Plot devices that ruin any movie

[fenrizz]

When it comes down to using "technology" in some rather unrealistic manner. Think CSI and their infinite magnifier (which also crops up in films of which their names elude me).

Once someone starts to use a computer in a film, it's usually a sign I'm about to cringe or facepalm. Really does break the immersion for me.

This ruins shows/movies for me.

Once on CSI they enhanced a mobile phone photo, so that they could make out a registration plate.
From the reflection of a windshield.
From over 15 meters away.

I guess that phone had a over 9000 billion mega pixels.
/sarcasm

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

In chick flicks, where the men are all shy or complete idiots, while the women are all intelligent, secure, good looking and have the men running rings around them. Also the blatant and horrible attachment to consumerism in these movies, where the lovely bubbly women go on a shopping spree accompanied by a montage with shit music.

Also romantic comedies. Every single one is: Man coincidentally meets woman, they get together, something happens that the woman hates but is a complete misunderstanding (like she catches the guy kissing another woman who came on to him, followed by him pushing the woman away and chasing her while she cries and doesn't talk), man does something to win her heart back.

Those movies make me sick.

 

[HardkorSB]

Bad guys that are bad because they're bad and good guys who are good because they're good.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

Making the truth really obvious in a mystery movie.
EX: I saw the ending in Shutter Island coming a mile away

Movie stereotypes
Every character in today's movies is a stereotype. The black guy always dies first, the best looking guy lives and gets the girl, the girl is either a complete pinhead or a badass chick, etc, etc.
Today's movies cannot create an original character without using comic books, books or some other media as a source. Back in the 40 and 50s characters were original and unique. I've yet to see any kind of character as deep and intricate as someone like Norma Desmond in the past 10 years.

 

[GrymZero]

The 'suspense' when someone is about to die in a slasher flick. Seriously, the music rising slowly to a crescendo is pretty much putting a t-shirt on the character on-screen, or furthest from the rest of the group, that says "I'm next!"

 

[Lucane]

Then there's the paradox of time travel: if you go back in time to fix something and succeed, you no longer have a motivation for going back in time and thus never did.
Ah, I'm just being too serious with this one.

Not if in a world time travel is real say when you alter someone in "your" past from your natural present while your outside of your time period any changes ripple across your time line barring you from changes even apon return.

Though Issues with this occur If something you do alters the history in which you are born/choose to use the time machine in the 1st place or the inventing/finding of the time machine itself.

On-Topic:Can't think of a movie issues right now though.

 

[KingGolem]

Well, I'm not too much of a movie-goer, and my brain tends to shut down whenever I go into a movie (probably a defense mechanism of some sort), but I do not take kindly to the following cliches:

Evil CEO, Repentant Hero: This doesn't exactly ruin the movie, but it does put an indelible stain on its greatness. I'm sick and damn tired of having the bad guy be an evil corporate executive (because there are no decent CEO's, right?) and having the good guy realize that they're evil and join the other guys (Na'vi, prawn, human resistance, etc.). I aspire to be a wealthy businessman myself some day, and I know that just BEING one doesn't make you evil (Tony Stark and Lucius Foxx, anyone?). Granted, corporations can do some distasteful and unscrupulous things in the name of profit, but that's because they're trying to make the most money for their investors, and not maximizing profit for your investors is actually illegal (in America, at least). Also, I'm tired of the protagonists being little whiny douchebags who can't just do their job without having some sort of moral dilemna. I like protagonists to stick to their guns.

The Source of the Modern Age: This one DOES ruin the movie for me. Whenever a certain plot device is heralded as "the source of the modern age," i.e., it was reverse engineered to create all of our modern technology (like Megatron in the 1st Transformers movie, which I saw, unfortunately), the rest of the movie might as well not count, because I become so overcome with rage and disgust. It is despicably disrespectful to our scientists and engineers who worked their whole lives to invent the technologies we rely on. To suggest that it all just fell from the sky is essentially invalidating their lives' work, and it pisses me off.

One more thing: I happened to walk out of Splice, but that was because I thought it was gross and I was about to throw up. The rest of the movie was alright, but I can't bear to look when you combine sexuality with something as hideous and unnerving as that Dren creature. Blech...

 

[atombeast707]

Starring Ben Affleck

Uuuugh...

Seriously, I've yet to see a film where I haven't gotten annoyed the instant his face shows

dogma, mallrats, chasing amy...

religion. i know, i know, but i loved "knowing"... up until the end

im with you on that one. knowing and signs were ruined for me by the bullshit religious message.

oh and it was all a dream, except for

Spoiler

inception

edit:

When, no matter how dire the situation, even the most insignificant characters live just to supply the most "happy ending" possible.

