Our world is
governed by the laws of physics; but in the imagined worlds of the cinema, many
times this is not true. We watch movies to escape the humdrum of normal life;
we enjoy seeing things that are not easily seen and or possible. Movies show us
incredible feats of speed, unbelievable special effects and awesome
choreography of action. Many of the things we see in the movies are impossible
to do in real life. Sometimes these things are done because they are ignorant
of the laws of physics. Other times it is purposely done by the directors and
visual developers to create a satisfying experience for the audience as well as
enhancing story. One Law that is very easily recognizable is Newton’s Third
Law. Newton’s Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction. You can see this when you sit on a chair or when a bird
flies and why it hurts when you punch a wall (because the wall’s force is
pushing back on you.) This law is the reason why things recoil also. In a lot
of movies this very fundamental law is often bended. Often it is bent so much
and so often that people forget that the law of action and reaction applies to
certain actions.
A lot of times
people forget about the recoil that happens when one shoots a gun. In a movie
that is all about gun shoot outs, Shoot ‘Em Up (2007) shows us ample amount of
gun fighting with our main character Mr.Smith (played by Clive Owen) who is
trying to save a newborn baby from an army of gunmen. Multiple times into this
movie we can see Mr. Smith gunning down throngs of opposing gunmen, with many
different types of guns. Nowhere in the movie did I see anyone experiencing
recoil caused by the firing of the gun. There are even shots of Mr. Smith going
down a fireman pole while gunning down people with a machine gun experiencing
no recoil at all. While I do realize that this movie is supposed to be over the
top it is also a testimony to how much recoil a gun has; television has shown
so often that recoil do not happen that audiences are used to seeing that
response from firing a gun. Not only are there no recoil to the gun firing,
there are also too much reaction from the victim who are shot in this movie.
The amount of force exerted by the bullet will be dispersed by the human body
and the body should not be propelled from the shooting. Even though the physics
are wrong in this movie, I do believe that it is done on purpose. The audience
needs to see their hero strong, unaffected by silly things such as recoil. They
need someone to whom they want to be or one that they can relate too. Everyone
wants to be the capable gunmen. Also, the audience needs to understand when a
cast has been shot. I believe that is why the actors react in that manner –
even though it is not physically correct.
We can also find
mistakes in the movie Wanted (2008) starring James McAvoy as a disgruntled
office worker that discovers the world of professional assassins with
superhuman killing abilities – that is the ability to bend the path of action
of bullets. We will focus at the last few minutes of the movie; the scene takes
place in the office building. We see one of the assassins in the elevator, when
suddenly the metal of the elevators wall spontaneously crushes – supposedly as
a reaction to the extreme force that the assassin’s feet is exerting on the
metal wall. This is impossible. The reaction happened before he pushes on the
metal wall, and in fact – the feet did not even push into the wall. This scene
was an attempt to show action and reaction; but instead it rings false because
the forces that are supposed to be equal are instead unequal and the timing is
not simultaneous. Another example is the jump the assassin took right after he
bolts through the hallway of the office building. He hardly makes any
anticipation, the assassin did not look like he exerted much force when he
jumped through the glass but the assassin flies through the air as if he’s
propelled by a cannon. Not only was the jump distance feels too long, the hang
time the assassin had from that jump also felt very wrong. Realistically, I
imagine the force it took to break the glass would be enough of an opposite
force on the assassin that it would make the assassin fall short on his jump.
In this case I believe they try to adhere to the laws of physics – but in the
end the effect they want to achieve on the audience was to astound. However it
is not done well and it fails to look believable, which harms the movie because
it takes the audience’s mind outside of the story.
Lastly we will
examine The Matrix (1999) starring Keanu Reeves. This movie does happen in
another world that is not earth; however there are several things that I found
a little odd, even though it could be explained by it being in another
universe. In the scene where Neo and Morpheus is fighting their moves feels a
bit airy – as if gravity is not acting as strongly upon them. This is
reminiscent of old Chinese Kung Fu films that I use to watch as a child. They
have light movements and high jumps without any anticipation because in real life
they wear harnesses. (often the harnesses can be seen, especially in old
movies.) I suspect this is what the actors are doing in this scene, we can see
that the anticipation that Neo takes before leaping is definitely not equal to
the powerful jump that comes afterwards. Scientifically, the force that Neo
pushes on the floor should equal the amount of force the floor affects him.
Since Neo uses little force on the floor – the floor should give little force
back. This however did not happen, which is why the audience will feel as if
the movements are odd.
In conclusion,
Laws of Physics such as Newton’s Third Law are consistently broken by movie
makers for many different reasons. The action genre legitimizes the
overreaction of certain forces to indicate outstanding strength, drama and
movement. Many different deviations can be seen through unequal forces, not
simultaneous timing and the overreaction of forces or the lack of recoil. This particular physics are done on purpose
to dramatize and to excite the audience. The job of an action movie is to
excite the audience and to thrill them this is why they bend the laws so much
to their breaking point.
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