MovieChat Forums > San ging chaat goo si (2004) Discussion > Ridiculous Plotholes (spoilers!)

Ridiculous Plotholes (spoilers!)

posted 19 years ago by newman345
58 replies | jump to latest

1. How could a police chief disclose that he'd have the thiefs in 3 hours? So that they could escape in time, or have enough time to prepare a trap? No policeman in the whole world would say an idiotic thing like that on TV.

2. If you know the bad guys are playing X-games on a high-rise roof, wouldn't you surround the damn building and prepare a SWAT team before you go up to identify them? Wouldn't you and the witness (Wong Kit) wear a vest first?

3. Why are the passengers on the bus not able to get to the driver seat to step on the brake, and have to wait for Jacky to get on the bus to stop it? Are they all retarded?

4. Wouldn't you get rid of the kids in Legoland before dissipating the adults, when there're 4 ruthless robbers on the higher floors? By the way, what happened to all the employees on the those floors?

Can anyone answer ANY of these questions?

[–] vi-11 19 years ago

1. How could a police chief disclose that he'd have the thiefs in 3 hours? So that they could escape in time, or have enough time to prepare a trap? No policeman in the whole world would say an idiotic thing like that on TV.

Yes, this was weird, and first I thought this was some mistake in my translation, and that it was 3 days, or something. Because sometimes policemen put deadlines like this, but not so quick. I gues filmakers wanted to show how confident the guy was, and he payed for it, a very high price.

2. If you know the bad guys are playing X-games on a high-rise roof, wouldn't you surround the damn building and prepare a SWAT team before you go up to identify them? Wouldn't you and the witness (Wong Kit) wear a vest first?

That was simply stupid moment, when they shot the witnes. I don't know about vest, but shooting a man in flight, on bike, is... hard (?). And remember that Jackie, and that guy were working a little bit separate from another policeman, who came with the witnes, and we know that another policeman is a little bit an idiot.

3. Why are the passengers on the bus not able to get to the driver seat to step on the brake, and have to wait for Jacky to get on the bus to stop it? Are they all retarded?

Here I absolutly agree with you. Are they retards or something. Weirdest moment in the movie.

There are also some weird hapenings in the movie, but it's a movie after all.

[–] mellechun 19 years ago

one more weird thing..
why was it that the bad guys could just go into the prison and just crap whatever they wanted in front of the prison guard and jackie and friend? Surely those guys since they have been identified, would already be on the police wanted list?? And the prison guard who heard and saw everything would be a witness too?

that part really bugged me the whole time i was watching.

[–] TVippy 9 years ago

That too, a little too ridiculous.

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[–] vancolver 19 years ago

This action flick apparently doesn't bother to give excuses for its action. All they really care is how many cars they get to crushed and how many bullets has been shot.

I agree with all the points above. What puzzles me more right from the beginning is how did those spoilt brats manage to get such an impressive array of advanced firearms without alerting the CIA or FBI. Its hard to imagine a group of rich spoilt kids have the connections to international crime syndicate capable of transporting these things undetected.

What is worse is that the script can't really bring out the motive for those cop-killing maniacs. I don't see how Daniel Wu could transform his hatred for his father to that of the police. They are just 2 different entities. If he wanted any revenge or venting at all, he should have killed his father first. It is easy to say "they hate police", but there is a whole lot more psychological depth that they missed out and there is no way I could empathize with those characters.

When the motive is stretched so thin, much of the plot is merely a convenient pretext to let them throw some "Gen-X" elements into the genre.

Given that, I got to admit that the action is still entertaining. Its only saving grace.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] ChongWang 19 years ago

there is hardly anything to add to your post, it is "right on the money"! that is the way i see it too.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] BlackBeltMark1 16 years ago

Not everyone is heroic in situations like this, take London 21/7 for example, 4 failed suicide bomb attempts during rush hour, how many people steped up and acted like a hero 1 guy. not everyone is a hero.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] hkleung321 19 years ago

1&2 Hey, its just a Jackie Chan flick.

3 well it could happen since the overwhelming majority of people in HK don't drive. We have like 15 cars in 1000 people... compare it to 1X00 cars:1000 persons in the USA.... again... its a Jackie Chan flick...

[–] newman345 19 years ago

Well, the first 3 police stories didn't have ridiculous B/S like that. Those stories actually make sense. This one is way over the top. I don't care it's a Jackie Chan flick or Bruce Willis flick. The writing is downright awful. The action and the digital sound are excellent, I'd admit.

[–] kellicros 19 years ago

I agree with hkleung321 that most HK'ers don't drive, hence they are taking bus. No comment on the other plot holes though.

[–] newman345 19 years ago

What are the chances that all 50 people (mostly adults) on the bus don't know that "if you step on the brake, the vehicle stops"? Did they never watch a bus driver operate a bus before?

[–] bobbyh1981 17 years ago

1) because he reckons he can get them within 3 hours
2) they didnt want to rush into things
3) the passengers are too busy screaming

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] SenorDD 19 years ago

You missed one - So the police chief lets Jackie back on the case just because Nicholas Tse makes a bet with the chief that they could solve it faster. It's almost like saying "What's the matter, are you chicken?"

