MovieChat Forums > Ransom (1996) Discussion > BIGGEST PLOTHOLE EVER?????

BIGGEST PLOTHOLE EVER?????

posted 19 years ago by ckassady
76 replies | jump to latest

I've wondered about this from the moment I left the movie theater after seeing this movie and the topic was brought up but never answered by a previous poster so I'll just paste his question here:

"When Shaker "rescues" the kid, the kid listens to him as he identifies himself as a cop. When Shaker is in Mullen's house to collect the reward, the kid listens to him also, but this time he recognizes his voice and pees in terror, which tipped Mullen thus giving the next twist in the story . Why didn't he recognize him before? "

This gigantic plothole by a big name director is inexcusable, what was Opie thinking?? To me, this ruined what to that point was a very enjoyable movie.

[–] Ramuna 13 years ago

A Plothole? C'mon...what plothole?

Do you really think the kid will react instantly by the time the cops bust into the house? He is just a little kid who was kidnapped for some time which I guess at that time being he might not even capable of thinking straight. So please spare him from some great expectation.

Anyway let's just say he did reacted after recognizing Jimmy's voice by the time the cops arrived...under blindfolded and under the circumstances what do you think the best reaction outcome to be? Should he pissed himself like he later do, still the cops will think that it is a normal thing to happen to a kid under kidnapping. But then, when he pissed himself in the house, Tom surely can smell something is not right.

So no it's not a plothole but certainly it's argueable.

[–] lgforce 13 years ago

jbrunner and nat make excellent points.

[–] dogma867 11 years ago

yeah it's a plothole. i am positive that the writers did not think about this at all, they would have had an explanation if they had considered it. It is far more likely that they didn't think about this plothole and were too busy thinking about the main storyline and not this important detail

[–] Gus-69 11 years ago

You don't explain why it is a plot hole - and I don't think you even know what a plot hole means. Try and address what the other post wrote before denying it.

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[–] intexor 13 years ago

You could explain this away by trauma or whatnot, or you can take offense and trash the movie for it. I noticed it and the way they come to the conclusion the rescuing cop is also the hostage taker is not ideal. But it's not a big deal. I thought for the most part this was a pretty well written movie.

Did the kid even hear much of Sinise's voice during the kidnapping? It was almost always someone else who went into the room.

[–] horton-2 12 years ago

Yes, during the scene when Mel was Gary were yelling at each other the kid was in the room with him the entire time. This is also when Gary's character shoots the gun making as if he killed the kid.

[–] gurvinder62 13 years ago

"BIGGEST PLOTHOLE EVER?????"...really ...really....???

sir, with all due respect...EITHER you don't know what a plot is OR you have no idea about holes !!!

P.S. or both !!!

Why couldn't you put the bunny back in the box?

[–] Jimothy3 13 years ago

Not only this but another small thing I noticed is when Mullen's wife meets Jimmy and says she'll go fetch the kid to meet Jimmy, Jimmy appears to not mind this idea despite what it could mean. Unless by then he's caught on to Mullen realising he's the kidnapper.

[–] CCRider01 12 years ago

Shaker's speech pattern was different than normal, out of breath and higher pitch, so I don't find it that illogical that the kid did not recognize his voice during the rescue. What I did find a bit of a plot hole was Shaker going to Mullen's house uninvited to pick up the ransom payment. The logical thing to do was meet Mullen where he knew the kid would not be, such as Mullen's company office.

[–] horton-2 12 years ago

I know I'm responding to a 7 year old post but I just saw the movie again last night and can tell you why this happened. When he rescues Sean as far as we know he doesn't say anything until he identifies himself as a police officer. He doesn't say that much but he says it in a completely different voice. I'd wager it has to do with the fact that he's been shot but if you watch it again you'll notice the voice is a much higher pitch which can indeed be brought on by the stress of the moment. Not to mention also Sean was probably also listening intently on all the other noises going on around him trying to figure things out.
I really don't think it's a plot hole at all.

[–] dogma867 11 years ago

It's not a plothole, moron. It's one of the more intelligent plot developments.

Wrong. It is a plothole. If it wasn't a plothole it would have been explained to the audience and the writers would have thought about the audience wondering why the kid didn't recognize gary sinise's voice. Explaining it by 'trauma' is a cop-out. If you are kidnapped by somebody you are in a heightened state of awareness and of course you are going to remember your kidnapper's voice.

[–] d_henderson1810 10 years ago

Been kidnapped before, have you, dogma867?

Then how would you know how someone would be in a heightened state during kidnapping?

[–] smashet-8-200906 11 years ago

Sean barelly even recognized the sound of his father's voice after a while of he being "rescued", so it's kinda obvious that he couldn't recognize his captor's voice... (I apologize if there is some mistakes, i'm trying my best :P)

[–] coffeemann 11 years ago

I mean he is a kid, who was tied up, gagged, and didnt know what was happening
he hears a voice, is he suppose to remember the sound while during the chaos?
NO, he just got rescued by a cop! he is happy and not thinking clearly,
but days later at home relaxed his brain has time to process now and reflect so he can put two and two together now.
simple really.. no plot holes