.

This twist reshapes the narrative, prompting viewers to reevaluate the characters’ motivations and the ethical implications of living in a manufactured reality. The film’s clever subversion of expectations leaves a lasting impression on audiences, encouraging contemplation of the lengths people will go to shield themselves from the outside world.

These ten cinematic masterpieces prove that a well‑crafted twist can elevate a film from memorable to legendary, forever etching themselves into the collective imagination of moviegoers worldwide.

From arrogant emperors failing miserably to seemingly successful rebellions gone awry, the world is full of twists and turns. Here are the top 10 greatest plot twists ever recorded in human history.

Why These Are the Top 10 Greatest Plot Twists

Each of these stories shows how a single unexpected turn can reshape nations, topple leaders, and rewrite the course of civilization.

10 An Imposter German Ship Meets Its Real British Counterpart

In the thick of World I, the German navy tried a clever ruse by repainting the cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar to masquerade as the British ocean liner RMS Carmania. Fate, however, had a cruel sense of humor: the very first vessel they ran into near the tiny island of Trinidade off Brazil (not to be confused with Trinidad) turned out to be the genuine RMS Carmania. Captain Noel Grant instantly saw through the disguise, sprang into action at dawn, and the ensuing duel sank the impostor Cap Trafalgar. Nice try, Germans.

9 An Enraged Emperor Turns An Island Into A Peninsula

At the height of the clash between Rome and Persia, the legendary conqueror Alexander the Great set his sights on worshipping at Tyre’s famed island temple. The island’s council, hoping to stay neutral in the Persian war, denied his request, fearing it would signal allegiance to Rome.

Infuriated, Alexander interpreted the refusal as a declaration of hostility. He seized the mainland settlement of Old Tyre, then spent half a year hauling logs and stones to construct a massive causeway linking the mainland to the island.

When the bridge finally reached the island, his forces stormed Tyre, executing nearly everyone and consigning the survivors to slavery. The ancient city’s geography was forever altered—today Tyre sits as a peninsula, technically part of the mainland.

A stark reminder: never underestimate a world‑conquering emperor’s temper.

8 A Rude Welcome Costs An Empire

During the reign of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan dispatched a sizable trade caravan toward Khwarezmia, hoping to forge a diplomatic alliance. The regional governor, however, responded with hostility, arresting the merchants and sentencing them to death.

Khan then sent envoys to plead for the captives’ release and to explain his peaceful intentions. The Shah, unmoved, beheaded one envoy and sent the others back with their heads shorn—a grave insult to the Mongol ruler.

Enraged, Genghis organized a massive invasion; within two years the Khwarezmian state had vanished, its ruler fleeing to a Caspian island to meet his end.

7 A Paranoid King Who’s Immune To Poison

Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus around 100 BC, was obsessed with the fear of poison‑based assassination. To inoculate himself, he ingested minute doses of various toxins daily, building a remarkable tolerance. Ironically, when captured by the Romans and offered a chance to end his life, the very poison he tried to use failed—he was effectively immune. Perhaps his paranoia would have served him better on the battlefield.

6 Twice The Bad Luck For Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan, the fifth Great Khan, found himself without fresh territories to conquer by 1274 and set his sights on Japan. His first naval armada was repelled by Japanese samurai, and while the fleet turned back to China for regrouping, a sudden typhoon smashed the returning ships.

Undeterred, Khan launched a second, even larger invasion in 1281, aiming to force a landing on Japanese shores. The Japanese had pre‑emptively erected massive seawalls, forcing the Mongol fleet into a protracted search for a viable beach.

The relentless search proved futile; a second devastating typhoon—later dubbed the ‘kamikaze’ or ‘divine wind’—sank the entire armada, ending Khan’s Japanese ambitions.

These twin storms stand as a historic reminder that even the mightiest empire can be humbled by nature’s fury.

5 The Statesman Who Wasn’t Bluffing

When Julius Caesar fell into the hands of pirates who failed to recognize his stature, they demanded a modest ransom of twenty talents of silver. Caesar, amused and insulted by the paltry sum, counter‑offered fifty talents. He spent his captivity mingling with the pirates, sharing jokes and even promising to crucify them once freed. When his men finally delivered the agreed ransom, Caesar kept his word—he captured the pirates, had them executed, and left no one alive to tell the tale.

