Movies that make LESS sense with rewatching

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

This is not quite the same as "movies that just make no sense whatsoever," mind you.

What happens is, some movies have rather muddly plots that clear up with repeated viewings and analysis.

Other movies have plots that initially make sense to you, where you just accept one thing after another, caught up in the narrative flow, but what was crystal clear becomes incoherent when subjected to close scrutiny, when you already know the plot and have time to look deeper into the internal logic.

For me, giant spider invasion was like this. At first, it seems a straightforward B monster movie. There's some rocks falling out of the sky, spiders hatch out of them, scientists babble about a doorway in space, giant spiders ensue, kill the queen, badda-bing. It's only later that I realized there's no real follow up to the "black whole" thing, nor would killing the queen solve all their problems (they still have lots of other spiders which will presumably grow to enormous size).

The movie LIfeforce also ranks really strongly here.

[Nick]

Transformers (The Bay Version)

At first I really didn't question the plot, because I was only watching the movie for the big explosions and giant robot fights. But repeated viewings make this movie worse if you can believe that.

Take the fact that the Transformers can't stand extreme heat, yet can enter into our atmosphere.

Our how the Autobots knew about the glasses before the Decepticons did. They had to raid the military database to find out about the glasses. How the fuck did Optimus know about them? Did he read ahead in the script?

The glasses themselves. Why the Hell did Megatron allow himself to get frozen into the ice. And why the Hell would he put the directions to the cube on some random fucker's glasses?

You know what, just Transformers in general doesn't make sense.

[gammer]

Probably the movie Fight Club, would fit in this category for me.

Its kind of like that saying: "if it wasn't for my horse, i wouldn't have spent that year in college".

At first read, it makes sense. But when you think about it...it gives you a brain aneurysm trying to figure it out.

[mrbasehart]

Sixth Sense doesn't make any sense either.  Bruce's character has no idea he's a ghost? How the bloody hell is that possible? You can explain away his wife by saying they've become distanced in their marriage or something (but some of those scenes are spectacularly contrived), but he doesn't talk to anyone else? How'd he get the file on Cole in the first place? How'd he start therapy with the kid without speaking either to his colleagues, the school, or the boy's mother? If Cole is scared of dead people, why isn't he afraid of Bruce?

[JoshWay]

This is a minor point, but in revisiting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it really bugged me how villainous and nasty Sirius Black is until it's revealed that he's actually good. His behavior before that revelation makes no sense whatsoever.

[torgosPizza]

Gammer with the Lewis Black reference FTW.

[gammer]

Gammer with the Lewis Black reference FTW.

[gbeenie]

The last ten minutes of Akira. And I've been trying for nearly twenty years.

[Sideswipe]

: "if it wasn't for my horse, i wouldn't have spent that year in college".

They need to find the person who said that and force them to explain it at gun point.

[Junkyard]

This is a minor point, but in revisiting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it really bugged me how villainous and nasty Sirius Black is until it's revealed that he's actually good. His behavior before that revelation makes no sense whatsoever.

"Muhahaha! I shall finally put an end to you, my little friend! Prepare for oblivion! Nya!"
"Oh no, what do I do!?"
"Don't worry, I'm talking about the rat! I'm your godfather and I love you!"
"Yay!"

[mrbasehart]

: "if it wasn't for my horse, i wouldn't have spent that year in college".

They need to find the person who said that and force them to explain it at gun point.

I like to think it's about a boy who couldn't get his car started before a crucial final exam, so relied on his trusty steed to get him to the exam room on time.  Passing the test, he graduated, but then discovered college life wasn't what it cracked up to be (perhaps the absence of ihs horse made him homesick) so he dropped out after a year.  He's still grateful for the experience though, so doesn't speak bitterly about the whole affair.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Sixth Sense doesn't make any sense either.  Bruce's character has no idea he's a ghost? How the bloody hell is that possible? You can explain away his wife by saying they've become distanced in their marriage or something (but some of those scenes are spectacularly contrived), but he doesn't talk to anyone else? How'd he get the file on Cole in the first place? How'd he start therapy with the kid without speaking either to his colleagues, the school, or the boy's mother? If Cole is scared of dead people, why isn't he afraid of Bruce?

If you look at some of the other ghosts, they don't know that they're dead....and they go through something like a "film loop" of what happened to them just as they died or their lot in life.

It was probably that Malcolm only "existed" when it was important to interact with these two people in pain - Cole and his wife. All the rest of the time he wasn't around.  Now, why he came and went like that?  That's probably something M. Knight wanted to leave to the audience to decide for themselves (God, lifeforce, karma, whatever).

And I do think Cole was scared of him at first.  But since he wasn't (obviously) messed up as most of the ghosts and was calm rather than hysterical he tried talking to him.  But then, are we sure that Cole knew immediately that Malcolm was dead?  He didn't suddenly appear somewhere that didn't make sense for him to be like most of them...a public place like a church.

There are a few things that you have to kind of look past but I think that film got enough things right that I can overlook the goofs.

: "if it wasn't for my horse, i wouldn't have spent that year in college".

They need to find the person who said that and force them to explain it at gun point.

Some colleges have equestrian teams.  Maybe they were there on an athletic scholarship?

[dalem]

Sixth Sense doesn't make any sense either.  Bruce's character has no idea he's a ghost? How the bloody hell is that possible? You can explain away his wife by saying they've become distanced in their marriage or something (but some of those scenes are spectacularly contrived), but he doesn't talk to anyone else? How'd he get the file on Cole in the first place? How'd he start therapy with the kid without speaking either to his colleagues, the school, or the boy's mother? If Cole is scared of dead people, why isn't he afraid of Bruce?

Well, if you accept that there's an afterlife or heaven that you can go to or wait to go to you kinda have to accept anything else along the way because it implies some sort of deity or complex ruleset.  Like Trek.  You accept warp drive, you accept all the hokum that they hook onto it.

Within that context I think 6th Sense makes a heckuva lot of sense.

-dale

[bratpop]

And how do you explain that Slimer is the soul of a human being trapped on earth?

[RoninFox]

Slimer is the ghost John Belushi.

That's not me being sarcastic, that's the official word.