MovieChat Forums > Leave the World Behind (2023) Discussion > Massive Plot Hole Regarding Airplane ✈️

Massive Plot Hole Regarding Airplane ✈️

posted 5 months ago by FootOfDavros (6842)
18 replies | jump to latest

Plot hole is a term perhaps overused these days but this film has an absolute, glaring howler.

The plane crash George witnesses on the beach would have been simply impossible. The wreckage he sees on the beach - sure, maybe. But as for a plane still in the air... No chance.

The oil tanker runs ashore the previous afternoon. So the GPS issue would have been known by mid-afternoon at latest.

However, this scene when he's on the beach is taking place the next day. Not sure of the exact time but certainly post breakfast.

So that plane quite definitely didn't take off post 5pm their time, yet crash lands post 9am their time. That's more than 16 hours minimum. And that's being exceptionally generous time-wise.

It's 100% impossible George could have witnessed such a plane crash at that time. Therefore what we have here is a glaring Plot Hole...

[–] TerraFirma69 (1933) 5 months ago

All those scenarios were silly.

The ship crashed into the beach because of navigation issues? Were the crew asleep the whole time and couldn't stop it?

George going onto the beach and seeing the watch in the sand? What, the body was perfectly buried and he didn't first notice the other hundreds of bodies and all the debris of an entire crashed plane clearly shown around him in the expanded shot?

These were just some of the stupid things that made this movie stupid.

I did enjoy it overall tho, despite the stupid things and it being too long.

[–] FootOfDavros (6842) 5 months ago

The ship crashed into the beach because of navigation issues? Were the crew asleep the whole time and couldn't stop it?

Also a good point. Actually had me wondering the same thing - was everyone onboard asleep... I know these ships can run with a surprisingly small crew but still.

And yeah, that jump scare with the watch was also daft given the expanded shot.

The first half of the film was an excellent set-up and I was thinking at one point it could be heading towards something of a modern psychological thriller classic but it sold itself well short in the end.

[–] mobocracy (846) 5 months ago

I'm sure modern ships have GPS-dependent autopilots and a lot of fly-by-wire type controls where something could go haywire, but disabling the autopilot physically would be easy for the engineering crew, as would other manual interventions like disabling propulsion.

Even if all that couldn't happen, they should be able to deploy the anchors and drag the ship to a halt or even cause it to turn if they dropped one anchor (weirdly, the ship has a spot for a starboard anchor, but its not shown in the film, but the port anchor is).

[–] emori (3110) 5 months ago

I had no problem with ship crashing. With electronic off - it could be easily. Remember Costa Concordia cruise ship who went into drifting mode one power was off. Once power if off - they don't have that much control.

But plane crashes were silly. I understand they needed plot to happen and little action so they did it. But it was little unrealistic.

[–] TerraFirma69 (1933) 5 months ago

The oil tanker in the movie was under power, not drifting. Even with a control failure, there'd be several ways to cut the engines.

[–] SickSpazmoid (718) 5 months ago

This was not the point of the movie. If you like everything to be believable, then imagine that the manual controls were locked by the hackers. Or maybe it takes place in the near future. I mean, the Teslas are not really capable of full self driving, but the stickers said so.

[–] FootOfDavros (6842) 5 months ago

If you like everything to be believable, then imagine that the manual controls were locked by the hackers...

Makes no difference - the point was that the plane couldn't have been in the air that long after GPS and whatever other satellite navigation systems had been knocked out.

[–] SickSpazmoid (718) 5 months ago

OK, then imagine that these were isolated incidents at first and they could not figure it out. Investigations of such incidents may take months, you know.

I'm trying hard to make it better for you...

[–] FootOfDavros (6842) 5 months ago

Yeah sure, isolated incidents.

But communication systems and GPS satellites had been knocked out wholesale. And we see that it in the film...

Actually, that makes my think of another plot hole! How come GPS was still working for those Teslas, which were zeroing in on that exact location!! LOL.

[–] SickSpazmoid (718) 5 months ago

Good point, but the main idea behind the movie becomes more and more realistic and nitpicking it today, won't make the scenario less likely tomorrow.

And I don't think that the GPS signal was missing and the machine were going awry. This is what happened:

https://www.mcafee.com/learn/what-is-gps-spoofing/

[–] locutus261168 (35) 5 months ago

tesla's can do full self driving but the full automation part is not activated. maybe the hackers knew how to override that. but it would still need satellites for the tracking, unless star link is still working for the cars as they hijacked them

[–] SickSpazmoid (718) 5 months ago

No, they can't and even if they could, but was not available to the customer, then the info on the sticker would be false advertising. This is why I speculate that the movie takes place in the near future, where automation is more widespread. Like 5 or so years in the future. Of course, this is pure speculation. I never saw anything else that could put a date on the events.

[–] mobocracy (846) 5 months ago

My hot take is that the pilots at the take off location figured they could bypass the automated systems impaired by the cyberattack's effects. So they did, but such improvisation on a modern passenger airliner isn't without risk, and when they began their airport approach either they had something disabled that interfered with landing or the plane's systems became vulnerable to some new attack/stage of the cyberattack.

Basically, they were able to get the plane off the ground and fly it for a while after the attack, but either their actions or some element of the attack interfered with landing approach and brought the plane down.

For all we know, maybe this is how the aviation element of the attack was *supposed* to work. Plane appears to be normal at takeoff, but the fly-by-wire controls are sabotaged and it only kicks in during landing tasks. If the cyberattackers goal is creating chaos and destruction, making planes seem safe to take off but with a hidden deathtrap around landing is a great idea. Disabling them on the tarmac is a problem, but not nearly as big of a problem if they all crash on landing.

[–] FootOfDavros (6842) 5 months ago

I think that's a fair point re whether a plane could technically take off, be flown and landed without the GPS systems, which would use GPS.

But not sure about what we see - i.e. commercial airlines continuing to be cleared for take off on a "let's give it a bash" basis - long after the GPS and communications have been knocked out seems an unlikely possibility.

[–] mobocracy (846) 5 months ago

There could be some question as to whether flights were being "cleared" in some official way. These could be kind of rogue flights where the flight crew was based at the destination airport, wanted to get home, and they somehow managed to get the plane fueled, perhaps with some cohort of passengers also desperate to get back.

"We've got the buggy controls disabled, we know we can take off/fly under manual controls. There's some risk, but its a mediated one.." Until they go to land, and find out that the controls are messed up.

[–] FootOfDavros (6842) 24 days ago

* Just edited this to "unlikely possibility". Error in the original wording.

[–] parkerbot (5627) 5 months ago

I got a better plot problem.

You build a super duper bunker and your DVD collection looks like it came from a pawn shop?

For realz?

[–] emori (3110) 5 months ago

Putting DVD collection with all those seasons of tv shows was actually very smart and realistic thing to do. It also could be their home collection. Or they just ask people to give it to them as no one now collects them. Or they could really buy it in pawn shop. I feel sorry that those people were out of town and could not use it. They were smart.

I paused and saw there Seasons of Buffy. Bridesmaids, Beach, Back to the Future, Bring it on, Bridget Jones, Castaway, seasons of Farscape . Basically random movies and tv shows.