More Plot Holes and Oversights!

Round two! Having done a few more reviews, I've come to find new instances where plot muck-ups and weak writing made a movie glaringly bad, or just brought down an otherwise good effort. Here's what I got this time:

Transformers:

Yeah, I've come to decide that Michael Bay is my least favorite director of all time. Not only is he responsible for creating crappy movies that all form, no substance. He's also guilty of completely objectifying women, reducing people to caricatures that are annoying and often racist, and just generally insulting our intelligence. And when it comes to his style, the Transformers trilogy stands out as a perfect example. In addition to being racist, sexist and low-brow, it was also full of plot holes. Here are some of the biggest that I could find:

1. Megatron's Dead… Sort of:

Remember in movie one where Megatron was destroyed, and how they dropped his body into the Laurentian Abyssal where the pressure and heat would make it impossible for him to be rescued or resurrected? Well in movie two, Bay disregarded all of that in order to bring the chief villain back. Basically, a couple bad guys swim down there, plug his body with a fragment of the All Spark, and he flies out. Here's a thought: if you're planning on making sequels, don't write yourself into a corner by killing off the lead bad guy and making it impossible to bring him back!

2. Continuity Error:

This hole actually runs through all three, so you might say its more like a plot tunnel. In movie one, we are told that Megatron came to Earth in the 1930′s seeking the All Spark and then got frozen in the Arctic. It wasn't until almost 70′s years later, when the film's taking place, that the Autobots and Decepticons came to Earth seeking the same thing. So… no one was on Earth between 1930 ish and 2007, right? However,

Then, in movie three, we're told that the Ark crashed on the Moon in the early 1960′s, thus prompting the Space Race, and immediately thereafter, people and governments began collaborating with the Decepticons. They did this mainly by putting a stop to all subsequent Moon missions, mainly by lying and saying that it was suddenly too expensive (actually, it was!) Also, the ploy involved the Decepticons burying reinforcements on the Dark Side of the Moon to lie in wait until the day came when Sentinel would be reactivated, the gate set up and the big attack could take place. But according to movie one, Megatron was the only Decepticon to visit Earth before 2007, and he was frozen and in government custody. If the other Decepticons didn't come to Earth until the first movie in search of Megatron and the All Spark, then who the hell were these humans collaborating with? In other words, who were they taking their orders from if no Decepticons were even on Earth yet?

Ah, which brings to mind movie two. After Megatron was brought back to life, he flew out to the edge of the solar system where a big Decepticon ship was waiting. According to Wikipedia, this ship is called the Nemesis, which is taken from the original animated series. In any case, the Fallen guy is on board and they've been breeding "hatchlings". This sets up the plot since the Decepticons want the Sun blower upper so they can harvest energon and power the things, thus making a new army. Hold on, if they've got some huge, badass warship out there, why not just attack with it? Why go through the whole convoluted process of searching from some stupid harvester and building an army? But that's a whole 'nuther plot hole!

The main thing here is that this doesn't square with what happened in the third movie. There, they reveal that they've had reinforcements on the dark side of the moon for decades. But if that's so, why was anyone bothering with making all of these hatchlings? You've already got reinforcements, why go to the trouble of making more? Sure, movie two was kind of a write off, but it still didn't make any sense!

3. Symbols and Clues:

So if I remember the plot of the second movie right, Sam got his brain zapped by a piece of the All Spark, which made him see symbols. This in turn gave him the knowledge of the last known location of the Matrix of Leadership. Hold on, why the hell would the All Spark have the location of the Matrix encoded into it? The All Spark was the thing that created the Transformers, right? These things therefore should have nothing to do with each other. Having the location be beamed into Sam's brain was therefore nothing more than a deus ex machina plot device.

The other thing has to do with all the clues that lead them to the Matrix near the end. These clues take the form of symbols (the Primes ancient language) which have been scrawled on various historic monuments, and which Sam can read since his brain got zapped. Aside from being more deus ex machina crap, why would the Primes put clues to the location of the Matrix out there for people to see? Wasn't it said that they trying to hide the Matrix so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands? Wasn't that why they sacrificed themselves and created that weird ass cage out of their bodies to house it? Yes! So why would they put clues out there for all to see?

Oh yeah, and if the thing falls to dust unless its being handled by a "true leader" – you may recall that Sam had this explained to him when he went to robot heaven (holy shit, that was dumb!) – why bother even hiding it? Wouldn't it be useless to the Fallen or any other Decepticon if they laid their hands on it? But again, I'm expecting too much if I'm asking this movie to make sense aren't I? Moving on…

The Matrix Sequels:

The first movie in this trilogy was pretty seamless. And by that I mean I can't think of a single plot hole off the top of my head. The sequels, however, are another matter entirely. Given the complicated and convoluted plot, it was somewhat inevitable that holes would open up. I think I covered most of them in my previous review of the trilogy, but I never get tired of criticizing flops!

