Things that bug you in whodunnit movies?

[SirJohnFalstaff]

I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one who enjoys a well done detective/crime movie where you discover what's going on through the eyes of the protagonist?

Just want to use this thread to ask you what are the things that bug you most in the not so perfect ones?

It can be a general thing, or something specific from a particular movie.
If it's the latter, please make a spoiler alert, that would be considerate.

and... GO!

[Robert]

If there are many characters, I find it difficult to distinguish them if they all look the same.

[GUT]

If there are many characters, I find it difficult to distinguish them if they all look the same.

That applies to all movies not just whodunnits.

[GUT]

What annoys me is when they keep nfo from you then base the solution on the material they haven;t told you.

Or that the solution is simply illogical.

The brde is bugged that they haven't arrested that old busy body Jane Marple yet as she says that it can't be coincidence that someone, not a member of the police or even a private detective, shows up at all those murder scenes.

[sdreid]

In my case, I suppose it would the ones with gratuitous false trails. Two or three red herrings are enough, we don't need a dozen. That just reminds me that I'm watching a movie by being overly manipulated.

I would expect that some people would be very annoyed by a whodunit movie that never actually tells you who did it at the end but these don't bother me. An example would be the original Black Christmas which I consider a great film. It's sort of like a true-crime film about an unsolved case, such as The Town that Dreaded Sundown..

[SirJohnFalstaff]

In my case, I suppose it would the ones with gratuitous false trails. Two or three red herrings are enough, we don't need a dozen. That just reminds me that I'm watching a movie by being overly manipulated.

I would expect that some people would be very annoyed by a whodunit movie that never actually tells you who did it at the end but these don't bother me. An example would be the original Black Christmas which I consider a great film. It's sort of like a true-crime film about an unsolved case, such as The Town that Dreaded Sundown..

I totally agree.
SPOILER ALERT BROADCHURCH









I loved that show, but the lady in the trailer with the boy's skateboard was totally unnecessary.

[pinkmoon]

The bit when the policeman removes the shawl from the murder scene and takes it home for his wife.

[Harry D]

Not so much movies, but in crime dramas how easily the murderer confesses. It's different if the police have got them to bang to rights but when it's only circumstantial evidence and the killer decides to blab anyway, that bugs me to no end.

[GUT]

Not so much movies, but in crime dramas how easily the murderer confesses. It's different if the police have got them to bang to rights but when it's only circumstantial evidence and the killer decides to blab anyway, that bugs me to no end.

Add to that, you always know when they've got the wrong person, even if they confess, because it is too early in the show.

[Robert]

I think one or two Agatha Christie stories had the murderer trying to be put on trial too soon, in order to benefit from double jeopardy.

[GUT]

I think one or two Agatha Christie stories had the murderer trying to be put on trial too soon, in order to benefit from double jeopardy.

Yep sure did including the first "The Mysterious Affair at Styles"

[Penhalion]

Its more of a trope, but I hate it when people are investigating/searching a room/building and don't turn on the lights. I know flashlight beams are all kinds of atmospheric but if you are looking for something light is kinda your friend.

[Robert]

They don't search the room properly at all, because a thorough search would waste screen time. What usually happens is that the detective wanders around aimlessly and then with virtually the first thing he touches it's 'hallo, what's this?'

[Robert]

Of course, there's the general point that most of these super sleuths seem unable to solve cases until at least 3 or more people have been murdered, which doesn't inspire confidence.

[Mayerling]

There are many things that bug me about detective or crime movies. One is that the villain has to be caught at the end (for a tidy emotional thrill that the world is set to rights again). In reality, even when the authorities have a suspect many times one senses the person did it, but there is an element of doubt (so the jury has to give it it's attention), or if there is a conviction ten years later it turns out the jury was wrong about the defendant. Rarely do these pop up (especially in the so-called "Golden Age" of detective stories (the 1910-1940 period). I did read a good detective novel 15 years ago about the murder of an innocent child, and how it wrecks a London neighborhood. What I appreciated was how the killer is revealled to the reader, but the witness who can prove it is frightened by him (the killer successfully stares the victim down). I never in any other detective story, and I really liked the effect - the killer goes about normally afterwards with no feelings of dread or fear about his future.

Recently I was watching a Poirot two-parter with David Suchet (it was made in 1990, which shows how long he's been playing the role), and a comment made earlier on this site hit me. Someone did not like the ease in which the guilty party will confess (yeah, how many really do?!) at the end of so many stories. This is done, of course, as the authors like to clean up any questionable loose ends for their readers. To this I have to add, in the two parter I saw, the killer started showing her vicious streak (successfully hidden by Christie so far in the story), calling everyone "fools" and telling Poirot he is a "stupid little man". It occurred to me that if someone wanted to zing it back at her they only had to say, "Yeah, but we fools will shortly go back to our nice beds at home, while you, oh "wise one" will be in a prison cell and soon [as this was in 1930] be standing on the trap door of a gallows. Who really is stupid here?"

Jeff