4 A Diplomat Slip‑Up At The Berlin Wall

On the night the Berlin Wall fell, East German official Günter Schabowski, fresh from a trip to Poland, was slated to read a live press briefing announcing new travel regulations. Having not reviewed the script, he stumbled through a vague statement about liberalized travel, mentioning that citizens could now visit the West.

A journalist pressed for clarification on when the policy would take effect. Trying to appear confident, Schabowski blurted, ‘Uh… immediately, now.’ The comment spread rapidly, prompting crowds to gather at the Wall, demanding passage.

Coincidentally, a border guard, preoccupied with awaiting cancer test results, chose not to intervene. He opened the first gate, allowing East Berliners to pour through and marking the symbolic collapse of the barrier.

3 Darius The Wizard Slayer

When Darius the Great was discovered standing over his predecessor’s corpse with a knife in hand, the court magi rushed to summon the guards, assuming he had committed regicide.

Darius, however, claimed the slain man was not the true king but a shape‑shifting wizard who had usurped the throne. He argued that the real monarch had been replaced by a magical impostor.

The magi, perhaps swayed by superstition, accepted his story and crowned Darius as ruler. He went on to become one of Persia’s most celebrated monarchs, a legacy perhaps bolstered by the belief in wizards.

2 D’Eon’s Double Cross

Chevalier d’Eon, a French diplomat and spy, lived a life of intrigue across England and Russia. After retirement, the public was told d’Eon was a woman, and society forced the former to adopt female attire. The spy authored several works and supported the American Revolution. Yet, upon d’Eon’s death, the attendant dressing the body discovered that the individual was biologically male—a man who had masqueraded as a woman who had, in turn, pretended to be a man.

1 Or Not

When the English populace revolted against King Charles I, they succeeded in beheading the monarch and installing Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. However, Cromwell soon mirrored the very tyranny he had overthrown, imposing harsh rule, overseeing atrocities in Ireland, banning Christmas celebrations, and designating his son as heir.

Disillusioned, the English rose again, ultimately restoring the monarchy with Charles II after Cromwell’s death from malaria. In a macabre twist, Cromwell’s own corpse was posthumously beheaded for the earlier execution of Charles I, his head displayed on a pike as a grim reminder.

Author’s note: I’m a college student majoring in English Language and Linguistics, fascinated by ancient tongues and civilizations.

At this point, writing a script for a film or an episode of television should be down to an exact science. Even people with a passing interest in scripts know about phrases such as inciting incidents, peaks and valleys, and denouncements, and even without popular webpages like IMDb goofs or the endless ranks of video essayists on YouTube, we can sniff out a hole in a plot.

So knowing audiences have that level of savvy, how can filmmakers that have to devote months, if not years to these projects think that they can get away with having holes in stories that seem like they would take a conscious effort to ignore? On top of that, how do they sometimes not only get away with it but make movies and episodes that audiences cherish for generations? Perhaps we can gain some insight into that by looking at the stories below. All 10 examples are, we should mention, movies and episodes that we love enough to have watched multiple times. Still, you can’t really love something until you accept its flaws.

(By the way, if you’re expecting Citizen Kane and its infamous supposed plot hole to be on here, check this page for why it isn’t. Also, SPOILERS ahead!)

10. Avengers: Infinity War

In the fourth movie in world history to gross over two billion dollars at the box office, the villain Thanos wants to become so powerful that he can, at a stroke, kill half the universe’s population to provide more resources for the other half. Aside from how nonsensical that is (think how many systems of producing and distributing the needed resources would be practically wiped out, how traumatized many of the survivors would be, etc.) considering he can do whatever he wants with time, space, reality, and so on, it also means that he can provide infinite resources to everyone. So why would he kill half the population to deal with alleged shortages?

However, some might try to dismiss that by claiming it’s part of his insanity. In terms of sheer plot mechanics, there’s a less high-falutin example near the end of the movie. The hero Doctor Strange possesses a green stone which allows him to, among other things, reset time for at least a short period. This was demonstrated quite memorably in the climax of Doctor Strange. Yet after a confrontation with Thanos late in the movie, he allows himself and his associates to be defeated without employing this power at all, despite the loss being an extremely near-run matter. There’s a common trope among superhero stories of the heroes “forgetting” their powers, but rarely does it go that far.   

