Plot devices that ruin any movie

[lack of self CTRL]

With reference to the time paradox thing. I liked how they fixed it in Dirk Gentley's Hollistic Detective Agency, where at the end of the story the protagonist asks his time traveling friend "But didn't we just create a load of time paradoxes?" and the time traveller essentially says 'no, the universe just ignores paradoxes'

If you're looking for a book this summer i reccomend this ^. its a really funny book by Douglas Adams (the guy who wrote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

 

[Mr Thin]

They shoot the bad guy and he goes down, only it turns out...

HE WAS WEARING BODY ARMOR!

I don't actually mind this IF - AND I STRESS IF - they check the body first. You know, to make sure he's dead. And maybe he tricks them or something. Then it's OK.

But they almost never do.

 

[rocketseed]

falling off a cliff, bieng held onto by other guy, saying"LET GO!" not bieng let go,pulled up.

i would say that is a cliche that you tend to expect not a Plot devices that ruins a movie

 

[rocketseed]

sorry double post. can i get rid of it?

 

[Plurralbles]

The plot twist the viewer can predict from the trailers.
Best friend of protagonist screws over protagonist.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Well, the number one must be
"And it was all a dream!"

I think that one is forgivable if everything up until the waking-up part is good. Stewie kills Lois and, Lois Kills Stewie were both good after all.

---

"Don't you see? You had the power inside of you the whole time! You just had to believe!"

I hate that >.<

Another one I hate is when they kill off an important character only to have said character return as the bad guy. Forgivable in G.I. Joe but for the most part, I hate when that stuff happens.

 

[linkzeldi]

Any horror movie starts to go bad the minute you start wishing death on the main characters, for various unlikeable traits.

 

[Googooguru]

And after all that (insert generic plot here...) he still goes on to fufil his destiny and save the world (or destroy it cause he left the toaster on in an alternate dimension or something else arb) Blahh blahh.. remember kids only you can save mankind.

Prophecy as a plot tool is lame

 

[Unia]

If you're looking for a book this summer i reccomend this ^. its a really funny book by Douglas Adams (the guy who wrote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

Seconded, I liked "The long, dark tea-time of the soul" even more.

 

[_Cake_]

A forced romance with the main character and the hot chick. I just hate when you know they are going to fall for each other from the start.

and

Female commandos/warriors who are unnaturally strong, just added to the movie so it wont be a sausage fest.

 

[Glamorgan]

Time Travel.

Spoiler: I am going to put a spoilers thing here, so unless you've seen Donnie Darko, DO NOT LOOK.

You looked -.-
Look. I'm sorry. I loved Donnie Darko. It was a brilliant film. But the ending was just confusing. Yes, I did eventually understand it, but even a few weeks later, I am trying to figure out if there would be another parallel timeline, because none of the events would have happened. On that note, why didn't Frank just make him not let that character killed? It would have solved everything. I think.
I don't think I gave anything away there. Just go watch the film, and don't look it up on Wikipedia. Just trust me on this one

But still, after all of that, I loved that film. But I swear, if the next Indiana Jones film has some sort of time travel....
*sigh*
You are the bane of my existence, new George Lucas.

 

[WiccaVamp]

I hate when they completely change a charecter's personality so drastically from one movie to the next, like Elizabeth and Orlando Bloom's char in Pirates of the carribean series WTF?

Or when they take a historical charecter and depict them so horridly a.k.a Hilter in Inglorious Bastards. Don't get me wrong i loved the movie and i know it was a what if and not obviously accurate but portraying him as an idiot was distastful and made it almost insulting like "this is what they almost lost to?" I dunno....

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

The main thing that annoys me in film, is the way that stories that really don't require a love interest...always have one crowbarred in anyway. Romance in films is fine, but it's obvious when it has been tacked on because it's underdeveloped and only serves to ruin the focus of the story.

I'll put it this way, if I was in mortal danger or I was trying to save the world from certain destruction...love would most likely not be on my mind.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Pushing a blatant religious agenda. It ruined "The Soloist" for me when an enormous neon sign saying "God is salvation yadda yadda" was given about two minutes of screen time to itself, and the movie went out of its way to take a pot-shot at Atheists with a straw-man representation of Atheists as being clueless, gawky idiots. Seriously, the latter scene had no point other than the reporter to ask questions the Atheist couldn't answer. They literally could've replaced that scene with him sitting in his chair at home and receiving a phone call, rather than interviewing a frail-looking dipshit, getting a phone call and saying "sorry, loser, I've got better things to do".

