Technical Inaccuracies / Plot Holes

[Ev0]

Titanic - How on earth can you not see an iceberg?!!

Not only is visibility very poor as Swift pointed out, but massive ocean liners are not exactly known for having good manouverability.

 

[Duke]

Titanic - How on earth can you not see an iceberg?!!

Is it possible that you don't know that Titanic was a real ship and that it actually did hit an iceberg and sink under similar conditions?

I mean, it might have been inattentive, it might have been stupid, it might just have been bad luck, but considering it happened in real life it sure as hell wasn't a "technical inaccuracy"...

 

[slackbladder]

...I'm joking. I know what really happend to the Titanic. Just being ironic... Apologies if it didn't work people!

I used to wonder why in LOTR, when Gandalf could summon giant birds he didn't just stick Frodo on one and fly off to Mordor etc.. Well, I suppose that big eye might have seen them...

 

[Swift]

...I'm joking. I know what really happend to the Titanic. Just being ironic... Apologies if it didn't work people!

I used to wonder why in LOTR, when Gandalf could summon giant birds he didn't just stick Frodo on one and fly off to Mordor etc.. Well, I suppose that big eye might have seen them...

That's exactly what I figured. The great eye, along with the other forces of Mordor, would've seen it coming.

 

[demon of speed]

That's how the author wrote the story, and any director would have to stick very close to such a popular epic. Besides the film would have been half as long with less action/story line.

 

[slackbladder]

💡 Could'nt it have flown low to avoid Sauron's radar? Or maybe a stealth bird!

 

[Famine]

Also, why is it that in war/action movies, a grenade with a standard 3-5 second fuse, either goes off almost instantly, or it takes an eternity? I was watching the end of a Van Damme movies last night, and JC stuffs a grenade down a guys pants and the dude has time to pull it out, and unscrew the top before the fuse ignites. (He still blew up because the spark jumped the distance and ignited the explosive).

Hard Target. JCvD, Lance Henriksen and Arnold "The Mummy" Vosloo's first Hollywood film. I quite liked it, in a harmless, brain-dead way.

And what about the Sun experiment that fell into the water? Doc Oc said "Drown it!" but the thing was still burning brightly when we saw he's body under water.

Spiderman 2 diatribe:

Why did Doctor Octavius's super-intelligent arms - if they were so clever he needed an inhibitor chip to stop them taking his mind over - not remove the inhibitor chip?

How did the fusion experiment sink so far down when it fell vertically from the warehouse? The warehouse was on stilts, which were built on the sea floor - it can't have been THAT deep or the wooden stilts wouldn't have been long enough. What was it, a redwood house?

Since when did adding fuel (water) to a fire (fusion reaction) extinguish it? With the reaction already under way, it would have quite happily used normal water, instead of heavy water (deuterium or tritium oxide).

 

[Swift]

Spiderman 2 diatribe:

Why did Doctor Octavius's super-intelligent arms - if they were so clever he needed an inhibitor chip to stop them taking his mind over - not remove the inhibitor chip?

How did the fusion experiment sink so far down when it fell vertically from the warehouse? The warehouse was on stilts, which were built on the sea floor - it can't have been THAT deep or the wooden stilts wouldn't have been long enough. What was it, a redwood house?

Since when did adding fuel (water) to a fire (fusion reaction) extinguish it? With the reaction already under way, it would have quite happily used normal water, instead of heavy water (deuterium or tritium oxide).

Hence the challenges with comic book movies. There will always be something that just doesn't make sense or goes against the laws of physics. I can't wait to see what laws are mangled in the Fantastic 4 movie.

 

[slackbladder]

Shooting open padlocks or magically 'cutting' steel cable (example: the elevator scene in The Matrix).
There are plenty of films that have this stupid notion that a lead bullet can break open a padlock or break a steel cable. It's a lead bullet! The padlock is iron or steel! What's going to come off worse?! And even if it did somehow magically work the bullet would probably ricochet off and end up in someones leg! This must be the longest running myth in films going way back to the 20's and 30's.

