These are the times when the filmmakers are hoping you get so enthralled with the action that you forget how much more easily the whole thing could have been resolved, if somebody hadn't dropped the ball ...

Hollywood has endless ways of making us feel bad about ourselves -- movie heroes and villains alike are always sexier, richer, funnier, and far more capable of kung fu than we are in real life. That's why pointing out the dumb mistakes that movie characters make is one of our favorite things to talk about .

5 The Wolverine -- The Villain Lets Wolverine Go, for No Reason

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The villain in The Wolverine (the digitless sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- you know, the one that's in Japan) is a wealthy old Japanese businessman named Yashida whom Wolverine saved during World War II by shielding him from the atomic blast signifying America's divine victory. He couldn't shield Yashida from the residual effects of radiation, however, and now Yashida is dying of cancer. So he invites Wolverine to his palatial home in Japan and asks if he wouldn't mind sharing his incredible healing powers so that he, Yashida, might live another two or three lifetimes.

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Who wants to live forever? Somebody with a fucking badass pin art bed, that's who.

Wolverine says, "Naw, man," pointing out that his healing factor is more of a curse than a gift. Seemingly respecting his decision, Yashida offers Wolverine a bed for the night. Even though Wolverine has more or less told him, "Good luck with the cancer, brah, I'm still going to look like I'm 40 when you're two decades in the ground," he suspects nothing and accepts the old man's hospitality.

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"I've condemned this man to death. I foresee no problems with staying over at his house."

Yashida then drugs Wolverine and has his evil mutant doctor inject heart-weakening parasites into his body through the traditional Japanese medicinal art of creeping into his bed and making out with him.

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And ending his consecutive streak of 2,169 erotic Jean Grey dreams.

How He Dropped the Ball:

Rather than dragging Wolverine's paralyzed ass back to his lab for immediate healing-factor theft, Yashida decides to let Wolverine go and fakes his own death for no conceivable reason.

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Yashida even goes to the trouble of staging a huge public funeral for himself. His granddaughter, fresh off a substantial inheritance, becomes targeted by the Yakuza, and Wolverine feels obligated to protect her, because he and Yashida were super best friends. Yashida (still pretending to be dead) then has his granddaughter kidnapped in order to lure Wolverine into a trap, wherein he finally reveals (twist!) that he's been alive this whole time! Then he attempts to use a giant suit of fantasy science armor to kill Wolverine and steal his healing powers.