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Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
10 - Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction of the Dead
The Absence of Newton’s Third Law of Motion in Horrible Situations
One would assume that if a horrible supernatural crisis fell upon the world today one thing we could rely on is that the physics of the world would stay intact and sound. I’d say that most people know the name Sir Isaac Newton the profound mathematician, astronomer and physicist needs little introduction because his expansive discoveries in many fields of science and math. Newton’s famous laws of motion have been a crucial and very elementary staple of humans understanding the physical world around them since the laws were first introduced by Newton in 1687. So it goes without saying that we can assume that in the very miniscule, tiny odd chance that the world was struck by some horrible event like a zombie invasion or the fact that vampires secretly existed alongside us, these horrible supernatural creatures would be as prone to the laws of motion as everything else in this world is. That being said though, for whatever reason Hollywood filmmakers love to bend or all together omit these rules whenever it’s the slightest bit convenient for them in their movies. In this essay I will provide an in-depth analysis of specifically Newton’s third law of motion being broken in one scene each of the horror movies of Planet Terror, John Carpenter’s Vampires, and Shaun of the Dead.
Newton’s third law of motion states that whenever a first body exerts a force (F) on a second body, the second body exerts another force (-F) on the first body. The two forces (F and –F) are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Simply put in more average human terms for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
John Carpenter is an academy award winning director known for many of his very famous movies in the 70’s and 80’s including Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. Although he has dabbled in many different genres of film, one looking at his career would have no problem saying that his specialty is that of films in the ‘action’ and ‘horror’ genres. Unfortunately John Carpenter’s infamous fame has dwindled significantly in recent years and the 1990’s were less than kind to him. His film Vampires seems right up his alley combining both action and horror the movie unfortunately was created past his prime and falls in that terrible 90’s streak of films of his but fortunately is a prime example to start on as a great example of horrible movie physics.
The film Vampires revolves around James Wood’s character, Jack Crow who is a leader of a badass group of the worlds best vampire hunters, the movie starts with his crew cleaning out a huge “hive” of vampires in an abandoned farmhouse in the desert somewhere just another day for the world’s best vampire hunters (hopefully this captures some small degree of how cheesy and ‘realistic’ this movie is…) The scene I’ve chosen is the scene immediately following where the vampire hunters are spending the evening celebrating the days vampire killings how else but by a party involving lots of topless women with bad hair, blaring bad music and tons of very cheap beer, (only the finest for the world best vampire hunters!) when Valek the master vampire of the hive they just cleaned out and missed decides to show up at their door and get some revenge by killing everyone of them each in a ridiculously easy and simple way.
When Valek rings the doorbell (like all good vampires should) the obese and comical vampire hunter gets up to answer the door only to find his mistake when the vampire Valek stabs him with his hand and then proceeds to rip the man in half in a very simple upward action with apparently no effort or physical force opposing him! As everyone soon is alerted to Valek’s presence he then spends the next few minutes walking around stabbing and ripping the heads off and killing hookers and vampire slayers in seconds each. Once the more sober vampire hunters (including the amazing Jack Crow) realize what’s going on they decide to open fire on the looming Valek and to their surprise (and any physicist’s also) he doesn’t even react to the amount of lead being pumped into him and infact his clothes barely even move which should be rapidly shredding being in direct line of a line the rain of bullets the hunters are unleashing on him I think my favorite part is when Jack Crow decides that the handgun he is firing would me more affective if he jumped into the air parallel to the vampire whilst firing on him and flying completely across the room (very immune to the physics of reality) and landing on a dresser looking very surprised that the whole action did not affect the vampire any more than just standing and shooting at him. I think part of the reason that directors like John Carpenter use scenes like this in their movie is an attempt to make specific characters (like the master vampire Valek) seem all powerful and awesome which may work to an extent but what they didn’t realize at the time is that you can over do the effect to the point where the movie ends up being ridiculous all around and not believable at all this is also why I believe the movie was a complete flop and only still survives as a sort of cult classic in some circles of horror movie fans.
