Lethal lapses in logic don't just happen in our world.
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00:00Sci-fi can be more captivating than any other genre.
00:03It provides the perfect realm for filmmakers to use familiarities from our world against
00:08us by pushing one element of our reality over the edge.
00:12At its best, it can thrill us and keep us guessing, while pondering the most fundamental
00:16questions.
00:17But at its worst, it can be disastrous.
00:20Of all the sins sci-fi commits, there are little less infuriating than a stupid character
00:25death.
00:27Films like these can ask a lot from audiences to keep up with in terms of plot and detail.
00:31The least we ask is in return is not to have our intelligence insulted by making us accept
00:35insane lapses of logic by the characters we're following.
00:39So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 easily avoidable deaths in sci-fi
00:44movies.
00:4510.
00:46Andrew Fassbeck in World War Z
00:49Low as it may be, zombie films still have a bar to clear to be considered believable.
00:54But for the most part, World War Z gives a good account of itself in this area.
00:58Aside from one crucial moment, though, which lets it down.
01:01At this point, humanity pinned all hopes for a cure on virologist Dr. Andrew Fassbeck.
01:06So he heads to South Korea along with Brad Pitt's Jerry Lane and some military personnel.
01:11All armed and anticipating an attack from their flesh-eating antagonist, Jerry instructs
01:15Andrew to keep his finger off the trigger.
01:18That's sound advice, as it's an essential rule to uphold if you want to carry a gun
01:21safely.
01:22Would the doctor follow this advice?
01:24Of course not.
01:25He starts running away in panic before slipping and falling over, shooting himself in the
01:29head in the process.
01:31You could almost forgive this stupid decision maybe as an attempt to demonstrate the importance
01:35of gun safety, or perhaps how manic situations lead to irrational actions from even the most
01:40intelligent people.
01:41Either interpretation, however, isn't quite enough to justify a death that somehow rendered
01:46a doctor more brainless than the zombies he was trying to cure.
01:499.
01:50Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace
01:54Putting it lightly, the Star Wars prequel trilogy is a point of contention amongst fans,
01:59with The Phantom Menace getting the brunt of the ire from fans.
02:02However, even its biggest detractors would praise the climactic showdown where Obi-Wan
02:07Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn valiantly go against Darth Maul.
02:11That is apart from one critical moment.
02:14Obi-Wan has just seen his master die and is presently hanging off a ledge, with Maul towering
02:19just a few feet above.
02:20Having already used the force to push Obi-Wan over, certainly just repeating that move once
02:24more would finish the job.
02:26Indeed, many options were available to him, really.
02:29He could reach down and knock him off with his lightsaber or even drop it on top of him.
02:33And out of all of those, what does he pick?
02:36Well taking aimless swipes at him, of course.
02:38This utter lapse in any common sense gave enough time for Obi-Wan to use the force to
02:43recover and take out Maul.
02:45Surprise surprise.
02:468.
02:47The final world in Don't Look Up
02:49There are rare cases where writers meant for deaths to be easily avoidable.
02:53Yet, just because the film's a satire doesn't automatically prevent the demise of virtually
02:57everyone on Earth from appearing on this list.
02:59As a fascinating depiction of the ease in which greed and the media come together to
03:03obscure facts from the public, it had to be greed that drove the apocalypse.
03:07At this point, the best scientists have just successfully launched a mission to destroy
03:11a comet hurtling towards Earth.
03:13It all looked so hopeful until Madam President called it off, convinced that she could make
03:17money off the rare elements on the comet instead.
03:20Having consulted no one but a billionaire tech company CEO, you can see why this choice
03:24was ill-advised.
03:26While failing to consult any expert at all, it would have been far easier to let the professionals
03:30do their job.
03:31The film uses this to perfectly encapsulate how easily a bit of misinformation fueled
03:36by greed can lead to rash decisions that do so much damage.
03:40Given that is the point, is this gripe a tad pedantic?
03:43Maybe, but no one gets a free pass for ignorance here, even if it was intended.
03:47Number 7.
