History FanDislikedExplanation / LiveActionFilms

** The WordOfGod statement that the Captain of the Flying Dutchman could be freed upon the end of his ten-year service as a captain if someone remained faithful to him is controversial. Some fans feel it adds a lot to Davy Jones and Calypso's characterization and gives [[spoiler: Will and Elizabeth their happy ending in TheStinger]]. But a major side of the fanbase thinks that the explanation makes no sense, given that the movies portray the Dutchman as a job that someone has to do that is commonly referred to in-universe as an "all eternity job", and the movies refer to the ten-year service as the period which the captain has to service to the Dutchman before being able to be on land for a day. Most importantly, the fact that such an essential piece of information was not in the actual movies and no supplementary material has ever mentioned it led to most fans believing it was something made up to appease angry fans for the BittersweetEnding rather than something part of their original intention. Unsurprisingly once ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' decided to bring back the Flying Dutchman storyline, it decided to completely ignore the "freed after ten years" rule and focus on [[spoiler:Henry trying to find a way to free his father, though even this is contested]].

** For a while, the timeline of the series was undefined with the only confirmed date being ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' happening in 1750 and that there was a time difference of 1 year between the first movie and the two following sequels leading to most fans to believe the TimeSkip between the third and fourth movie was of a couple of years at best. Then, complementary material for the fifth movie put the events of the original trilogy back in 1728-1729, making a time difference of 21 years. Not only do the characters not look much older in ''On Stranger Tides'' while they do look much older in ''Dead Men Tell No Tales'' but it also means that Jack was separated from his beloved Black Pearl for 2 times as long as the period of Barbossa's first mutiny leading to some fans feel it makes his efforts in the original movie a ShootTheShaggyDog story even more that it already was.

*** The movie starts with revealing the existence of the Trident of Poseidon, an artifact that controls all the sea curses in a franchise focused on sea curses and apparently can also break the Captain of the Flying Dutchman out of his service. Not only is it bizarre that an artifact with such major relevance in all of the storylines from the previous movies was never mentioned before, but it completely contradicts the nature of the Flying Dutchman, which is not a curse but a job that someone has to do.
*** The flashback sequence is a bit infamous among the fanbase for being loaded with Fan Disliked Explanations, given so much of the backstory contradicts previous information [[labelnote:Explanation]]Jack getting the compass from an unnamed captain rather than Tia Dalma, Jack Sparrow being a name formed from his adventures while he has the name from a much younger age in the novels, and The Wicked Wench being a Pirate ship instead of an East India Trading Company ship before becoming the Black Pearl[[/labelnote]], making some of Jack's legend status less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]It reveals he gained all of the accessories as tribute after defeating Salazar instead of gaining them from adventure to adventure like it was believed in the past[[/labelnote]], making [[BigBad Beckett]]'s feats less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar driving pirates to the point of extinction makes Beckett's war against piracy less impressive despite it was meant to be the DarkestHour for pirates[[/labelnote]] or some bits just not making any sense. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar gave him the Sparrow surname after noticing he stood "like a little bird", despite Salazar getting trapped with his crew in the Devil's Triangle immediately after, meaning he couldn't have told anyone he looked "like a little bird", and the Brethren Court not interfering in Salazar driving pirates to extinction despite the organization only existing to avert something like that from happening[[/labelnote]]

*** In the film, a recurring moment is that Finn wants to tell Rey something but is reluctant to do so. Most fans were confused by this, as [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse the plot is never really resolved]] and even by the end of the movie, it's [[CannotSpitItOut not clear what it was supposed to be.]] JJ Abrams claimed at a convention that it was meant to be that Finn is actually Force-sensitive, which is hinted at a few times in the film. The problem is that while it makes some sense as a plot point, it doesn't make sense in the context of something Finn was having trouble saying. It would make sense if it were something like a love confession, where Rey's answer would be uncertain and a negative response potentially hurtful, but there's no reason to believe that her response to Finn being Force-sensitive would be anything other than "Oh, you too? That's cool." Finn's also never agonizing similarly over Rose and Poe, who would surely have as much right to know, or Leia, the only person with actual Force discipline. Most pointedly, he considers almost telling her right when they're about to die horribly and then decides to hold off on doing so when they're safe--why on Earth would that be the time to tell her? Why not, you know, during Rey's actual Force training?

