And then...huh? (Movie Conundrum Discussion)

[FalloutJack]

Okay, movie moguls... So, you're watching a movie, and...it could be a BAD movie. In fact, it might even be an MST3K/Rifftrax movie or one that deserves that kind of treatment. Anyway, you're watching this movie and it's moving along, and then...huh? The very next thing to happen makes no sense at all. Worse than characters who make bad decisions, it's 'The movie has effectively screwed itself up'. Lemme explain.

There is a Japanese monster film called Matango, which has to do with fungus and mushrooms that mutate people when ingested. Because I riff movies myself for fun, I decided to go into this. It should probably be attacked by the professionals in my opinion, but that's not the point. There is a scene where the cast is in a room on a shipwrecked boat, and there is a something approaching the door using Suspense Rule #84 (drawing out tension in a scene to lead up to a scare). Door opens. There is a grotesque mutated man RIGHT THERE.

Fade to black.

WHAT?! Rewind, go over it again, aaand scene. Nothing happened. Clear and present danger, and no reaction or indication that anything was done at all. Additionally, there was no mention of it afterward either by anyone. No mention of mutants, cannibals, freaks of nature, or anything attacking them. Nothing. Not so much as one question, one iota, of what happened. Because the normal reaction is screaming, fighting, and the paranoid concern that the island might be infested with mutant cannibals. This does not occur, and in my mind that makes less sense than ALOT of things I've seen. It's as bad as the end to Monster A-Go-Go, and MST3K fans know that one!

So, whacha' got, Escapists?

NOTE FOR CLARIFICATION: This isn't a bad plot twist thread like the one already here. This is a 'plot nothing' thread where a thing happened, and then either nothing happened or something completely irrelevent happened, and essentially derails the movie or goes nowhere for no reason.

 

[Queen Michael]

Well, this wasn't in a movie, but at one point in the comic book series Runaways Iron Man turns up at their door to do an unlicensed-hero bust at the Runaways headquarters, and it ends just as the Runaways are eye to eye with Iron Man, and know that they can either run or fight him. The next time we see the Runaways, there's no indication at all that anything ever happened and the entire thing is just dropped.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Well, this wasn't in a movie, but at one point in the comic book series Runaways Iron Man turns up at their door to do an unlicensed-hero bust at the Runaways headquarters, and it ends just as the Runaways are eye to eye with Iron Man, and know that they can either run or fight him. The next time we see the Runaways, there's no indication at all that anything ever happened and the entire thing is just dropped.

That's really annoying! Comics seem to do that from time to time though... but I thought the Runaways was one of the ones Marvel wouldn't let get chopped around like that for no reason...

OT: The love scene in Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus... It's so friggin unreal. It comes out of nowhere, and doesn't have any reason for the plot besides 'here is a male and female character who met recently... they must love eachother... now.'

It is awkward to watch! :S

 

[FPLOON]

I would mention the "football" scene in The Room, but that would be too easy...

With that said, after watching Lavalantula, the only scene that didn't "make sense" was the part where a character from another Syfy movie just so happened to be in the same area as Carey Mahoney... That particular character says why they can't help Mahoney out and then leaves off-camera... I mean, I know they used that cameo in their TV spots in terms of advertising this movie, outside of mentioning Police Academy, but it really felt out of place in a movie about human-size tarantulas that came out of lava and were spitting fire on [almost] everything...

 

[ItouKaiji]

Can you say Pancakes?


One the most surreal things I've ever seen in a movie. The slow motion martial arts doesn't fit the style of the movie or ever come up again. it's not even like the kid was supposed to be crazy or something. He just up and started shouting about pancakes and then bam bites the dude.

 

[tippy2k2]

I would mention the "football" scene in The Room, but that would be too easy...

NOTE: Strikes added by myself because "The Room" period would be too easy

OT: I'm going to go with a newer one in Jurassic World (fear not peeps, this is a spoiler only in the sense that it happens in the movie but it is nothing cool and means nothing as I am about to explain):

A little kid and his teenage brother are on a shuttle going through the new Jurassic Park

Little kid starts crying
Teenager: What? What's wrong now?
Kid: Our parents are getting divorced!
Teenager: What? How could you possibly know that?
Kid: I found two letters from lawyers sent to them both!
Teenager: Those could mean anything!
Kid: They're divorce lawyers. I Googled it...

