Top Gun: Maverick has gone from one success to another, as it has now made over $1.4 billion and surpassed Avengers: Infinity War when it comes to domestic gross, and fans’ questions of authenticity are now being shot down. The movie’s fighter pilots count their kills, but not everyone thought that was realistic. However, real-life fighter pilot Brandon Sellers let cynics know that pilots are super competitive and do count their kills.
Unfortunately, not every movie is as well researched as Top Gun 2. Redditors have discussed which movies leased researched their subject, whether it’s science in blockbuster popcorn flicks, ballet in horror movies, or courtroom trials in comedies. And while Redditors aren’t confirmed experts, their claims have been backed up by professionals.
Physics In Fast And Furious
![Fast and Furious 9 Dom Stopping Car](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Fast-and-Furious-9-Dom-Stopping-Car.jpg)
Mona_moans points out one of the most obvious elements of blockbuster movies that the screenwriters, studios, and filmmakers get completely wrong. Whether it’s superhero movies, action popcorn flicks, or any one of the 10 Fast and Furious releases, films get physics completely wrong.
The Redditor aims the street-racing-turned-high-octane-action series, noting, “The Fast and the Furious movies could’ve brushed up on some basic physics lessons.” The films feature the Fast family skydiving in cars, destroying entire airplanes while speeding out of them, and F9 makes absolutely no sense whatsoever in terms of physics too. A physicist has pointed out all the problems with physics in several movies for Wired, including the superhero landing and Spider-Man’s strength.
Poker In Casino Royale
Poker has always been used to depict the beginnings of a feud between characters in movies, either that or it’s used to make the protagonist look cool, and while most movies achieve that, they fail when it comes to the actual poker playing. Mig123 has Casino Royale in their crosshairs, arguing that the characters fumbled their way through the card game even though they’re presented as being masters at it.
The Redditor adds, “Bond is portrayed as being a very good player but not one of the hands shows any skill whatsoever. The final hand was something like flush vs. full house vs. bigger full house vs. bond with a straight flush. The movie certainly made 007 looks cool, which is why Casino Royale is one of the most rewatchable Bond movies, but a Las Vegas casino boss confirmed the Redditor’s statement for GQ. The boss said the likelihood of that happening the first hand at such a high-stakes table is “one in millions,” and that he’s never seen anything like it.
Air Vents In Die Hard
One of the most iconic Die Hard quotes comes from John McClane when he’s speaking to himself while crawling through an air vent. But Jackpot777 points out that McClane’s escape strategy wouldn’t work in real life. The Redditor explains, “ventilation systems are built to carry air and they can fit between walls and floors/ceilings because air molecules aren’t that big or hard to move. You certainly don’t need to make them big enough and reinforced enough to carry an NYC cop in LA.”
From a professional’s point of view a random air vent company, Canopy Fan Cleaning, hilariously weighed in, explaining that air-vent covers can’t be easily removed, they aren’t all that shiny inside, and they don’t support the weight of a grown man. They added that if anybody was in an air vent, they’d be stuck there and the fire department would have to cut them out.
Mythology In Hercules
There have been a lot of different movie depictions of Greek mythology and Hercules, but Keenninjago is referring to Disney’s adaptation from 1997, which is completely different from what fans of the mythology know about the character. However, it might not be that Disney and the filmmakers didn’t research the subject, but that they simply needed to keep the movie from being rated R or even PG-13 so that kids could see it.
Disney’s Hercules smooths a lot of the mythology’s rough edges, and the animated movie would be a lot different if it was more faithful to the mythology. If Disney accurately followed the mythology, there would be no Pegasus, Meg would have been killed, and the titular character wouldn’t have made it to the end of the film either.
Space In Armageddon
Strange_Increase_373 accuses Armageddon of not getting space right. There’s a reason why the film is hated by critics but loved by audiences, as it’s a great popcorn movie, but it isn’t very deep and doesn’t make any sense. The Redditor points out, “Apparently, NASA uses it as a training thing where recruits spot all the inaccurate parts.”
The user isn’t wrong, as, according to a Tweet made by Raindance Film School, “New managers are given the task of trying to spot as many errors as possible. At least one hundred sixty-eight have been found.” Ultimately, Ben Affleck put it best in the movie’s DVD commentary, as he wondered if it’d be easier to train astronauts to be oil drillers instead of the other way around.
Ballet In Black Swan
DancinCarl has a problem with ballet in a ton of movies, noting, “Most movies/shows about ballet….Black Swan, Pretty Little Things, Leap – I’m looking at you…” Professional Ballerina Isabella Boylston broke down ballet in multiple movies for Insider, including Black Swan.
Boylston gave the ballet in Black Swan a 7/10, ultimately praising it but noting that it’s obvious when it’s a ballet double and not Natalie Portman. The ballerina also criticized the depiction of a ballet dancer being tormented over the art, explaining that ballet dancers are world-class athletes and don’t act like that.
Courtroom Trials In My Cousin Vinny
So many television networks have had so much success with courtroom dramas, and for the most part, a lot of them are well researched, and they’re executed brilliantly, as they have so many hours to tell the story. However, movies don’t have quite as much time, as they have to condense months-long trials into just two hours. Snifflebot takes issue with this most and specifically points out the comedy-drama My Cousin Vinny.
The Redditor notes, “the surprise defense expert witness, the defense counsel’s sister, is allowed to testify just like that.” A professional lawyer broke down the movie for Wired, who also criticized the movie, including that the lawyer keep approaching the witness stand without the judge’s permission.
Chess In Every Movie
The Queen’s Gambit is one of the greatest television shows about chess, as it accurately explains and depicts chess games while still being engaging, but the same can’t be said for most movies that feature the game. Haaitje09 criticizes not just one film, but all “movies that involve chess.”
Chess Master Daniel Rensch broke down several movie scenes involving the game for Chess.com, and he mostly agreed with the Reddit user. The international chess master criticized a lot of movies and even noted that the board wasn’t set up right before Magento and Xavier had even started playing in X-Men, calling it an “epic fail” for a series that’s full of chess metaphors.
Archery In Robin Hood
Eve Hewson and Taron Egerton in Robin Hood
TheDevilChicken argues that the level of research gone into archery in 2018’s Robin Hood is insulting. The Redditor slams the movie, arguing, “Robin Hood is a masterpiece of shock. Everyone going around like bows are assault rifles is just so stupid.” The 2018 release is considered one of the worst movies of the 2010s, as it has a minuscule 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.3 on IMDb, and while general audiences wouldn’t have picked up on the unresearched archery, many professionals certainly did.
Professional Archer broke down the movie for Insider and rated the authenticity of the archery a 4/10. Ironically, director Otto Bathurst explained in a Youtube video that he wanted the archery in the film to feel as authentic as possible, but it ended up being as authentic as the very historically inaccurate movie.
Rain In Blade Runner
Squirtloaf hilariously notes that the 1982 sci-fi movie has too much rain, commenting, “Blade Runner. Way too much rain for 2019 Los Angeles.” While the Redditor is half joking, it doesn’t take a professional to explain that it doesn’t rain in Los Angeles all year round. A quick look at how many droughts there are will point to the exact opposite.
However, it wasn’t like director Ridley Scott didn’t research L.A.’s weather beforehand, and it’s more tied to the movie’s aesthetic than anything. And the sequel, Blade Runner 2049, fixed the issue as much as it could. While there are plenty of scenes in the rain in the 2017 movie, there are also tons of scenes without it, but it still manages to keep that Blade Runner tone.
NEXT: 10 Best Movies That Flopped At The Box Office, According To Reddit