Best mystery movie plot holes of all time

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Death on the Nile picture

Plot hole: This adaptation further exacerbates the problem of previous movie and TV versions; in the novel, Jackie would make the female designated witness talk over and over pretending also to get drunk after Linnet left to go to bed. In the Ustinov version it happened too, but the diversion didn't seem to last more than a couple minutes. Same in the Suchet version. Here, Simon even provokes Jackie practically the moment his wife exits the room. There's no time whatsoever for her to change and get in bed, let alone fall asleep.

Sammo

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Frantic picture

Plot hole: While Harrison Ford is taking a shower shortly after arriving at the hotel, the 'bad guys' kidnap his wife from the hotel room. How did they know she was the one who had picked up the wrong suitcase (which contains what they are after) at the airport? They could only have assumed that. And the suitcase they were after was in the room so why didn't they just take it?

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Suggested correction: Ford himself explains how they know she picked up the wrong suitcase. Emmanuelle Seigneur grabs Ford's wife's suitcase by mistake, and puts it in the locker to be collected by the bad guys. The bad guys then go to the locker and get the suitcase - only to discover it's the wrong one. Ford specifically mentions her name and address tag is on her bag, so they see that, and immediately know who to look for.

swordfish

But, why did they have to kidnap her? They could just take the suitcase and leave her alone. They came all the way to her room but not looking for the suitcase?

Good point, but that still doesn't explain why they simply didn't take the case from the hotel room instead of kidnapping Mrs Walker and holding her ransom for it. Suggested answer - they wouldn't have been able to make a movie out of it.

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Charade picture

Plot hole: Reggie finds Tex's body stretched out on the bedroom floor, his feet tied to the radiator next to the wall and his hands bound to the bed frame, suffocated with a plastic bag over his head. The bed is a twin-sized, wood frame that Tex, a tall, strong young man, could have pulled the end of it with his hands and arms close enough to his face to at least attempt to tear a hole in the plastic bag so he could breath. He was obviously conscious early on because he wrote the name "Dyle" in the dusty floor with his finger. Considering the floor is covered in dust, there's not even the slightest sign of a struggle to free himself. Instead he just neatly prints the name on the floor before he dies.

raywest

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The Vanished picture

Plot hole: The girl disappeared from the RV. The RV is a crime scene - it should have been taped off, finger printed, and searched for trace evidence with luminol and a forensic light source. There is no crime scene (forensic) unit present on the scene. However, the parents are sitting in the RV waiting for the cops to contact them about their missing child. (00:19:00 - 00:20:00)

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The Last Boy Scout picture

Plot hole: Mike already knows that Joe is back in town from Vegas because he spoke to him at his office after initially saying he was going to leave a message. He didn't inform Joe's wife because she asks him when he comes home. And Mike was at Joe's house when they talked because he has on the same robe when he steps out the closet from hiding. Why wouldn't he have already left if he knew Joe was back in town?

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Suggested correction: Mike didn't think Joe was going to come home, especially if Joe was back in town but at his office. Plus, Joe told Mike he'd meet him at Mike's office in an hour. So, Mike took a shower to get ready. Making a bad decision, when you're in the middle of the poor decision to sleep with your friend's wife, isn't a plot hole.

Bishop73

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The Maze Runner picture

Plot hole: At one point it is mentioned that they have tried everything to escape the maze, and that it is impossible to climb up because the ivy doesn't grow all the way to the top of the wall. Yet in the aerial shots the ivy is shown reaching the top of the walls.

wizard_of_gore

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The Losers picture

Plot hole: Aisha fires off a rocket explosive at the port which causes a massive explosion, yet Max doesn't react to the huge sound it makes in any way.

GalahadFairlight

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2010 picture

Plot hole: When the doctors are discussing the condition of Bowman's mother, a newspaper headline on the wall displays the pictures of both Bowman and Frank Poole. These pictures are actually still shots of the two actors from an earlier conversation they had with HAL in the previous film. Since Discovery has been dormant for nine years, how did Earth manage to use these particular shots for the newspaper?

jbrbbt

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House of Games picture

Plot hole: After Margaret kills Mike at the end, she leaves through the door that is right next to his corpse, leaving her fingerprints on it, since she is not wearing any gloves. Under these circumstances, the police surely would have done some forensic investigation and dusted the doorknob for prints, which would lead back to her. Considering Margaret moved up from being a psychiatrist to a lively con criminal, you'd think it would occur to her to clean up a little bit, but she gets a happy ending.