Planet Terror is one of those movies where a modern director tries to create an homage or tribute to an older now almost extinct kind of film making. Robert Rodriguez wanted to create a throw back to old grid-house type films and all the unnecessarily intense gore sex and violence that come with such an approach to filmmaking (not to mention horrible physics!)
Needless to say there were plenty of scenes in this film for me to chose from to write about but the one I chose was the beginning of the main action sequence of the film when the main character Cherry, who now has a huge automatic rifle and grenade launcher combo attached to her stump to replace her missing leg, uses her new found equipment to launch herself into the air by firing downwards and somehow stays upright the entire time to land over the wall the main characters need to cross and while she’s slowly falling down on the other side of the wall she shoots a grenade at a bunch of zombified soldiers (in mid air) and still continues to fall safely downwards instead of flying backwards as she should have based on the physics of the recoil or blast force showcased by the grenade launcher attached to her leg only seconds previously (the reason she was in the air at all!) and when she lands she then slides into a spinning stripper-like dance rotating her entire body around on the ground shooting the rifle at enemy soldiers (who apparently didn’t just get blown away as shown) now all around and the powerful blast of the rifle has no affect on the perfect spin she does while its force apparently has the unequal effect of knocking down the soldiers all around her. Boy aren’t physics fun?
Ironically of all the movies that I looked at the physics in, the one that contains the most realistic physics in it is one is the British comedy Shaun of the Dead, both an parody of and an homage to not only zombie movies in general but specifically George A. Romero’s films like Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. I find it ridiculous that the one movie that I looked at that is of the ‘comedy’ genre and takes itself the least serious is the movie that displays the best portrayal of physics on screen. I don’t know if it is possibly because it’s a comedy movie and because of that it needs a more realistic basis in life for an audience to even sit through it or if its simply because the movie is the only one that was not made in Hollywood and the more realistic approach is that of the British film studios or directors taste, but for whatever the reason this movie bends the laws of physics least. That being said though the movie still takes advantage of a bit of movie magic here and there so for the purpose of this essay the scene I chose to analyze is that of the climax of the film when all the main characters, Shaun and his friends are hiding out in the local pub the Winchester and tension between them over what to do in the ever increasing danger of the sudden zombie outbreak reaches its peak. All the characters are at each other’s necks at this point and the scene reaches its breaking point when Shaun’s friend David decides he can’t take anymore and decides to leave the safety of the pub and venture out on his own. Shaun and his friends successfully coax David into not leaving the pub but it’s too late as the window that David is standing next to, which has held up fine the whole second half of the movie even with a mob of zombies constantly banging it and trying to make their way through, suddenly (and conveniently) shatters and David is grabbed by the horde of zombies and pulled outside the pub. As Shaun and his friends quickly grab David’s legs and try to save him it is useless because the zombie mob very simply reaches through the flesh of David’s midsection and proceeds to pull out (and eat) his insides and (not very anatomical) intestines as if it was easier than digging in sand. Now I think most people realize how much force it would take to dig into and pass through the very thick layer of the average person’s skin in their midsection. David is then much less of an annoying character as the zombies and Shaun and his friends end the tug of war over him when each of his limbs and head very easily pop off the torso. Now Shaun and David’s girlfriend have (all though weaker than I would expect) a somewhat realistic reaction to this as when they each pull a limb free (on accident of course) they fall over as a result of the force expelled on the body finally coming free, the two zombies pulling off the arms however simply raise their hands holding David’s arms as the arms are released from the mass of the torso and don’t even step backward or show any physical strain on them of the amount of pressure required to pull a human limb off of a body making it look even more less realistic to a viewer than the idea already does, if you stop and think about it the entire action seems rather ridiculous but it happens so fast that the average viewer doesn’t get time to think twice about it. Now this lack of reality is also done in a way that is rather humorous, the scene looks so ridiculous that the viewer who does catch it as it quickly passes and realizes that it doesn’t work that way gets a laugh at how unrealistic it is, yet another innovative tool the director uses to get a laugh.
