Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Countless films manipulate the laws of physics to communicate worlds of unbelievable proportions. Science fiction films involving worlds outside of our own are compelled to stretch the truth, as their world does not exist in our physical world. However, to accomplish this rule breaking, one would need to solve the action in a way that could be believable by giving the action some weight of believability. To give weight would mean to adhere to certain laws in the most basic form so as to not leave the audience butchering the action with analysis. The film industry gains respect when a moment is believable in our world as well as world that we have never experienced. Adhering to the law of inertia in every sense would be believable, however, to the thrill-seeking moviegoer, believable is not always impressive or entertaining for the world introduced.

 Special effects are no stranger in the movie Wanted, directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Wesley, an account manager frustrated with a presumably dead-end job is taken for a whirlwind when Fox, a trained assassin, informs him that his father, also an assassin was killed and the man who committed the murder has a new target. Frequent panic attacks plague Wesley’s daily life but when he is told that these attacks are actually uncontrolled expressions of a superhuman ability, training unleashes a powerful force to be reckoned with. Curving a bullet’s path is the reoccurring skill throughout the film and the topic of this discussion in ignoring the law of inertia and actually playing on another principle of physics.

The movie Wanted portrays a cult of assassins possessing the mystical power of shooting curving bullets around objects and infrastructures to kill their targets. However, curving a bullet is impossible. Only a spherical object can be curved through a fluid due to Magnus forces causing pressure differential. A bullet, a cylindrical object, does occur Magnus forces through a fluid but produces a lift force rather than a curved motion. Therefore, the bullet in motion will stay in motion and not deviate from its path.

           

Star Wars is a movie franchise that encapsulates a grand story of galactic good and evil. The current saga, spanning over six films, portrays the battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Two factions support these two larger forces: The ancient

Jedi order (galactic peace police) and the Sith (anti-jedi war criminals). These two factions fight on land, sea, air and in space. The space battles consist of hundreds of fighter crafts of all shapes and sizes. They are a pivotal part to the story. However, the space battles themselves will be the point of focus for which we discuss another movie that breaks Newton’s First Law.

During the Battle for Endor, the X-Wing star fighters have the ability to perform agile maneuvers and acrobatic tactics to avoid their enemies. The X-Wings contain four propulsion engines on the rear of the fighter craft that are facing the same direction. With just these four engines, propelling in the same direction, the X-Wing cannot perform such movement. Outer space is a vacuum, meaning it is devoid of the structures and properties of matter. There is no wind and so these fighter crafts do no experience the same drag or have the sane ability to change directions as an aircraft would in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The battles are entertaining because the actions simulate movement that is more recognizable to the average Joe living on Earth. If the film chose to obey the laws of physics in outer space, the known mechanics of the fictional spacecraft and the absence of air would allow only for the fighter crafts to go straight in a constant motion. Therefore, the fighter would need propulsion engines directed in all directions allowing the fighter to change paths. In our universe, an object in motion stays in motion. The fighter craft, given the standalone force of the propulsion engines, would remain going straight unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Speed begins with a terrorist attack involving an elevator along with a witnessed bombing of a bus. The terrorist bomber tips off his next plan of attack to Jack Traven, an officer on the case. Jack is burdened with the horrible truth that a bus is rigged with explosives that will detonate if the vehicle reaches 50 miles per hour.

In the movie Speed the bus under pressure must jump a gap in a highway because stopping is not an option. The opposite ends of the highway gap are relatively flat, allowing for little to no vertical ascension.  When the bus begins to jumps the gap, the front end appears to have a vertical lift before the rear end of the bus even leaves the paved highway.  This would not happen due to the angle of the paved highway .The front of the bus would continue off of the cliff and descend due to the acceleration of gravity. 

Also, upon surviving the jump, the shot of the rear end of the bus seemed to have been above the ground plane of the highway. This contrasted with the first shot of the bus lifting off the cliff, where the rear end of the bus descended the ultimate height of the highway.

These two factors mentioned defy the law of inertia because the action of the bus in the movie would call for additional help to make it happen for the final shot.

For the sake of story, laws of physics, such as the law of inertia could be deviated from in an effort to impress. However, without careful planning, the deviation could offend viewers because the sad attempt to trick the viewer could go horribly wrong. Films across the board, including science fiction, horror films and even romantic comedies may face the challenge to create a believable moment without the chance to physically carry it out. Whether the medium be computer graphics or props being hung by wires, the challenge relies on the careful observation of what actually happens in our tangible world.