9. Get Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJd2sPSVKVg

While the meticulous plotting of Get Out‘s screenplay required twenty drafts and resulted in Jordan Peele receiving the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, he left an unfortunate hole in the story that’s as much unnecessary as it’s a cheat.   

The basic plot of the film is that Chris goes with his girlfriend Rose to visit her parents’ home. While there, he encounters a person from his neighborhood who is now in a relationship with a much older woman. Since he and other black people that Chris has encountered have been acting weirdly, he is deeply suspicious, even before he receives confirmation from his friend Rod that, indeed, the person he just met has been listed as a missing person, just as numerous other black people in that neighborhood have been. Shortly after, Chris discovers a box in the closet of the bedroom he and Rose have been sleeping in. It is full of photos of Rose with a large number of black boyfriends and girlfriends, including the person Chris knew was missing, revealing that something profoundly wrong is happening.

The issue is this: Why does Rose have that very incriminating box of evidence where Chris could find it? In the following scenes, it’s revealed that Rose is a willing participant in the disappearances and feels no remorse. Indeed, we see her casually looking through photos of up and coming athletes shortly after, indicating that she’s already moving on from the harm she’s going to inflict on Chris, so it’s not as if she’d subconsciously be sabotaging the crime. They’re also printed photos even though the movie is set in contemporary times when surely she would be inclined through social conditioning to take digital photographs. Even the best screenplays can’t seem to escape these missteps.  

8. Black Mirror: National Anthem

Often hailed as The Twilight Zone for the internet age, Charlie Brooker’s science fiction anthology struck a chord with audiences from its pilot episode, which premiered in December 2011. In the episode, Princess Susannah is kidnapped by an unknown person who will only release her alive on the condition that the prime minister do something by that late afternoon that the prime minister very much does not want to do, with the full understanding of the public. One of his subordinates makes arrangements to cheat the arrangement in the event Princess Susannah is not rescued in time. Word of the attempted cheat gets out, so the kidnapper releases a video of him removing one of the Susannah’s fingers, and he sends a finger to the press. Learning about this cheat and the harm inflicted on the Princess turns the public against the prime minister, forcing him to go through with the deal. In the end, it’s revealed that the princess is released unharmed and that the kidnapper was an old performance artist who cut off one of his own fingers.

The issue with that is that the performance artist is revealed to be an aged man with a generally working class body while Princess Susannah looks like she’s a model in lower middle age, at the oldest. There’s no way their fingers could plausibly be mistaken for each other, even in the heat of the moment. Even if the extent of the news that leaked was that a finger was sent to a media outlet after the video of the supposed finger removal (which is staged so that the injury itself does not happen in the camera’s line of sight), word would just as quickly get out that it wasn’t her finger, which would massively undercut the public pressure for the prime minister to meet the kidnapper’s demands.    

7. Cinderella

While it is a tale as old as time, most viewers today are probably familiar with it through either the 1951 animated Disney adaptation or the 2014 live action Disney adaptation. Or maybe the 2014 deconstruction in Into the Woods by… uh, Disney again. Our readers very likely don’t need the plot synopsized, but in brief: There’s a hardworking stepdaughter/maid who sneaks to a royal dance after her fairy godmother gives her a dress, carriage, and slippers made of her old clothes, a pumpkin, and magic respectively. She dances with the prince, they fall in love but she has to leave at midnight, leaving her slipper behind. He hunts her down by having every woman in the kingdom try on the slipper until it fits her.

But this story, whether it be the original French version, the German version by the Brothers Grimm, and every film adaptation, has a major problem related to the character of the prince. It doesn’t even make sense by fairy tale logic that the prince loves someone without even knowing what she looks like. Even the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet knew each other’s faces! While fairy tales naturally get deconstructed a lot despite being wish fulfillment fantasies for children, everyone always seems to get too hung up on how impractical glass slippers would be as an article of clothing to observe this problem with the plot.   

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark

This 1981 film was both a tribute to 1930s movie serials (even though creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg admitted they didn’t actually like those when they screened a few for each other during pre-production) and one of the films that codified Hollywood’s blockbuster era. Indiana Jones was instantly iconic as a tomb raiding academic who goes on an adventure to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant  in a race against his old rival Belloq and his Nazi collaborators.