So there you have three awesome cases of the world’s people or situations throwing all of Newton’s hard work right out the window just because it was convenient for a film in John Carpenter’s Vampires, Planet Terror and Shaun of the Dead. I didn’t realize that the movie physics showcased in all three of my film selections produced a humorous affect on the viewer until after I wrote this entire paper. In the second two I believe this was the intention but also in the first two films they used it with the intention of making it the film seem “cooler” offering a Steven Segal effect to a situation which would have been pretty normal with out it, however I think that most people though pick out even the slightest misuse or ill-portrayal of physics and the effect is that of laughter or humor sometimes backfiring on the director who is supposed to have the most control over the film than anyone.
One would assume that if a horrible supernatural crisis fell upon the world today one thing we could rely on is that the physics of the world would stay intact and sound. I’d say that most people know the name Sir Isaac Newton the profound mathematician, astronomer and physicist needs little introduction because his expansive discoveries in many fields of science and math. Newton’s famous laws of motion have been a crucial and very elementary staple of humans understanding the physical world around them since the laws were first introduced by Newton in 1687. So it goes without saying that we can assume that in the very miniscule, tiny odd chance that the world was struck by some horrible event like a zombie invasion or the fact that vampires secretly existed alongside us, these horrible supernatural creatures would be as prone to the laws of motion as everything else in this world is. That being said though, for whatever reason Hollywood filmmakers love to bend or all together omit these rules whenever it’s the slightest bit convenient for them in their movies. In this essay I will provide an in-depth analysis of specifically Newton’s third law of motion being broken in one scene each of the horror movies of Planet Terror, John Carpenter’s Vampires, and Shaun of the Dead.
Newton’s third law of motion states that whenever a first body exerts a force (F) on a second body, the second body exerts another force (-F) on the first body. The two forces (F and –F) are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Simply put in more average human terms for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
John Carpenter is an academy award winning director known for many of his very famous movies in the 70’s and 80’s including Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. Although he has dabbled in many different genres of film, one looking at his career would have no problem saying that his specialty is that of films in the ‘action’ and ‘horror’ genres. Unfortunately John Carpenter’s infamous fame has dwindled significantly in recent years and the 1990’s were less than kind to him. His film Vampires seems right up his alley combining both action and horror the movie unfortunately was created past his prime and falls in that terrible 90’s streak of films of his but fortunately is a prime example to start on as a great example of horrible movie physics.
The film Vampires revolves around James Wood’s character, Jack Crow who is a leader of a badass group of the worlds best vampire hunters, the movie starts with his crew cleaning out a huge “hive” of vampires in an abandoned farmhouse in the desert somewhere just another day for the world’s best vampire hunters (hopefully this captures some small degree of how cheesy and ‘realistic’ this movie is…) The scene I’ve chosen is the scene immediately following where the vampire hunters are spending the evening celebrating the days vampire killings how else but by a party involving lots of topless women with bad hair, blaring bad music and tons of very cheap beer, (only the finest for the world best vampire hunters!) when Valek the master vampire of the hive they just cleaned out and missed decides to show up at their door and get some revenge by killing everyone of them each in a ridiculously easy and simple way.
