Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: At the end, Orson Welles is wounded and flees up a ladder out onto the face of the church clock. The clock contains an automata of statues that move in front of the clock face. One statue holds a sword which impales Orson Welles. We have a distance shot in which the sword is sticking out of Orson Welles' back. Orson Welles presses against the statue to withdraw the sword and falls to his death. Is such an end feasible? Surely, for a sword to fully pierce a human body it would have to be very sharp and be driven with incredible force and speed. Would the statue be moving with anything remotely approaching such force and speed? And surely a statue on a clock would not carry a real sword, but a facsimile, meant to look like a weapon from a distance? And, if somebody was pierced completely through with a sword, could they press their body forward to fully withdraw the weapon? (01:34:45)

Rob Halliday

Answer: This is a fictional death, and it's unlikely a person could be killed in that manner. The sword might cause a severe wound, but it would take some force to completely impale a body that way. Movies often exaggerate reality to create drama.

raywest

Question: In this version the Phantom was a highly gifted composer, who, as a grown adult, was horribly disfigured in an accident. Much of the Hammer version centres on the performance of the Phantom's masterpiece, an opera about Joan Of Arc, segments of which are shown during the film. I am not an expert on opera, but it seemed to me that the Phantom's musical take on the Joan Of Arc legend was one of the dullest musical performances I have ever seen, consisting of perfectly ordinary (and uninspiring) dialogue, sung on a single (and rather monotonous) octave. (Imagine some people who can't sing very well singing the text of a second rate historical novel.) Did anybody else who saw this little known film of the classic horror story have any opinion on the Joan Of Arc opera?

Rob Halliday

Answer: This is a British low-budget version of the classic book. Due to its financial restraints, there was less concern about producing a factual or high-quality fictional opera. It is only a backdrop to the story.

raywest

Question: Why did the writers decide to have Snoke killed just like that? Fans have spent the last two years wondering about so many theories about who he is, so was it really wise to kill him that early on without even the slightest hint as to who he really is?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: According to reports, JJ Abrams had different ideas for each characters' story arcs while he was directing "The Force Awakens"; when Rian Johnson signed on as director for "Last Jedi", he basically decided to ignore Abrams' ideas and create his own direction for every major character, including Snoke. Since there is still one more film left in the current trilogy, though, we may learn more about Snoke's true nature in Episode IX; the possibility also exists that he may return as a Force ghost or in a cloned body, at least according to fan theories.

zendaddy621

Answer: I know this caused quite the uproar with a lot of the fans, but looking back at the original trilogy, how much information was known about Emperor Palpatine when he was killed off? None of this was addressed until the prequel trilogy many years later.

ctown28

Exactly. I have made this same argument so many times. Back when the original trilogy came out, none of us were running around complaining that we never found out the Emperor's backstory.

wizard_of_gore

I was merely asking why they decided to kill off Snoke this early.

To be more to the point of your question, it seems that Rian Johnson believed (in my opinion, correctly) that the Snoke character added very little to the story and his death would be shocking to the audience. As a virtual copy of Palpatine in almost every way, the audience expected Snoke to fill a similar role in this story and last well into the third film. By killing Snoke so early, you get rid of a pretty useless character and also shock your audience, leaving them with no idea what direction the story will take going forward.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why was Beatrix so shocked to hear Elle killed Pai Mei?

MikeH

Answer: When Beatrix trained with Pai Mei we see that if you listen to him and respect him then he has a lot to teach. She wasn't so much shocked that Elle killed him...she is shocked at the lack of respect Elle showed in killing him.

oddy knocky

Question: During the movie when a viewer can make decisions, I chose to honk the horn twice which saved Frankie's life. Later in the film, Frankie is being arrested by two officers. The scene pauses and a question appears asking if it was right to save his life. I chose "yes" and because of this he is seen being taken away. If I had chosen "no", what would have happened to Frankie?

Answer: The movie just continues without showing any additional clips.

Bishop73

Answer: In the choose their fate version, it shows clips from Frankie's camera diary.

