movies

9 Movie Plot Threads That Go Nowhere

POSTED BY MerrillH | MONDAY FEBRUARY 22 AT 9:10 PST 
General - Movies


Films only have a limited time to get their whole story across.  If a crazy dragon thing is introduced on Pandora early in a film, you can bet your bottom dollar that the main Na’vi hero will be riding that dragon thing by forcing his sexual ponytail into it by the end.  But sometimes, threads are introduced in films that really don’t add up to anything.  Whether it’s laziness or stupidity no one can say for sure.  Except me.  And I say it is laziness and stupidity.  Here are 9 movie plot threads that don’t really go anywhere.

Batman Returns - Max Shreck’s Reverse Power Plant


Max Shreck starts off Batman Returns with an evil scheme to build a reverse-power plant that will suck all the energy out of Gotham, storing it for him and his family to dole out at a mark-up to citizens.  The insane plan to somehow steal power is so important to Shreck that he kills his secretary, Selina Kyle, when she finds out about his scheme, turning her into Catwoman.  And how does Max cap off his murderous scheme?  By never talking about it again for the rest of the film.  Maybe he just realized how stupid his plan was in the first place.

Attack of the Clones - The Mysterious Sifo Dyas


In Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan discovers a hidden plot by deceased Jedi master Sifo Dyas to build a secret army of Clone Troopers on the planet Kamino.  If you can understand that sentence, congratulations.  You have wasted a significant portion of your life.  At any rate, this Sifo Dyas guy must have been some kind of insane evil genius to build a secret army no one knows about.  That’s my guess anyway.  Because after all of the time Obi-Wan spent uncovering this scheme, none of the films ever bother to explain who Sifo Dyas was or what the clones were meant for in the first place.

Superman Returns - Lois Lane’s Insane Pregnancy


Superman Returns was supposed to be a continuation to Superman I and II.  It was also supposed to be good.  It fails on both levels.  After knocking the red superhero boots with Superman in Superman II, Lois Lane apparently became pregnant.  Which must have been very confusing and upsetting for her since Superman erased the memory of their whole affair with a “super-kiss” at the end of the film.  Watching a lonely Lois Lane comprehend why she is mysteriously pregnant would actually have been a better film than the one we got, where Superman tries to comprehend why there’s mysteriously no action.

Spider-Man 3 - Sandman’s Daughter


When we first met Flint Marko in Spider-Man 3, the only thing he cared about was his dying daughter.  In fact, the whole reason he was in jail was because he stole money to pay for his daughter’s treatments.  And hell, even when he was disintegrated into sand, the only thing that brings him back is his love for his daughter.  And then, nothing.  Once he’s Sandman, Flint spends a lot of time beating the living crap out of Spider-Man, even teaming up with an anemic-looking Venom to kill ol’Spidey, but it’s not until the very end of the film when Sandman uses the famous floating-away power of sand before he ever mentions his daughter again.  Did she live or die?  It’s never mentioned, but God, I hope she lived.  Spider-Man didn’t need anything else to cry about in that movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Galloway’s Autobot Rants


Presidential Advisor Theodore Galloway shows up early in Transformers 2 to tell the secret military group NEST that works with the Autobots that the President no longer wants the Transformers to be on Earth.  And after Optimus Prime dies, Galloway decommissions the NEST group and basically shuts down Autobot – US relations.  And then, the NEST team throws him off an airplane.  Seriously.  Why a good portion of the film is spent on a man who hates Autobots and yet never advances the plot is unexplained.  But then again, we are talking about a film where a robot literally farts out a parachute and Shia LaBouf visits Robot Heaven.

The Matrix Trilogy - Neo Destroys a Sentinel


At the end of Matrix Reloaded, Neo re-enters the real world where he suddenly displays the new power to stop the robotic sentinels.  And then he passes out.  Afterwards, it’s revealed that Neo can sense machines in the real world, even when he’s blinded.  But it’s never explained how he shot out a pulse that destroyed the Sentinels, even though that kind of power would really have come in use in the third movie.  Or I’m guessing it was never explained.  I kind of tuned out of The Matrix movies somewhere around that really smelly looking rave.

