Movie Incongruities/Lucky Coincidences

[suzzer99]

Oh yeah, I just remembered - Die Hard - the scene in the air ducts where McClain catches himself, from a 2 story fall, by his fingertips. Come on. At least everything else in that movie is theoretically plausible by the laws of physics. But once someone starts falling like that it's like catching an elephant to stop them. I wish they would have somehow had him wedge his gun, with the strap wrapped around his arm, or something at least remotely possible.

Great movie, but that once scene always takes me totally out of the movie for a few minutes.

[suzzer99]

The Game might be up there with Independence Day for ridiculous Incongruities/Lucky Coincidences. That ending basically ruined the movie for me.

Also just fyi his driveway - is an access road that runs alond the edge of the Presidio at Divisidaro (I think, or maybe Masonic). There is no estate like that in SF proper obviously.

[DrewDevil]

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Oh yeah, I just remembered - Die Hard - the scene in the air ducts where McClain catches himself, from a 2 story fall, by his fingertips. Come on. At least everything else in that movie is theoretically plausible by the laws of physics. But once someone starts falling like that it's like catching an elephant to stop them. I wish they would have somehow had him wedge his gun, with the strap wrapped around his arm, or something at least remotely possible.

Great movie, but that once scene always takes me totally out of the movie for a few minutes.

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Agreed, this is the only weak link in one of my favorite movies ever.

He was only a few inches away from one of the ducts when the fall started--they should have just had him hang on to that one. There's probably no way he could even have held on to that one, either, but it would have at least been theoretically possible.

[BarronVangorToth]

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In The Game, all sorts of elaborate acts go perfectly for Michael Douglass to make it through alive. I love the movie, but what if he was in such a panic while he was locked in a sinking car that he couldnt get the window attachment back on? I probably would have drowned in that situation. Or the ending, where he jumps off a tall building in exactly the right spot and falls through a breakaway glass window landing perfectly on a huge inflatable mat? That party would have been a bit of a downer if he had jumped off the other side.

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This all gets explained under the umbrella of CRS' comprehensive competence -- no?

[madnak]

I think this is more an element of the action movie "mythos" than a specific incongruity. It's like how, in action movies, the bad guys always miss and the good guys always hit. Or how the heroes regularly take falls of 20+ feet (or significantly greater trauma) and then stand up and brush themselves off. How fatigue, disorientation, and fear never affect anyone. How reaction times to unfamiliar situations are about 1/10th of a second. How the action hero can always say "trust me" about an insane risk and be right every time. In fact, how generally nothing unlucky ever happens during the stunts and schemes. How the car always handles perfectly during a chase (except for the police, who aside from being incompetent drivers always skid around like they're on skis or something). How hero-man can take a shot to the leg and just "suck it up" and keep doing acrobatic stunts.

I mean, in terms of realism I don't think any action movie comes close to being even physically possible. I think a lot of people just don't realize how much of a stretch most of these things are.

[prohornblower]

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The Ocean's 11 ones are ok but Ocean's 12 is really strange to me.

They go through this whole charade of various plots and arrangements, getting arrested and thrown in jail etc etc etc. They go to the Night Fox's house and arrange this elaborate bet with him bla bla bla. Why did they not, as soon as Night Fox says "ok let's bet who can steal it", say
"ok, here it is, we win, pay up fool."

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I don't really remember much about Oceans 12 because it was such a steaming pile of crap for a movie, but I assume that if they do what you say, there isn't a 2 hour movie to make?

Another "lucky coincidence" is that Julia Roberts' "character" looked so much like Julia Roberts, which really helped them pull something off, I can't remember. Probably the gayest 15 minutes in cinematic history.

[Triumph36]

Well - at least in Die Hard McClain gets shot and seriously injured - it doesn't seem to affect him as he still manages to kill the German terrorist/Winger cover band member.

But yeah - I've always wondered how many bullets have been shot at James Bond over the course of his film career.

[pauliewalnuts]

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In The Game, all sorts of elaborate acts go perfectly for Michael Douglass to make it through alive. I love the movie, but what if he was in such a panic while he was locked in a sinking car that he couldnt get the window attachment back on? I probably would have drowned in that situation. Or the ending, where he jumps off a tall building in exactly the right spot and falls through a breakaway glass window landing perfectly on a huge inflatable mat? That party would have been a bit of a downer if he had jumped off the other side.

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This all gets explained under the umbrella of CRS' comprehensive competence -- no?

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Maybe. It has been a good while since I saw it. Were there divers in the water ready to rescue him if it came down to it? I know the gun had fake bullets at the end, but he couldve easily jumped off the roof at a different point than he did.

Obviously in real life, something wouldve gone wrong in that final scene and he wouldve ended up injured or dead.

[gusmahler]

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Also just fyi his driveway - is an access road that runs alond the edge of the Presidio at Divisidaro (I think, or maybe Masonic). There is no estate like that in SF proper obviously.

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From IMDB:

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Nicholas's "San Francisco" home was actually the historic Filoli Mansion, 25 miles south of San Francisco in Woodside, California. The plain gravel forecourt of the mansion was made to look more like a wrap-around driveway by the addition of the fountain, which was constructed of lightweight foam. The interior shots of the kitchen were made in the original time-worn kitchen, which is displayed on tours but no longer used. The kitchen's state of repair is not good, which partially accounts for the very dim lighting used in the kitchen scenes. The scenes in which the walls were defaced with graffiti was done by tacking up lightweight graffiti-painted foamcore boards over the wood paneling. All of the scenes at the mansion were completed in one day.

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[TwoOuter]

re: the good guys hitting and the bad guys missing-

Exactly. How many times have we seen Tom Cruise or whoever dive on the floor and do a roll while firing off three shots which miraculously hit three assasins firing machine guns at him. Man... that guy's good!

In a similar vein, I love how a villain who's been hunting the hero all movie finally takes him by surprise and... jumps him. Yeah- good plan- jump on his back! You've been shooting missiles at him and setting off huge explosions but suddenly you're going to take him down with your own bare hands. Pull out the shotgun already and end it.