** The prequel trilogy tells the story of the Clone Wars, the Jedi's destruction, the Empire's creation, and the rise of both Darth Vader and Palpatine, all of which had been alluded to but never fully explained. Dissatisfaction with how some or all of those stories turned out accounts for much of the prequel hate.[[labelnote:To sum them up]]Palpatine, whose Sith name was revealed to be Darth Sidious, started as a Senator on Naboo who orchestrated a blockade on his homeworld to depose the current Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and be elected in his place out of sympathy. The Clone Wars are then revealed to be the result of Palpatine PlayingBothSides, orchestrating the creation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Clone Trooper forces defending the Republic. Throughout the war, he secretly prepares Anakin Skywalker to replace his current apprentice Count Dooku, then uses his fears about Padme's future DeathByChildbirth to sway him over. Palpatine [[WoundedGazelleGambit uses]] Mace Windu's failed attempt at arresting him, the act upon which Anakin came to his aid and was knighted Darth Vader, to complete the transformation of the Republic into the Empire, ending the war with Order 66 being issued to every Clone Trooper to carry out the massacre of the Jedi.[[/note]]

** The WordOfGod statement that the Captain of the Flying Dutchman could be freed upon the end of his ten year service as a captain if someone remained faithful to him is controversial. Some fans feel like it adds a lot to Davy Jones and Calypso's characterization and it gives [[spoiler: Will and Elizabeth their happy ending in TheStinger]]. But a major side of the fanbase thinks that the explanation makes no sense, given that the movies portray the Dutchman as a job that someone has to do that is commonly referred in-universe as an "all eternity job", and the movies refer to the ten year service as the period which the captain has to service to the Dutchman before being able to be for one day on land. Most importantly, the fact that such an essential piece of information was not in the actual movies and no supplementary material has ever mentioned has lead to most fans to believe it was something made up to appease angry fans for the BittersweetEnding rather than something that was part of their original intention. Unsurprisingly once ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' decided to bring back the Flying Dutchman storyline, it decided to completely ignore the "freed after ten years" rule averting anyone to discussed any further.
** The ''Jack Sparrow'' prequel series contained one character called "Arabella Smith", who got her fair share of ShipTease with Bill Turner and then they start dating by the end of the series. The novels heavily imply she's Will Turner's mom, which ''Legends of the Brethren Court'' seems to confirm by stating he's married to an unnamed woman who has gone with Jack in multiple adventures. Then, ''The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company'' revealed that she's still alive by the events of ''At World's End'', while Will's mother was long gone by the time the movies started. Some fans of the books were understandably disappointed all the build up ended up going nowhere.
** During a while, the timeline of the series was undefined with the only confirmed date being ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' happening in 1750 and that there was a time difference of 1 year between the first movie and the two following sequels leading to most fans to believe the TimeSkip between the third and fourth movie was of a couple of years at best. Then complementary material for the fifth movie putted the events of the original trilogy back in 1728-1729 making a time difference of 21 years. Not only do the characters not look much older in ''On Stranger Tides'' while they do look much older in ''Dead Men Tell No Tales'' but it also means that Jack was separated from his beloved Black Pearl for 2 times as long as the period of Barbossa's first mutiny leading to some fans feel it makes his efforts in the original movie a ShootTheShaggyDog story even more that it already was.

*** The movie starts with the reveal of the existence of Trident of Poseidon, an artifact that controls all the sea curses in a franchise focused on sea curses and apparently can also break the Captain of the Flying Dutchman out of his service. Not only is it bizarre that an artifact that has such a major relevance in all of the storylines from the previous movies was never mentioned before, but it completely contradicts the nature of the Flying Dutchman, which is not a curse but a job that someone has to do.
*** The flashback sequence is a bit infamous among the fanbase for being loaded with Fan Disliked Explanations, given so much of the backstory contradicts previous information [[labelnote:Explanation]]Jack getting the compass from an unnamed captain rather than Tia Dalma, Jack Sparrow being a name formed from his adventures while he has the name from much younger age in the novels, The Wicked Wench being a Pirate ship instead of the East India Trading Company before becoming the Black Pearl.[[/labelnote]], making some of Jack's legend status less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]It reveals he gained all of the accesories as tribute after defeating Salazar instead of gaining them from adventure to adventure like it was believed in the past[[/labelnote]], making [[BigBad Beckett]]'s feats less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar driving pirates to the point of extinction makes Beckett's war against piracy less impressive despite it was meant to be the DarkestHour for pirates.[[/labelnote]] or some bits just not making any sense [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar gave him the Sparrow surname after noticing he stood "like a little bird", despite Salazar getting trapped with his crew in the Devil's Triangle immediately after, meaning he couldn't have told anyone he looked "like a little bird", the Brethren Court not interfering in Salazar driving pirates to extinction despite the organization only existing to avert something like that from happening. [[/labelnote]].

