6 Smart Movie Characters Who Do Incredibly Dumb Things

Batman should've shot out the tracks himself. Even if by some miracle Liam Neeson managed to stop the speeding train in time, his plan is totally screwed. It's not like he could toss the microwave cannon on his back and run the rest of the way, and if he tried, Batman would already be sitting there with his Batmobile cannon pointing at the train. The "World's Greatest Detective" added two completely unnecessary and needlessly risky steps to his supervillain-thwarting plan.

But Wait a Minute ...

Why doesn't the council imprison Zod on Krypton? Their entire world is hours from destruction, but the council decides to punish Zod by sending him and his crew off planet, effectively saving their lives. We get that there wasn't enough time to evacuate all of Krypton, but why use their transdimensional technology to save a handful of supervillains? Why not send their best scientists and scholars to the Phantom Zone and toss Zod and his cronies into county lockup?

Warner Bros.
And why do they send people to prison in space cocks?

It's not like the Phantom Zone is the Kryptonian equivalent of a Turkish prison -- Zod returns in a ship full of advanced technology, including space suits and a clone hatchery, that his jailers put him in.

Warner Bros.
"It's not all fun and games. The blow job machines in the suits don't work the balls all that well."

It's not like they didn't know that Zod would continue being evil if given the chance. He spent his last moments on Krypton screaming oaths of vengeance at Superman's mom, and yet not one member of the council paused to ask if maybe they shouldn't lock him in his apartment instead and let the detonating planet take care of him.

Warner Bros.
"Krypton, nooooo! They were supposed to install our margarita machine next week!"

But Wait a Minute ...

First of all, even if Gerry was just a regular dude, he should have known better. Sure, he couldn't have known his wife was going to call, but Jesus Christ, you put your phone on silent when you're in a movie theater. You'd think "prowling around behind flesh-eating enemy lines" would command the same level of caution. Getting your skull pried open by an ocean of ghouls ranks a bit higher on the faux pas list than interrupting the Carrie remake. But also, Gerry wasn't just a regular dude.

Gerry was hand-picked for this world-saving mission because he was the best investigator the U.N. could get their hands on -- they rescued him from the zombie chaos specifically so he could do this. He has years of experience running covert ops in war-torn countries and has already seen what the zombies are capable of, and what attracts them. Not doing a cursory check of "Do I have noise-making devices in my pocket?" on the way out the door to a fucking stealth mission to save the human species from annihilation is like the president forgetting to wear pants to the inauguration.

Paramount Pictures
Or wearing a douchey scarf in 115 degree heat.

Green Lantern tells the story of the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of superhero intergalactic policemen who use "power rings" to defend the universe from peril. The rings allow their bearers to fly through space at incredible speeds and create any object their minds can conjure. For some reason, they decide to give one to Ryan Reynolds.

Warner Bros.
"In brightest day, in blackest night, no better actors are in my sight ..."

Reynolds' character, Hal Jordan, heroically quits his new job as a Green Lantern the instant he fails his first training exercise. Since there's no reason for him to remain in space on the Green Lantern headquarter planet of Oa, Hal zooms back home to Earth to pout and crack moody jokes about his shortcomings.

But Wait a Minute ...

Hal Jordan quit the Green Lantern Corps, but he took the ring with him. The self-appointed Guardians of the Universe let a whiny, myopic Earthling just kind of walk out of Space Police Headquarters with the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, which he then uses to rescue a bunch of people in a helicopter crash by building a giant Hot Wheels racetrack, which you may recognize as the lamest possible way to rescue someone.

Warner Bros.
"You know what? I'd rather die in the crash."

Sure, it all works out because Hal is a good guy, but what if he wasn't? The villain of the movie, Parallax, is a former Green Lantern who succumbed to temptation and turned into a giant cloud of evil yellow fart dust that is currently marauding through space, consuming entire planets in its wake. How did the Green Lantern Corps know that the same thing wouldn't happen to Hal Jordan? He quit immediately, which doesn't speak volumes for his character, and they let him take the cosmic power ring home with him anyway. That's like letting an Army recruit wash out of basic training with a helicopter and a briefcase full of nuclear launch codes.

Especially when you consider that one of the first things Hal did after he found the ring was use it to commit a triple homicide in a bar parking lot.

The aliens nearly wipe out humanity, but then General Cypher Raige (see "written by 9-year-olds," above) figures out a way to stop them -- he develops a technique called ghosting, wherein you eliminate your smellable fear by concentrating really, really hard, and the world's stupidest war is won.

But Wait a Minute ...

Scientists do believe that there's a fear pheromone in humans, and that it's secreted through sweat. With that in mind, take a look at this shot of Cypher Raige demonstrating ghosting:

Columbia Pictures
And Will Smith failing to demonstrate acting.

Ignore Will Smith's absurd future haircut and look at the other soldiers. Every single one of them has exposed skin. Sweaty, smelly skin. Why the hell didn't they just wear odor-shielding coveralls?

The humans knew the Ursa (the people-eating monsters created by the aliens) hunted by smell. If they had covered up before going to war, the Ursa would've had no way of detecting them, and the campaign would have been over in days. Just send all of the soldiers out in wetsuits and paintball masks with satchels full of Axe body spray in case of emergency.

Columbia Pictures
"We have Axe, Hawaiian flame shirts, and fedoras in the cargo hold. Use those and nothing will be interested in you. Ever."

Hell, you could've sent them out in fucking astronaut suits -- it wouldn't matter if the soldiers were clunky and slow, because we clearly see that the Ursa are completely helpless when they can't smell their targets. For some inexplicable reason, the aliens decide to engineer a bunch of blind, gunless monsters to destroy humanity, and the only edge they have is being able to smell fear (we will refer you again to "9-year-olds," above).

But Wait a Minute ...

Why in the possible fuck is there a System Purge button, and what in the unutterable shit bassoon is it doing in the goddamned lobby?

Seriously, what possible reason could there be for installing a button that releases all the monsters at once? Did they plan on cleaning all their cages simultaneously? Do the demons and trees that rape people to death get lonely and need to be taken for walks? "Purge" implies they might need to quickly kill all the monsters. So why doesn't it activate a dozen flamethrowers in every cage, or bathe the entire joint in white-hot nuclear fire? Why does it empty them all out into the elevator bay like they just clocked out for lunch?

Lionsgate Films
"Hey, you want to try that new Thai place?"
"Nah, I'm just going to grab some Carol from accounting real quick. I'm behind on my reports."

Even if the button killed the monsters instead of letting them all out, what architectural mastermind had it installed in the lobby? It isn't even locked. It's just sitting there in the guard house like a vending machine. We're surprised nobody ever pressed it by accident. We get that The Cabin in the Woods is making fun of horror movie tropes, but you can't make fun of dumb movies just by making your own movie infinitely stupider.

20th Century Fox, Ketchup Entertainment
Well, you can. But no one will respect your decision.

When not busy trying to ruin your favorite movies for you, Nyameye writes things. You can read his short stories on his blog or follow him on Twitter. He'll love you forever if you do.

Related Reading: While we're talking about the dumb things smart characters get up to, has anyone else wondered how Ripley didn't realize she was being set up in Aliens? And if Hans Gruber was such an evil genius, why was his escape plan so woefully inadequate? On the opposite side of things, some of our dumbest-seeming celebrities are actually pretty darn bright.