Question: Gulliver's attempt at avoiding a fight with the Blefuscian at sea sea fails. He've been surrounded and shot at. He grabs at the ropes coming from each ship's bow and drags them away. Now, why were there ropes coming from each of the ships and how did they end up infront of them so that he could grab onto them?

Answer: Obviously, it's just a deliberate error in a fantasy film that is full of plot-holes and errors. They certainly aren't anchor lines, as the ships are actively involved in a military engagement (surrounding Gulliver). Also, no navy flotilla of sailing ships would have lines hanging loose at the bow or stern, particularly going into a military engagement. Rather, the lines would be coiled and neatly stowed on deck. In this case, the deliberate error permits Gulliver to tow away the Blefuscudian ships in just a matter of moments (even though Blefuscu is over a half-mile away by water).

Charles Austin Miller

Question: I noticed that the island they crashed on was "Mata nui." It sounded familiar to me, and Google told me Mata Nui was a Lego Bionicle figure. Since the movie is from 1998 and Bionicle from 2001, Lego must have been inspired by the movie, or what?

ELINBJD

Answer: Motu Nui is a real life island, the name means "large island" in Maori. Most likely that is the source of Lego's inspiration for the name. While it is certainly possible that whoever came up with Mata Nui first heard the name Motu Nui in this movie, it is unlikely. Motu Nui is a fairly well known island and also shares its name with a settlement in New Zealand. A fictionalized island called Motu Nui is also the home of Disney princess Moana, which obviously came out after Bionicle but speaks to how well known the name is.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Thank you. I must have misheard the name in the movie! I will Google Motu Nui now.

Question: When the Creeper lands on top of the bus, you can see he is missing his right wing and his left arm is mangled to the bone. After eating Dante's head, he flies away with two wings and both arms. However, he didn't eat either of Dante's arms and there weren't any extra wings lying around to eat. So how did he get his left arm and right wing back? (00:53:55)

Super.Genius.Infinity.Squared

Answer: Eating human flesh helps the Creeper regenerate his whole body, no matter which part he ate.

Celldweller55

Question: How long has it been since the last movie? It is said in the fake mission briefing in the beginning that Ethan has been tracking the Syndicate for "the past year", a mission he received at the end of the last movie. Yet I've also heard that the movies are set in the years they come out (2011, 2015, etc) In either case I find it hard to believe that the IMF has not received a new secretary yet if it has been well over a year since the last one died. At the end of Ghost Protocol the IMF is already up and running again. Why haven't they appointed a new head? And who is giving orders/missions in the absence of one? Who gave Hunt the mission to investigate the Syndicate at the end of GP for example?

Answer: The M:I films seem very careful not to show any specific dates (covering up Benji's opera tickets for example). The only thing I could see in this film was the newspaper Atlee has when he meets Ilsa was an actual Evening Standard issue from 16 June 2014. Regarding the IMF Secretary, there could have been one or more appointed since Ghost Protocol, we don't know, there just isn't one at the time of the hearing. Even if there hadn't been one since the Secretary died in Moscow, IMF would have had enough of a command structure to have acting or deputy directors assigning missions.

Sierra1

Question: What exactly were Atlee's intentions with Ilsa? Why did he originally send her to infiltrate the Syndicate and why did he send her back later in the movie? If all he wants to do is keep the Syndicate hidden, what does he hope to accomplish with Ilsa as his woman on the inside? Does he actually know what is on the flashdrive she brings him, or does he also think it's a ledger? It makes sense for him to want to delete it in both cases, so I'm confused trying to figure out which it is. Either way, does Atlee send her back to get killed? Hunt later says he wanted to "frame" her, but I don't understand how.

Answer: When Lane took the Syndicate rogue, Atlee no longer had any control or oversight into the group, so he sent Ilsa Faust to infiltrate them and report to him what Lane was doing. The CIA and IMF already knew about the Syndicate so it was no longer hidden, and Atlee just needed to cover up his role in its creation. As Faust was already undercover there, he could also frame her for any connection to MI6 that might be revealed, particularly if she was killed and could no longer incriminate him.

Sierra1

Question: How did Ethan figure out Atlee's true intentions? He only just learned his name a bit earlier and now he's impersonating him and know exactly how to play him, that he's trying to hide the Syndicate, that he created it, that the PM knows it too. How did he learn all this?

