Action movies and horror movies love to put characters in death-defying scenarios. Explosions will go off a few feet away from a hero but only leave a few scratches on them. Here are fifteen examples of movie scenes where the events taking place would unquestionably be the end of a normal person.
The Shawshank Redemption
Andy Dufresne escapes prison after decades of mistreatment by crawling through “half a mile” of sewage tunnels after carving his way out the back of his cell. However, sewage is particularly dangerous because it lets off a very toxic fume called hydrogen sulfide. After being near sewage for that long, Andy would certainly die from the fumes.
The Dark Knight
In the final clash between The Joker and Batman in The Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader drops the Clown Prince of Crime several stories. Joker howls and laughs madly as he falls, but Bats saves him by firing his grapnel gun at his archenemy’s leg, not permitting himself to take a life. Here’s the thing, though: falling that far and coming to a sudden stop would simply kill Joker anyway.
Twister
In the film Twister, a commonly cited ridiculous scene sees our heroes wading into the heart of a tornado. The winds are so strong that they pick a truck up off the ground and sling it away, but the protagonists are able to avoid certain doom by… hanging onto a belt and a lead pipe sticking out of the ground. That stretches credulity.
GoldenEye
James Bond movies aren’t heralded for their realism or anything, but a particularly egregious scene takes place in GoldenEye. Alec Trevelyan falls from a helicopter for what looks like around 400 feet before crashing, head-first, into a metal roof. He’s apparently fine, though, just a bit bloodied. Suffice it to say, that fall would kill anyone, no matter how much training and endurance they have.
Spider-Man (2002)
During Spidey and Green Goblin’s climactic battle, the villain throws Spider-Man’s girlfriend, Mary Jane, off the side of the bridge. She falls dozens of feet toward the water before breaking her fall by grabbing the side of a tram car. That’s not how falling works, though: as soon as you hit terminal velocity, even grabbing something you’re zooming past is still deadly, as the sudden stop would break your arms and still send you spiraling over the edge.
Iron Man 3
When “The Mandarin” attacks Tony at his home in Iron Man 3, attack helicopters fire missiles through the window. Tony and Pepper are blasted back by the impact, but, moment later, dust themselves off with little more than a few scrapes and bruises. In reality, being that close to so much concussive force would cause internal bleeding and lead to death in very little time.
Dante’s Peak
In a particularly nail-biting scene in Dante’s Peak, we see the protagonists in a car driving away from pyroclastic flow during a volcanic eruption. This scene is awesome, but it’s not remotely plausible. Pyroclastic flows from active volcanoes move up to 450 miles per hour. Even “slow-moving” flows would have likely caught their vehicle and cooked the protagonists in reality.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones might be a tough archeologist, but no one could survive the stunt he pulls in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After riding for over 400 miles clinging to the periscope of a Nazi submarine, Indy emerges from the water ready to battle his German enemies. Here’s the thing: even with an adequate air supply, that’s a deadly journey. The exposure to cold ocean water alone is enough to kill you from hypothermia, while the pressure sustained deep in the ocean would likely crush you.
Interstellar
In Interstellar, the astronauts land on a planet that is perilously close to a black hole. Rather than getting spaghettified or blasted by gamma radiation, like they would in reality, they simply explore the planet’s surface without issue. While the film is very emotionally resonant, it’s hardly realistic.
War of the Worlds
In a pivotal scene in War of the Worlds, Robbie runs headlong into an invading army of aliens. It’s a terrifying scene as the area is bathed in flames and the open warzone is clearly impossible for an unarmed, unarmored human to survive. Yet, miraculously, he appears unharmed in the film’s closing moments.
Transformers
There’s a lot of “that’s not how falling works” scenes out there in Hollywood. Another example is in Transformers, when Optimus Prime nudges Sam and Mikaela with his foot to “soften” their fall. This wouldn’t help them at all, as he’s made of metal, and crashing into his foot would be no better than hitting the ground.
Jurassic World
In Jurassic World, Claire outruns a T-rex while wearing high heels. This is a thrilling scene, but it’s probably unlikely to have ever happened in the real world, even if T-rexes were still alive. That’s because the towering dinosaurs likely ran as fast as 25 miles per hour, well faster than the human peak of around 15 miles per hour.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Fury Road is one of the best action movies ever made, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most realistic. In a particularly heart-stopping sequence, Max is strapped to the front of Nux’s war rig, and he’s hooked up to Nux as a “blood bag.” The amount of time he’s hooked up to the intravenous line would see him losing around 60% of his blood, far more than anyone could survive.
Read More: The 10 Scariest Movie Scenes Ever
Back to the Future
No one’s arguing that Back to the Future isn’t one of the best movies ever made. However, Marty makes a bold choice in the opening when he cranks Doc’s amp up to the maximum level and plays a single chord on his guitar, creating a shockwave that blows him backwards. In reality, a sound that loud would have to be at least 194 decibels, which would simultaneously bludgeon Marty backwards with the force of a car accident, cause him tremendous internal injuries, and likely collapse Doc’s house!
Read More: 10 Unbelievable Survival Stories from the Depths of History
Superman (Christopher Reeve Series)
In numerous scenes in the 70s and 80s Christopher Reeve Superman series, Supes swoops in and grabs Lois Lane as she’s plummeting off tall buildings or from other high places. While this is sweet in context, it would still likely end Lois’s life. Suddenly grabbing someone from midair as they plummet doesn’t stop physics from working! The sudden stop will still kill them. To save someone in such a scenario, they would need to be gradually slowed, easing the forces exerted on their body.
Read More: Facts About Iconic Movies You Never Knew