Movielover1996

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Suggested correction: As she tells Mike, she's out of control. I don't think she planned to kill him, but he goads her into it by telling her she really hadn't learned anything and he played her. THAT was the point she learned the lesson. She took the risk and killed him. The doorknob fingerprints were a risk, but not much of one since a lot of people probably used that door before the police got there.

As for many people using the door after the murder, probably only one person might have used it if they opened it from the hallway side, only touching the hall side knob. That person would have immediately seen the body and called the police. Anyone on the baggage handling side wouldn't have touched the doorknob. Still, Margaret is not in much peril from fingerprints, since we are led to believe she has always been a "good person" who would probably never have had her fingerprints taken.

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The Caller picture

Plot hole: The very last scene shows Mary building a wall, apparently in her belfry. But there should still be the original wall that Rose built, with the hole in it that Mary smashed in. By killing Rose / having killed Rose, she prevents further harm, but all effects that took place before that (also the building of the wall), should stay (like her scars). It is very unlikely Mary broke down the whole wall just to add another body. (01:28:25)

Alpha23

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Texas Chainsaw 3D picture

Plot hole: The beginning of the film takes place in 1973 right after the original Texas Chainsaw film ends. Right after the house is burned, one of the townspeople takes a baby who survived the fire who is Heather. The film then takes place in 2012 but Heather seems 20 years old and should be 39.

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Paranormal Entity picture

Plot hole: At the beginning there is an audio recording of Thomas talking to the police. He explicitly says 'They killed her! They Killed my sister, my mom!' or something to that effect and that Thomas was arrested for the rape and murder of his sister and he killed himself in custody. At the end, his sister is killed and the little epilogue says that the sister's body was found in her brother's arms and when their mother found out about the 'death of her children' she killed herself. That doesn't make sense logically. Thomas was alive when his mother was dead, according to the clip at the beginning.

bexinthecity

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo picture

Plot hole: When the girl looks at the photos of Martin and his father while on the business trip, Martin is seen with his father and while wearing his boarding school sweater. But Harriet says later that he wasn't sent to boarding school until after their father was killed. Therefore, the sweater would not have been a clue in the earlier part of the movie.

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home picture

Plot hole: If the Bird-of-Prey went to warp speed right after the whales were beamed up the ship would have already been so far away from Earth it would have been on its way back towards the sun, yet minutes later the ship is shown leaving the Earth, still at warp speed.

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Dylan Dog: Dead of Night picture

Plot hole: When Dylan enters the vampire Vargas's bedroom to interrogate him, Dylan frequently steps away from the door to let sunlight in to burn Vargas, so that Vargas will cooperate with the interrogation. Vargas is in his bed and could easily cover himself with his sheets to block the sunlight, but never does.

footnotefetish

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The Andromeda Strain picture

Plot hole: The sergeant tells Stone that he only has to listen for a bell for an important communication coming through and will then alert the rest of Wildfire. Yet later, Dutton notices a message already printed out. So at a facility this important, the sergeant just ignores the machine if it prints out a message and doesn't ring? He has to have clearance to read them or they wouldn't print out where he is. It's a bit too convenient for the plot that he wouldn't visually check each message to make sure.

Grumpy Scot

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The Usual Suspects picture

Plot hole: The premise is that the back-story is a fabrication, including the five being placed together in the police line-up and in custody in order to get them to work together. But in the flashback of Keaton in the restaurant, it is Dave Kujan who takes Keaton in. It is inconceivable that Kujan would be complicit in the staging of the line-up (and doesn't fit with the plot). And if Verbal is inventing it, then Kujan is going to know it didn't happen. It doesn't make sense and undermines the plot.

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Amsterdamned picture

Plot hole: Somehow, the killer, with a scuba tank on his back which weighs a ton, can quietly sneak in and out of a poultry shop in the split second the butchers have their backs turned, to steal a knife.

Rob245

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Psycho picture

Plot hole: Marion rips the paper into pieces and flushes them down the toilet. We see all the paper go into the toilet. Later when Lila lifts the toilet seat, there's one piece conveniently placed under the seat that couldn't have gotten there.

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Vendetta picture

Plot hole: After William told the judge he could not identify the attacker at Kat's murder scene, the judge said, "Mr. Fetter, you are free to go. Case dismissed." The police officer who was assaulted by Danny and other officers should have been present and able to positively ID Danny. Even IF the murder charge could not stick, the other pending charges (assault, possession with intent to deliver, resisting arrest) could still be prosecuted/pled. There was no legitimate reason to let Danny go free. (00:11:10 - 00:11:47)

KeyZOid

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