Also in any film where there is a lot of shooting taking place in narrow, metal corridors. There'd be bullets bouncing around all over the place! If a well aimed shot does'nt hit someone a ricochet almost certainly would!

 

[Swift]

Shooting open padlocks or magically 'cutting' steel cable (example: the elevator scene in The Matrix).
There are plenty of films that have this stupid notion that a lead bullet can break open a padlock or break a steel cable. It's a lead bullet! The padlock is iron or steel! What's going to come off worse?! And even if it did somehow magically work the bullet would probably ricochet off and end up in someones leg! This must be the longest running myth in films going way back to the 20's and 30's.

Hadn't thought of that one. Good point!

 

[Danoff]

Shooting open padlocks or magically 'cutting' steel cable (example: the elevator scene in The Matrix).

In that Matrix scene, they go flying up the elevator shaft after Neo shoots the cable. But what happens when they get to the top? Do they smack into the ceiling? The next thing the movie shows is them fighting on the roof.


Star Trek - TNG (spoilers warning)
--------------------------
Final Epsiode "All good things..."

Picard is shifting through time. At one point he's in the past. At another point he's in the present. At other times he finds himself in the future.

Picard is tracking down an anomaly that he finds out at the end of the show is growing backwards in time. He also finds out that he creates the anomaly by shooting a tachyon beam into the same point in space at three different times (past present and future). So when he gets to the point while he's in the future and shoots the tachyon beam, the anomaly isn't there. But he comes back later in the future and the anomaly is there.

Wait a minute. How is the anomaly there later if it grows backward in time?

 

[Swift]

Star Trek - TNG (spoilers warning)
--------------------------
Final Epsiode "All good things..."

Picard is shifting through time. At one point he's in the past. At another point he's in the present. At other times he finds himself in the future.

Picard is tracking down an anomaly that he finds out at the end of the show is growing backwards in time. He also finds out that he creates the anomaly by shooting a tachyon beam into the same point in space at three different times (past present and future). So when he gets to the point while he's in the future and shoots the tachyon beam, the anomaly isn't there. But he comes back later in the future and the anomaly is there.

Wait a minute. How is the anomaly there later if it grows backward in time?

I very much remember that episode. I actually thought it was pretty good. Except for the whole "evolution" thing. Anyway, I believe as it was told. There was a slight or small anomoly in the "future" a noticeable one in the present and a threatening one in the Past. Then when Q hooks up with him, and takes him back to where the "goo" forms amino acids that bring life you see the same anomoly only now it's huge. Now judging star trek by its own laws of the space-time continum. It should be very feasible to travel back and forth in time. So why not have something that goes in the opposite direction of what we consider "time"?

 

[Danoff]

I very much remember that episode. I actually thought it was pretty good. Except for the whole "evolution" thing. Anyway, I believe as it was told. There was a slight or small anomoly in the "future" a noticeable one in the present and a threatening one in the Past. Then when Q hooks up with him, and takes him back to where the "goo" forms amino acids that bring life you see the same anomoly only now it's huge. Now judging star trek by its own laws of the space-time continum. It should be very feasible to travel back and forth in time. So why not have something that goes in the opposite direction of what we consider "time"?

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great episode. I really liked the matrix too but that doesn't stop me from point out issues where I see them.

Now, I find it totally reasonable that the anomaly grows backward through time. But if it grows backward through time, how come Picard can see it in the future (after) he started it. If he's traveling 25 years into the future and he starts the anomaly by scanning the area. If the anomaly travels backward through time, how come Picard can see the anomaly at 25 years+1 day?

 

[Swift]

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great episode. I really liked the matrix too but that doesn't stop me from point out issues where I see them.

Now, I find it totally reasonable that the anomaly grows backward through time. But if it grows backward through time, how come Picard can see it in the future (after) he started it. If he's traveling 25 years into the future and he starts the anomaly by scanning the area. If the anomaly travels backward through time, how come Picard can see the anomaly at 25 years+1 day?

Well, if you're going backwards. Then the beginning is the ending. So when he stopped shooting the tacheon beam, that's when the anomoly started. This is a really good one and I'd like to see that episode again just to make sure. You very well could be right. It would be great to see it again to be sure.

