Best movie stupidity of 1998

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Armageddon picture

Stupidity: Colonel Sharpe retrieves a gun from a locker on the Freedom shuttle. However, said gun is shown lying flat on the floor of the compartment, with no visible means of securing it, which would hardly be standard NASA procedure given the shuttle undergoes a high-G launch, orbital manoeuvres and various other high acceleration events. A loaded gun bouncing around is the last thing anyone would allow on a shuttle. (01:42:39)

Razvaluha

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Saving Private Ryan picture

Stupidity: When they are preparing for a German assault towards the end of the movie, Miller explains to them the concept of the sticky bomb and adds, "If you have a better idea of knocking the treads off a tank I'd like to hear it." Um... The bazooka? They had eight rounds for it, and it could have easily been used to disable the treads. And the men wouldn't blow themselves up with it. While it couldn't destroy a tank by penetrating the armour, it's certainly strong enough to disable the tracks.

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Suggested correction: Allied forces familiar with the Panzer VI "Tiger", a 60-ton Main Battle Tank during the war knew that the armor is very tough and, even with support fire from a friendly tank, the odds of destroying a Tiger tank with a bazooka like Horvath's are pretty small. From the infantry perspective, techniques that were developed and employed in order to combat heavy Tiger tanks focused mainly on disabling the tank rather than destroying it. Anti-tank weapons of the era, such as the bazooka, were ineffective against most areas of the Tiger's armor, so specific weak points in the design were the focus. Hitting the Tiger in the tracks, suspension, engine compartment, observation slits, and in the joint between the main body and turret were some of the common weak points. Tiger tanks could only be destroyed head-on or from the sides by land mines, or direct hits by heavy artillery shells, or bombs dropped from aircraft. In the film, the first Tiger is disabled by taking out the tracks with "sticky bombs" followed by grenades thrown in the turret hatch. When Horvath fires at the second Tiger, both shots are placed on the joint between the body and the turret, the idea most likely being to hinder or incapacitate the turret's ability to swivel left or right. As the war went on, the Allies developed better strategies for disabling Tigers. One example involved British Cromwell or US Sherman tanks trying to "flank" a Tiger by working in squadrons or columns. One or more tanks would act as a diversion to keep the Tiger's crew focused in front of it while another tank would maneuver behind the Tiger and hit it in the rear section where its armor was the weakest.

Joey221995

Excellently put.

Ssiscool

More Saving Private Ryan stupidity
Ronin picture

Stupidity: When the two Russians are walking past the security guard after killing Gregor, they are just allowed out without being detained because one of them shows a Chilean passport. The French gendarmes are not that incompetent. They would detain the men until everything is (or is not) cleared up. (01:49:05)

More Ronin stupidity
Blues Brothers 2000 picture

Stupidity: After all the singing and dancing at the Tent Revival, Lt Elizondo yells at her fellow officers "It's a Trick, they've brainwashed the Captain, get 'em." Considering her and everyone else just witnessed the Captain float into the sky surrounded by fireworks and miraculously change into a black suit her "brainwashing" assumption is truly stupid.

Gavin Jackson

More Blues Brothers 2000 stupidity
Bug Bites: An Ant's Life picture

Stupidity: Just after the geckos have finished eating Josephine's children, Thang, Rose, Didi and Sal attempt to sneak away. They attempt to sneak away from the geckos by walking directly in front of them which results in the geckos spotting them. If they attempted to get away in literally any other direction, the geckos would not have seen them. (00:22:50)

Casual Person

More Bug Bites: An Ant's Life stupidity
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero picture

Stupidity: Belson wakes up Barbara and unlocks her chain only to try and give her an injection of sedative for the operation. Who would ever do that, instead of keeping her asleep and restrained?

Sammo

More Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero stupidity
Enemy of the State picture

Stupidity: When Will Smith and Gene Hackman are running through the railroad yard. Gene calls Will by his real name, "Will" and not by his character's name "Robert."

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Suggested correction: You could be a little bit more specific, but I don't hear him say "Will" at any point during that run.

lionhead

More Enemy of the State stupidity

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