10 Most Shamefully Lazy Plot Resolutions In Movie History

8. An Unstoppable Alien Force Is Beaten By The Common Cold - War Of The Worlds

H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds is one of the most influential literary works of all time. Almost all alien invasion movies from Independence Day to Avengers owes it at least a small debt for paving the way for tales about humanity's struggle to survive in the face of a seeming unstoppable alien force.

Wells' tale is a lot darker than its blockbuster progeny. In Wells' novel, humanity is truly helpless against the Martian invaders, and the only thing that saves us from complete annihilation is the fact that the aliens have no immunity to earthbound bacteria, which wipes them out. While this ending serves a thematic purpose by demonstrating humanity's ultimate helplessness on a universal scale, it's also an extremely poor way to wrap up the story.

Instead of having the protagonist save the day, or, following the story to its logical conclusion and having the aliens wipe humanity out, blind luck saves the earth. When adapting a literary work, filmmakers have the liberty to shore up any weakness in the source material, including the resolution of the plot.

Neither the 1953 or 2005 adaptation of Wells' novel managed to improve on this unsatisfying resolution where, after conclusively showing humanity is no match against its otherworldly foe, the aliens just sort of keel over and die, rewarding human beings for our incompetence and inadequacy.