Best sci-fi movie stupidity of all time

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Stupidity: Leia was carrying a handheld bomb. Yet she doesn't think to bring it with her later on while freeing Han.

Rob245

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Suggested correction: Novels from the Expanded Universe make it clear that with the exception of guards, nobody is allowed to carry weaponry in Jabba's Palace.

LorgSkyegon

More Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi stupidity
Space Sweepers picture

Stupidity: When the crew think that Dorothy is a robot with a bomb planted in her and is capable of exploding, they begin to think that she is about to explode and attempt to dodge it. Rather than hide somewhere or take cover behind an area that may protect them, they just get down on the floor in front of them and cover their heads with their hands. If they thought the explosion was going to be as deadly as the one they saw on the news, this method of taking cover wouldn't be even remotely effective. (00:24:40)

Casual Person

More Space Sweepers stupidity
Black Widow picture

Stupidity: Natasha is in Norway on the run - Norwegian radio mentions her by name, Yelena talks about her being on magazines, she's very recognisable, and yet she goes into a gas station with her sister without changing her appearance in any way, and loudly talks about being an Avenger and killing people, right in front of the gas station attendant who for all she knows would be on the phone to the authorities the second she's out the door.

Jon Sandys

More Black Widow stupidity

Stupidity: At the beginning after Loki steals the tesseract he could easily uses his magic to make a portal in order to disappear from there.

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Suggested correction: Loki has never been shown to have the ability to form portals.

Never? He used the Tesseract in Endgame to disappear.

oswal13

The original entry is saying that Loki could have used his own magic to create a portal. He has never been shown to have that power. If he did, he would have been able to escape the portal Doctor Strange trapped him in in Thor: Ragnarok.

Phaneron

Suggested correction: Loki is a trickster and only has the ability of creating illusions making anyone see what he wants them to see.

Suggested correction: Loki didn't need to create a portal to escape (not that he has that ability anyway). He escaped very easily with Hawkeye, who became his henchman.

Suggested correction: Loki does not possess the ability to create portals with his magic. He could potentially use the Tesseract to do so, but it's possible he believes it needs to be connected to a machine or in some other kind of housing to be safely utilized, since that is how the portal opened that allowed him to come to Earth, and then later allowed him to open the portal above Stark Tower to allow the Chitauri to invade.

Phaneron

More The Avengers stupidity
X-Men: First Class picture

Stupidity: All the mutants on the island need Magneto at the last second to take control of the missiles so they don't land and explode. Why didn't Azazel just teleport everyone off the island?

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Suggested correction: Given the situation, there was probably very little time to come up with a plan like this. The missiles were flying towards them extremely quickly, and there would have been nowhere near enough time to band every single person together for Azazel to teleport them all out of there in just a few seconds.

Casual Person

There was plenty of time. He could have taken 5 at a time down the Beach 3 miles and came back for the rest. Earlier in the movie he was moving so fast men were falling from the sky at nearly the same time and he was teleporting them one at a time.

More X-Men: First Class stupidity
X-Men 2 picture

Stupidity: The prison where Magneto is held should have had a contingency plan just in case of escape, like machine guns outside the cell, or tranquilizer darts, or gas.

oswal13

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Suggested correction: What good would machine guns and tranquilizer darts be against a man who can literally control and manipulate metal? As for gas, the area outside the cell is so large that any gas would quickly dissipate before it could be effective.

Phaneron

A gun made of plastic, there are million of materials beside metal.

oswal13

They had guns made of plastic.

lionhead

More X-Men 2 stupidity
Jurassic World picture

Stupidity: When the Pteradons are loose and flying over the crowds, people run from inside buildings out into the open where the birds are attacking people. (01:22:00)

Ssiscool

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Suggested correction: A person is smart, people are stupid. A crowd in a panic would do exactly that sort of thing. Like trampling over each other running in panic from a shooting or a fire when not needed. It's the nature of panic in humans as a group to act stupid. It's not a movie mistake. It's actually one of the more realistic parts of the film.

Quantom X

Suggested correction: The dinosaurs were also breaking into/attacking people inside, so they weren't safe no matter what.

True, but one option is certainly safer than the other.

wizard_of_gore

Between being stuck outside and easy pickings and being inside and protected to a degree you can certainly see that one is safer as you say, than the other.

Ssiscool

More Jurassic World stupidity
Pacific Rim Uprising picture

Stupidity: The coast cities should have an alarm that detects the Kaijuns. If they do, they should work when the beasts are few miles away from the shore in order to give the people time to get to the shelters. Instead of that there are still people on the streets in Japan and on the docks in Los Angeles (in the flashback) while the kaijuns arrive from the sea.

oswal13

More Pacific Rim Uprising stupidity
Captain Marvel picture

Stupidity: Project Pegasus is a billion dollar structure with no security guards besides the couple dudes Fury shows the badge to at the entrance, no video surveillance, and once SHIELD arrives nobody has to even open a locked door anymore.

