1. Plot Holes, Plot Holes, Plot Holes
Spider-Man 2 doesn't really have any plot holes that I can recall. Its characters are all believable for the most part, and even an arguably ridiculous character such as Doctor Octopus is acceptable within the Spider-man world. Much more so than The Amazing Spider-Mans' Lizard or Spider-man 3's Venom or Sandman. So maybe the energy source that Doctor Octopus is making is kind of ridiculous, but we can accept that considering Spider-Man got superpowers after being bitten by a spider. If we have to believe that, we can believe most things. The thing that made me most angry about The Dark Knight Rises were all the silly plot holes. The biggest one that not many people seem to mention is the most annoying thing I have seen in a film for a very long time. It really, really, really shouldn't have taken Bruce Wayne that long to climb out of that underground prison. There were so many supplies underground, including rope, that he could have easily lassoed a piece of rope over the ledge that took him so many attempts to jump to, and he would have been out of that hole and able to save Gotham in no time. It would have only taken a little bit of common sense. There are probably many other techniques they could have used to get out of that hole too. It was also silly that he decided to jump it without a harness... if he had died thousands of Gotham city residents would have perished... hardly very responsible of you Mr Wayne. Also, what the hell was that underground prison anyway? And how did all those people survive for so long under there? Do I need to have read more of the comics to have gotten this? It wasn't very well explained. Also, keeping with Batman... how did his back heel so quickly? Why was he limping for 8 years but a simple robotic mechanic made his leg work perfectly again? How did he get back to Gotham so quickly and so easily without any of his Batman gear after escaping from the prison? The list really is endless. Also, just in terms of the plot, couldn't Nolan have thought of a better ending for the series than simply Batman has to stop a bomb from exploding an entire city. This is pretty much the most simple ending to a superhero movie of all time that has been used countless times before. Nolan has a wonderfully creative mind. I wish he had used it. The Avengers also has many, but because The Avengers world is supposed to be a little less realistic than Nolan's Batman universe, it probably gets away with them more easily. How did Thor and Loki so easily just travel back to earth? The Thor movie's ending suggested that this was going to take some time, and that Natalie Portman was going to be heavily involved somehow... guess not? The fail safe built into the portal was sickeningly convenient and hardly very epic. Hulk suddenly being able to control his powers without any lead up to this... Again, like The Dark Knight Rises, there are almost too many examples to count. And though this isn't exactly a criticism of The Avengers, how did Captain America survive being frozen for that many decades? That doesn't happen in real life. In the end, the biggest lesson The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises should have learned from successful superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 that stand the test of time is that often, the more simple the film, the better. Don't over complicate things and then dig yourself into a hole. Don't be afraid of romance... but if you are going to use it, know how to use it. And finally, start with the characters, and then create action from them, instead of building your character arcs around big budget, but very shallow set pieces. Fortunately for Whedon he has time to rectify these mistakes, and as always I have faith in him. As for Nolan however, his last film in the series failed for many of the same reasons Spider-man 3 did (too many villains), and ultimately, in 10 years, after all this Batman hype, The Dark Knight Rises will be almost universally considered the worst of Nolan's trilogy. At least neither reached the depressing lows of Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man though...