Making a movie is a strenuous process that can take a toll on even the greatest of filmmakers.
They spend so much time analyzing each frame for a long period of time, that they’re
just happy to get it out to the world. But if they looked at their final cut one last
time before sending it off, they may have been able to catch one last mistake. Here
are Screen Rant’s 10 continuity fails in popular films.
Spider-Man
Peter Parker undergoes a tremendous physical transformation when he’s bit by a radioactive
spider, and it takes some time getting used to his new abilities. When he’s testing
out his web slinging powers in his bedroom, he accidentally makes a lamp crash against
the wall. When Aunt May knocks on the door to investigate the noise, that same lamp is
perfectly intact in the next shot. Since director Sam Raimi had just shown it being destroyed,
you’d think he would have noticed this. Chalk it up to the dangers of shooting out
of sequence.
The Avengers
Halfway through The Avengers, SHIELD’s helicarrier is attacked by a brainwashed Hawkeye under
the control of Loki. It’s an exciting set piece that kicks the film into gear and leads
to the Avengers assembling to save the world. Even gravity couldn’t handle it all. When
Nick Fury tells Iron Man the helicarrier is falling, a display Tony Stark is looking at
reads 15,000 feet. A few minutes later when Fury looks at his own display, it says 18,000
feet. Which one is it really? That’s left up to the viewer.
The Dark Knight Rises
Bruce Wayne loses his fortune after Bane forges stock trades using Bruce’s finger prints,
and apparently Gotham City lost several hours of time. When Bane and his henchmen arrive
to the stock exchange to complete their task, it is clearly midday and light outside. But
once they leave with hostages on their motorcycles, it’s become pitch dark – even though they
only needed 10 minutes for the transaction to take place. It is true that Batman action
looks a lot cooler at night, but when a director like Christopher Nolan is involved, audiences
expect more consistency. There’s no logical explanation for the drastic time shift.
Star Wars
Audiences will always remember the first time they saw Star Wars’ climactic Death Star
trench run. It’s a sequence that still thrills to this day. One of its most tense moments
is when Darth Vader thinks he has Luke dead to rights, but he misfires and hits R2-D2
instead. After the blast, the shot cuts directly to R2, but the little droid seems 100 percent
fine. It isn’t until after Luke lands back on Yavin that we see the effects of the impact,
with oil spilled all over R2’s body. The special effects budget was tight on the original
film, so maybe they didn’t have time to get a new shot.
Back to the Future
Marty McFly has to make sure his parents get together in 1955, or else he’ll be erased
from existence. He uses a picture of him and his siblings to see how long he has until
time runs out. Things are in dire straights during the Enchanted Under the Sea dance,
as Marty begins to fade from the photograph. It was such an important item, but Robert
Zemeckis had a tough time keeping track of it. In the long shots featuring Marty playing
with the band, the picture is nowhere to be seen. It’s only in Michael J. Fox’s close-ups.
Jurassic World
Moviegoers, and Chris Pratt’s Owen, found it ridiculous that Claire spends the entire
movie running around the dinosaur amusement park in high heel shoes. It seemed impossible
that she could survive the chaos wearing them, but she did. Claire even found time to go
shopping for a new pair. While the shoes get dirty as the movie progresses, they’re squeaky
clean when she arrives at the t-rex paddock to unleash the original t-rex. When she leads
it to the Indominus rex, the shoes are once again dirty. Since there was a line of dialogue
dedicated to the footwear, you’d think they’d pay more attention to it.
Star Trek Into Darkness
When Kirk gets the Enterprise taken away from him, he’s rightfully bummed out and decides
to spend his night getting drunk in a bar. And he must have ordered quite a few rounds,
because the amount of beer in his glass changes depending on the shot. When Admiral Pike comes
to check on Kirk, the young captain’s mug is either full or almost empty. It’s an
obvious case of blending takes to complete the scene, but since Kirk’s glass is in
the foreground of the shot, it would have been nice if its levels were consistent. Kirk
liked to party, but not this hard.
Argo
The fateful moment in Ben Affleck’s Oscar winner comes when the group is searching for
a screenplay to make their fake movie. Tony Mendez stumbles across a script called Argo,
which has black vinyl covering and gold lettering. It’s the perfect one for the CIA’s mission,
and Mendez was so excited, he must have ripped that recognizable cover right off. In the
very next shot, as Mendez brings the script out to his friends, the cover is missing.
Perhaps this is why Affleck got snubbed for Best Director? Goes to show that even Best
Pictures have imperfections.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
At the end of the first film in the epic trilogy, the Fellowship has been splintered. Frodo
decides it’s best for the group if he goes to Mt. Doom on his own, but his trusted companion
Sam is determined to go with him. As Frodo begins to paddle away, Sam – who can’t
swim – runs into the water after his friend. Sam begins to sink to the bottom, and Frodo
has to pull him out to save his life. Turns out, Sam’s clothes were magic, since they’re
dry when Sam is back on the boat. Fans were too caught up in the emotions to notice, but
it’s hard to miss.
Casino Royale
As 007 enters a poker tournament, he has to create a password for the bank account to
deposit his winnings. The film reveals that he chose “Vesper” as the password, after
the love of his life he met on the mission. However, the film depicts Bond typing something
completely different. When he starts to enter the password at the casino, the first key
he hits is 5, which typically has the letters J, K, and L. Vesper contains none of those
letters, so did Bond just change the password at some point during the game? Anything’s
possible for a super spy.
So what do you think of our list? Which continuity errors make you scratch your head? Sound off
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