> My mother and I had heard all about the many supposed plot gaps, but after we went to see it we discussed it: neither of us had noticed a single gap or inconsistency. Either there were none or they were so small they didn't matter.
>
> We decided that, perhaps, people just need to read more. Not everything in a story should be explained in great detail. In fact, I enjoy it more when significant (but not vital) information is never clearly stated at all, but prefer it when the author/director forces you to think.

On principle, I agree with you. I didn't notice any plot *holes*, and the story isn't all that complex, as many claim. But many people were confused, and it was due to bad storytelling practices, and that's an unforgivable fault of the movie. Tom Cruise's acting was astonishingly bad in several spots, usually to do with moments of revelation. There were times, for example, when I "thought" I understood exactly what was going on, based on the events and dialogue, but Cruise's facial expressions seemed so misplaced, that I second guessed myself, thinking, wait, no, he wouldn't react like that, I must have missed something -- only to find out later that I was understanding everything fine all along. Cruise's fault, yes, but also the fault of the director, Brian De Palma, whose early work was wonderful and whose recent films are worrying.

As for the lousy choice of bad guy, that's hardly a fault that can be excused with an "except." It's not just a plot twist that didn't work, it's an abomination. It's a disgusting display of the writers' lack of respect for the audience and their intelligence. It was a cheap plot twist thrown in to provide a cheap thrill (though to WHOM I don't know -- those who saw the series were pissed off, and those who didn't didn't care) at the expense of the least bit of believability, plausibility, or consistency. That is an unforgivable trade-off. If a movie doesn't have that much, no matter what the genre, it's junk.

The above are two independently sufficient reasons why the movie is bad. Lesser classes of flaws against it involve the implausibility of the action scenes, particularly the tunnel one, and the absent teamwork/sting aspect of the show that made it appealing in the first place.

So I'm with Howard.