It probably helped that in Lawrence Kasdan’s acclaimed screenplay, Indiana Jones is more relatable because he so often fails on the way to the climax, including said climax beginning with him in captivity.

This is where the trouble with the story emerges. As Indiana and his fellow captive Marion Ravenwood look on, the Nazis open the Ark. Ominous light emenates from the Ark, and out of the blue, Indiana Jones tells Marion to shut her eyes. As they do, angels that seem more like demons emerge and kill all of their captors. Never mind the moral issues that they indiscriminately kill everyone solely on the basis of looking at them. How does Indiana know that shutting their eyes is the way for him and Marion to save themselves? The only thing he’s said about it before this scene was when, back at the university, he sees an image of the Ark and blithely guesses that the light emerging from it is the “power of God.” It’s a very puzzling oversight.

Except it actually isn’t. Kasdan included a scene in the original screenplay where the means of surviving was explained to Dr. Jones, but it was cut during editing. Which just goes to show that even a perfect script can be undone during the production process.

5. Black Mirror: USS Callister

After six years and a move from BBC to Netflix, the premiere for Black Mirror’s fourth season once again left audiences in awe and slightly disturbed. In brief, the episode is about the creator of a virtual reality online video game named Robert Daly. Instead of merely playing his game (which is modeled in large part on a fictional equivalent of the original Star Trek series) as a light adventure as originally intended, Daly makes artificially intelligent copies of coworkers and tortures them into treating him as essentially a god. Part of Black Mirror’s conceit was well-established by that time that AI simulations of people have the equivalents of physical sensations and emotions, thus making the AI in this show as sympathetic as any human beings would be and their existences just as Hellish.

Still, a problem with the story is revealed almost immediately. To properly map out the memories and emotions of his coworkers to make the simulations as accurate as possible, Daly sneaks samples of their DNA home from work from such things as discarded styrofoam cups. The issue of that is that while Daly would indeed have good DNA samples to make clones, in real life he wouldn’t be able to make replicas required by the narrative because our DNA does not contain our memories. It’s a testament to the execution of the episode that this did not seem to take many viewers out of the experience.

4. A Quiet Place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh-trhU24sI

A Quiet Place, the directorial debut from John Krasinski, is a commercial and critical darling. However, its suspenseful pace and limited dialogue left audiences with plenty of time to nitpick the details of its story about monsters that rely on sound to hunt down a family. The biggest issue is really a nail that is sticking up from the middle of a step to the basement that Evelyn Abbott steps on. Now, the nail is sticking up right from the middle of the step, and the staircase is in good condition, so this is not a matter of rushed or improvised repair after the apocalypse. It also is not joining two pieces of wood together. So why in the world is it there? Perhaps the deaf daughter Regan Abbott put it there because she’s subconsciously becoming suicidal (that’s extrapolating from how she blames herself for the death of her young brother and wants to stop experimenting with hearing aids). That still leaves a nagging question: How did it get pounded in without an immediate monster attack?

The producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form were questioned about the nail and the best they came up with was saying that the family couldn’t risk the noise of removing a nail. Which… Fine. But why, or even how, did they get it there in the first place?!

3. Hereditary

While there are many that are contemptuous of this horror hit (hence the fact the influential audience test score called Cinemascore gave it a D+), those that view it favorably tend to be passionate about it. It is deliberate in its pacing and unpredictability, and its art design is as subtly creepy as it is beautiful. Near the beginning, a family learns that a recently departed grandmother’s grave has been desecrated and things… well, they get even more grisly and disturbing from there, including the death of of the main character’s young daughter, Charlie, which culminates in a truly horrifying ending.

While it could be fairly said that writer-director Ari Aster attempted a much more grounded form of occult horror, he still left some substantial holes in the story. Staci Wilson of At Home in Hollywood pointed out that the cemetery calls the family to inform them of the desecration. However, later in the movie Charlie’s remains are also seen, and the movie devotes time to seeing her burial. So how is the family not being told about this desecration? How are the police not being informed of it? With a clear connection between the two desecrated graves, why are the police not investigating the family? Aster has to really fill the runtime with unsettling imagery to keep the viewer’s mind off matters like that.