 

[Emohawk]

Shooting open padlocks or magically 'cutting' steel cable (example: the elevator scene in The Matrix).
There are plenty of films that have this stupid notion that a lead bullet can break open a padlock or break a steel cable. It's a lead bullet! The padlock is iron or steel! What's going to come off worse?! And even if it did somehow magically work the bullet would probably ricochet off and end up in someones leg! This must be the longest running myth in films going way back to the 20's and 30's.

Corrilary: Shooting an electronic door conrol panel will always make it do what you want it to.
ie; if you're trying to get through, it opens the door. If you're already through, it closes the door and locks it.

Also, whenever a car is accelerating or braking in a movie or TV, it will squeal the tires. EVERY TIME.

 

[Will.c]

I seem to remember mentioning it before, but anyway..

Evil Henchmen or generic bad guys will die instantly from one shot from even the weediest of guns, even if they are wearing body armour.

Any car will go as fast as you need it to, unless the hero is driving it and trying to escape from somthing.

 

[Emohawk]

I seem to remember mentioning it before, but anyway..

Evil Henchmen or generic bad guys will die instantly from one shot from even the weediest of guns, even if they are wearing body armour.

Any car will go as fast as you need it to, unless the hero is driving it and trying to escape from somthing.

More specifically:
Cradle 2 the Grave: 911 convertable vs. big ass SUVs. DMX has to drive all sneaky like to avoid them. It's a frigging 911! Just floor it!
Swordfish: TVR Tuscan vs. more big ass SUVs. Dispite Hugh Jackman's stunning inability to shift with his left hand, there's no way they couldn't outrun those guys.

Hey, nobody's mentioned TFaTF yet! Better watch that NAAWWZ kid, you'll blow your floor out. For a few minutes.
I'm sure there's more then that, it's just the most obvious/fun.
Oh yeah, that bazillion horsepower Charger seemed to idle fairly coopertively.

 

[Danoff]

Pitch Black

Now, I'm a fan of the movie, and I love that they tried to use orbital dynamics accurately to present a unique and interesting plot. But it would have been better if they'd used orbits properly.

Let's ignore, for a moment, that the planet they were on was waaaay to close to the saturn-like planet that obscured the sun. If you're close enough to another planet to see it so clearly in the sky, you're close enough to be orbiting it instead of the central sun(s).

Ignoring that...

In the beginning of the move, during the daytime, two of the suns are setting on the horizon and another sun comes up behind the group - revealing that this planet has no night. So we clearly have a celestial situation like this:


Sun - Sun - Desert Planet - Sun

This way, there is daylight at all times on the desert planet. Now we introduce the saturn-like planet to cause the "lasting" eclipse.


Sun - Sun - Sun - Saturn Planet - Desert Planet.

Ok, that works, but it's inconsistent with the previous configuration. If they were about to go into eclipse, there would have been night on at least half of the planet.

I don't mind this because honestly they could have easily worked around this with a slightly different explanation and achieved the same plot. But it's still technically inaccurate. (and that saturn-like planet was waaaay to big in the sky - but it sure looked cool)

 

[Danoff]

Star Trek 2009

Spoiler

"Red matter", wth? Ok, let's suppose it exists. Why do you need to drill to the core of a planet to create a black hole with something like "red matter" that creates black holes? Just leave it on the surface, should do the job.

Why do we need to land on the drill in order to destroy it? Can't the ship just shoot at the drill, take it out, and then have communications etc.?

So nero goes back in time after romulus is destroyed and seeks revenge... why doesn't he just try to save romulus? Seems like he got a do-over on that one.

The creature on the ice planet that tries to kill kirk tosses aside a hearty meal in favor of a bony kirk, makes no sense. Also how are these massive creatures existing on the ice planet where there's nothing to eat? And that lizard creature seems more appropriate in a warm climate (looked like a cold-blooded creature, no fur).

So we're gonna drop the warp core into a black hole and that's going to propel the ship out? A tiny drop of this red matter (why'd they bring so much if they only needed a drop?) was supposed to stop a supernova, why is the whole thing now going to have trouble with a warp core explosion?

