Badmovies.org Forum

THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT THE "PSYCOLOGICAL EFFECTS" OF MOVIE VIOLENCE ON YOUNG MINDS

I don't care

What I am mildly pondering is why movies are so f**king ignorant and unrealistic about violence.  For example:

Why does EVERY car explode after a crash? None of them are Pintos, why are they always exploding? Okay, big boom cool, but everyone knows that wouldn't happen so why insist?

Why can the good guy snap shot 8 rounds out of a revolver and hit 8 different targets while the bad guys w/ comparable firepower couldn't shoot their own dicks off?

Speaking of 8 rounds per revolver why can't anyone in the movies keep track of number of shots fired? Having edited non-linear footage before it can be excruciatingly painful keeping continuity, but honestly they don't even seem to try. I give a movie credit these days if they just show someone reload!

Bulletproofing. Why is in the movies that when you have bulletproof glass or armor the bullets just spark, bounce off and leave a little smudge-mark. Real bullet resistant glass shatters and goes opaque and armored cars still dent!

The old hiding behind an overturned table for cover trick. Unless it's a steel top table at least a 1/4" thick the bullets would be happily flying through the table. Same goes for most door jams. Most walls are pressboard and 2X4 liberally spaced. They don't stop bullets, even if you hit the 2x4!

And lastly... damage: Why is it that when the good guy hits a bad guy so much as once they automatically die (or at least fall instantly unconscious) while the hero can get shot in the side, the shoulder, the arm and not only continue to function, but continue to use the injured appendage. My favorite example of this is Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Arc" he gets shot POINT BLANK RANGE in the shoulder THEN gets pounded on the same shoulder several times and still DRAGS HIMSELF HAND OVER HAND up his whip back onto the truck. Only Spittleburger could think that credible even in terms of fictitious film. Both extremes are highly unrealistic. One gun shot wound, at range, rarely kills. People have been brought into emergency rooms with multiple gunshot wounds and have survived and remain conscious until surgery. Conversely once you've been shot all but a grazing shot will disable an appendage and require your full attention from the pain alone if nothing else. Realizing of course we're not talking about bb guns or .22s. These are usually 9mm at least and with assault rifles your dealing with high velocity 7.62mm. These do not give massages, they HURT!

Oh well... not a big deal in the land of fantasy, but still with some films it underminds their attempt at credibility.

Some explanations

Laws Of Anime (http://www.bright.net/~nyla/animelaw.html)

Dear fearless:

"Its all very clear to me now, Dave... Dave... what are doing?"

I met a guy once who had served in the Russian Army through much of the 1980s.  We had a pretty long conversation about his experiences and one thing he said is that sometimes they would see American-made action movies and get very demoralized by them because they thought that America had developed handguns that could blow up a Mack truck.  They (meaning the less sophisticated enlisted guys) actually thought the unrealism was real.

Some other fantastic sights-

Whenever a car is shot at it explodes. If this were the case a fender-bender would be disastrous.

One off-duty cop can easily kill several highly-trained mercenaries at once.

And, as always, the grenades- The shoot out huge balls of flame and have a fuse of about nine seconds, as long as it's thrown at the hero.

And it's always easy to hit a target while running sideways with a gun in each hand.

Yes! Hero accuracy is always inversely related to stability! Standing on top of a pogo stick in a mine field is the perfect environment to shoot of the enemie contact lenses at a thousand yards.

Like shoot out in moving cars... what's the point. The only thing your going to hit is bystanders ask anyone in east LA or the Watts district!

Here's something that always happens: the hero kills everyone, but can't finish off one lousy boss bad guy.  It's usually up to the hero's friend or girlfriend to put on the finishing touches.

The idea that one can be knocked unconscious by a gun butt and then resume the chase is pretty lame.  Chances are if you're hit hard enough to be knocked out, you've got a serious concussion and you won't be getting up very soon.

I like it when their hair stays perfectly gorgeous.

Yeah, and heroines wake up from a nightmare with perfectly applied makeup and not a drop of sweat in sight.

Dano wrote:
>
> I met a guy once who had served in the Russian Army through
> much of the 1980s.  We had a pretty long conversation about
> his experiences and one thing he said is that sometimes they
> would see American-made action movies and get very
> demoralized by them because they thought that America had
> developed handguns that could blow up a Mack truck.  They
> (meaning the less sophisticated enlisted guys) actually
> thought the unrealism was real.
>

I see, so the unrealistic movie violence is propaganda in America's bid to take over the world.  Ingenious.

Reminds me of the joke about exporting extra-large condoms all marked "medium".

On a serious side, it is rather discomforting to think that foreign nation's think that we are a nation filled with itchy trigger fingered psycho cops and/or criminals with sexually immoral woman hanging off their legs.

Scary to think that people think that life in America is really like Pulp Fiction or Scary Movie!!!

