Best thriller movie stupidity of all time

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Meskada picture

Stupidity: Noah chases one suspect while Leslie chases the other two. Noah eventually pulls out his gun and says, "Stop, police!" Leslie doesn't even try to draw her weapon until she hears sounds from the nearby brushes - but she barely has her hand on the holster when she turns around and gets punched in the face. Leslie is knocked over and the other man she was chasing repeatedly hits her in the face, quite hard. Her injuries could have been avoided simply by having her gun ready to aim and use. (01:04:48)

KeyZOid

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Pacific Heights picture

Stupidity: When Drake cuts off power to Hayes' apartment, the cops can't physically make a landlord abide by the laws, and seeing a judge would take months. In the meantime, by keeping the power off in the apartment, Hayes would have had no choice but to abandon his scheme and move on to another victim. With no power in the apartment, it's unusable and unlivable.

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Body Double picture

Stupidity: Despite being assaulted by an intruder that she managed to temporarily fend off, the female neighbor takes forever to say something when she calls the police, which is just enough time for the villain to regain his senses and attack her with a huge drill.

Movielover1996

More Body Double stupidity
The Toll picture

Stupidity: Cami is afraid of her Uber driver Spencer and thinks he has been stalking her. When he leaves, she sits in the back seat but doesn't bother locking the car doors. When Spencer returns, he is able to get in the driver's seat without using a key. (00:30:55)

KeyZOid

More The Toll stupidity
Moonraker picture

Stupidity: After Corinne Dufour realises that Drax intends to have his dogs kill her, she inexplicably attempts to flee on foot, running right past the golf cart she arrived in. The golf cart would have given her more speed, range and protection, and would have been a much better choice for fleeing.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Golf carts are very slow, and are open on all sides: the dobermans would've easily dragged her off it. The biggest stupidity here is that she should've fled to a crowded area with other people instead of the woods. Then again, she was panicking, and not thinking straight.

Jukka Nurmi

More Moonraker stupidity
The Gateway picture

Stupidity: Dahlia, fleeing her husband, asks Parker, "Well, where we [her and daughter Ashley] gonna go?" Parker replies, "I know a place where you can go" and takes them to Marcus' house, parking his car there. (Mikey and Louis are looking for his car and find it.) Parker, though recently fired, is/was a social worker. Social workers are among the professions that have the greatest awareness of available community resources. Parker should have taken them to a shelter or other safe place. (01:06:04)

KeyZOid

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XXX: State of the Union picture

Stupidity: The highly trained commandos who knew everything about the NSA base and penetrated it during a perfectly planned operation through weapons and devices that pierce steel like butter, decided to stand outside the barn (so they knew something valuable was there) and its wooden door. It even has a direct line to the command center.

Sammo

More XXX: State of the Union stupidity
No Way Out picture

Stupidity: When questioning the heavyset witness after his having seen Costner in the hallway, there is no mention of the most obvious identifiable feature...the pearly white Navy uniform he was wearing. Instead, Costner is described as being a common "everyman."

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Hotel Artemis picture

Stupidity: The building is supposed to be without power - at all since the generator has been destroyed - and life support machines are not powered up, but the 3D printers in every room are powered up - so that the good guy can squish the bad guy's head in it, and the elevators, so that the good guys can escape. What sort of hospital has its electric grid rigged in a way that the elevators keep working but critical surgical equipment goes dead the moment the power fails? (01:12:00)

Sammo

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Kidnap picture

Stupidity: Karla tells her son Frankie that she has to take a phone call "over there" (away from the carnival crowd) where she'll be able to hear. Instead of keeping a close eye on him, she tells him not to move and talks on the phone with her back turned to Frankie. She does occasionally say "Marco" and listen for him to reply "Polo", but that's not how to watch a 6 year old? child. Karla should have also previously given him a "secret word" that a person must know before he will go with that person. (00:09:52)

KeyZOid

More Kidnap stupidity
Olympus Has Fallen picture

Stupidity: There are numerous snipers on and around the White House. They should have barraged the lawn and wiped out all the attackers on foot with rifles and machine gun fire.

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Run & Gun picture

Stupidity: Ray and the other man in the bed of the Hangman's truck could have untied each other's hands while being transported to the hanging location but apparently did not even try. (00:00:47)

KeyZOid

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On the Line picture

Stupidity: How did Elvis not know that Gary wasn't in his house? Gary said he just put 2 bullets in Elvis' poster. And why wouldn't his wife tell Elvis they weren't at home? And what happened to the cops who busted into his home and found nobody there? Why wouldn't they go to the station?

More On the Line stupidity
Ten Little Indians picture

Stupidity: Martino's plan involves walking across the desert for 200 miles, in a raincoat, dress shoes, and nothing to cover his head. That's just silly and probably needed no sabotage from the killer at all, but he realises his compass was broken and his canteen emptied when it's already too late to go back.That's no subtle sabotage, in particular the compass being shattered, glass included. He didn't even perform a rudimentary check on his survival kit. (00:50:00)

Sammo

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The Mauritanian picture

Stupidity: While awaiting their flight home, Nancy told Teri, "Think I miscalculated the tea. I'm not gonna last three-and-a-half hours [on the non-stop flight with no restroom facility]." Nancy then went into the gift shop where Stuart Couch introduced himself, asked if he could get her a drink, and bought her a bottle of beer. Nancy drank at least some of the beer on screen, even though she was already concerned about drinking tea before her flight. (00:59:28 - 01:00:30)

KeyZOid

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Saw X picture

Stupidity: If you pay attention to John's computer desktop, it's hilariously clear that it's just a mockup made for the movie. There are about a dozen files on his desktop that literally just say "File." Every icon has an unrealistically generic name. Etc.

TedStixon

More Saw X stupidity
A Mother's Crime picture

Stupidity: When Nikki got to the hospital to pick up baby Cali and was asked for ID, she said, "The only thing I have is a teacher's ID." Nikki had her purse with her and drove to the hospital, so it doesn't make sense that she wouldn't have other ID on her, especially a driver's license. (00:19:55)

KeyZOid

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Diabolik picture

Stupidity: To quietly kill the hotel valet he is replacing, Diabolik throws a knife at him from distance, hits him in the back, and then drags his body in the middle of the street to the nearest manhole, leaving a long streak of blood he does not conceal. If this sounds pretty risky and unsafe especially for a meticulously planned murder, you have also to consider that in the comic book from 1963 this movie otherwise faithfully adapts, Diabolik did nothing this foolish; he quietly killed the guy strangling him next to the spot he'd dump his body into.

Sammo

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Fall picture

Stupidity: After eating the bird, why didn't Becky send her phone down inside the bird, but instead climbed down to put her phone inside Hunter's body?

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Pay the Ghost picture

Stupidity: Nicholas Cage saves the kids coming out of the dark dimension exactly at midnight but gets back home at dawn. It should be noted that he has two other kids to bring back home and if we assume he did that already, it would explain part of the time discrepancy. In that case he kept his wife up all night when she was fearing for the safety of both without a word, but she's not upset or anything.

Sammo

More Pay the Ghost stupidity

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