Magnolia - "The Worm"


A good portion of the early part of Magnolia involves John C. Reilly’s character finding a dead body in a woman’s apartment.  The murder suspect is apparently named The Worm.  Seriously.  There is a rap in the film twice about The Worm and an interrogation where a woman is asked repeatedly about The Worm’s whereabouts.  There is even a shoot out at one point that seems to be Worm related.  But The Worm never shows up and the thread never goes anywhere.  But, it’s hard to make any kind of quibble in a movie where Tom Cruise repeatedly yells about respecting the cock and taming the word that all women hate the most.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - Blofeld’s Earlobes


The only George Lazenby James Bond film is actually a pretty good movie.  One of the few problems in the whole film is a weird plot thread about the main villain’s earlobes.  Blofeld wants to prove that he is the heir and owner of the title Count de Bleauchamp.  Bond is told that is Blofeld is the rightful heir, he will be missing his earlobes, a trait all the de Bleauchamps supposedly share.  Blofeld at first claims he was born without earlobes, but later makes some noise about cutting his earlobes off.  Seriously?  This is one of the main points of a Bond film?  A bald man’s earlobes?  Beyond this thread not going anywhere, it takes away time from more important Bond activities, like how many slutty women Bond can screw.

 

The Phantom Menace - Anakin Skywalker’s Virgin Birth

Are we really back in Star Wars prequel land again?  Yup.  So, Anakin’s mom drops the bombshell to Qui-Gon Jin that Anakin was conceived without a father.  Pretty weird but surely there’s a point here right?  Like maybe someone used some Force magic to knock her up?  Nope.  Despite some vague talk about some ancient Sith Lord who may or may not have used his powers to conceive a baby, the thread is never really addressed again in the prequels.  On the upside, not many movies would have the balls to link Jesus to one of the biggest mass-murdering bad-asses of cinema.

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  1. Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 10:35 am You missed the most famous example: Anna's disappearance in Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'avventura."
  2. Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am you really think anyone else on here has seen anything by antonioni? we're talking about a site that gets excited about the oscars and posts news updates about a spiderman movie.
  3. Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 03:48 pm It's pretty much understood in Revenge Of The Sith that Darth Plagueis was Darth Sidious' master - which made him responsible for Anakin's "miraculous" birth. And in Superman Returns, the reason Lois never questioned why she was pregnant was because she assumed that Richard White was the father.
  4. PD Says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 08:07 pm

    Please enlighten me... Yes Plagueis was Sidious' master, but where do you connect that as evidence that that makes him the one who somehow fathered Anikin.