 

[aithilin]

I'm trying to think up bad movies I've seen lately and all I can think of are M. Night Shyamalan movies, so I'm going to say "plot twists you see coming from about the first ten minutes in but dismiss because they're too stupid, only then it turns out you were right all along and you realise you just wasted 90 minutes of your life". For references, see The Village and The Happening. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable get a pass because most people didn't see Sixth Sense coming and Unbreakable was enjoyable to watch with a genuinely interesting idea behind it.

Ugh. I was just trying to figure out how to word the exact same response. Though, the Sixth Sense twist is what I saw a mile away and it ruined the whole movie for me.

So, yeah "obvious plot twist" sucks.

 

[brunothepig]

Any horror movie starts to go bad the minute you start wishing death on the main characters, for various unlikeable traits.

I dunno. Most horror movies, I'm rooting for the bad guy. I like the ones where the bad guy wins lol. Mostly because the good guys have to be total idiots, which makes me very unsympathetic. Rarely do i find a horror movie where I want the good guys to win.

For me, it's not a specific plot device, rather the execution. If it's done well, if it's believable, it doesn't seem like a "get out of jail free" thing.

 

[Kermi]

Time Travel.

Spoiler: I am going to put a spoilers thing here, so unless you've seen Donnie Darko, DO NOT LOOK.

You looked -.-
Look. I'm sorry. I loved Donnie Darko. It was a brilliant film. But the ending was just confusing. Yes, I did eventually understand it, but even a few weeks later, I am trying to figure out if there would be another parallel timeline, because none of the events would have happened. On that note, why didn't Frank just make him not let that character killed? It would have solved everything. I think.
I don't think I gave anything away there. Just go watch the film, and don't look it up on Wikipedia. Just trust me on this one

But still, after all of that, I loved that film. But I swear, if the next Indiana Jones film has some sort of time travel....
*sigh*
You are the bane of my existence, new George Lucas.

Spoiler

The entirely of the Donnie Darko film was a glimpse of an alternate reality that would have been spawned had Donnie lived. Frank haunted Donnie because by living, Donnie became responsible for Frank's death. Now there are two ways to look at this:

1) Donnie lived, had a lot of time to reflect on the nature of predestination and destiny, and was haunted by his own future - that is, the death of Frank - and ultimately time was rewound to allow Donnie to accept his fate and spare the life of another; or,
2) None of it ever happened - Donnie didn't sleepwalk, he got splattered in his bed by a falling jet engine, and everything from that point on in the movie was a glimpse of an alternate reality that would never actually unfold that Donnie's mind conjured up in his dying moments. He was haunted by Frank because in his mind Donnie's death results in Frank living and his subconscious holds Frank responsible for his death, hence why Frank only ever turns up to rub in how much time Donnie has left until "the end".

Sorry if that's a little rusty, I haven't watched Donnie Darko for about five years.

 

[ReckzB]

The main thing that annoys me in film, is the way that stories that really don't require a love interest...always have one crowbarred in anyway. Romance in films is fine, but it's obvious when it has been tacked on because it's underdeveloped and only serves to ruin the focus of the story.

I'll put it this way, if I was in mortal danger or I was trying to save the world from certain destruction...love would most likely not be on my mind.

THIS! Goddamn, I hate this aspect so much. There are so many movies where the romantic subplot is absolutely nonessential, and yet it's thrown in there anyway! Unless there's impending boobs, get your soppy romance out of this brutal, gory action film or psychological thriller, or what-have-you.

I don't tend to watch many films these days because I know there's almost always going to be something facepalm-worthy in them.

Also; "The Chosen One". Terrible plot device. Piss off.

 

[linkzeldi]

Any horror movie starts to go bad the minute you start wishing death on the main characters, for various unlikeable traits.

I dunno. Most horror movies, I'm rooting for the bad guy. I like the ones where the bad guy wins lol. Mostly because the good guys have to be total idiots, which makes me very unsympathetic. Rarely do i find a horror movie where I want the good guys to win.

For me, it's not a specific plot device, rather the execution. If it's done well, if it's believable, it doesn't seem like a "get out of jail free" thing.

Fair point, but sometimes I would like to be able to root for the heroes instead of the serial killer.

I prefer movies to be creative. Like if you were in the movie, you would be smart enough to not split up, or coordinated enough not to stumble just as the monster is chasing you. Horror movies should be thinking of new ways to scare us, not rehashing the same old methods. Of course cliches can be cool as well if executed properly.

 

[Baldry]

Trying to explain something that doesn't need explaining...midichlorians...