10 Most Shamefully Lazy Plot Resolutions In Movie History
1. An Invincible Ghost Army Sweeps Up The Mess - The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)
J.R.R. Tolkiens massive work of fantasy fiction The Lord Of The Rings is comprised of three volumes that total over 1,000 pages, not including the appendices and supplementary material. This mammoth book contained so much story that many considered it un-filmable. When director Peter Jackson finally brought Tolkien's tale to the big screen in a wildly successful trilogy, each instalment clocked in at well over two hours and large parts of Tolkiens vision still didn't make the cut.
Jackson's need to half-arse some plot points to get the entire story on screen is never more apparent than in his trilogy-capping epic The Return Of The King. In the climactic battle of Pelennor Fields, the forces of good face insurmountable odds as the armies of Mordor close in for the kill. It seems all is lost until the heroic Aragon some reinforcements: an army of invincible undead ghost warriors who eradicate the bad guys in a matter of minutes without breaking a sweat.
The audience is left wondering why Aragorn didn't enlist the aid of this ghostly blitzkrieg before the battle even began. In Tolkien's novel Aragorn only enlists the ghost warriors to help him pave the way to bring human reinforcements to the battlefield so the heroes must win the day without a supernatural assist. Jackson decided that having the ghost army simply wipe out the bad guys would cut down on the runtime of the already bloated flick. Unfortunately, he makes the resolution seem more tossed-off then it could have been.
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