  5. Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 05:40 pm From Anon 1 to Anon 2, Good point.
  6. Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 06:00 pm The Worm was the kid's dad.
  7. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:38 am I'm not 100% on this, but I seem to remember that it was hinted that Douku posing as Sifo was the one who instigated the creation of the clone army. Anybody remember for sure?
  8. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:38 am if you're pulling up old early 90s movies, there's a lot better choices then what you've picked. also, mentioning "that" scene in the matrix, thats been discussed and widely accepted that it was a matrix within a matrix and neo was just another program put into it, as they say in the movie "to give people hope" so they can be happy and not reject the program.
  9. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:40 am Sifo-Dyas was once a good friend of fellow Jedi Master Dooku, and had the gift of precognition. Sometime before 32 BBY, he predicted that the Galactic Republic would face war. To defend the Republic, he secretly commissioned a clone army on Kamino. Prior to this, Dooku had left the Jedi Order, and had fallen in league with Darth Sidious. He was told by the Sith Master about Sifo-Dyas' actions, and Sidious also revealed that they could use the clone army for their own ends. As a final test of his allegiance to the dark side of the Force, Dooku murdered Sifo-Dyas and took control of the project for himself. It was Sidious' true intention to use Sifo-Dyas only as a dead-end cover for Palpatine's plot to use the clone army. (most of this is actually sprinkled through out the movie)
  10. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:44 am "But it’s never explained how he shot out a pulse that destroyed the Sentinels, even though that kind of power would really have come in use in the third movie." You know, if you didn't watch the third movie, why even mention it? Not only did the Oracle explain his power (okay, so as far as explanations go, it was about as illuminating as a burnt out match, but at least they didn't ignore it completely), but Neo used said power at the end of the film to destroy... what was it, about 50 bajillion sentinal bomb things?
  11. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 02:03 am Matrix 3 Neo destroyed an army of sentinels which he's able to do since he's part of the matrix. Neo is the Matrix's anomaly that keeps the humans from killing themselves which means that Neo is a program in a meat bag. That's why Agent Smith is able to go into the real world. He copied a piece of that "code" from Neo. It's like Lawnmower man meets Scanners!
  12. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 02:11 am LOL it is pretty much understood that only hard core fans liked the star wars prequels
  13. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 02:40 am The clones in the star wars movies were used for a clone army.
  14. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 03:20 am Regarding Magnolia: (from IMDB) In the script, there is an alternate storyline for Stanley. In it, instead of running to the school library where he reads the books about the geniuses, he runs away to a coffee shop. Also in the coffee shop are Dixon (the little boy who raps for Jim Curring) and the Worm (who is mentioned in the movie, both in the rap and during Marcie's interrogation). The Worm (who is Dixon's father) notices Stanley and motions for Dixon to leave. At this point, Dixon finds Linda passed out in her car. In the coffee shop, the Worm and Stanley talk about their fathers and Stanley offers to give the Worm the money he won on the game show. The frogs begin to fall from the sky as Dixon runs in, asks the Worm if he got the money from Stanley, then pulls a gun (the one which he stole from Jim Kurring) on Stanley, demanding his money. The Worm convinces Dixon to give the gun up. They leave the diner after the frogs fall, drive by Solomon and Solomon, and throw the gun from their speeding car, which lands by Jim and Donnie. From the DVD documentary, it seems like this scene was partially filmed and then PT Anderson decided to scrap it.
  15. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 04:40 am My bet, the "real world" is just another part of the matrix. That's pretty much the only way Neo could destroy the sentinels. The inhabitants of Zion only think they are free.
  16. Anonymous Says:
    March 13th, 2010 at 09:49 am

    I second this. Humanity was always lost. The struggle we see in the three matrix movies is the matrix`way of controlling those who do not accept the "first reality".

    Simlpy genious.

  17. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 05:13 am Wow, a simple search would have given you the answer for Attack of the Clones. Syfo Dyas anticipated the war, and was preparing a clone army to fight on their behalf. Dooku left the Order for the dark side, killed Dyas and took over the Clones.
  18. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 05:40 am WOw, you did indeed pick some good ones for sure! Jess www.complete-anonymity.cz.tc
  19. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 05:50 am Didn't The Worm also kill the coke dealer guy in the lady's closet at the beginning of the movie?
  20. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 06:11 am Don't forget the Big Lipped Alligator from All Dogs go to Heaven. It's pretty much the standard example of this and even has a cinema term named after it (Big Lipped Alligator Moment).
  21. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 06:54 am Batman Returns: Shreck needs the Penguin to be Mayor in order to get his power plant built. He obviously cant continue his plans because Penguin never becomes Mayor and then he... Spoiler Alert... dies.
  22. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 07:13 am "Wow, a simple search would have given you the answer for Attack of the Clones. " Yeah uhm, you and that other Clones apologist, have you considered that the questions brought up by the movies should be answered within the movies and not by "doing research"? It is not the viewers job to make up for bad writing by doing research after watching the movies.
  23. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 07:37 am What part of "thats been discussed and widely accepted that" (and the equivalents in this thread) do you folks think equals "went somewhere *in* *the* *movie*?"
  24. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 09:42 am The problem with these sort of statements about Star Wars, or any franchise whose cannon expands beyond the movies themselves is simply that, you can't expect everything to be explained in the movies, and if you do, you'll never truly appreciate the IP.
  25. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 10:53 am Did you even watch these movies ? Just because you don't pay attention doesn't make them threads that go nowhere, LOL
  26. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 am The money getting lost in "It's A Wonderful Life." The bad guy doesn't even get his comeuppance! They made a whole SNL sketch about it in the 80s!
  27. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 12:07 pm @Anonymous | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23 AT 9:42 PST Star Wars started with the movies though. So they should be self-explanatory and shouldn't have to rely on different sources.
  28. Anonymous Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 12:28 am