When Valek rings the doorbell (like all good vampires should) the obese and comical vampire hunter gets up to answer the door only to find his mistake when the vampire Valek stabs him with his hand and then proceeds to rip the man in half in a very simple upward action with apparently no effort or physical force opposing him! As everyone soon is alerted to Valek’s presence he then spends the next few minutes walking around stabbing and ripping the heads off and killing hookers and vampire slayers in seconds each. Once the more sober vampire hunters (including the amazing Jack Crow) realize what’s going on they decide to open fire on the looming Valek and to their surprise (and any physicist’s also) he doesn’t even react to the amount of lead being pumped into him and infact his clothes barely even move which should be rapidly shredding being in direct line of a line the rain of bullets the hunters are unleashing on him I think my favorite part is when Jack Crow decides that the handgun he is firing would me more affective if he jumped into the air parallel to the vampire whilst firing on him and flying completely across the room (very immune to the physics of reality) and landing on a dresser looking very surprised that the whole action did not affect the vampire any more than just standing and shooting at him. I think part of the reason that directors like John Carpenter use scenes like this in their movie is an attempt to make specific characters (like the master vampire Valek) seem all powerful and awesome which may work to an extent but what they didn’t realize at the time is that you can over do the effect to the point where the movie ends up being ridiculous all around and not believable at all this is also why I believe the movie was a complete flop and only still survives as a sort of cult classic in some circles of horror movie fans.
Planet Terror is one of those movies where a modern director tries to create an homage or tribute to an older now almost extinct kind of film making. Robert Rodriguez wanted to create a throw back to old grid-house type films and all the unnecessarily intense gore sex and violence that come with such an approach to filmmaking (not to mention horrible physics!)
Needless to say there were plenty of scenes in this film for me to chose from to write about but the one I chose was the beginning of the main action sequence of the film when the main character Cherry, who now has a huge automatic rifle and grenade launcher combo attached to her stump to replace her missing leg, uses her new found equipment to launch herself into the air by firing downwards and somehow stays upright the entire time to land over the wall the main characters need to cross and while she’s slowly falling down on the other side of the wall she shoots a grenade at a bunch of zombified soldiers (in mid air) and still continues to fall safely downwards instead of flying backwards as she should have based on the physics of the recoil or blast force showcased by the grenade launcher attached to her leg only seconds previously (the reason she was in the air at all!) and when she lands she then slides into a spinning stripper-like dance rotating her entire body around on the ground shooting the rifle at enemy soldiers (who apparently didn’t just get blown away as shown) now all around and the powerful blast of the rifle has no affect on the perfect spin she does while its force apparently has the unequal effect of knocking down the soldiers all around her. Boy aren’t physics fun?
Ironically of all the movies that I looked at the physics in, the one that contains the most realistic physics in it is one is the British comedy Shaun of the Dead, both an parody of and an homage to not only zombie movies in general but specifically George A. Romero’s films like Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. I find it ridiculous that the one movie that I looked at that is of the ‘comedy’ genre and takes itself the least serious is the movie that displays the best portrayal of physics on screen. I don’t know if it is possibly because it’s a comedy movie and because of that it needs a more realistic basis in life for an audience to even sit through it or if its simply because the movie is the only one that was not made in Hollywood and the more realistic approach is that of the British film studios or directors taste, but for whatever the reason this movie bends the laws of physics least. That being said though the movie still takes advantage of a bit of movie magic here and there so for the purpose of this essay the scene I chose to analyze is that of the climax of the film when all the main characters, Shaun and his friends are hiding out in the local pub the Winchester and tension between them over what to do in the ever increasing danger of the sudden zombie outbreak reaches its peak. All the characters are at each other’s necks at this point and the scene reaches its breaking point when Shaun’s friend David decides he can’t take anymore and decides to leave the safety of the pub and venture out on his own. Shaun and his friends successfully coax David into not leaving the pub but it’s too late as the window that David is standing next to, which has held up fine the whole second half of the movie even with a mob of zombies constantly banging it and trying to make their way through, suddenly (and conveniently) shatters and David is grabbed by the horde of zombies and pulled outside the pub. As Shaun and his friends quickly grab David’s legs and try to save him it is useless because the zombie mob very simply reaches through the flesh of David’s midsection and proceeds to pull out (and eat) his insides and (not very anatomical) intestines as if it was easier than digging in sand. Now I think most people realize how much force it would take to dig into and pass through the very thick layer of the average person’s skin in their midsection. David is then much less of an annoying character as the zombies and Shaun and his friends end the tug of war over him when each of his limbs and head very easily pop off the torso. Now Shaun and David’s girlfriend have (all though weaker than I would expect) a somewhat realistic reaction to this as when they each pull a limb free (on accident of course) they fall over as a result of the force expelled on the body finally coming free, the two zombies pulling off the arms however simply raise their hands holding David’s arms as the arms are released from the mass of the torso and don’t even step backward or show any physical strain on them of the amount of pressure required to pull a human limb off of a body making it look even more less realistic to a viewer than the idea already does, if you stop and think about it the entire action seems rather ridiculous but it happens so fast that the average viewer doesn’t get time to think twice about it. Now this lack of reality is also done in a way that is rather humorous, the scene looks so ridiculous that the viewer who does catch it as it quickly passes and realizes that it doesn’t work that way gets a laugh at how unrealistic it is, yet another innovative tool the director uses to get a laugh.
