6 Movie Plot Holes That Have Explanations
You're not dumb. (Probably, we don't know you.) But what we do know is that if you've ever sat through a movie and been incredibly confused, that might not have been your fault, because movies are filled with truly flipping confusing moments.
And, as we've said before, sometimes these confusing moments actually do have reasonable answers, just reasonable answers that weren't un-usefully presented in the actual movie in question. So after poring through websites, director's commentaries, and, shudder, tie-in novels, we found answers to questions like ...
Why Was Leia At That Battle In Rogue One, Exactly?
In the final moments of Rogue One, after the scrappy band of heroes sacrifice their lives (and subsidiary toy rights), the stolen Death Star plans wind up on the Tantive IV -- which you might recall as the dick-shaped ship we see in the opening of the very first Star Wars.
After the soldiers carrying them manage to escape the clutches of Darth Vader, the plans find their way to Princess Leia.
This movie gets so close to the opening of the original Star Wars that theaters might as well have distributed bellbottoms and cocaine during the closing credits. But wait, what the heck is Leia even doing there? Obviously her ship wasn't contributing to the big space battle we just saw; it was just chilling inside a whole other ship. And was the plan always to give the Death Star plans to Obi-Wan? Wouldn't that be like delivering classified documents to a retirement home?
The Explanation:
The nice thing about nonsensical Star Wars moments is that they're all explained somewhere in a book; if a boom mic accidentally popped into frame in the original Cantina scene we'd probably have gotten a whole series of novels about the devious Mikroh'fone creatures of Tatooine. The same thing happened here; in an interview, a Lucasfilm rep explained that the novelization will show how Leia was planning to go fetch Obi-Wan -- not to give him the Death Star plans, just to see if one of the only surviving Jedi wanted to join their team. This was hinted at -- briefly -- in the film itself during a fairly forgettable moment:
"Plot hole, plot hole."
Apparently the Tantive IV's hyperdrive was leaking and was being repaired aboard the Mon Calamari ship when the surprise attack on the Imperial archives drew them into battle. So that's all. Leia was just chilling out in the Star Wars-verse equivalent of Jiffy Lube when the Bantha poodoo hit the fan.
So it was never intended for Leia to be at that battle, it was just a total coincidence that she ended up with the Death Star plans, and the events of A New Hope fell into place.
Or it could have been midichlorians again.
Why Does The Joker Look Like A Total Asshat In Suicide Squad?
When early images of Jared Leto's Joker surfaced, some people were less than pleased that the Clown Prince of Crime suddenly looked like Lil Jon, Tommy Lee, and a canister of Axe Body Spray had all been in a teleporter accident.
Was there any logic behind this extreme character design? Will we eventually get a Batman movie explaining that between evil deeds, the Joker moonlights as a roadie for My Chemical Romance?
The Explanation:
Batman V. Superman had a lot to get through, from its pee-guzzling to its sex-criminal-branding scenes, which meant that many people might have missed the suggestion that the Joker had killed Robin.
This was later confirmed in the movie's technical manual, which states that Batman keeps Robin's costume around to remind himself "what happens when he fails to get the better" of criminals. Also, just for fun, apparently Robin's staff was originally some kind of crazy axe.
How does this relate back to the Joker? According to Suicide Squad director David Ayer, Joker's fashion choices stem from the night he killed Robin. That gold-plated grill is because an enraged Batman kicked out all of his teeth before locking him in Arkham. Same deal with the "damaged" tattoo on his forehead; it's a reference to the fact that Batman "damaged" his face.
Which feels like a partial explanation at best. That explains the teeth and the tattoo, but those are clearly fitting into an established aesthetic the Joker already had going; did this incident with Robin also make him start shirtlessly wearing single purple gloves?
How Exactly Aren't People Getting Killed In Westworld?
Westworld, for all of its success, didn't offer viewers a lot of information about how this park of the future actually operates. A giant glowy map and some iPads somehow control a giant swath of land populated by murderous robots? Okay. But like, how do guns work? It sure looks like the guests are actually being fired at.
And what about the other dangers at the park? Even if they keep the robots from going full T-1000, what's to stop someone from tumbling off a cliff? There are no details provided about any of this, presumably because the writers thought all the random shots of robo-genitalia would distract us from such questions.
They weren't wrong, but still. Would be nice to know.
The Explanation:
In an effort to promote the show and confuse old people who don't understand how the internet works, the show's makers released a fake website for the Westworld theme park, which contained a ton of information about how the park operates.
The terms and conditions reveal that the guns fire low-velocity, non-lethal rounds, which the showrunner further confirmed in an interview. And as for dying other ways -- people already have! The T&C goes on to state that the corporation is absolved from liability in the event of death, and reveals that previous guests have died from drowning, buffalo stampedes, and "self-cannibalism." Even tumbleweeds have apparently offed one of the guests.
