The greatest films to come out of Japan
It is true that many ridiculous things only happen in Hollywood films, and action movies are no different. Sure, we take everything with a pinch of salt, but some clichés are repeated so often that we end up believing they're real. Take blowing up a car by shooting at it, for instance.
Click through the following gallery and check out the things action movies get completely wrong.
The vast majority of car chases in movies are unrealistic. The crazy driving, the talking and not looking at the road, and, of course, the stunts.
This is particularly weird in busy urban areas and dodgy neighborhoods. Still, no one in action movies seems to worry about it. Just open the door, close the door, and go about your life without a worry.
Realistically, fights usually only last a couple of seconds. Fighting is extremely taxing on the body, and a regular person would gas out rapidly. But action movie characters are not regular people, right?
Has anyone ever kept their car keys under the sun visor? Action movies had us believing people frequently did this though.
Unless you're bleeding to death (in which case it might save your life), cauterizing a wound could potentially put you at an even higher risk of infection. Burned tissue is usually good breeding ground for harmful bacteria to grow and multiply.
Need to open a door without a key? Just kick it down. One kick will suffice. How easy, right?
Because long hair, sweat, and blood never get in the way, right? And by the way, who doesn't run faster in stilettos?
Be it with a bottle, a gun, or a frying pan, in action movies it's very easy to knock someone unconscious. This, of course, does not correspond to reality.
According to action movies, being a hacker involves typing frantically on a laptop. Poor slow-typing hackers–they must really struggle to find work.
How many times have we seen people being sent flying by a grenade? Sure, if you were to jump on top of one, the explosion would have a massive impact. But in real life a grenade mostly wounds body parts with shrapnel. Oh, and pulling a grenade pin with your teeth? Sorry, not going to happen in real life either.
When was the last time you hung up the phone without saying goodbye? Sure, we get it, these characters get straight to the point, but manners don't cost a thing, right?
Both scenarios happen quite often. Either people start shooting without ever running out of bullets, or when the do they just drop the clip and put a new one in. Once that one is used, they are left with no alternative other than just throwing the gun away.
Most people aren't even able to perform a pull-up, never mind hang on to the edge of a building or holding onto someone's hand for an extended period of time.
Getting into a fight with your long hair down is a recipe for disaster. Though in movies, long-haired characters don't seem to have a problem with it. And they even look gracious fighting with their long locks in the air.
It's unlikely that cops would shoot a leg as a warning. Plus, a shot to the leg can actually be lethal, so the odds of killing someone that way are not as low as one might think.
Lasers can be useful at mid and close range. For snipers, however, they wouldn't work. There are just way too many other factors involved in hitting a target at long range that go beyond the laser dot. Plus, these would give away the location of the snipers.
Getting shot is not an automatic death sentence. In fact, people can be shot multiple times and survive. That's not to say that a gun shot can't indeed kill a person though.
Bullets can't ignite fire in a car. This has been tried and tested, so blowing up a car by shooting at it is pure fiction. In fact, a car explosion is rather rare to occur.
While some bombs do have timers, they are not always visible. Though in action movies, the hero is lucky enough for the bomb to have a large LCD screen displaying the countdown.
This would defeat the whole purpose of a covert landmine, right? And unlike movies had us believing, the explosion is not triggered by stepping off it. Instead, stepping on a landmine will instantly set it off.
Because most people know how to do this, right? And they happen to have a paper clip at hand all the time. The same goes for hot-wiring cars.
Not every sword will make that classic metallic sound it always does when characters draw them in movies. And then we have the whistles as the blade cuts through the air, which is a bit more realistic. Though it depends on the mass and speed.
A defibrillator is not meant to be used on a dead person. It's used to regulate the heartbeat, not resuscitate someone.
It doesn't matter if it's a busy street downtown or a parking lot, cops and baddies never seem to have a problem finding a good parking spot!
From Old Westerns to current action movies, going through a window is a classic scene. Though the characters never seem to get seriously injured. This, of course, would be unlikely in real life.
This myth has been busted by scientists. A cigarette is not hot enough to ignite gasoline. It does look cool in movies though, we must say.
This would be extremely difficult to achieve, especially with a modern safe lock. Plus, there's a high risk of ricochet.
Plastic explosives are very stable. Shooting at them would not make them explode.
Sources: (Listverse) (BuzzFeed) (Best Life)
See also: Action stars: where are they now?
Things action movies get completely wrong
From easy knockouts to shooting a lock open...
MOVIES Film
It is true that many ridiculous things only happen in Hollywood films, and action movies are no different. Sure, we take everything with a pinch of salt, but some clichés are repeated so often that we end up believing they're real. Take blowing up a car by shooting at it, for instance.
Click through the following gallery and check out the things action movies get completely wrong.