** A lot of fans felt that the inclusion of midi-chlorians as a "cause" of the Force was an unsatisfying answer to an unasked question.[[note]]For his part, George Lucas has stated that the reason he included this detail was to pre-emptively address a question he ''expected'' people to ask of the prequels: why, in contrast to the original films, some people have Force-using potential while others don't.[[/note]] Part of the backlash stems from [[CommonKnowledge genuine confusion]]: ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' states that everyone in the universe has midi-chlorians and that they communicate ''with'' the Force rather than generating it, with Force abilities only accessible to those with high levels. But even those who take Qui-Gon's statement on its own feel it undermines some of the themes of the original trilogy, primarily how such random people as a farm boy, notorious smuggler, and princess of a destroyed planet all became heroes no matter where they came from; the introduction of midi-chlorians instead puts more emphasis on powers that are granted by virtue of birth.
** WordOfGod's explanation that the "Balance of the Force" was not in fact the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil but rather the ''destruction'' of evil also got a frosty reception in some circles. This is mainly because the Dark Side had been firmly established as a cosmic force in its own right and so seductive that Force users have to actively resist falling on a constant basis. How killing off one particular group of Dark Side users out of many constitutes "destroying evil" is never explained.
** The prequel trilogy tells the story of the Clone Wars, the destruction of the Jedi, the creation of the Empire, and the rise of both Darth Vader and Palpatine, all of which had been alluded to but never fully explained. Dissatisfaction with how some or all of those stories turned out accounts for a good portion of the prequel hate.

* Virtually everyone who watched ''Film/ForrestGump'' assumes that the virus [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed doctors-cannot-identify]] that kills [[spoiler:Jenny]] at the end is AIDS. However, the author of the original novel, Winston Groom, said it was Hepatitis C in the sequel ''Gump and co.'' This is ignored by many fans because they feel the AIDS epidemic deserved to be referenced in the film's historical setting. It is also worth pointing that the film is an extremely loose adaptation of the first book anyway ([[spoiler:Jenny]] doesn't die in it, for one), with completely different tone and characterizations, and that Groom wrote the sequel in part as a TakeThat to the studio for mangling his book and also screwing him out of profit with UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting. It wasn't until 2019 when screenwriter Eric Roth confirmed that the movie version of the character did indeed die of AIDS.

** A subset of fans feel that revealing Michael Myers to be Laurie's brother in ''Film/HalloweenII1981'', giving a reason why he seems to target her specifically, removed some of the mystique behind his character, rather than simply killing random people persistently ForTheEvulz being what he does.

* A common criticism of ''Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins'' is that is meant to be an [[OriginsEpisode origin story]] for the Mystery Gang yet it has them facing real ghosts in their very first case, which completely defeats the point of them going their rest of their lifes proving that supernatural beings aren't real.

** More of a ''Fan Disliked Substitute Explanation'' but still. ''Film/Predator2'' iconically ended with the Predator leader acknowledging Harrigan's skill and courage and giving him an antiquated pistol acquired in the early 1700s with the name Raphael Adolini before departing. According to a comic in the expanded universe, Raphael Adolini was a BadassNormal pirate captain that dueled and earned the respect of a Predator and most fans were fine with that explanation. Then, ''Film/Prey2022'' went with a completely different take where he's just a random French tracker that died in an undignified way, with the pistol only ending up being a literal ChekhovsGun for the true protagonist of the movie. You can guess which explanation fans prefer.

* ''Film/ThePredator'' states that the alien hunters were not simply HuntingTheMostDangerousGame, [[spoiler:but taking the DNA of the victims to do improving modifications on themselves.]] Even if one could take the Predators of that movie as outcasts not representative of the species like the ones seen in ''Film/{{Predators}}'', seeing such a contradictory rewrite of a central piece of lore did not sit well with the fans.

** The WordOfGod statement that the Captain of the Flying Dutchman could be freed upon the end of his ten year service as a captain if someone remained faithful to him is controversial. Some fans feel like it adds a lot to Davy Jones and Calypso's characterization and it gives [[spoiler: Will and Elizabeth their happy ending in TheStinger]]. But a major side of the fanbase thinks that the explanation makes no sense, given that the movies portray the Dutchman as a job that someone has to do that is commonly referred in-universe as an "all eternity job", and the movies refer to the ten year service as the period which the captain has to service to the Dutchman before being able to be for one day on land. Most importantly, the fact that such an essential piece of information was not in the actual movies and no supplementary material has ever mentioned has lead to most fans to believe it was something made up to appease angry fans for the BittersweetEnding rather that something that was part of their original intention. Unsurprisingly once ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' decided to bring back the Flying Dutchman storyline, it decided to completely ignore the "freed after ten years" rule averting anyone to discussed any further.

