The film industry of the world has 2 types of viewers, one who just wanna enjoy a good watch and the others are who wanna delve deeper into the plots. The second ones are often the interesting ones because they would go to lengths to pick up even the slightest hints. Many a time even with headphones with notice canceling abilities are unable to decipher the way the same dialogues are delivered. And that is where subtitles come in, these subtitles revolve around the major plots of the narrative and help the viewer crack the once uncrackable code. In several movies, we have witnessed the subtitles in a movie reveal the hidden plot within a movie. So here is a list of movies that had a hidden plot revealed by subtitles.
Joker
Actor Frank Wood played a small part in Joker, where he is seen providing psychological analyses to Arthur Fleck’s (Joaquin Phoenix) mother Penny. However, In the blu ray version of the movie, viewers saw his name shown as Stoner in the subtitles. Now it still has not been confirmed, but in the comics, Dr. Benjamin Stoner is also known as ‘Anti-Fate’, who made his comic debut in 1987. The issue witnessed Arkham’s head doctor being possessed by Lord of Chaos, Typhon. And donning a magical helmet that grants powers of flight, the ability to sense magic in the vicinity, and invulnerability.
Inglorious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino’s movie is seen switching between languages like there is no tomorrow. Although, luckily for the audience the non-English parts have been provided with a subtitle in the movie. But in one particularly tense scene, the barmaid Mathilda is invited to join a card game by the German soldiers. To which Mathilda respectfully declines, later on, we see the bartender Eric (Christian Berkel) approach Mathilda. And building confidence in her choice, by advising her in French this time saying “You’ll stay away from those officers”. Eric’s choice of words confirmed that he did not see the officers (in this case the Basterds) as a respective bunch, and knew that Mathilda would be safer around the regular officers than the unruly bunch.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In the final moments of the movie, as the shot focuses on Rey (Daisy Ridley) we hear Commander D’Acy (Amanda Lawrence) talk to a fellow resistance soldier, saying “When we get to the Outer Rim, I have a contact there”. Few of the fans who saw the subtitles on the Blu-ray disc version were already getting ecstatic about, finally meeting Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). Although it did not turn out to be that case scenario, it was interesting to note the way Lucasfilm built a whole hype about Lando’s return in a very simplistic manner.
Eyes Wide Shut
In the movie we see Bill (Tom Cruise) entering Mr. Milich’s clothing store, wanting to buy a cloak. It here when her unnamed daughter creeps up behind him and whispers something in his ear. In the DVD version however the subtitle several that she quoted saying “You should have a cloak lined with ermine”. This play of words revolves around the movie’s initial plot and is the main giveaway of the kind of royalty Bill seems to deal with in the movie.
Guardians Of The Galaxy
In the movie, Nathan Fillion lends his voice to the blue giant who wants a piece of the Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). It is during this scene that Groot (Vin Diesel) uses his two fingers, to cause the blue giant extreme pain while announcing to the entire prison how Peter was his and rockets bounty. As the guardians leave the scene, Nathan Fillion is heard saying “I HATE YOU”. Probably because it was another painful incident, where Star-Lord escaped the clutches of the blue giant, unscathed.
Return Of The Living Dead
In the movie, the viewers witnessed the zombie’s version of the music, as if they were conversing with the fourth wall directly. In one scene, where the heroes are attacked by a yellow corpse, the music with lyrics playing in the background, which in the DVD version read “You guys can kiss my reanimated yellow ass”, and in another scene where a reanimated zombie loses its arm, the subtitles read “My arm came off, somebody give me a hand!”. Certainly, the one-liners are kind of clichéd, but this is probably a good attempt of doing something different with subtitles in a movie.
Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle
The movie was a massively well-directed and well-produced movie. But what was more wonderful were the subtitles. In the movie when Dr. Bravestone is apparently learning the abilities of his character, he stumbles upon his power of smoldering. In this particular scene, the entire movie comes to a stop for Dwayne Rock Johnson to smolder his way to glory and even the subtitles were captioned [smoldering]. Which makes this movie a great watch, for any age group.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
In the starting scenes in Spider-Man: Far from Home, we witness Peter and his classmates doing what tourists would normally do on trips as they soak in the surroundings. But, in one particular scene where the kids pose for a selfie, one of the students is heard saying “Pizza Time”. This vague reference was also somewhat similar to what Tobey Maguire did in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 when he is delivering pizza to the attorney’s office and the receptionist refuses to pay as they were a few minutes late. Spider-Man: Far from Home director, in an attempt to pay his respects, included the famous line in his sequel.
Avengers: Endgame
In the movie the scene where we see Cap (Steve Roger) and Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D facility by going back in time. There is a scene where Cap enters an office that overlooks the main office of agent Peggy Carter, but it is the conversation which is caught the attention of the fans. Peggy and another officer seem to be discussing that another agent named Braddock and his team were being stopped by lighting, to which Peggy Carter responds by saying “It’s not the lightning strikes that we are looking at”. Now these dialogues between Peggy and the officer hint at the arrival of 2 superheroes. The first being Captain Britain, whose original name is Brain Braddock and the reference to the lightning maybe Storm, because 1970 was still a few years too early for the arrival of Thor into the MCU timeline.
Lost in Translation
Probably one movie which has still not revealed the plot of its inaudible dialogue, towards the end. Years on fans have tried rendering a lip recognition profile to decipher, what Bob (Bill Murray) said to Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). And have still not been able to come up with a solid answer or a decipher, cracking what Bob said to her. It was also something which could not have been dug up because Bill Murray came up with the line on the spot, so there are no written records of the same. In the end, the director has chosen obscurity, thus giving birth to a classic movie moment.