2. The Dark Knight Rises

While it might not have achieved the heights of critical hype and commercial success of 2008’s The Dark Knight, this 2012 film still made quite an impression with its story of how Bane practically paralyzes the billionaire vigilante Bruce Wayne and conquers the city of Gotham. It makes Bruce’s eventual recovery and triumph all the more compelling, especially with how costly it was in the end. And for this entry, we’re going to go ahead and ignore the well-established plot hole of how Bruce somehow got halfway around the world and snuck into Gotham despite being, at this point, a former billionaire with no resources.

However, one of the greatest problems with the story was that Bruce Wayne recovering from his injury and going through the spiritual journey that allows him to go confront Bane again on more favorable terms takes five months. Can you imagine any administration allowing a city to fall into the hands of criminals to such an extent that people physically cannot enter the city? We can just see some commenters saying something like “sure, look at Chicago, New Orleans, etc,” but you know what we mean. Even in a series where urban crime is to an extent decided by costumed heroes and villains having fistfights, that’s just silly. Silly in a way that the movies directed by Christopher Nolan have tried their hardest not to be. 

1. The Sixth Sense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y8SlYqBOX8

One of the biggest hits of 1999 and the possessor of perhaps the most famous twist in modern cinema history, this film had members of entertainment media predicting that M. Night Shyamalan would be the next Steven Spielberg. We’ll see if his recent hit Split will put him back on course to achieving that honor, but we can always appreciate his story of a child who could see the many ghosts that walk among us. One or two oft-parodied scenes dominate most people’s memories of this film, but there’s a particularly touching scene where Cole Sear conquers his fear of ghosts by helping bring closure to the ghost of Kyra Collins.

Problem with it is that Kyra’s sequence brings with it all sorts of problems. For one thing, it’s said of the ghosts that “they see what they want to see,” so why is she the only one who’s aware she’s dead? There’s also the fact that the way she imparts the truth to Cole for him to pass on to her father is by pushing a VHS tape out from under her bed when he goes to her house during the funeral. But if Collins is aware she’s dead, and has apparently already watched the tape (otherwise she wouldn’t know that it has the information that would identify her murderer on it), then she must be able to move the tape around considerably. So what’s to stop her from just showing it to her father herself without seeking out Cole Sear? Like the rest of these, it’s hardly a movie ruining problem, but it’s enough to make you wonder how such inconsistency was never picked up by critics or harped on during the years-long Shyamalan backlash.

Dustin & Adam Koski also wrote the urban fantasy novel Not Meant to Know. It probably has plot holes in it, but you’ll have to read it to find them!

Posthumous monolith of science fiction Philip K. Dick said that he wrote in that genre because there was “more latitude for the expression of truer ideas.” The focus on exploring ideas that serves as much of the appeal of science fiction means that, often, writers can get themselves into trouble. They can litter their stories with all sorts of logical lapses by focusing more on a metaphor than logical consistency, either in terms of the characters or the aspects of the technology.

Not that this is unique to science fiction at all, but when a storyteller is making up whole new technologies and worlds, there’s a lot more latitude to screw up in ways more literary fiction doesn’t usually have to worry about. Furthermore, none of these plot holes are in anyway ruinous for their stories. It’s just, well… it’s sometimes surprising what writers can get away with while the audience is distracted by the lasers and other wonders of the future.    

As always, be ready for spoilers!

10. Avatar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDh1knYpnmc

Avatar isn’t just the most successful science fiction story but the highest grossing film of all-time (worldwide–The Force Awakens bumped it from the top spot domestically), to the surprise of many. In 2009 it was as much the novelty of the gorgeously rendered environments as the story that drove it to gross $2.7 billion. The story, about how disabled soldier Jake Sully’s consciousness is connected to a bioengineered alien body to serve as ambassador for humanity to the Na’vi on Planet Pandora, seemed practically like an afterthought. Nowhere is this more obvious that in writer-director James Cameron’s blatantly slipshod plotting.

