Enjoy the movie but expect to dodge one or more plot holes

By Michael McKown

So, you’re sitting there, popcorn in hand, ready to lose yourself in a movie, and something just feels… off. The story’s chugging along, but then you catch yourself frowning, tilting your head, and muttering, “Wait, what?” That, my friend, is the sweet scent of a plot hole wafting through the screen.

Allow me to interject for a moment. I’m Michael McKown, co-founder and president of Ghostwriters Central, Inc. We’ve been filling plot holes since 2002. If you need to hire a screenwriter to write – or repair — your story, click the link and let’s talk. Your consultation is free.

Plot holes are those pesky gaps in a movie’s logic, the moments where the script trips over itself and leaves you scratching your head.
They’re not always dealbreakers, but once you spot them, they’re hard to unsee. Let’s dive into how you can tell when you’re watching a movie
with plot holes, with some classic examples to back it up.

First off, one big red flag is when characters suddenly know stuff they shouldn’t. You’re watching, and out of nowhere, the hero pulls some random fact or skill out of thin air with no explanation. Take The Dark Knight Rises, for instance. Bruce Wayne’s stuck in a pit
halfway across the world, broke and broken, and then – bam! — he’s back in Gotham, suited up as Batman, no problem. How’d he get there?
Where’d he get the cash? The movie doesn’t care to tell us, and film critics like Roger Ebert pointed this out, calling it a leap that strains belief. When characters teleport or gain psychic powers without a hint of buildup, that’s a plot hole waving at you.

Another telltale sign is when the rules of the movie’s world get tossed out the window. Every story sets up its own logic. Vampires hate
sunlight, time travel has limits, whatever, and when it breaks those rules for no reason, you’ve got a hole.

Look at Jurassic Park III. The original film made it clear: the dinosaurs can’t breed because they’re all female and engineered that way. But in the third movie, surprise, there’s a baby T-Rex! Critics, including those at Rotten Tomatoes, flagged this as a head-scratcher. If
the movie’s own science gets ignored just to push the plot, that’s a crack in the foundation you can feel.

Then there’s the classic, “Why didn’t they just do that?” moment. You’re watching, and the characters are running around like headless chickens, ignoring the obvious solution staring them in the face. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has a doozy with the Time-Turner.
Hermione’s got this magical gadget that lets her rewind time to juggle classes, and they use it to save Sirius and Buckbeak. Cool, right? But
then you think: why not use it to stop Voldemort earlier? Or save Harry’s parents? The movie never explains why this isn’t an option, and fans and critics alike have poked at this hole for years. When a story hands you a fix-everything button but forgets to press it, that’s a plot hole begging for attention.

Sometimes, it’s about stuff happening that just doesn’t add up timeline-wise. You’ll see a character zip across town in two seconds
flat or a major event that should take weeks squeezed into a day. Independence Day has a fun one: Jeff Goldblum figures out an alien
code, uploads a virus to their mothership, and saves the world, all in about 24 hours. Now that’s the kind of productivity that Elon Musk would love. But critics, like those from Entertainment Weekly, chuckled at how absurdly fast this genius hacker works. Real life doesn’t move at warp speed, and when a movie pretends it does without a good excuse, you’ve stumbled into plot hole territory.

You might also notice props or clues that vanish into thin air. The movie makes a big deal out of some object or detail, then it’s like it
never existed. In The Matrix Revolutions, Neo’s got this whole prophecy thing going, and the Architect lays out how he’s the sixth version of “The One.” But then the trilogy ends, and… what was the point of that? The prophecy gets dropped like a hot potato, and reviewers,
including ones from Variety, called it out as a loose end that unravels the story’s coherence. When a movie forgets its own breadcrumbs, that’s a hole you can drive a truck through.

Emotionally, plot holes can hit you when characters act way out of character for no reason. You’ve spent two hours getting to know them, and suddenly they’re doing something bonkers that doesn’t match who they are. Star Wars: The Last Jedi caught flak for this with Luke Skywalker. The guy who never gave up on Darth Vader decides to contemplate killing his nephew in his sleep over a bad vibe? Fans and
critics, like those at Screen Rant, argued it’s a stretch that dents Luke’s arc. When the script forces someone to flip a switch just to keep
the plot moving, you feel that disconnect.

Spotting these holes isn’t about nitpicking, it’s about feeling the story stumble. Maybe the pacing’s off because the movie’s rushing past a
gap, or the dialogue’s clunky trying to paper over it. In Prometheus, the sci-fi flick from Ridley Scott, scientists yank off their helmets on an alien planet because one guy says the air’s fine. Critics, including Mark Kermode, roasted this as laughably reckless for supposed experts. When a movie’s bending over backwards to justify something dumb, your
gut knows it’s shaky.

Now, not every plot hole ruins a movie. Some are small enough to shrug off, like a background detail that doesn’t quite fit. Others, though, pile up until the whole thing wobbles. Next time you’re watching, trust that little voice saying, “Huh?” If the characters are pulling ninja
moves they never learned, the world’s rules are breaking, or the story’s sprinting past common sense, you’re probably staring down a plot hole.
Movies like The Dark Knight Rises, Jurassic Park III, and Prometheus prove even big hits can trip. So, grab that popcorn, keep your eyes peeled, and enjoy the ride … holes and all.