Friday, November 18, 2011

Two idiotic movie plot holes

Watching a movie and feeling/knowing ‘wtf’. Why the fuck did he do that for? It. Doesn’t. Make. Any. Sense. Consumed in the movie and for the pure coolness we’re experiencing when watching it right now, sure. But not when giving it a slight reflection. Here’s two of them:


The Rock
What happens in the movie:
Sean Connery helps the badass Navy Seals breaking in to Alcatraz. The reasoning is because he’s the only one who has ever escaped from there so he’s the only one who knows the way though hidden tunnels and shit.

Scene:
When the emerge from the water they need to go through some perfectly time coordinated fire-throwing things in a tiny crack that shoots off big flames of fire sure to kill anyone trying to roll under them. You know which scene, right? Good.


Why is this is so fucked up:
Well. This breaking-in scene is fucked up from a number of reasons.
Number one. Why don’t they just shut them off from land? I mean – why are they even on? What’s the reason for them to have them on from the first place? It’s like 50-years ago the place was in use. NO. Don’t say it’s in use for tourists. Why do tourists need whatever those flames supply? Tour is like half an hour. Thank you. And don’t say that it would be suspicious if they suddenly cut them off so the terrorists would know where they were trying to break in. that’s bullshit. Everyone knows that cutting power and supplies is the first thing you do when someone tries to pull a hostage act on your ass.

Ok but let’s just, for arguments sake, say we buy this. Fine. Well, that’s when we move on to: EVIDENCE A YOUR HONOR. Sean Connery escaped from Alcatraz. He broke out. What he does in this scene is rolling in under those perfectly time coordinated fire-throwing things - from the outside - and then opens the door to everyone. From the inside. Why didn’t he just do that when he escaped? I know. It’s too obvious when you think about it that you want to shoot someone in the testicles. But still.



The Usual Suspects
What happens in the movie:
Some criminals are all dead after a presumably failed heist or coupe and the only survivor of the gang sits in the police station and retells their story. The movie then jumps back and forth in flashbacks what has happened, etc. You know the movie.

Scene:
Well. All of them the whole movie – but let’s say the final scene for simplicity. You know when Kevin Spacey walks out after the interrogation all like a gimp and then. Suddenly. As the story unfolds – shows that he was Keyser Soze all along. Omg omg omg omg. One of the biggest surprise endings of all time. I loved it. I was stoked. Omg it’s sooo genius. Then I gave it a thought or two.


Now bare with me cause this is actually not a regular fail – sure it could have happened like this. It’s just that – it doesn’t make any fucking sense, except for the thrill and sheer reason of entertaining us, the audience. Don’t give me crap now about “Yeah but movies are meant to entertain”. Cause this is about making an intelligent movie that should amaze us. Not fall on its own twist.

Why this is so fucked up:
So a lil recap back-story: We learn during the movie that no one has ever seen Keyser Soze. He’s a “ghost” to most people. An urban legend. A myth. It seems that this is very carefully planned from Keyser himself. He wants to have it like this and more importantly he wants to keep it like this. He’s also extremely intelligent. Not your regular crock. This guy runs the show with brains. He directs shit. And we appreciate this.

So WHY IS HE EVEN SITTING THERE AT THE POLICE STATION IN THE FIRST PLACE. Why on earth is he exposing himself like this? Why didn’t he escape and vanished after the boat-heist – we understand he clearly had time to do so since the cops didn’t seem to show up until after all was done. He has chosen to sit here and be interrogated and come up with his fake story – during the interrogation – that is made to fail for his own amusement. Sure. If he was one of those Thomas Crown Affair criminals that commits crime for his sheer amusement and cause he’s bored. But not Keyser. He’s not that kind of criminal. The whole movie is about how clever he is, his genius and how his whole existence seem to circle around his own myth about his non-existence. Not being seen, recognized and probably videotaped at a police station for an entire day.

Thank you for your time, now carry on. 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Youre really missing the point of filmmaking if youre willing to ask those types of questions. Why didn't everyone die when when they got out of the ship in A Trip to the Moon? Why did everyone obey the status quo in Metropolis when they could have just left the city? Why didnt they put more restraints on Kong? By asking these types of "logical" questions, youre not proving how sharp you are. Conversely, youre proving that you completely missed the themes of the film in question. The Usual Suspects is about deception, hence the irony of the title. If you want a perfect film, then go make your own. Clearly youre the only one capable of it.

Anonymous said...

soze wants to pin his identity on keaton. the fake story helps him further conceal himself. he couldn't have known at the time that there was a survivor.

Anonymous said...

What was Soze's plan all along? To kill the only witness that could identify him. For that he decided to use the Verbal character.
Now after the boat incident, Soze needed to give the Verbal character a resolution otherwise the police would be looking for him, since they knew that Verbal was connected to the other 4. So he decides to be captured by the police on the spot and give them a plausible explanation. The explanation had nothing to do with the name Soze. Why would Soze himself ever mention his name? His plan is to sell the "dope" story to the police, get immunity (via his connections), leave as Verbal and be forgotten for ever.
However the burned victim throws Soze into the mix. Verbal quickly improvises and his next best plan is to make the police believe that Keaton is Soze. His only mistake is that he uses the blackboard as a source for his lies. And this is the only part that I have a problem with. You'd think that a smart criminal like Soze would be able to make up lies without any cues. Perhaps in his arrogance he wanted to play with the agent. Other than that I think the plot holds.
So in the end Soze gets screwed anyway, probably because of arrogance, because now everyone knows how he looks like. Yes he can hide but he's now a fugitive, not a rumor.