03:48Robert Neville in I Am Legend
03:51There's a reason why debates about this film's conclusion persist.
03:54More in line with the source material, the alternative ending gives audiences a mental
03:58180.
03:59It puts Robert Neville's motives into question and provides a refreshing shred of humanity
04:03to the Darkseekers.
04:05Explaining that Neville is as much of a threat to them as they are to him, Neville still
04:09gets to walk away knowing the cure.
04:11However, the theatrical cut's ending is more a traditional action movie finish.
04:16Neville instead sacrifices himself to save the cure, letting the others escape with it.
04:20It's not without some merit.
04:22It fulfills Neville's character arc by reuniting him with his family through his death once
04:26he's achieved his goal of finding the cure.
04:29If you intend to make this massive change to favor something familiar, though, at least
04:33give Neville a great death.
04:35Unsurprisingly, they didn't do that, opting for Neville to blow himself and the Darkseekers
04:39up via grenade.
04:41If anyone forgot, grenades don't blow up immediately, providing time for a getaway
04:44before the explosion.
04:46How did no one think of this?
04:48It makes everyone look incredibly dumb for choosing this stupidly avoidable death over
04:52the superior alternative they had already shot.
04:556.
04:56Billy and the other three survivors in The Mist
04:59Here we have another instance of intentionally avoidable deaths, but its irony compounded
05:04a tragedy rather than added to satire as in don't look up.
05:09Similar to I Am Legend, this concerns a different ending to the source material.
05:13However, the change proved so impactful that even Stephen King, who wrote the original
05:17novella, praised it.
05:19While driving off into the mist, things look bleak for the survivors.
05:23David's at the wheel, having just learned the fate of his wife, and is now only driving
05:27to see if they can get out of the mist.
05:29At this point, the novella ends, but the film isn't done.
05:33Running out of fuel, the passengers come to a silent agreement.
05:37David Mercy kills everyone, including his son, to spare them from suffering a worse
05:41fate outside.
05:42Since he's a bullet short of doing the same for himself, he exits the car to instigate
05:46his swift death.
05:48But instead, he meets the arrival of the military and the dissipation of the mist.
05:53As they were mere moments away from safety, and how easily David could have saved his
05:57son, this ultimate troll ending is the prime example of avoidable deaths executed effectively.
06:035.
06:04Lee Abbott in A Quiet Place
06:07Now, this might be a nitpick, but you have to call out when a film itself provides an
06:11unbelievably simple solution to the problem at hand.
06:14It focuses on a family living in a world ravished by monsters who hunt excellently based on
06:19sound alone.
06:20Their present sentences are protagonists who life in total silence, lest they get murdered.
06:26Nowhere was safe, right?
06:28Well, actually, we do learn about one place, a waterfall.
06:32It's so loud that it drowns out any noise you make while under it.
06:35Yes, it's only supposed to serve as a happy escape for Lee and his son, Marcus, however,
06:40we can't help but question why they haven't used this to their advantage, especially with
06:43Evelyn expecting.
06:44It may be impractical, and a tad extreme, to permanently move to the waterfall.
06:49You'd still desire a somewhat normal life, but it seems illogical not to set up a temporary
06:54camp here for Evelyn to spend the last few weeks in.
06:57After all, she could go into labor suddenly, upon which sounds are unavoidable.
07:01Unfortunately, this wound up happening while she was still in the house, setting events
07:05in motion leading to Lee's death, all due to profound lack of foresight.
07:09Number 4.
07:10Susan McAllister in Deep Blue Sea
07:13You'd be wildly mistaken if you thought we'd give it a pass since test audiences demanded
07:17this reshoot.
07:19The demand made sense.
07:20Kill off Dr. Susan McAllister, given her role in creating the rampaging sharks.
07:24The production handled this by having Susan sacrifice herself.
07:28She cuts her hand and jumps in the water to distract the final shark and so prevent it
07:32from escaping.
07:33Now, this makes absolutely no sense.
07:36The most prominent flaw here is that she could have easily achieved this without jumping
07:39in.
