10 Most Shamefully Lazy Plot Resolutions In Movie History
9. Hermione Turns Back The Clock - Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
As Superman illustrated, using time travel as a plot device is a tricky business; if a filmmaker suddenly introduces time travel without properly setting it up, it can make the story he or she is telling seem arbitrary and illogical. The third instalment of the Harry Potter film franchise, The Prisoner Of Azkaban, commits this cardinal sin.
Fans of the books might point out the following plot points are explained by the novel in depth but a film needs to stand on its own and what made it onscreen seems like a particularly unsatisfying attempt to wrap up the story. In the final act, Harry and his godfather, Sirius Black, are attacked by Dementors until an unseen wizard casts a spell that wards off Harry's foes at the last second. In the aftermath, Sirius is placed in lockdown and set to be executed at the stroke of midnight, and as the time comes it appears that Harry has no hope of saving Sirius until his friend, Hermione, pulls out a time turner - a device never mentioned before in the feature or in any of the previous films in the franchise.
Using a magical time amulet (which was never mentioned in the previous films) the kids rescue Sirius and Harry learns that he was the unseen wizard who cast the spell to ward off the Dementors. The movie makes it seem like the filmmakers wrote themselves into a corner and lazily pulled the time travel card to save their heroes from a tight spot.