I won't go so far as to say that I'm sure the bad acting and plot holes were intentional, but they might have been. This film is an homage to older serials that were filled with bad acting and plot holes. It isn't supposed to be War and Peace. Personally, I thought it was a great movie. A good majority of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes thought so as well, which doesn't mean that I'm right; it just means that other intelligent people liked it as well.