It’s a little disappointing when the movies get brought back down to reality since a lot of the stunts that are performed in various movies can be broken down by various experts in quite a few fields. When it comes to physics, some movies just don’t hold up since the ability to believe what they’re selling is shattered or at least heavily bruised when it’s held up against reality. When those that are fully aware of how physics works and what the result would be if these stunts were being performed as they are on screen. In real life, some of these stunts wouldn’t be possible at all, and others would yield a very different result. The Fast and Furious movies don’t really hold up at all since some of the stuff they do is simply too unbelievable, especially considering that the damage inflicted upon the characters and the split-second timing that would be needed for each one of these stunts is absolutely incredible, and not realistic. That’s why movie magic is so important to these movies since otherwise it would look absolutely cheesy and the wow factor wouldn’t be as possible. The fact that some people do think that some of these stunts are possible is kind of hard to fathom unless we’re talking about kids that don’t have the life experience yet or the truly uneducated that like to believe that a ‘true’ martial artist can fly through the air, or that a car can break through the nose of a plane, as well as the several securely strapped-down crates that were in the way. Oh, and the fact that there was no way to build up enough speed.
Right around here is where people might be telling the person explaining the physics to shut up since they’re ‘ruining the movie’. The truth of this is that the people that like to know the truth behind the physics behind movies such as the Fast and Furious titles are those that understand that reality doesn’t work this way. It’s not entirely possible to do this much with the cars in the franchise since, well, this is not what they’re built for. It’s very true that a person can beef up a car to perform miracles in its own way, but it’s also entirely possible that movie magic takes care of a large percentage of what goes on in these movies. Seriously, if anyone is buying the vault scene from Fast Five then they might need to be reminded that the vault weighs several tons. That’s TONS, and if the two cars were able to rip the vault out of the wall, and then get it moving, stopping it would be almost impossible it sounds like, unless the vault came up against something that it couldn’t simply bash through. The whole idea of the Fast and Furious movies is that they actors are driving awesome vehicles that are capable of equally awesome feats, and the characters are also capable of some truly amazing feats of agility and strength.
The physicist in the video was kinder to the clips than some people would have been since there are plenty of car buffs that would claim that some of these stunts simply wouldn’t be possible without a lot of help, and a lot of movie magic. The limits that a car or a human being can go to can be incredible, but in this instance there are a lot of things in the Fast and Furious movies that just aren’t going to happen the way they appear. From the way the cars perform to the damage the characters take, this franchise would have ended in the first movie if reality was going to take over at some point. It’s possible that some of the stunts would be possible, but there are quite a few of them that would result in death, dismemberment, and unpredictable amounts of pain that many people wouldn’t even want to contemplate. This is why the disclaimer ‘don’t try this at home’ is still very important and very much a part of a lot of shows since those that are performing the practical stuntwork in these movies are highly trained and are also seen to plan everything out as much as possible in order to perform the stunt right and make it look good, and to ensure that the stunt people are allowed to go home at the end of the day. Some folks live for the adrenaline rush that stuntwork comes with, while some people simply enjoy their job and can’t see themselves doing anything else. But even those folks have to admit that there are times when the laws of physics are pushed politely to the side in an effort to get the best effects possible on camera.
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