Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction
Hollywood blockbusters and video games take inspiration from real life, be it the heroes of Harlem, to the cities of Southern California, and even to the Shanghai gang lords of China. These medias take real life refences as well as culture into the making of the work. To further push the fantasy of the world, some over sights of physics tend to happen. All these medias have a realistic approach, at least to their looks, more so than a cartoony theme. Yet, the realism takes a turn when certain scenes, aspects, and mechanics are taken under a microscope and dissected further for consistency. Three examples of breaking the rules of physics will be shown. The main principle focused on is Newton’s third law of physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Basically, there is always same amount of force in a reaction that was given in the initial action. Marvel’s Luke Cage series, Kung Fu Hustle, and Grand Theft Auto V have all been subjected to breaking the law of action/reaction.
The first example comes from the newest offender of this principle. Marvel’s Luke Cage serious, 2016, features the story of Luke Cage uprising as a Marvel hero. Rather than a typical Avenger movie, Luke Cage takes us to the underbelly in Harlem to show the nitty gritty realities of the Harlem streets. Luke Cage’s backstory is revealed as soon as he accepts the heroic role in Harlem to try to rid the streets of the crime boss Cornell Stokes, Cottonmouth. During the beginning, we see Luke Cage demonstrate super human strength as well as durability. What Luke Cage can’t move basically can’t hurt him either. He’s so tough, that he can resist and deflect incoming firearm projectiles like they were nothing more than a breeze of air. But the main offender of consistent physics doesn’t come from the hero or the villain, instead a third party. During a gun deal with Cottonmouth and another crime boss, things go wrong when an inside job to rob the money presented in the gun deal. The robbery goes bad when bullets begin to fly. Guns shot, bullets flying, and bodies dropping as the three robbers try to survive the heist. After the exchange, we see two of the three robbers survive. Everything seems will with the action, and seem all fine. With closer examination, we can see a fatal flaw in the physics of the scene. During the shootout, we see many close-ups of scenes of shots fired and gun muzzles flaring. Most of the time, films do two common things to reenact gunfire. One way is with fake rounds, to simulate the recoil and presence of real bullets, the other is to film a recoil then in post-production at gun flare to the weapon. No matter the technique, it relies on the crew to make a realistic action of a gun firing. Most of the shots do seem realistic, except for one of the last shots towards the end where we see no recoil in comparison to other shots. We see the skewed angle, a little tilted to the right but straight down the barrel we witness a gun being shot. Yet, unlike all the other close-ups of gun fire, the shooter seems to experience little to no recoil. So, unless this character had a unique gun, or the strength of Luke Cage, then the shooter should have had a wrist recoil in a similar way to the other shots.
The second example is a quick one to miss. In Kung Fu Hustle, 2004, we are presented with the city of Shanghai coping with a notorious group of thugs called the Axe gang. After witnessing the gang’s prowess, we are transported to a scene showing a slice of life for the inhabitants to compact living structure. Everything is well and everyone is happy with their daily routines. Some scenes are showed that further confirm that the people living here are no normal people. In fact, they seem to boast super physical qualities that are impossible in reality. The concept of super speed and strength is apparent here with the display from the landlady. She exempts great speed while traversing the stairs, and strength as she easily slaps an individual with little to no force. That being a good example of little action, big reaction in the terms of the principle being discussed, but there is another scene which breaks physics more severely. Once the Axe gang shows up to cause trouble to the living complex, a group of inhabitants, shop owners, etc. begin to join forces and combat the Axe gang minions. During this montage, we see martial art prowess of the characters so much so that we begin to believe in the mystification of the physics. There’s a scene with the character in green, Coolie, performing a devastating jump kick that knocks several gang members over. Looking closely at his kick, we see that his initial running start to take off is fine in terms of physics but the next action seems to be impossible. In the middle of his jump, Coolie seamlessly turns around mid-air and has enough force to push of the air and deliver a powerful kick that impacts several Axe gang minions. He floats for a second for the kick, then falls straight down after landing effortlessly. The camera angle during the kick shows the oddity of him in place while delivering the kick from a running take off. The angle of his take off should lead to more of a traditional arc of falling rather than arcing to straight down. It would be more believable if the kick propelled him in the opposite direction, as the force would push him back from kicking the gang members.
Lastly to wrap up our examples, we leave Grand Theft Auto V, 2013, as the last offender of breaking physics. The Grand Theft Auto series is known for its realistic and gritty approach to the life of cities with increasing gang activity and crime-like shenanigans. The game proves to be one if not the most controversial game ever made. From scenes of torture, sex, and drugs, Grand Theft Auto seems to further put its mark as a mature video game. With these maturities, the more realistic the environment, the more conveying and impactful the imagery is. Realistic, explosions, car mechanics, and physics give you the sense that you, the player, are causing mayhem in a real functioning city, be that good or bad. The take away doesn’t matter in this case as we label them as an offender of one of the worst common physics issues in games. Physics in games can be pushed towards reality, but the more they do, the more chances for issues in consistency. The example here is a common mistake in the physics of games, where the player can stand atop a moving vehicle and never fall off no matter the momentum of inertia. As you can see in the video, with the player atop a truck, never slips, slides or comes close to falling even with the truck gaining speed, hitting obstacles, and making quick turns. This is a common issue with games as the physics to code the top of moving objects, such as the roof of vehicles, seem to have the same behavior as that of the ground. So, the player just undergoes the force of gravity rather than that of the cars momentum and air resistance of the player on top. So basically, the action of the car crashing into a wall doesn’t have any reaction to the player who should experience a strong shift in inertia.
After consideration and examination of the medias corresponding to Newtons law of action/reaction we see a disconnect in consistency. Be in the details in a gun fight, mystifying martial arts, or simple mechanics in a video game have the chance to disconnect the consistency. Without it we the viewer lose believably in the physics the world creates. Fantasy of the story, or how many laws of physics are broken, doesn’t matter if there is consistency.
