Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction Paper
With today's films focusing on special effects and attempting to make them appear more and more real it would be logical for the basic laws of physics to be understood and obeyed. With the incorporation of more computer graphics in films the industry is focusing heavily on imitating the looks of everyday life not the mechanics. With this, movie makers still do not seem to care about observing the basic laws of our planet, whether this is by choice or due to misunderstanding is left to debate. Some Directors cover for these changes in the basic laws of physics with simple one liners from the story line while others hope that it won't be noticed. With viewers constantly demanding for more amazing and fresh stunts and action scenes the laws of physics must be bent or completely ignored in order to impress movie goers. One of the most commonly broken laws in films is Newton's third law such as when a person lifts a heavy object and throws it a great distance without any feedback, or when a character jumps from a great height and is able to land on the ground and begin running unharmed. Newton's third law states that when an object exerts a force onto another object the force is reflected back in the same magnitude in the opposite direction. Granted that the film industry would be very boring for males the world over if these laws were always obeyed, but they have become so commonly abused and taken to such drastic measures that movie goers have begun to complain. The films I chose to analyze were; Spiderman 2, Live Free or Die Hard, and Sin City. I chose these films because they contain a great deal of action and a lot of special effects and I knew I would be able to find a flaw in Newton's third law.
The 2007 film Live Free or Die Hard Starring Bruce Willis as John McClane and Justin Long as Matt, was one of my personal favorites and even though it was the fourth film in the series it was a box office hit. The film has a good balance of action, comedy, and storyline set in present times with the focus on cyber terrorism. The plot is believable and there are no signs of super human strength or unnatural abilities and there are no special changes discussed that would alter any of the basic laws of physics giving excuse to anything out of the normal standards. In the scene I chose to analyze McClane has just been physically beaten by a girl, Mai Linh, and knocked out a window landing on a SUV many floors below, he then proceeds to drive the SUV back up to the level he was on and while driving through a industrial office at high speed hits Linh. With Linh pinned to the hood he drives the SUV into an elevator shaft were McClane and Linh proceed to fight it out some more. At the high speed that McClane was driving at and the large size of the SUV Minh should have been at least knocked unconscious when hit by the SUV, but more likely she should had been killed. If that had not been enough when she stopped by slamming into the wall of the elevator shaft she goes from at least 40 to 0 mph in seconds flat which once again should have at the least knocked her out. Through all this Minh is still able to fight her way through the SUV in attempt to get out of the shaft before the SUV plummets to the bottom floors below. This lack of spacing between these multiple infringements on Newton's third law are hard to miss and although they add great action to the film they subtract greatly from its realism.
Spiderman 2 was released in 2004 and is among the top 15 grossing films of all time. Starring Toby Maguire as Peter Parker and Alfred Molina as Dr. Octavius the film is an action film packed with sci-fi with small bits of cheesy comedy placed throughout. The film takes place in a world identical to ours and appears that all aspects of physics are the same. The main difference is that some people have obtained super human abilities giving them greater strength, agility, and control of unnatural abilities. The scene I chose to analyze takes place after Dr. Octavius (Doc Ock) escapes the Hospital with all four of his mechanical arms still attached to his spine. Upon walking out onto the street he is surprised by a speeding taxi cab, he proceeds in a swift seamless motion to pick up the cab with his mechanical limbs and toss it into other cars without so much as a pause. He then proceeds to raise into the air and walk down the street on his new limbs. The fact that the cab was speeding along and that Doc Ock weighs significantly less than the cab would suggest that he would be moved in one way or another by the cabs force. Instead Doc Ock is unchanged and does not even take a stance to support this exertion and reception of great force. If Newton's third law had been acknowledged in this scene then Doc Ock would have had to brace himself with two of his other mechanical limbs or been pushed back until slowly coming to a stop. Even though Doc Ock has received super strength via his limbs he is still human unchanged and his body must still obey the basic laws of nature, there is no added plot point that changes this circumstance. The fact that there is no acknowledgement shows that the director hoped this may be missed by viewers or he himself missed it entirely.
The 2005 film Sin City was packed with a large cast of stars the scene I have chosen to analyze is stars Clive Owen who plays Dwight McCarthy. Sin City was the first of its kind, transforming Frank Miller's graphic novels into a major motion picture like no one had ever seen before. Since it was adapted from a graphic novel the action scenes may not have been adapted as easily but should have been changed to suit the film. The Film is set in a major city and appears that there is no exception to the basic laws of nature, other than the few exceptions were those rules are ignored or broken. There are no plot points that suggest that people are super human and have special abilities allowing them to break the laws of nature. The film is packed with action and graphic violence exaggerated by the choice of contrast in colors. The scene I chose to analyze is very short but is very easy to catch since it is so unbelievable. Dwight jumps from a ledge on the side of a building and falls many stories to the ground below where he proceeds to take off running. In reality Dwight would only be going to the hospital with broken legs or at the least a severe sprain. The high amount of force built up by Dwight falling would be exerted back onto Dwight’s body when he hit the ground and be absorbed by his bones and in turn break them. But since Dwight is able to take off running it is obvious that the director failed to take into account the realistic affects this high fall would truly have or hope viewers would be caught up in the action.
Live free or die hard, Spiderman 2, and Sin City are all great examples of how major motion pictures bend and break the laws of nature in order to keep movie goers entertained. With the need to constantly reach new ground to keep movies fresh in order to turn larger profits. But while some films try to imitate and create the most realistic image of humanity others go in the opposite direction entirely. Then there are those films that are in the middle such as the three I chose that have reasonable believable plots but choose to break the laws of nature when it best suits them. The problem with this is figuring out where the boundary of believability and unbelievable are. In some cases it is apparent that directors ignored the laws of nature and in other instances when it is more subtle it is possible to see that it might have been missed. It is easy to understand how Newton’s third law can be overlooked since it can have many applications some more complicated than others, making it easy to miss them.