Answer: Atlee was the director general of MI6, so he would have been fairly well known, particularly within the intelligence community. Ethan only impersonated Atlee to get close to the Prime Minister and unlock the red box, and he didn't know Atlee had created the Syndicate until the PM said so. Once he found out, he just went along with it until the real Atlee showed up.

Sierra1

Question: When Ilsa presents Ethan with his supposed 3 options, she says she's proof the Syndicate exists, but I'm not sure how exactly. She also says the CIA wouldn't believe them right afterwards. They all assume at this point the disc is a ledger though, so why wouldn't that definitively prove the Syndicate is real? I know of course that since it's encrypted they can't open it, but Ilsa doesn't know that! I don't see how she could come to the conclusion that the CIA won't believe them.

Question: Why would Jessie's friend take the chance of stealing that piece of paper with Ally's number on it, while their gangster "friend" who is supposed to be pretty scary is right there, when he is sitting there filming the whole damn thing and could just go back and get the number off the camera? (01:01:50)

AmberMac420

Question: The father seems to be a very scientific guy. But why hasn't he built some "sound-grenades" which they always carry around and throwing them away to distract the dangerous aliens when they are near? (for example loud toys, egg timers, etc.).

Goekhan

Answer: Possibly because it would be too dangerous. Most times an object like that could not be thrown far enough away to allow the family to escape, particularly in a panicked situation. A creature might be momentarily distracted, but would quickly zero in on them as very frightened children would probably be yelling, screaming, and crying.

raywest

Question: Did Lane intend for Ilsa to enlist Ethan's help all along? What does he want with Ethan, why does he tolerate him still being alive, why didn't he kill him in the beginning?

Answer: Lane is an expert in manipulating people, and he is using Hunt's skills to get what he wants. As he says at the end, whether Isla killed Hunt (and therefore became further embedded within The Syndicate) or let him go, sooner or later he would have got what he wanted. If Ilsa became loyal to Lane she would have worked to get the red box for Lane. If she helped Hunt, she would work with him to stop Lane getting the red box. Either way, the red box is extracted from the vault.

Question: In the end of the first movie Paul is safe in the hospital, so why has he come back into the forest and gets hit by a truck in this movie?

Answer: Spoiler Alert: At the end of the first movie, Paul was not safe at the hospital. The doctors inform the sheriff that Paul needs to be transferred. We then see Deputy Winston take Paul, but instead of transferring him, Winston dumps Paul on the side of the creek. In the 2nd movie, Paul is alive, but just barely as he's badly infected. He's trying to get help and finally manages to make it to the highway, where he gets hit.

Bishop73

Question: How does MI6 put pressure on Ilsa? Why is she without citizenship and why can't she defy Atlee?

Answer: Ilsa went undercover within The Syndicate. As part of the cover, she was disavowed (effectively being branded a rogue agent and a traitor). If she attempts to leave The Syndicate she would have nowhere to go, as she would be considered a criminal. She could choose to stop, but would spend the rest of her life on the run, being in more or less the same situation as Ethan Hunt is during this film.

Answer: It has been established that Sidious knows the Force extremely well, if not better than anyone. Perhaps he was able to shield himself using the Force in a way that prevented Dooku from sensing he was going to betray him.

Casual Person

But Tyranus is powerful. Even Sidious feared him when he was a Jedi.

DFirst1

Answer: I don't think a Force-user can specifically sense that a betrayal will happen. Maybe Dooku could sense danger, but not who would cause it or when. Also, he might have been feeling over-confident (despite his age and experience). According to one book, Palpatine/Sidious told him that they would kill Obi-wan together, then convince Anakin to join them.

Question: What chord does Miguel strum in De La Cruz's mausoleum after he steals his guitar?

Answer: G.

Answer: The Falcon had a damaged hyperdrive (hence why it needed to go to Cloud City). As they fled the Star Destroyer, Boba Fett managed to determine the trajectory and deduce the destination. The Star Destroyer and Slave I were then able to set a course for Cloud City and arrive there first.

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