 

[niky]

Holy gravedig, Batman! But a good one!

Besides the whole silly "Red Matter" thing... And let's admit it, Star Trek science has always been hokey... what bothers me most is the supposedly vengeance-thirsty Romulans sitting and waiting for twenty years for Spock to show up again without attempting to warn their planet of impending doom, destroying random Vulcan or human ships or settlements, or simply offing baby Spock.

-

Should've dug this thread up for Captain America... To note the vibration-absorbing shield that rang like a bell....

 

[Tornado]

I brought this up in another thread, but no one ever said anything so I'll bring it up here too:

Lethal Weapon 3:

Spoiler

Main bad guy's plan is to steal impounded weapons with armor piercing rounds using his police credentials and sell them to a drug dealer so the dealer's pushers can kill policemen. So far, it's kind of convoluted, but still understandable and it is working until the movie starts and his henchmen get caught doing a bank job.

The problem is that the movie then establishes that he was thought to be a dirty cop for a variety of reasons, so his method of obtaining those guns should have been unattainable; and after the halfway point he had to resort to kidnapping the police captain (who knew him personally) to gain access to the gun warehouse because he was caught on camera murdering one of his henchmen from before. So his plan is already completely destroyed, because now he can't keep going once his current supply of stolen guns runs out; but in addition everyone on the force knows who he is and what he was doing, and that he killed a cop and tried to kidnap another one.




But rather than taking the money and running, he... retreated to his housing project. Not even to dig in, waiting for the police to come get him. Just went there and started chilling, like they wouldn't know where to come look for him. Basically, after the halfway point of the movie (when Joe Pesci got shot), his endgame ceased to exist, but he kept following it anyway.

Also, something that I've always found entertaining:

Judge Dredd:

Spoiler

Framed for a crime of killing two people. Escapes from prison. End of the movie absolved from both. No biggie. Happens all the time in movies, so easily ignorable; especially when he was framed by the same people who sentenced him to prison (and they're both dead now).


Problem being that he also spent half the movie doing what essentially amounts to actively killing policemen (some of whom the movie established he previously worked with) who were trying to apprehend him for escaping from the jail, wracking up a body count of other Judges that is considerably higher than the two people he was framed for killing; and at the end what is left of the police force even tried to promote him to Head Judge anyway.

 

[Nessy]

I don't know whether people have posted about this film before in any other threads, but the film '200 mph' has probably one of the most blatant (can hardly call it technical) blunders iv'e ever seen.

Basically the films about street racing (for those who haven't seen it), anyway, without going into detail, one of the main cars in the film is an FC RX7, which miraculously changes into a Nissan S14 during CGI scenes, not only that, the RX7 is referred to by the actors as not only an RX7, but also an MX5, oh.. and an MX7..???

It has to be one of the worst but unintentionally funniest films iv'e ever seen!... i could easily go on and on about how poor the film is, but obviously this isn't a film review thread.

 

[Danoff]

I'm grave digging this thread again

Just adding to re-support this point from a SEAL on Rogan's podcast about the things movies get wrong; first minute is about the misconception of grenades.

I like all of his points, would have loved to hear his take on Act of Valor.

So in my own wheelhouse, the movie Gravity has been much maligned (rightly so) for some of the liberties that it takes. But in this isolated scene, I don't see anything that strikes me as wildly inaccurate when it comes to physics. In fact, I pretty much love this. The (also much maligned) bungee scene (I have not watched recently) also struck me as quite accurate.




Edit:

I guess if I had a bit of a bone to pick with this scene it would be that the importance of her detaching from that arm is somewhat overstated. Given that she's translating and rotating with it, it's not going to "carry her" too far, and detaching could send her farther. More important would be for her to detach at the right moment, when her velocity vector (w.r.t. the arm) is pointed back toward the crash. Ultimately, detaching is necessary for any recovery though since the arm is dangerous to anyone approaching.

They were also acting like inside the shuttle is the safest place to be, and I'm not entirely sure that's the case. I can see arguments for and against on that one. But since I'm not sure, it's not really a criticism.