<>

The way I understand it, much of the rest of the world thinks all Americans are stereotyped Texans. Southern drawal, bolo tie, cowboy boots and a six-shooter at our hips.

I see, so the unrealistic movie violence is propaganda in America's bid to take over the world. Ingenious.
*****  Hey, this was just one Russian's take on it.  Not all effective propaganda needs to be intentional.

"Not all intended propaganda is effective
Not all effective propaganda is intended"

I rather like when people get shot wearing a bullet proof vest, and fly back like 500 feet.  Even in (somewhat) realistic movies this happens.  Lethal Weapon is an example of this, as I thought Lethal Weapon was FAIRLY realistic as far as mainstream action movies go.  If a gun was actually that powerful, Newton's laws tell us it would also kick the person using the gun way back.

Here's another thing I hate in movies; railing that fall apart like balsa wood the second anyone so much as bumps into them. Railings that weak would be completely useless as a safety measure.

You have to admit that over the top movie violence can be the best thing ever. Prime example is Swartzenegger's Commando. What a stellar movie! The guy can mow down hundreds of elite (and I use the term loosely) rebel soldiers with an AK-47 and a single clip of ammo and an axe! That movie has more continuity errors than I thought was possible.

"Why does EVERY car explode after a crash? None of them are Pintos, why are they always exploding? Okay, big boom cool, but everyone knows that wouldn't happen so why insist?"

You should see "Metro." You'd think cars were powered by nuclear weapons and napalm.

"I rather like when people get shot wearing a bullet proof vest, and fly back like 500 feet."

...and then get up, grunting lightly as if they'd just been hit in the chest by the class nerd's sister. Yeah, just walk it off. I'm waiting to see John McClane or one of his movie buddies running around kicking asses after getting a limb torn off. (Actually, it's probably already happened and I've missed it/forgotten about it.)

> "I rather like when people get shot wearing a bullet proof
> vest, and fly back like 500 feet."
>
> ...and then get up, grunting lightly as if they'd just been
> hit in the chest by the class nerd's sister. Yeah, just walk
> it off. I'm waiting to see John McClane or one of his movie
> buddies running around kicking asses after getting a limb
> torn off. (Actually, it's probably already happened and I've
> missed it/forgotten about it.)

Denise Richards in "Starship Troopers" comes to mind here.  She had a large spike driven through her shoulder and is quickly up and about.  I've done some major damage to the cables and such in my shoulder (playing football with the other Marines) and can tell you that everything is connected there.  Even standing up hurt like a mother.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics (http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/index.html)

A site dedicated to most of the topics discussed in this thread.  Unlike some other "movie cliche" sites, this one actually bothers to discuss the actual physics involved.

I have always been a fan of grenades that cause near nuclear explosions when they go off. Those and the fact that common household furniture like sofas and chairs can stop automatic wepons fire. I had no idea that foam had that kind of stopping power ha ha ha.




Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

Image over substance. Thats hollywood!
....Lets hope someone makes an action movie, and stands all these cliches on their pointy heads. Like inverted lawn gnomes.
....Hey, jsu because the hand rail is sturdily built, don't mean ya can't have railing kills!

I don't know if it is similar, but the movie Predator, Carl Weathers had his whole arm cut off while holding (and still firing) an uzi.  (It's been a while since I seen it so I could be wrong)
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And may the Schwarts be with you

I remember seeing Commando some time ago.  And something comes to mind, I forgot who the bad guys name is (but I've seen him on Power Rangers, JUST CHANNEL SURFING) but it seems Arnie is muscually bigger than this guy, yet, in the last fight scenes Arnie seems to struggle.  Granted he had to dispatch a lot of soldiers before getting to this guy.  Is this just for dramatic effect or what?

Speaking of muscular dominance, I forgot the title of the Hulk Hogan wrestling movie, but remember "Tiny" Lister, A.K.A Zues?  Do we really believe that this guy can hit and break some cinder blocks?  Please!

Another show that comes to mind is the A-Team.  With car jumping off ramps lopsided ( I call it the A/H jump [for A-Team/Hunter]).  Have anyone seen someone shoot a car with a sub automatic rifle to the point that hood comes flying off, sometimes off the hinges and the engine ( just the engine) exploding?  The answer to most of y'all might be no, but it seem more realistic  than a exploding car that can take out Hiroshima again.
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And may the Schwarts be with you.

I recently saw an episode of Tales from the Crypt where this girl had her arm ripped off, and just wandered around with a t-shirt wrapped around it shooting bad guys and being p**sed off 'bout her arm getting ripped off.....very silly

Look at the video clip for the movie CARNOSAUR.  The girl gets her leg ripped of by a dinosaur and doesn't seem to be in any pain!  Her reaction is like, "Oh I'm glad thats over."

Squishy wrote:  I'm waiting to see John McClane or one of his movie buddies running around kicking asses after getting a limb torn off. (Actually, it's probably already happened and I've missed it/forgotten about it.)
*****  One of the old men from Braveheart's village - Hamish's dad I think - got his hand chopped off at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (where was that bridge again??)and kept right on fighting.

