- 5/24/2025
These cinematic blunders will make you scream at your screen! Join us as we examine the most maddening movie plot holes that should have been fixed before filming. From physics-defying space rescues to impossible alien invasions, these storytelling mistakes continue to frustrate viewers long after the credits roll.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the plot holes that drive
00:11people crazy. We'll be looking at examples that are not just noticeable, they're easily fixable.
00:16So there's no good reason for the filmmakers to have left them in.
00:30See if you can spot the problem here. At the age of six, Michael murders his sister and is
00:39immediately locked up in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. 15 years later, when Michael is 21, he steals a car
00:45and drives 150 miles back to his hometown to pick up where he left off. How? The sanitarium
00:51administrator even points out that Michael doesn't know how to drive.
01:00In fact, he probably hasn't even been in a car since he was put away. The movie seems to think
01:05that if characters point out the fact that it makes no sense, that's explanation enough. But
01:09it's still a glaring and unresolved plot hole.
01:24Number 9. No one heard Charles Foster Kane say Rosebud. Citizen Kane.
01:30Did you ever find out what it means? No, I didn't. What did you find out about him, Jerry?
01:34Not much, really. This one's been bothering people for more than 80 years. As the movie opens,
01:40we see Charles Foster Kane lying on his deathbed, clearly alone. Even the way the scene is shot,
01:46showing Kane's figure stretched out on the bed in the vast empty room, emphasizes his isolation.
01:50He utters one word, then dies.
01:53The entire premise of Citizen Kane is a reporter's quest to find out the meaning of that word.
02:04But how does anyone know what Kane said? Much later, a butler shows up claiming that he was in the room,
02:09but this is news to the audience.
02:11Yeah. I heard him say it that other time, too.
02:16It's almost as though Orson Welles spotted this plot hole at the last minute and threw in the butler to provide a weak explanation.
02:22Playing with a jigsaw puzzle?
02:23If you could have found out what that rosebud meant, I bet that would have explained everything.
02:27Number 8. Kowalski shouldn't have floated away. Gravity.
02:31Shouldn't we be turning or drifting again?
02:34Not yet.
02:34Kowalski's supposedly heroic sacrifice is infuriating to anyone with an understanding of physics.
02:40Once Stone and Kowalski reach the International Space Station, they struggle to grab hold of it.
02:45Stone becomes tangled in some cords, then grabs Kowalski's tether just as he's about to fly off into space.
02:50Listen.
02:52You have to let me go.
02:53No.
02:53The ropes are too loose.
02:54I'm pulling you with me.
02:56You have to let me go, or we both die.
02:58Not letting you go, we're fine!
03:00To avoid dragging her with him, Kowalski unhooks his tether and floats away.
03:04But what is pushing him away from Stone?
03:07Imagine if they were on Earth and doing this on roller skates.
03:10Once Stone stopped Kowalski's movement by grabbing the tether, the slightest tug would have pulled him back to her.
03:15He could have easily reeled himself in.
03:18It feels like lazy writing when there are plenty of other ways to kill off George Clooney.
03:22It's not up to you.
03:24No, no, no, no.
03:25Please don't do this.
03:27Please don't do this.
03:28Please don't do this.
03:30No.
03:31Please don't do this.
03:34Number 7.
03:35Daniel's crane kick was illegal.
03:37The Karate Kid.
03:43For decades, people have been debating whether Daniel should have been disqualified,
03:47or at least given a warning for kicking Johnny in the face.
03:50At the start of the tournament, Allie clarifies that hits to the head are legal.
03:54Daniel, look.
03:55Everything above your waist is a point.
03:57You can head, you can hit the sternum, kidneys, and the ribs.
04:00You got it?
04:00I hope so.
04:01But the head and the face are not the same thing.
04:05During the final round, Johnny gets a warning for hitting Daniel in the face just moments
04:09before Daniel does his crane kick.
04:17Doesn't that mean Daniel's move was against the rules, too?
04:20Almost a quarter century later, Cobra Kai settled the debate.
04:23It was an illegal kid.
04:25Oh, illegal?
04:26Really?
04:26Come on.
04:26What about that elbow to my knee?
04:28Yeah, I got a warning.
04:29You got the wind.
04:30There you have it.
04:31Daniel-san is a cheater.
04:32Number 6.
04:33Peter Pettigrew was on the Marauder's Map.
04:35Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
04:38What's this rubbish?
04:39What's this rubbish, she says?
04:40That there is the secret to our success.
04:43Everyone thinks that Pettigrew is dead.
04:45But in reality, he's been living in disguise as Ron's pet rat scabbers.
04:48People only find out he's alive when Harry spots him on the Marauder's Map, which magically
04:53shows where everyone is in Hogwarts at all times.
04:56But Harry got that map from Fred and George Weasley, and it sounds like they made pretty
05:00liberal use of it when it was in their possession.
05:03Surely they would have noticed that Pettigrew's name was constantly in close proximity to Ron's.
05:07Even if they didn't know who he was, didn't they think it was a little weird that this
05:11strange person was cuddled up to their little brother all day and night?
05:14It should have raised major alarm bells.