During the end of the second act of the movie, the Earth military destroys the main Na’vi habitat, the Home Tree. Pilot Trudy, played by Michelle Rodriguez, decides she doesn’t want to take part. So in dereliction of duty she conspicuously flies away from the bombing. And yet, she not only isn’t promptly arrested for disobeying a direct order in an environment where bombing a native population is the order of the day, but she’s able help Jake Sully and company escape from the brig with relatively little trouble. Seems as though few characters would be in a worse position to launch a rescue than conspicuous insubordinates.      

Right now there’s a lot of uncertainty how interested audiences will be in Cameron’s upcoming sequels to his megahit. Hopefully, he’s had enough time to remove holes like these from his follow up scripts.

9. Blade Runner 2049

Although it failed at the box office during its 2017 theatrical run, the fact it was the 17th bestselling title on home video in 2018 indicated Blade Runner 2049 is gradually developing its own following. Serving as one of the most belated sequels in film history, it both attempted to have firm, direct connections to the 1982 original and go its own way. These dueling interests unsurprisingly got in each other’s way a bit.

The biggest hole in the plot concerns the villainous business mogul, Wallace, and his relationship with the bioengineered clones called Replicants. In 2049, it’s explicitly stated that they’ve been designed to all be infertile as well as being outlawed in the wake of a devastating terrorist attack that destroyed all digitally stored records around the world. Wallace is of the belief that bringing back replicants is the future of humanity’s spread through the stars, and to that end is both engineering some of his own and on the hunt for a replicant that supposedly reproduced in defiance of her genetic programming.

But as DenofGeek.com pointed out, Wallace himself says the inability of replicants to reproduce was one of the things that allowed people to reassure themselves that replicants were subhuman. He also explicitly says that humanity “lost its taste for slavery.” So if he holds those beliefs in his head, keeping replicants with the ability to reproduce around, as well as the humans that bred with them–and their offspring–is the exact opposite of what he would want: destroying anything that could point to the existence of a fertile replicant if he hopes to sell people on accepting replicant slaves again. It’s the sort of inconsistency that’s particularly frustrating in a movie starring an ostensibly grounded villain.  

8. Star Trek (2009)

JJ Abrams’s reboot of the Star Trek films was a smash hit, although the series it launched seems to have stalled in 2016. Shamelessly emotional nearly to the point of being operatic, it was kinetic and action-packed enough that audiences didn’t have time to question the mechanics of the plot. However, the villain Nero’s story made so little sense that it required more effort not to think about it in the theater seats.

The primary setting for the movie is during the time when James T. Kirk ascends to be captain of the starship Enterprise. In the future, it turns out that the planet Romulus is going to be destroyed by a supernova. Also in the future Spock, another crew member of the Enterprise and essentially Kirk’s right-hand man, tries to stop the supernova and fails. A Romulan from that same future named Nero acquires both a ship and time-traveling ability and goes back in time to get revenge. This includes destroying Vulcan (Spock’s home planet) and Earth.

What never, ever, for any reason gets addressed in this plot is why Nero doesn’t use the fact he traveled back in time to save Romulus himself if that’s his motivation. With time travel technology he could make numerous attempts to save his planet and offset Spock’s eventual failure. But no, vengeance for something which hasn’t happened and which is no doubt on some level preventable is only viewed as a reason for him to be a one dimensional villain–which unfortunately, at the end of the day, he is. This goes to show that time travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary if a movie’s story is going to hold up to repeat viewings.

7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

If you’ve been on YouTube for the past year, you probably had some video recommended to you insisting the storytelling of this hit didn’t match real world logic very well. There were even seemingly erroneous reports that Russian troll farms were used to spread negative sentiments about it online. Whatever your feelings about that, there’s a particular point that many have used as the centerpiece of their arguments. For the dedicated nitpicker, there’s very little arguing with it.

At the end of the second act, our heroes are escaping their main vessel, unaware that the villains in pursuit of them have their escape shuttles dead in their sights instead of being distracted by the decoy vessel. Admiral Holdo, in a suicidal last ditch effort, turns the decoy vessel around and sets the ship to travel at hyperdrive (previous movies in the Star Wars series had portrayed how carefully ships would pre-program a route to avoid colliding with all sorts of space hazards) and rammed the villains’ flagship with devastating results.