1. Neo's Powers:

The big mystery after movie two was how Neo managed to destroy machines in the real world with his mind. The explanations was one of the things that made the third movie a big letdown. According to the Oracle, the power of the One goes beyond the Matrix, right to the Source, from where it comes from. What the hell does that even mean? Is she implying that the Source CREATES the Ones? Why on Earth would it do that, create its own worst enemy over and over? Is that supposed to be like some Judea-Christian mystery, like why would God create the Devil? The way the Architect put it in movie two, the Ones are a natural occurrence, much like the 1 percent of people who can't accept the program because they are somehow more adept than the rest. But how would this person who can not only reject but control the Matrix bring that control into the real world? Who knows? It's never explained. And any way you try, it ends up not making much sense.

2. Neo in Limbo:

Another thing that was never explained was why Neo went back into the Matrix when he went into a coma. How did he do this if he wasn't even wired in? Again, the Oracle gives what clearly is meant to be a mysterious answer, but actually is just weak. Apparently, that's just something the One can do. He can control machines and go in and out of the Matrix without the need for a plug-in. Really? Does the mind of the One operate like wireless internet? Can he interface with machines and hack into the system without DSL or a Modem? Like I said, never explained, but that's probably because no explanation would make sense. It's just weird, ethereal stuff that's meant to advance the plot.

3. Why did Neo go to the Machine City?

So movie two ended with Neo realizing he could destroy machines in the real world. Sure, the experience kind of left him floored, but once he got all better, he was up and kicking machine ass. Hell, all he had to do was raise a hand and squiddies went boom by the bucket load! So why was Neo's next move to go to the machine city? Because he was having dreams about it? Or because he figured he could save Zion by making a deal with the Source to stop Smith? Okay, seems a bit contrived, but okay. Still, why would he do that when he could have saved Zion on his own terms? If he can blow up machines with a thought, all they would need to do is fly him to Zion where he could unleash hell on the squiddy army. Zion army almost stopped the machines as it was, but with Neo they could have mopped the floor with them!

And didn't the Architect say that the Matrix was on the verge of crashing? Yes, that was part two of the cyclical plan that kept the Ones in line. Blow up Zion, threaten to crash the system, thus eliminating humanity. But if Neo managed to use his abilities to save Zion for the attack, and the Matrix crashed as planned, that would mean the machines would be all but dead. Sure, millions of humans would die, but as Morpheus said, as long as they're wired into the system, they're still the enemy! So yes, lots of blood on his hands, but in exchange for that one act of unsentimental ruthlessness, humanity would have beaten the machines for good!

4. The Treaty Thing:

By the end, we're told that a treaty is in place between humanity and the machines, as a result of the deal Neo cut and the sacrifice he made. Just one question, why are the machines going along with this? Once Neo did his thing and ensured Smith's destruction, the squiddies just up and leave. Why? They were on the verge of wiping Zion off the face of the planet. Why not follow through and finish it? What's more, why did the Architect promise the Oracle that all humans who couldn't except the program would henceforth be set free? Sure, it seems like an elegant solution to the problem of what to do with them – just let them go and join Zion. But that was never a condition of Neo's deal, only an end to the war was. So why was it "obvious" as the Architect said?

Last nitpick, while the idea of having a peace treaty might seem like a good idea in the short run, what about the long run? The more people the machines let go, the larger Zion gets. What's going to happen when they get too large and unruly? Most likely, they'll be building more hovercraft and EMP's so they can move about and defend themselves too, making them a greater and greater threat. Surely, a mathematical mind like the Architect's would be able to foresee this. The idea that humans and machines could live in harmony indefinitely, especially after all the blood they've spilled, is just plain stupid.

5. The Big Climax:

I saved this one for last because its the one I'm the least clear on. The way the movie ended, it seemed like a culmination of various things. But almost immediately after I saw it, the logic began to escape me. Let me see if I can recap it. Neo promises to deal with Smith, the Source plugs him in, he and Smith have their big fight. It ends when Neo realizes that he and Smith are destined to come together and cancel each other out. Like the Oracle said, "he is your equal, your opposite", and once Smith blows up, the Matrix reboots because Neo still was carrying the reboot codes he picked up when he went in and met the Architect. It's poetic and wraps things up; but really, how did Neo letting Smith merge with him destroy the guy?

On the one hand, it might be that what the Oracle said was meant somewhat literally. Having Neo merge with Smith, his equal and opposite by this point, might have just overloaded Smith's program, but if so, why did he assimilate Neo? He had JUST taken over the Oracle and was now in possession of her prescience. If he saw what she saw, why do the thing that would guarantee his destruction? However, there is an alternative explanation, one which I came up… with all by myself!

My personal impression was that the Smiths blew up because the Source killed them. Or rather, it killed Neo for failing. That's what appeared to be the case, at any rate. The Source was pissed and zapped his body, but since he was now indistinguishable from Smith, it was really Smith who got zapped and this overloaded him and destroyed him. Still, this idea also presents problems. If zapping someone wired into the Matrix was all it would take to kill Smith, why didn't the system do that the moment he started copying himself onto people? Seriously, by the end, he had copied himself onto every single person within the Matrix. That's a couple million opportunities to kill him! And even if I'm wrong about it, what would stop the system from unplugging the people that Smith copied? At the same time, send in the agents to shoot the sentient programs. If it did that in the first place, the Smith "virus" might have been contained and Neo's help never needed.

More in part II, coming up next…

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