Birth defects or anomalies that manifest to save the hero. "Her heart is on the other side", "He's got asthma, so the poison didn't get in" etc.

yea, i dont see how he could have survived for something like 13 hours with closed lungs...

 

[Kryzantine]

When the villain gives a 10 minute long speech before he's stopped from killing the hero at the last second. Metro 2033 actually made fun of this when it happened and the Rangers wonder why villains take so long to kill people.

Also, when the hero finds out he harmed his family in some way. Oldboy perhaps being the lone exception, but seriously, who the hell saw that coming?

 

[Uber Evil]

Well, I'm not too much of a movie-goer, and my brain tends to shut down whenever I go into a movie (probably a defense mechanism of some sort), but I do not take kindly to the following cliches:

Evil CEO, Repentant Hero: This doesn't exactly ruin the movie, but it does put an indelible stain on its greatness. I'm sick and damn tired of having the bad guy be an evil corporate executive (because there are no decent CEO's, right?) and having the good guy realize that they're evil and join the other guys (Na'vi, prawn, human resistance, etc.). I aspire to be a wealthy businessman myself some day, and I know that just BEING one doesn't make you evil (Tony Stark)*SNIP!*

Spoiler: Spoiler, I guess. If you haven't seem this already then it is, but I would think most would have

Stark kinda did that. His Dad's friend was a second in command of the company, and kind of took over after Stark was kidnapped.. But also he plays into this sort of thing except that he was the owner of the corporation, not an employee

 

[Sylocat]

 

[Wait...What]

Strangely enough my searchbar test brought no proper match, so my apologies if a similar thread exists. What ruins a promising movie is a matter of taste, of course, but I've noticed a few obvious mistakes that movie makers keep repeating. These include

Making a horror movie of some unknown, supernatural evil. Then explaining the phenomenon to death.

Making a thriller about serial killings etc. and dropping so many hints the viewer guesses who the culprit is about 5 minutes in. (I'm looking at you, Saw. I think. I was too annoyed to finish that one tbh.)

Time travel. Okay, it doesn't ruin a movie but it does guarantee plot holes that are hard to plug even in the context of the movie. Take Terminator, for instance. Without the whole time travel ordeal John Connor wouldn't even exist!
Then there's the paradox of time travel: if you go back in time to fix something and succeed, you no longer have a motivation for going back in time and thus never did.
Ah, I'm just being too serious with this one.

Dear Escapists, what, if anything, do you think is a bad turn of a plot that makes an initially good movie turn sour?

Time Travel??? REALLY?!
Sure it creates plot holes but its Time Travel i doubt they're going for realism as soon as they decide to use time travel. Terminator was insanely good as well (along with T2) and if you need more proof just look at Back To The Future

 

[Bourne]

Forced drama, obligatory love interests, having one good guy actually turn out to be bad, and of course, who can forget, mindless action.

 

[Atheist Pope]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned that bull shit ending to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Spoiler

ALIENS!!!!

... really?

 

[Hallow'sEve]

"zoom in on the reflection in her eyes"
WTF?!?!!

That video was hilarious though, especially with Steve Martin, Pink Panther "zoom"
XD

 

[Hallow'sEve]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned that bull shit ending to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Spoiler

ALIENS!!!!

... really?

They were trying to get ET home, that was the whole subplot of the movie, DUH.

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Another thing that ruins movies for me is any movie that tries to sell itself as "indie". 500 Days of Summer and Juno were good, but every time I saw their ads I wanted to claw my eyes out.

 

[Jark212]

"It's a prequel"

NNNOOOOOOO!!!

"The rights to your beloved franchise has been bought by Stage 6"

NNNOOOOOO!!!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Three Letters: D.E.M.

If you have to make something up, at least give it a reason, or a name.

Hold ON....You don't like Time Travel? Time to erase your granddad then.

 

[CK76]

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.

you saw the plot twist to The Village coming, i am impressed.

Dude, I haven't even seen the whole movie. I saw it coming from the trailer.

Haha agreed I saw that twist coming in the first 5 minutes of the film, that movie was ridiculous.

We are talking about what she discovers on her own, right?

I thought it added a layer of depth to dead child, blindness and mental retardation issues they faced. I hear people have this idea, but the reality has its own issues which it addresses. Also, enjoyed the social control mechanisms employed.