This begs a pretty obvious question: Why in eight Star Wars films was Holdo the first person to do this? If it allows such an outsized ship to take out its pursuer, why haven’t pilots in suicidal straits rammed the ships of the heros and villains time and again? We’ve been shown numerous pilots willing to give up their lives for the cause (the movie begins with a scene featuring a pilot doing just that). It seems as though screenwriter Rian Johnson thought he’d found a hole in the canon that he could cleverly exploit, but what many will do is insist he found a weakness in the design of the intellectual property that he should never have called attention to.

6. Star Wars: A New Hope/Return of the Jedi

Before a tag team of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron one-upped this film time and again, this 1977 smash hit was the most successful in world history. It made plot mechanics such as the mystical Force and the twist that its villain Darth Vader is the father of protagonist Luke Skywalker into household reference points.

In Star Wars: A New Hope, Darth Vader takes Princess Leia captive and interrogates her at length over the hiding place of the main rebel stronghold. Later, long after Leia and Luke have learned that they’re siblings, Darth Vader uses the force to learn that his son Luke has a sister so that he can antagonize Luke by threatening to capture and convert her. Which opens up a gigantic inconsistency for the first film regarding why Vader wasn’t able to use the Force to discover Leia was his daughter; or, if he was too concerned about the rebel base to care about that, why he didn’t use the Force to learn where the base was. By Return of the Jedi Luke is quite attuned to the Force but Leia has no such stated defenses in the first film. The only explanation for this is depressingly simple: The Force was largely an afterthought for George Lucas while writing the film, and he had no consistency in what it could do while concocting it by the seat of his pants.

We’re not going to get on any high horse about what people devote YouTube channels to. But anyone who acts as if plot/logic lapses in Disney’s new Star Wars films are some kind of ruinous new occurrence is in for a nasty shock: Plot holes have been prominent features of the series from its conception.  

5. The Thing

A critical punching bag and box office bomb when it was initially released, this adaptation of John W. Campbell’s 1938 Who Goes There? is now one of the most beloved horror-science fiction works in cinema history. Its story of a team of American Antarctic researchers stuck in Outpost #31, who have to deal with an organism that can infect and turn any member of the team into a deadly monster, is as scary now as it was unpleasant at the time of its release. It’s helped immeasurably by how tightly and believably constructed it is for a movie about dealing with an alien, except for one big cheat.

The problem with this otherwise tight as a drum story is the need to have a device of some kind that can handily convince the survey team that they’ve conclusively beaten the the alien. So, Carpenter wrote that the Antarctic team has flamethrowers. As critic Scott Ashlin asked, why would a research team have flamethrowers? If there’s some piece of equipment that needs to be thawed in the extreme cold, setting it on fire is about the worst approach, and the fires a flamethrower shoots are much too difficult to control in a survival situation. Fortunately, the scene where the flamethrowers are introduced is so harrowing that the audience probably won’t be stopping to ask many questions.    

4. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Avatar showed that James Cameron was able to hit pay dirt despite his films having plot holes, but back in 1984 he practically required it of his work with his groundbreaking variation on the trendy slasher film model. A film wherein an artificial intelligence network sends an android assassin back in time to prevent the existence of a resistance leader while another soldier from the future tries to stop him? That’s such a complicated setup that it all but demands paradoxes and inconsistencies to be woven into the fabric of the film, but this has a pretty clear hole in the basic setup.

In the first film, the reason the T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, has organic skin on him is basic: the time machine doesn’t send inorganic, robotic matter through without a layer of organic material to effectively trick the machine. But in the 1991 sequel, the artificial intelligence network sends through a “liquid metal” robot called T-1000, which is stronger than the T-800 unit and has the ability to shapeshift. So how can this robot have the vitally important organic layer if it’s entirely liquid metal? It’s a good thing no one actually mentions that rule in the second film, or audiences probably would have been asking that from the premiere on.

3. “Time Enough at Last”

Stepping away from movies for a moment, let’s talk about one of the most influential pieces of science fiction ever created: The Twilight Zone. In particular, one of the two most famous and beloved episodes of the original run, tied only with To Serve Man with it’s “It’s a cookbook!” reveal. This 1959 episode follows compulsive reader Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) through his frustrating life, through the destruction of his known world and the rest of humanity, to the potential sanctum of a library, and then through a hydrogen bomb, and into the private hell of his glasses shattering just as he’s collected all the books he wants with all the time in the world to read them.