Why weren't the gang arrested when they visited Jackie and Nicholas in jail? They could have just yelled out, "Hey, these are the guys" instead of just letting them walk out.

I'm sure that theres a few more that I've let slip, but overall, I was entertained and was empressed by the production values coming from a Hong Kong film, probably due to the fact that Jackie's funding it. Also good to see the safety measures in place, unlike his earlier films.

Best/worst line in the movie: "Yo, dats ma man!"

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Stupid people make me angry.

[–] celticpryde2000 19 years ago

The above plotholes were glaring, and I noticed a few others, of a more technical nature. As a police officer, It is difficult for me to watch movies like this (actually, I don't believe that there has ever been a movie made that is 100% correct, although a few come close. The recent release of SWAT was pretty dead-on, at least as far as the SWAT element of our business goes. But that is, without question, one of the more exciting elements of police work, and thus one easy to keep correct AND make into a movie. No one would want to watch a movie about much of what I do, although the Law and Order TV franchise gets pretty damn close to the real deal). But I digress. Allow me to shed some light:

1. You are right in youre assumption, no police officer in his right mind would announce something like that. It is often hard for the public to believe, but we are not gun-slinging cowboys. We have families, wives and children. Though we willingly put our lives at risk, we also take all precautions. This element was added for dramatic effect, and in no way bears any semblance to reality. In modern police work, success is not only measured in getting the job done, but by how many people go home at the end of their shift.

2. If a group has killed several police officers, you better believe we go in with the SWAT team (in HK, its called the Police Tactical Unit and also the Special Duties Unit). We dont waste time, we call in all available fire power, even takns if we have to. Additionally, EVERYONE wears vests. Detectives (HK's "Inspectors" are roughly equivelant to our Detectives, although the duties are slightly different) wear vests when they are involved in raids, which this was. Also, witnesses would not be allowed anywhere near the scene. The perps would be arrested and brought "downtown" to be identified.

3. haha, I dont know about this one.

Anyway, working in LA's Asian Organized Crime Task Force, i have had several opportunities to work very closely with the HKPD, and I have consistently found them to be highly professional, even though they are outnumbered, undermaned, and under-equipped.

[–] fireyhope 19 years ago

i totally agree.
This could of been one of the best movies ever made... BUT THIS HACK DIRECTOR SUCKS!

[–] digital_dream 19 years ago

Another one that's been bugging me is when Daniel gave that bomb to Charlie, why didn't she scream out like this lunatic just gave me a bomb, arrest him!

[–] VanSlammage 19 years ago

what bothered me was how well dressed all the cops were, are they all in the pocket of the triads or something?

it was silly to me for them to act all serious, when there was these over the top gen-x badguys, and all these ludicrous plot holes, you'd think with all there liberties they would have made this into just a fun action movie like China Strike Force or something.

Also, Jackie seemed out of place here, everyone in the police department was more than half his age, with exception to the Iron Monkey guy (who I thought would have been a great bad guy who could have been behind those gen-x badguys)
Even his girlfriend, didn't seem to have any reason to be with him, unless he was paying her rent.

Sure the movie had high production values, but its sad when all the people jackie had worked with previously moved to bigger things like CTHD and Hero and So Close while Jackie is stuck with these pop stars. this definitely was not worthy to be titled "police story"

[–] celticpryde2000 19 years ago

Hong Kong police are very well dressed, and this is done intentionally. Hong Kong fancies itself one of the fashion centers of the world, and it dresses its police accordingly. Their uniforms are actually designed by some big-name fashion designer, but I cant remember who right off the top of my head, maybe Armani or Versaci. Im not lying about this, its true. Also, they drive BMW motorcycles (our guys drive Hondas). However, they suffer enormously in that they are underequipped in other areas like weaponry. The Triads are infamously well-armed. In times past, as much as 90% of Hong Kong's police force WAS in the pocket of the Triads, but now the problem has been largely confined. Make no mistake, corruption exists in ALL law enforecement agencies, Hong Kong being no exception. The HK police face an uphill battle in that the Triads are more than just a simlpe "gang" in the sense that we in the US understand gangs, and especially those of us in Los Angeles, birthplace of the modern gang. The Triads are a society, and their influence has wide-reaching implications (they control many Chinese Benevolence Associations here in the US, and they are often a new immigrants only source for friendship and information). Chinese immigrants to this country have historically tended to form close-knit, secretive enclaves, and this feeds the triads even more. Today, we deal with drug smuggling and human smuggling (Triad smugglers are known in law enforcement as "snakeheads").

I think youre right though, Jackie did seem a bit out of place, his age is starting to date him as an action star. In real life, a Detective his age would have either retired or have been moved up to Administration. Hes too old to work the street, even if he still can take a chair to the face. What is CTHD?

[–] newman345 19 years ago

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

[–] 19 years ago

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