07:40If she wanted to use blood so badly, she could have tried spreading it on the water's surface.
07:44If she wanted to be more precise, she could have even wet something in her blood and thrown
07:48it in.
07:49But the most egregious aspect of this decision is that she was a doctor who specializes in
07:53researching sharks.
07:55Undoubtedly, she must know several ways to distract a shark without resorting to something
07:59that unnecessarily risks her own life.
08:02It would have been part of her job.
08:04It would have been much more believable if she had slipped and fallen in the water.
08:07But astoundingly, this isn't even the stupidest heroic sacrifice by diving.
08:12That's for our next entry.
08:13Number 3.
08:14Grandma Ruth in Dante's Peak
08:16As film veterans will tell you, one of the most run-of-the-mill tricks writers pull to
08:20redeem villainous or unlikable characters is giving them a heroic death.
08:25Sure, there's a reason why this maneuver is so popular.
08:28Just ask Darth Vader.
08:30Of course, many take it too far, with writers or studios so desperate to go down this route
08:34that they completely ignore any opposing context.
08:37What this blindness results in is characters making the most illogical decisions purely
08:41for story-based reasons.
08:43Take Grandma Ruth in Dante's Peak.
08:45She was a thorn in our protagonist's side until she valiantly gave her life for them
08:50to make it through the acidic lake, dying of the injuries incurred in the process.
08:55Maybe her decision to jump into the lake to help push the boat into shore looked okay
08:58on paper, but again, context is critical.
09:02They were only a couple of meters away from the destination, rendering her sacrifice utterly
09:07pointless.
09:08Any remotely observant person would have certainly sat tight, as doing anything else would be
09:12bonkers.
09:13Number 2.
09:14Toad in X-Men
09:16Still, if some characters were meant to jump into the water, Toad would undoubtedly be
09:20among them.
09:21Perhaps dated and cheesy by today's standards, X-Men is still a culturally important achievement.
09:27While entertaining enough, it sets a decent bar for its successors, paving the way for
09:31bigger and better things.
09:33One such cheesy moment, though, is the climactic showdown between Storm and Toad.
09:38Sure, everyone now groans at Storm's one-liner, and rightly so, but this distracts from the
09:42even more stupid part of the scene.
09:45Because nobody watching this film is paying attention to what Toad is doing.
09:49Hanging onto a railing via his tongue after being thrown from a window, he chooses to
09:53do nothing, which wouldn't be too bad until you consider two vital things.
09:57Firstly, it isn't that big of a drop, a height most Olympic divers are comfortable
10:02doing.
10:03Secondly, he's above a river.
10:04If any mutant would be good jumping off into actual water, surely it'll be Toad.
10:09Number 1.
10:10Meredith Vickers in Prometheus
10:12There's always going to be one clear winner in this straight race.
10:16Yes, pun intended.
10:18In Prometheus, audiences watch plenty of characters making stupid decisions who came together
10:22to form the least competent fictitious space crew.
10:26Among them was a scientist who actively touched an alien creature that looked unquestionably
10:30hostile and a geologist who was surprised they got lost, even though preventing this
10:34was the actual purpose he was on the mission.
10:37Of course, these paled in comparison to the ultimate idiotic move that would follow.
10:42Put yourselves in Meredith Vickers' shoes.
10:44You're on an alien planet, and a ring-shaped spaceship is falling near you.
10:49As it crashes, it rolls towards you.
10:51With its shadow looming, you realize you're about to get crushed and need to run out of
10:55the way.
10:56Indeed, anyone with a functioning brain would run to the side, but not Meredith.
11:01She runs straight ahead, right into the path of the falling ship.
11:04It's made even worse once you notice she had a good few seconds to decide, and that she'll
11:09survive by rolling to the side despite her falling over.
11:13The scene now lives in infamy as one of the most unintentionally comedic deaths in sci-fi
11:18history.
11:19And that concludes our list.
11:20If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below.
11:23And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:27Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, at WhatCulture, and I can be found across
11:31various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:34I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day, and I'll see you real
11:38soon.