What Does 10 Cloverfield Lane Have To Do With Cloverfield?
When 10 Cloverfield Lane was announced, we all assumed it would either be a tepid documentary about Irish folk musicians, or a sequel to the original found-footage monster movie Cloverfield. (Mostly the latter one.)
But it wasn't even clear the two movies took place in the same universe. The main villain in 10 Cloverfield Lane isn't an alien, it's John Goodman. And by the time aliens actually do show up at the end, they look totally different. The original Cloverfield monster looks like an entree from Hell's Red Lobster.
Whereas these guys look like the lovechild of a Xenomorph and the Battlestar Galactica.
So what happened? Well, apparently J.J. Abrams just stuck the word "Cloverfield" into a pre-existing script, which means we can all be a little thankful we didn't get Star Wars Cloverfield VII: The Cloverfield A-Cloverfields. But surely the two movies must share some connection beyond that, right?
The Explanation:
All this is explained in the movie's Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. If you don't know, ARGs are sort of a combination of puzzles and marketing materials, and usually take the form of riddle-laden websites. For instance, back in 2008, the Cloverfield ARG introduced the mysterious fictional company Tagruato, and explained that they likely knew about the monster and probably even awoke it and were also evidently turning it into a soft drink.
For 10 Cloverfield Lane, the Tagruato website popped up again, highlighting their Employees of the Month. Among those awkwardly posing for photos was John Goodman's character Howard from 10 Cloverfield Lane, who apparently works for Tagruato's space division, Bold Futura.
So that's it. That's the connection. Howard worked for the space division of the same company whose drilling operation was secretly studying different monsters. A company that wasn't really mentioned in either of those movies.
The Purge: Election Year -- What Happens To Hospitals During The Purge?
The Purge: Election Year wrapped up The Purge original trilogy with a not-so-subtle parallel to the 2016 election -- though in a light-hearted twist, the movie version of Trump loses.
At one point, the scrappy band of people we don't want purged find themselves in an underground hideout beneath a hospital, secretly offering first aid for those who have been injured by the violent neon juggalos roaming the streets.
So what's the deal with the actual hospital? No one mentions what happens to hospitals during the Purge. Is it open? Or are doctors donning Patch Adams-like costumes and roaming the streets in search of carnage while the patients garrote each other with IV tubes?
The Explanation:
Luckily the director of The Purge movies, James DeMonaco, did a bunch of promotional interviews. Well, lucky for us; we don't imagine it's fun being inundated with tedious questions about infrastructure in this preposterous fictional world. Anyways, according to DeMonaco, hospitals are still operational, but become a "Non-Purging Zone" and go on lockdown. "There are no weapons inside, and no one can attempt entry."
So that answers that. If you have any more questions about the Purge, just ... write them down on a piece of paper and eat it. Please don't think about the Purge too much.
Did The New Ghostbusters Just Murder Bill Murray?
Putting aside the grievances of those movie fans who refused to accept that someone could fight poltergeists without having a penis, the recent Ghostbusters movie had its share of weird-ass moments, such as that dance sequence that was straight out of The Mask. But the strangest moment of all came when the Ghostbusters were visited by paranormal skeptic Martin Heiss, played by former Ghostbuster Bill Murray. He swings by Ghostbusters HQ because he wants to see this ghost they supposedly caught.
Melissa McCarthy's character Abby refuses, because it's way too dangerous -- but Erin (Kristen Wiig) idolizes Heiss and wants to show off, so she opens the goddamn trap. And then this happens:
He also gets blown out the window a second later. So yeah, in a probably unintended metaphor, the new Ghostbusters seemingly kill the original Ghostbuster. The Ghostbusters are then questioned by the police, they start bantering about Patrick Swayze movies, totally mindless of the fact that someone just died because of their negligence, and Heiss is never mentioned again.
The Explanation:
The movie of course spawned a huge wave of merchandise, even bringing back the Ecto Coolers that were presumably shelved in a giant vault next to the Ark of the Covenant since the '80s. Alongside that came the movie's novelization, where we hear Erin's internal monologue during this scene, as she reasons that Heiss didn't actually die because the ambulance left with its sirens on.
Along with that, there was also Ghosts From Our Past, an in-universe book written by two of the characters.
This one really tries to hammer home the point that the Ghostbusters aren't killers, by having the still-alive Heiss write the foreword to the book, in which he mentions that he learned that ghosts are real in the "most excruciatingly painful way possible" that cost him "thousands" in medical bills.
For more seemingly dumb plot holes that actually have explanations, check out 7 Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes and 6 Baffling Movie Moments With Really Logical Explanations.
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