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Lone Survivor’s technical advisor explains how most movies get guns wrong.
Pretty much everything we know about guns in Britain we learned from the movies. But, as you'll find out, our teachers in Hollywood have (on the most part) been peddling lies.
Peter Berg’s latest film ‘Lone Survivor’ (out on DVD and Blu-ray now) is an incredible true story. A four man Navy SEALs recon team's 2007 mission into Afghanistan goes disastrously wrong. The title gives it away: not all the men came home.
“[The story was] not something that some writer dreamt up to sell a movie,” explains the film’s technical advisor Mark Semos, "There are a number of people who had to satisfied by the film and that was an enormous weight on Peter Berg’s shoulders."
“[The story was] not something that some writer dreamt up to sell a movie,” explains the film’s technical advisor Mark Semos, "There are a number of people who had to satisfied by the film and that was an enormous weight on Peter Berg’s shoulders."
The results are startling. ‘Lone Survivor’ takes what you know about gunplay and turns it on its head. It’s not just there to serve up an awesome action sequence.
It’s loud, it’s brutal, and it’s utterly terrifying.
We spoke to Mark to help clear up some myths about guns that Hollywood has proliferated over the years to discover which ones stand up to scrutiny and which ones miss the mark.
Myth: A dropped gun will always kill the bad guy
We spoke to Mark to help clear up some myths about guns that Hollywood has proliferated over the years to discover which ones stand up to scrutiny and which ones miss the mark.
Myth: A dropped gun will always kill the bad guy
Guilty film: ‘True Lies'
Jamie Lee Curtis drops a machine down the stairs, wiping out the bad guys (Credit: 20th Century Fox)"In California, all guns have to be drop-tested from 12ft. You could throw a Glock across a room and it probably won’t go off. I have heard of it happening, but I’ve never personally experienced it or seen it.
"That’s not something you’d expect to happen when you drop a gun."
Verdict: Possible but unlikely.
Myth: You can shoot a padlock off with a pistol
Guilty film: ‘Die Hard 2’
John McClane opens the runway gate by shooting off the padlock (Credit: 20th Century Fox)"Sure, that happens in reality. Tactical teams will use shotguns to breach doors and open doors. They’ll attack the hinges or the locking mechanism, but there’s a specific technique to it and there’s a reason they use a shotgun.
"Generally speaking, you’re not going to shoot a padlock and have one shot from 25 yards open it. The padlock is not going to do what you think it will do. They’re made of steel and a bullet is lead. It’s probably not going to go through it, it may break it, it may not, and it’s not a sure thing.
"I would probably get a crowbar.”
Verdict: Myth busted.
Myth: Shooting car’s gas tank will cause an explosion
Guilty film: Every Jerry Bruckheimer film ever
A car exploding in one of the more restrained set pieces from Michael Bay's 'Bad Boys' (Credit: Columbia)"I’ve never blown up a car with a pistol. Not that I’ve tried, but I don’t think that’s quite possible. Everyone is afraid of their car blowing up because you’re sitting on a gas tank, but cars don’t really blow up like that unless they have explosives in them.
"It’s physically impossible. In the internal combustion engine there’s only a small amount of fuel in the motor at any given time. Then you’d need a bullet that can get into the engine block, there are not a lot of rounds that can even do that.
"That may be one for Mythbusters, but my vote is for no.”
Verdict: A non-starter.
Myth: Silencers make guns whisper quiet
Guilty film: Most James Bond films
Bond regularly uses a silencer for stealthy kills (Credit: MGM)"Number one: we don’t even call them silencers, that is a film term. They’re actually called sound suppressors; because they suppress the noise.
"A bullet makes a number of sounds when fired. The first is the sound from the muzzle, that’s an explosion, and that’s what the sound suppressor covers up. The other noise that the bullet will make is when it breaks the sound barrier and you get a supersonic sound and you can’t stop that unless you’re using subsonic ammunition.
"So it’s not silent, you still get the supersonic crack of the round, what you don’t have is the explosion out of the muzzle of the weapon.”
Verdict: A total Hollywood invention.
Myth: A bullet-proof vest will always save the day
Guilty film: ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, ‘Back to the Future’
The Man With No Name evades death with his body armour (Credit: United Artists)"There are two types of body armour: hard and soft. Soft body armour is not rated for rifles. A level 3A vest, the vest you see a lot of police officers wearing, that will stop a high velocity 9mm round, it will stop a 44 Magnum, it will stop a 12 guage, but it won’t stop a rifle.
"They’re not really “bullet-proof vests”, it’s body armour, and whether or not it will stop a bullet, depends on the threat.”
Verdict: They’re not magic force-fields, but they do work.
Myth: Using two guns makes you more effective and looks cool
Guilty film: ‘The Matrix trilogy’, ‘Sin City’, ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’
If you didn't have two guns in 'The Matrix', you were nobody (Credit: Warner Bros.)
"There are these little pieces of iron on top of every weapon: they’re called sights. They’re there so you know what you’re shooting at. If you don’t use those generally you miss. That’s why you don’t see that happen in real life.
"In 'Lone Survivor' we disallowed the actors from ever taking a shot during the filming unless they were looking down the optics.
"Generally speaking the whole 'shooting from the hip' thing doesn’t happen.
"You’re responsible for every one of these rounds that land. Every bullet in the real world, every round that you shoot, has to land somewhere, and wherever that round lands, you’re responsible for it."
Verdict: Two guns = double trouble
Myth: No one ever runs out of bullets
"In 'Lone Survivor' we disallowed the actors from ever taking a shot during the filming unless they were looking down the optics.
"Generally speaking the whole 'shooting from the hip' thing doesn’t happen.
"You’re responsible for every one of these rounds that land. Every bullet in the real world, every round that you shoot, has to land somewhere, and wherever that round lands, you’re responsible for it."
Verdict: Two guns = double trouble
Myth: No one ever runs out of bullets
Guilty film: ‘Escape from New York’, ‘Predator’, ‘Commando’, ‘I, Robot’
Arnie's bullet supply replenishes mid-scene in 'Commando' (Credit: 20th Century Fox)"This is usually sanity checked on set, but sometimes it gets lost in the edit. The editor has a lot of shots to use of the same action sequence, so the magazine becomes extended, and you get 60 rounds instead of 30. That’s an issue.
"On 'Lone Survivor' we kept track of how many rounds they were firing and how many magazines they had. We drove the script supervisor insane because obviously we don’t shoot in chronological order, and we counted the magazines down throughout the whole film.
"We figured out how many magazines and bullets the real guys had from photographs of the guys and their equipment, exactly as they had it. Using that we just filled out their gear with all the ammunition possible which always come up to about 9 or 10 mags on these longer ops. Each mag holds around 28 rounds.”
'Lone Survivor' is available on Blu-ray and DVD now, courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK)
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