05:16You should have realized, Peter.
05:18But if Voldemort didn't care you, then we would.
05:20Together.
05:21No!
05:25Harry.
05:26This man's...
05:27I know what he is.
05:29Number 5.
05:30A human-made computer virus is compatible with the alien ship.
05:33Independence Day.
05:35How did you do that?
05:37I gave it a cold.
05:39I gave it a virus.
05:41Computer virus.
05:43These writers must have been counting on the audience knowing literally nothing about computers.
05:47When super-advanced aliens invade Earth, humanity is powerless to fight back because the ship's
05:52shields are completely impenetrable.
05:54That is, until Jeff Goldblum comes up with the brilliant idea to infect the mothership
05:58with a computer virus that will disable the shields.
06:01You heard that right.
06:02In less than a day, he learns the alien coding language and uses it to program a virus.
06:07Are you telling us you can send out a signal that will disable all their shields?
06:12That's right.
06:12Just like they used our satellites against us.
06:14We can use their own signal against them.
06:17He then connects his computer to the alien spaceship, which is somehow compatible with a mid-90s MacBook,
06:22and uploads that virus.
06:24Apparently, the aliens do not have antivirus software installed because the plan works,
06:28and all of this happens in the days of dial-up internet.
06:41Number 4.
06:42The cops are in perfect shape after being trapped underground.
06:45The Dark Knight Rises.
06:46Your masked man kidnapped the Wayne Enterprises board.
06:48He let most of them go, but he took three of them into the sewers.
06:52No more patrols.
06:53No more hidants.
06:54Get every available cop down there and smoke him out!
06:57The mayor won't want panic.
06:58Let's skip over the fact that sealing every manhole in a city the size of Gotham is probably impossible.
07:04For the sake of argument, we'll assume that Bane did trap thousands of cops in the sewers.
07:08The core will decay in a matter of months.
07:11Five, by my calculations.
07:13The panic won't come off!
07:14We know they're down there for about five months, yet when Batman frees them, they look fine.
07:19They're not disheveled, their hair and beards are well-groomed, and they don't seem malnourished.
07:23Did Bane also trap a barber down there with them?
07:26Who's been sneaking enough food in to sustain them?
07:29And while we're at it, how did Bruce get from a Middle Eastern desert back to Gotham with nothing but the clothes on his back?
07:35Yeah, yeah, we know.
07:36He's Batman.
07:37But that's not actually an explanation.
07:39Lead an exodus.
07:41Save as many lives as you can.
07:42You don't need me here?
07:43You've given me an army.
07:45Number 3.
07:46Who killed the boat's crew?
07:47The Lost World, Jurassic Park.
07:49The sequel sees John Hammond's greedy nephew take over his company and devise a very stupid plan to transport dinosaurs to a park in San Diego.
08:03Of course, capturing the dinos goes very wrong and a bunch of people get eaten.
08:07But they eventually manage to trap a T-Rex and secure him on a ship.
08:11However, when the ship reaches the mainland, all of the crew is dead and torn to pieces.
08:16The T-Rex couldn't have done it because he's still locked in the cargo hold.
08:20So who did?
08:21This is never explained.
08:23And it seems like a very strange oversight.
08:25Everybody off the boat!
08:34No, no! Get away from that!
08:39Number 2.
08:40Why did the aliens invade a water planet?
08:43Signs.
08:46If you were a member of an alien species looking for a new planet to invade,
08:52would you pick one that's covered in a substance that melts your skin?
08:55That's exactly what the aliens in Signs did.
08:58No matter how desperate they are, this decision makes no sense.
09:02Even if they didn't realize that Earth was an ocean planet before they got here,
09:06once they arrived, why bother landing?
09:08You can easily see from space that there's water everywhere.
09:11And what were they planning to do when it rains?
09:13If they're advanced enough for interstellar travel, surely they understand how weather works.
09:18This invasion was doomed from the start.
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09:50Number 1. Is mass conserved or not?
09:55Ant-Man.
09:55Early in this movie, Hank Pym explains that the Ant-Man suit works by decreasing the space between atoms.
10:0140 years ago, I created a formula that altered atomic relative distance.
10:06Huh?
10:07I learned how to change the distance between atoms.
10:09That's what powers the suit.
10:11That's why it works.
10:12That means that the person inside doesn't lose any mass.
10:15They just get smaller.
10:16Scott can still punch with the power of a regular-sized person.
10:20However, the movie plays extremely fast and loose with this rule.
10:24Sometimes, tiny Scott cracks ceramic tiles and dense car hoods just by landing on them.
10:28Other times, he can run up the barrel of a gun without the shooter even noticing,
10:31or ride on the back of a flying ant.
10:33And let's not forget the tank that Hank keeps on his keychain.
10:37Don't worry.
10:39I'm not gonna die.
10:41And neither are you.
10:44It's not a keychain.
10:47Once you start noticing these things, you can't unsee them, and it's maddening.
10:55Useless.
10:56Which of these plot holes drives you the craziest?
10:59Share it with us in the comments.
11:01We've decoded the intel from the First Order spy, and it confirms the worst.
11:07Somehow Palpatine returned.
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