    wowowoowwow yous is a slilly lumpkins if oyus thinks that ed knows that you just a bitter littley boyoyoi maybe u kould payatentiion and yew woouuklld unerdstand teh moving film in dreams and clam

  29. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm Minority Report had the eye doctor that repeatedly warned Tom Cruise he'd go blind if he got any light in his eyes before the deadline, but Tom Cruise never goes blind. That and the fact that the doctor was Cruise's enemy made that whole subplot one big dead end.
  30. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 12:48 pm As for Anakin, it thought it was assumed that he was conceived from the midichlorians themselves? As for Neo, I figured that it was just a coincidence, a ship arrives to rescue them and sets off their EMP at the same moment Neo thinks he can stop the sentinel.
  31. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 12:59 pm Attack of the clones: I assumed, on first viewing, that the ordering of a clone army by syfo diyas was rooted in some plot by the emporer, and it was the jedi's folly to simply trust it. I mean, honestly, is it that hard? I may not be right on every detail but it's the same result and fits the story of the movie. I really thought that the emporer had turned many jedi in the order without telling them about each other, playing as many cards as he could so to speak. Also, who's to say how long the emporer was planning this. I know my assumptions were wrong, but they make enough sense to prove that this isn't really a loose end as the author claims. The author just apparently hates movies that don't spell everything out for you like you were a 4 year old.
  32. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:16 pm I can explain the Matrix perfectly. The "real world" is still part of the matrix
  33. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 01:17 pm It was fairly obvious that anakins birth was force related. @ seconds of thought and I can think either the midochlo-i-whatever things concieved him, or "the force" itself made him appear. The question is, does it pertain to the story to know the specifics? No, not at all, they were pretty heavy handed about the midichl- whatever things that live in everyone and how anakin had the most. Then they drop in that he didn't have a dad and the first thought on any persons head would be: the midichloreon things made him. Also, would it not take away from the "magic" of the force to just kinda lay it out? If they found out specifically how anakin came to be, it would require explaining how the force would make him, using midiclorean things, blah blah blah, think about how christians would behave if someone were to try to explain how jesus was immaculately concieved. Transformers: That guy wasn't a plot thread. He was one of the most shallow plot devices to be sure, but c'mon, it was a "lets create some extra tension by having 'the man' come down on the team" mixed with a little "people are going to be saying in the movie 'oh, yah, no one cares that 14 buildings were just destroyed?' so lets have someone care so its seem more real". Again, something obvious enough that I would ask if it ever needs to be mentioned. Of course he gets thrown out of an airplane, they didn't want him to actually have any power but they also needed to address him, he couldn't just stop showing up in scenes. Since the audience should hate the guy, they did something to him that makes him go away and gives the audience a sense of vindication. What does his plot "thread" have to do with the real movie anyways? The military guys actually running things showed disdain for him when he showed up, and I got a sense from the movie that the military guys had no intention of doing anything he said if they could avoid it.
  34. Says:
    February 23rd, 2010 at 04:38 pm The watermelon in The Adventures of Banzai Buckaroo Across The 8th Dimension!
  35. Says:
    February 24th, 2010 at 07:43 pm It's Buckaroo Banzai. And what about the watermelon?
  36. Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 04:31 pm The watermelon is only barely mentioned in the movie, so I wouldn't call it a plot thread that goes nowhere.
  37. Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 03:24 am yes I am a big ass nerd, but if you pay close attention to Star Wars Ep2 count Douku is Sifo Dyas, Douku is his Sith name, and Sifo Dyas was his jedi name, and the whole thing was orchestrated by the Emperor, EVERYTHING, watch all 3 of them very closely everything Palpatine appears as Darth Sidious he is always explaining him self with lil side comments your just have to pay attention its ease to miss if your not paying attention there are very few to no lose ends in the new 3, also people have speculated that Sifo Dyas was killed by either Douku or Palpatine and then the clone order was make using that name there are hints of that in the 2 and 3 Eps. But based on what I have heard and seen in the movie Douku is Sifo Dyas, and the Transformers thing was a play on an old Gen 1 Transformers cartoon plot arc, where some ass whole was also trying to get the world leaders to make the transformers leave it was a fan boy element, A key rule in good script writing is never put something in that doesn't have a purpose and post like this is the reason why. but really you should look into subjects better before posting, but the rest of your list was pretty true, like the Matrix thing WTF Right? the writers were asked about that and they didn't comment, and if you havn't noticed they haven't done much work lately because it was a super amateur writer's mess up and no one want to pay them to write. lol
  38. Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 03:28 am The Problem with Star Wars is two many people have written about the lore, so there are several explanation for Sifo dyas. You would just have to be a super fan to know.
  39. Wookie Johnson Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 06:38 am