....this is never again brought up nor does it impact the story in any way, shape, or form. There is zero reason why this scene exists in the movie unless the little kid knowing how Google is supposed to show us how smart the little kid is (Something the movie beats you over the head with the entire movie). It completely breaks up the wonder you're supposed to be feeling as they explore the park and there is literally no reason for it to exist as the kids go right back to OOOhing and Ahhhing the park right after the scene.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Interstellar...
I mean wow. Just an absolute mess.
But i think the moment it screwed itself over was when they decided to try to colonize planets within the radiation dead-zone around a blackhole. The whole time I'm just flabbergasted they don't just melt from the intense radiation spewing out from a blackhole they can literally see with the naked eye its so fucking close.

From there, which is about 30mins in, it goes downhill fast.

 

[FPLOON]

I would mention the "football" scene in The Room, but that would be too easy...

NOTE: Strikes added by myself because "The Room" period would be too easy

But, that would be given The Room too much credit in that case...

OT: I'm going to go with a newer one in Jurassic World (fear not peeps, this is a spoiler only in the sense that it happens in the movie but it is nothing cool and means nothing as I am about to explain):

A little kid and his teenage brother are on a shuttle going through the new Jurassic Park

Little kid starts crying
Teenager: What? What's wrong now?
Kid: Our parents are getting divorced!
Teenager: What? How could you possibly know that?
Kid: I found two letters from lawyers sent to them both!
Teenager: Those could mean anything!
Kid: They're divorce lawyers. I Googled it...

....this is never again brought up nor does it impact the story in any way, shape, or form. There is zero reason why this scene exists in the movie unless the little kid knowing how Google is supposed to show us how smart the little kid is (Something the movie beats you over the head with the entire movie). It completely breaks up the wonder you're supposed to be feeling as they explore the park and there is literally no reason for it to exist as the kids go right back to OOOhing and Ahhhing the park right after the scene.

As much as I like that movie in general, that scene did make me chuckle a bit in the theater I because it felt like the audience didn't notice the "subtle hints" scattered across the movie regarding that in the first place... Yet, I am "upset"[footnote]If you could call it that...[/footnote] that it wasn't given an actually payoff overall... (unless the "Director's Cut" will delve into that more, of course...)

 

[WonkyWarmaiden]

The type of thing you're talking about could be chalked up to poor editing. Like they cut certain scenes or lines but then forgot to cut others and thus left a few plot lines unanswered. You should check out TV Tropes, they've got a whole page that sounds similar to what you're describing.

Here's the page. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatHappenedToTheMouse

 

[Fox12]

Well there's that legendary scene from Boy Meets World.
https://youtu.be/FnDxFlDqhnk?t=6m17s

Boom, never mentioned again.

Also, a lot of movie sex scenes.

 

[Objectable]

Well, this wasn't in a movie, but at one point in the comic book series Runaways Iron Man turns up at their door to do an unlicensed-hero bust at the Runaways headquarters, and it ends just as the Runaways are eye to eye with Iron Man, and know that they can either run or fight him. The next time we see the Runaways, there's no indication at all that anything ever happened and the entire thing is just dropped.

That's really annoying! Comics seem to do that from time to time though... but I thought the Runaways was one of the ones Marvel wouldn't let get chopped around like that for no reason...

That's cause they hired on an entirely new writing team after that, and, rather than try to conclude the story arc in a meaningful way, just plopped them in another city for no reason and with no reason.
Pretty sure the new guy was known by the name JOSS FUCKIN WHEDON

 

[FalloutJack]

Divorce World

Actually, while that little subplot was shoveled in there haphazardly, it was foreshadowed at the beginning and given hintsies all throughout. It's not confusing, just poorly-handled.

TV Tropes

Actually, a Trope-check shows that we're talking Aborted Arcs and Big-Lipped Alligator Moments (maybe). Actually, I'm certain of the former in Matango. That's not poor edited. That's "Hi, I'm a plot monster! Forget about me as soon as I'm on camera! Bye!". This was important. The characters were being contronted by a freak-of-nature inhabiting the island, AND they get weirder at the end!

Sci-Fi

Or Syfy?

Guys, the movies comin' out of those asses will never make sense.

 

[Erttheking]

The end of The Departed just didn't make a lot of sense to me. It's like the writers just screamed "EVERYONE GETS SHOT IN THE HEAD! NO BUILD UP!" You die! You die! You die! And now we end on a rat! Cheero!

I is confuse

 

[Casual Shinji]

Not entirely what you said OP, but I remember watching Spirited Away and thinking at the ending

Spoiler

What? is that it? they're just driving away? that's how this grand & quirky journey ends?