*** The flashback sequence is a bit infamous among the fanbase for being loaded with Fan Disliked Explanations, given so much of the backstory contradicts previous information [[labelnote:Explanation]]Jack getting the compass from an unnamed captain rather that Tia Dalma, Jack Sparrow being a name formed from his adventures while he has the name from much younger age in the novels, The Wicked Wench being a Pirate ship instead of the East India Trading Company before becoming the Black Pearl.[[/labelnote]], making some of Jack's legend status less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]It reveals he gained all of the accesories as tribute after defeating Salazar instead of gaining them from adventure to adventure like it was believed in the past[[/labelnote]], making [[BigBad Beckett]]'s feats less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar driving pirates to the point of extinction makes Beckett's war against piracy less impressive despite it was meant to be the DarkestHour for pirates.[[/labelnote]] or some bits just not making any sense [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar gave him the Sparrow surname after noticing he stood "like a little bird", despite Salazar getting trapped with his crew in the Devil's Triangle immediately after, meaning he couldn't have told anyone he looked "like a little bird", the Brethren Court not interfering in Salazar driving pirates to extinction despite the organization only existing to avert something like that from happening. [[/labelnote]].

** The WordOfGod statement that the Captain of the Flying Dutchman could be freed upon the end of his ten year service as a captain if someone remained faithful to him is controversial. Some fans feel like it adds a lot to Davy Jones and Calypso's characterization and it gives [[spoiler: Will and Elizabeth their happy ending in TheStinger]]. But a major side of the fanbase thinks that the explanation makes no sense, given that the movies portray the Dutchman as a job that someone has to do that is commonly referred in-universe as an "all eternity job", and the movies refer to the ten year service as the period which the captain has to service to the Dutchman before being able to be for one day on land. Most importantly, the fact that such an essential piece of information was not in the actual movies and no supplementary material has ever mentioned has lead to most fans to believe it was something made up to appease angry fans for the BittersweetEnding rather that something that was part of their original intention. Unsurprisingly once ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' decided to bring back the Flying Dutchman storyline, it decided to completely ignore the "freed after ten years" rule averting from anyone to discussed any further.

** During a while, the timeline of the series was undefined with the only confirmed date being ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' happening in 1750 and that there was a time difference of 1 year between the first movie and the two following sequels leading to most fans to believe the TimeSkip between the third and fourth movie was of a couple of years at best. Then complementary material for the fifth movie putted the events of the original trilogy back in 1728-1729 making a time difference of 21 years. Not only do the characters not look much older in ''On Stranger Tides'' while they do look much older in ''Dead Men Tell No Tales'' but it also means that Jack was separated from his beloved Black Pearl for 2 times as long as the period of Barbossa's first mutiny leading to some fans feel it makes his efforts in the original movie a ShootTheDog story even more that it already was.

** WordOfGod's explanation that the "Balance of the Force" was not in fact the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil but rather the ''destruction'' of evil also got a frosty reception in some circles (namely, people who didn't understand that The Force is basically Taoism, InSpace). This is mainly because the Dark Side had been firmly established as a cosmic force in its own right and so seductive that Force users have to actively resist falling on a constant basis. How killing off one particular group of Dark Side users out of many constitutes "destroying evil" is never explained.

** A lot of fans felt that the inclusion of midi-chlorians as a "cause" of the Force was an unsatisfying answer to an unasked question. Part of the backlash stems from [[CommonKnowledge genuine confusion]]: ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' states that everyone in the universe has midi-chlorians and that they communicate with the Force rather than generating it, with Force abilities only accessible to those with high levels. But even those who take Qui-Gon's statement on its own feel it undermines some of the themes of the original trilogy, primarily how such random people as a farm boy, notorious smuggler, and princess of a destroyed planet all became heroes no matter where they came from; the introduction of midi-chlorians instead puts more emphasis on powers that are granted by virtue of birth.

*** The flashback sequence is a bit infamous among the fanbase for being loaded with Fan Disliked Explanations, given so much of the backstory contradicts previous information [[labelnote:Explanation]]Jack getting the compass from an unnamed captain rather that Tia Dalma, Jack Sparrow being a name formed from his adventures while he has the name from much younger age in the novels, The Wicked Wench being a Pirate ship instead of the East India Trading Company before becoming the Black Pearl.[[/labelnote]], making some of Jack's legend status less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]It reveals he gained all of the accesories as tribute after defeating Salazar instead of gaining them from adventure to adventure like it was believed in the past[[/labelnote]], making [[BigBad Beckett]]'s feats less impressive, [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar driving pirates to the point of extinction while making Beckett's war against piracy less impressive despite meant to be the DarkestHour for pirates.[[/labelnote]] or some bits just not making any sense [[labelnote:Explanation]]Salazar gave him the Sparrow surname after noticing he stood "like a little bird", despite Salazar getting trapped with his crew in the Devil's Triangle immediately after, meaning he couldn't have told anyone he looked "like a little bird", the Brethren Court not interfering in Salazar driving pirates to extinction despite the organization only existing to avert something like that from happening. [[/labelnote]].