Sammo

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Suggested correction: First of all, Fury was allowed in as it's a government facility and he works for the government and as a SHIELD agent is allowed access. It's inside a mountain and they passed multiple security guards as they drove in, armed guards. Everything is thumb prints and cameras which was quite elaborate for that time. To say they lack in security is quite an understatement. SHIELD has quite some authority and can easily take control in the Pegasus project facility.

lionhead

You are right about the main entrance being truly secure both for guards and strategic position. The problem is that they are free to just roam the facility for an hour, blast through doors, not a soul in sight, no evidence of camera monitoring the inside of the structure, and once the gag of the pad is finished, no door requires it. Actually, funnily enough you can see a guard of the place opening the elevator for Fury and the supervisor, as if the thumprint scan was needed to even get into the elevator itself, but Keller then just walks into the archive just fine (from a different door than the one Vers blasted). There are keypads to exit places (for instance the hangar, when the agents in pursuit break through the door you can see a keypad on the wall) but only when it's convenient (Vers and Fury walked through that same door with no problem, not to mention the fact that the whole stairs seem to have none, which is funny for a place that has keypads both sides of doors).

Sammo

More Captain Marvel stupidity
Iron Man 2 picture

Stupidity: Why in the world would Tony of all people leave his old suits in storage WITH the miniature arc reactor still inside the suit? This would have served no purpose to Tony since he already has his own arc reactor in his body.

jbrbbt

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Suggested correction: This is a question which is easily answered; Tony had the idea of putting someone else in the suit (like Rhodey) himself. Plus, it's logical to think he has built multiple miniature arc reactors, after the events of the previous movie. Plus, he can probably just as easily switch from arc reactor to arc reactor in his chest when changing suits, so he has a fully powered arc reactor ready in each suit.

lionhead

More Iron Man 2 stupidity
Cloverfield picture

Stupidity: When the Woolworth Building collapses and the gang runs into the convenience store to take cover from the dust, Marlena was last seen behind Hud and with Lily, Rob, and Jason. Switch to everyone running from the dust cloud, Marlena didn't make it into the store. Upon exiting the store, the gang finds Marlena stumbling from nearer to the Woolworth Building meaning she would have had to run toward the dust cloud, through the screaming crowd which was running away from the building.

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Rocketman picture

Stupidity: Central to the plot is the layout of the Mars lander. There are no seats or any restraints of any kind in the lander, which is ridiculous. Spacecraft require safety belts in order to prevent astronauts from being injured during rapid course corrections. Additionally, ordinary rolling desk chairs would not be sent into space, and would certainly not be placed on a landing vehicle.

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Logan's Run picture

Stupidity: Why is it that runners wait until their 30th birthday to run, when they'll most likely get caught? It would make more sense if runners tried to escape to sanctuary weeks or months before their last day. This way, they could meticulously plan their escape without drawing attention to themselves.

Mike Lynch

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Suggested correction: That wouldn't be particularly advantageous for runners. The computer system monitoring the city knows when someone is running regardless of their age and will dispatch the Sandmen to eliminate them. People who choose to run only do it as a last ditch effort, believing they will die on Carousel anyway so running is a risk some are willing to take. In the meantime it would be preferable to live out their guaranteed lifespan and enjoy the pleasures afforded to them by living within the city.

More Logan's Run stupidity
Alligator II: The Mutation picture

Stupidity: The bad guys attack the chief of police that is driving a patrol car; their plan works because the man doesn't use the radio to call HQ, and there's no reason why he wouldn't do that.

Sammo

More Alligator II: The Mutation stupidity
Moonraker picture

Stupidity: After Corinne Dufour realises that Drax intends to have his dogs kill her, she inexplicably attempts to flee on foot, running right past the golf cart she arrived in. The golf cart would have given her more speed, range and protection, and would have been a much better choice for fleeing.

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Suggested correction: Golf carts are very slow, and are open on all sides: the dobermans would've easily dragged her off it. The biggest stupidity here is that she should've fled to a crowded area with other people instead of the woods. Then again, she was panicking, and not thinking straight.

Jukka Nurmi

More Moonraker stupidity
America 3000 picture

Stupidity: The men have a blaster or fancy gun of some kind from the bunker Korvus found yet they never use it once in battle against the Amazons.

Rob245

More America 3000 stupidity
Forbidden Planet picture

Stupidity: All of Robbie's circuits have been burned out as a result of Morbius ordering him to kill the Id monster. The crew only has 24 hours to get the ship loaded and a safe distance away from Altair IV before it explodes. But one or more of the crew spends the little time they have fixing Robbie, a very sophisticated piece of technology, who is working the controls at the end of the movie.

Mike Lynch

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Mortal Kombat picture

Stupidity: Right before the movie's final battle, Sub-Zero taunts Cole with his wife's necklace and makes him chase him into a portal. Sonya was right next to Cole, and she did not come along with him. They had previously planned to take on Sub-Zero together, but apparently she just left him to chase Sub-Zero alone to an unknown location.

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The Invisible Man picture

Stupidity: Police officer James sits in his car, across the street from Adrian's house. He has the car's interior dome light on as he "surreptitiously" listens to Cecilia talking to Adrian. (01:49:00)

KeyZOid

More The Invisible Man stupidity
Robocop 2 picture

Stupidity: Wouldn't it be common sense to have more than one remote to control Robo-Cain? That way, if he destroyed one (and he did), they could still use one to shut him down from a distance (as long as they can dodge the gunfire).

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