I suppose it was intentional.

Well, there's obviously a bit of 'saying goodbye to your childhood', like with the end of Peter Pan. And then there's the little twinkle of the band she used to tie her hair back, indicating that she has brought something of that world along with her.

OT: The pirate/cruise ship section in Uncharted 3. The only reason it's there is so Naughty Dog could show off with their pivoting cruise ship level, but it makes no sense within the context of the story and is instantly forgotten the moment it's over. It's hilarious actually... Drake just escapes a sinking cruise ship, swims/drifts ashore, and then just walks to Elena's hotel room for some tender moment. And they try to play that totally straight.

 

[Mister K]

Can you say Pancakes?


One the most surreal things I've ever seen in a movie. The slow motion martial arts doesn't fit the style of the movie or ever come up again. it's not even like the kid was supposed to be crazy or something. He just up and started shouting about pancakes and then bam bites the dude.

I remember this movie (not the name though). I watched it as a young teen (yeah yeah, I know, age rating, TV didn't mind) and even then I thought that this scene was not only dumb, but pointless. The hell was it for? So that townsfolk would kill the last surviving (and actually healthy) member of a protagonists? But didn't one of them went to the town to seek medical attention or something (if my memory is correct, that is)?

OT: I do not know whether it meets the criteria set by FalloutJack, but I'll go with Pacific Rim. I loved the movie, hell I like it now. However, the fight between Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon was... Well, OK, granted, it was not bad, it was great in fact, but why in the name of a flying fuck would you kill (destroy?) them after like 5 minutes of action. OK, you wanted to show that the new kaijus are tough, I understand that, but couldn't they simply disable them?

I would've liked it a lot more if all 4 Jaegers went to the rift and sacrificed their lifes after glorious combat THERE. But no, killed like bitches in 5 minutes.

 

[FalloutJack]

Rim, but not Rimmer.

It would only count if there was no reaction to it after the fact, or if we never saw what happened to them. I actually have to defend this, because while it IS a damn shame - Those designs were bitchin'. - it's not wrong. In fact, you could almost say it's Raleigh's fault.

Check this out. Years ago, Knifehead impales Gipsy Danger and kills Raleigh's brother, yet it's still standing. Raleigh manages to force's the Jaeger's gun to kill the Kaiju and manages to get to land despite all things. The aliens learned "Okay, we cannot let up on these things for a minute. They are tenacious.". As a result, the Jaeger program started getting some serious losses, leading the plot to be where it is, with the last surviving Jaegers and their pilots.

The last remaining pilots are the badasses who have been managing wins despite the new strength of the opponents. But even then, they never expected the Kaiju to suddenly be weaponized. Probably nobody believed anything actually like Godzilla would actually show up. So, they had to show that the Kaiju are merciless and getting worse. I know it sucks that they killed some cool characters and their mechs, but you knew someone was gonna die.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

....this is never again brought up nor does it impact the story in any way, shape, or form. There is zero reason why this scene exists in the movie unless the little kid knowing how Google is supposed to show us how smart the little kid is (Something the movie beats you over the head with the entire movie). It completely breaks up the wonder you're supposed to be feeling as they explore the park and there is literally no reason for it to exist as the kids go right back to OOOhing and Ahhhing the park right after the scene.

That's because every Jurassic Park movie has to have a divorced couple involved. In the first, the kids are there because their parents are getting a divorce and were sent to their grandfather as a result (this is something Jurassic World copies almost verbatim). The Lost World had Kelly's mother absent and Malcolm's rocky relationship with Sarah. The third movie had two divorced parents looking for their son and get back together after the other man has the common courtesy to die. The "story" of JP movies centres around family and kids with the ultimate message being to stay together and have them (something JW really wanted to hammer home). This is also why the babysitter died as she was an enabler to the divorce, caring for her job over the kids and a man. I'm convinced she died in place of their aunt.

OT:
While we're on the topic of Jurassic Park, the lysine contingency comes right out of nowhere. I know why it's in the book, but neither the movie nor the sequel follow through on it so it just hangs there and gets a "no" from Hammond.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Can you say Pancakes?


One the most surreal things I've ever seen in a movie. The slow motion martial arts doesn't fit the style of the movie or ever come up again. it's not even like the kid was supposed to be crazy or something. He just up and started shouting about pancakes and then bam bites the dude.

How dare you disrespect the greatest scene in cinematic history?

OT: What some dude above me said, the divorce subplot from Jurassic World which was brought up and then dropped.