You know, considering how often movies ignore reality, I had a great idea; make a complete normal drama, but have everyone able to fly, but have no explanation for it, just treat it as a normal occurance. People would be sitting in the audience thinking "What the hell's going on? Is this a SF movie?".

John wrote:
>
> You know, considering how often movies ignore reality, I had
> a great idea; make a complete normal drama, but have everyone
> able to fly, but have no explanation for it, just treat it as
> a normal occurance. People would be sitting in the audience
> thinking "What the hell's going on? Is this a SF movie?".

You know, that's kind of close to CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

Okay, maybe not.

I had an idea a while back for a live-action "Justice League" movie; it starts off with a comic-book artist waking up in the wee hours to answer the phone. A colleague has a fantastic idea for a comic book: superheroes. The artist tells him it's too boring and hangs up. He goes to the window and looks out at the sunrise.

And a pair of spandex-wearing metahumans fly past.

As he scans the horizon, we see several of them flying about or swinging or leaping from roof to roof. The artist doesn't react; he just changes into Green Lantern and zips out the window.

Across town, Mr. Kent kisses his sleepy wife and does likewise.

Just a little later, Lex Luthor gives a speech to his newly-assembled fellow supervillains that covers the history of superheroes, over a newsreel of old black-and-white footage of the Justice Society of America during WWII--including a shot of the original Green Lantern flying over Manhattan next to the plane he is being filmed from--and color shots of more recently seen metas, magicians, spooks, vigilantes, and so forth.

Bam! We've established a new world history, introduced the lesser-known heroes without detailed origin stories, caught up some aspects of their histories that might not be well known, and the opening credits haven't run.

(The rest of the story--lifted from assorted big DC comics like "Kingdom Come"--dealt with Superman creating the JLA to organize and inspire the burgeoning and dangerous population of metahumans, and Luthor's attempts to use it to destroy all metahumans. Naturally, it almost works, but the JLA's unnamed background "secret" member, Batman, pops up in the last half-hour, backed by approximately seventy minor super-characters, to save Supes, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Lantern's butts. Martian Manhunter goes from being Luthor's tool to joining the team, and Aquaman would join in the sequel after Atlantis went to war with the rest of the world.)

This reminded me of an old idea I had.  

You take a serious movie, sort of a tragedy thing.  Let's say...  A mob movie, for instance.  Have everything be REALLY believeable and good, but it is kind of a tragedy sort of thing happening.  Ya know, it is a serious well-done drama.  Now, for the last half hour, have a regular, believable ending.  But ALSO film a totally ridiculous super well-done climactic gunfight where one guy defeats the entire bad guy organization.  

Think if there was an alternate The Godfather ending where Don Corleone single-handedly wipes out the other mobs in revenge.  EVERY movie should have an alternate ending that is completely random like that.

How about Attack! ?  One guy gets his arm run over by a tank (!!!) but still manages to get back.  His lust for revenge is what pulls it through.  When he finally bites, they examine him and can't believe he made it as he is like, out of blood.  That came out in 1956.  Good movie..

There's One-Armed Swordsman movie where a guy gets impaled on a sword, pushes it further threw him to kill the guy behind him, then keeps fighting.

Also, none other than Boromir of LoTR.  The guy take three of the biggest arrows you've ever seen and he still keeps on fighting.
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And may the Schwarts be with you

wow, cool....

"Attack" was a great war movie.
People have done amazing things before , with damage that seems mind boggeling.
"Attack" had a great cast. Buddy Ebson, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, and....okey, its azhimers...the guy from "Green acres"....Mr Douglas....yeah, that guy. He played a cowardly officer who's gutlessness gets his men killed. Good actor, realy.

>okey, its azhimers...the guy from "Green acres"....Mr Douglas

Eddie Albert


BTW, I'm the one who's been posting under the name John, but tonight it tells me that another user registered that name.

Another good topic. Yes, hit someone in the head with a gunbutt, and you'll knock them unconscious. Yes, permanently. Hit someone in the head with a gunbutt, and you'll probably kill them.
Another favorite of mine, that hasn't been mentioned. Holding a knife to someone's throat. I know why they show it this way in the movies. Even with a dull, prop knife, an accident can happen. But, it is seldom shown correctly. The only time I have seen it done correctly is in the film "Ever After."
And of course the person holding the knife stands behind the victim, but, they stand behind the victim and to one side, so they make themselves a perfect target for a police sniper. They ought to stand directly behind the victim, so to make themselves less of a target.
And, as for J.R.'s comment: "Stereotyped Texan . . . with a gun on their hip." I live in Texas, and that stereotype is so close to the truth it is scary. If it had not been written into the state constitution to prevent the open carrying of a weapon, there are a number of Texans--both men and women--who would openly carry a gun on their hip.
Enjoy!