    Yeah, I agree that Anna's disappearance in "L'avventura" was pretty messed up. Michelangelo Antonioni was asleep at the wheel.

  40. Anonymous Says:
    February 28th, 2010 at 11:08 am

    I don't think Anna's disappearance was a mistake in L'avventura. It is part of the fundamental message of the movie. Just because something doesn't give you a concrete answer doesn't mean it was a screw up. Sometimes artists like to confound you. On purpose.

  41. Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 07:42 am merrillh = thumbs down
  42. Anonymous Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 02:05 pm

    Sifo Dyas = Darth Sidious = Emperor Palpatine

  43. Anonymous Says:
    February 27th, 2010 at 10:28 am

    wrong, dooku, palpatine, and sifo dyas are all different people

  44. Anonymous Says:
    February 27th, 2010 at 07:12 pm

    The author is so right! To hell with mystery and realism, let's make all movies contrived and predictable!

  45. Anonymous Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 10:28 pm

    I agree! That way I won't have to think during the movie!

  46. Anonymous Says:
    February 27th, 2010 at 09:01 pm

    This is an article "That Goes Nowhere."

  47. Anonymous Says:
    February 28th, 2010 at 04:18 pm

    Ok... dude, "Sifo Dyas" was revealed to be the emperor's cover name. He used the identity of a deceased Jedi to get in with the Caminos and make his clone order. Really the movie explains that quite clearly. Not that I am defending the cinematic substance of the movie or any of the Star Wars Prequels, they all sucked.

  48. Anonymous Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 10:27 pm

    Actually, according to Extended Universe. Sifo Dyas had the power of precognation. He could sense that the Republic was going to war so he had an army made, because they wouldn't have let him on just his hunch. He was very good friends with Count Dooku who later killed him and took over the project, which was all part of Darth Sidious's plans.

  49. Anonymous Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 01:39 pm

    "Watching a lonely Lois Lane comprehend why she is mysteriously pregnant would actually have been a better film than the one we got"
    incorrect.

  50. You suck movie list plot guy Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 06:29 pm

    ok dude you suck.
    In matrix revolutions he obviously uses the power to destroy sentinels when he goes on the ship with trinity to the machine world. They start attacking the ship and he blows them all up with his hand, same type of hand movement and everything.
    He even fucking absorbs a sentinel.

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