So there you have three awesome cases of the world’s people or situations throwing all of Newton’s hard work right out the window just because it was convenient for a film in John Carpenter’s Vampires, Planet Terror and Shaun of the Dead. I didn’t realize that the movie physics showcased in all three of my film selections produced a humorous affect on the viewer until after I wrote this entire paper. In the second two I believe this was the intention but also in the first two films they used it with the intention of making it the film seem “cooler” offering a Steven Segal effect to a situation which would have been pretty normal with out it, however I think that most people though pick out even the slightest misuse or ill-portrayal of physics and the effect is that of laughter or humor sometimes backfiring on the director who is supposed to have the most control over the film than anyone.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
9 - Outline for 2nd Term Paper of the Dead
THE ABSENCE OF NEWTON’S THIRD LAW OF MOTION IN HORRIBLE SITUATIONS
I. Intro-
A. What is the 3rd Law?
B. Why the 3rd Law is very crucial
C. Thesis
II. Body 1 - John Carpenter’s Vampires
A. This movie is horrible with it
B. Scene: Opening (or ending?)
C. Examples: Weapons, Vampire attacks, etc.
D. Why they don’t pay attention to the rule?
III. Body 2 - Dawn of the Dead
A. Many other physics rules broken in this film…
B. Scene: Opening?
C. Examples: Guns, explosions,
IV. Body 3 - Shawn of the Dead
A. Ironically most realistic of the three films
B. Scene: Ending, last zombie attack in bar
C. Examples, zombie strikes, Winchester rifle, explosions, ?
D. Why does the comedy film have most realistic physics?
V. Conclusion -
A. New info?
B. Summary of previously stated material
C. Restate Thesis
D. Conclusion that relates essay, and puts it all in perspective.
I'm choosing to do my paper on how one specific rule of physics is broken in three different films: John Carpenter's Vampires, Dawn of the Dead and Shawn of the Dead. Though if I can think of/get my hands on another fitting film I might swap out Dawn of the Dead (if only just because its two zombie films and one lonely vampire film ;P)
I. Intro-
A. What is the 3rd Law?
B. Why the 3rd Law is very crucial
C. Thesis
II. Body 1 - John Carpenter’s Vampires
A. This movie is horrible with it
B. Scene: Opening (or ending?)
C. Examples: Weapons, Vampire attacks, etc.
D. Why they don’t pay attention to the rule?
III. Body 2 - Dawn of the Dead
A. Many other physics rules broken in this film…
B. Scene: Opening?
C. Examples: Guns, explosions,
IV. Body 3 - Shawn of the Dead
A. Ironically most realistic of the three films
B. Scene: Ending, last zombie attack in bar
C. Examples, zombie strikes, Winchester rifle, explosions, ?
D. Why does the comedy film have most realistic physics?
V. Conclusion -
A. New info?
B. Summary of previously stated material
C. Restate Thesis
D. Conclusion that relates essay, and puts it all in perspective.
I'm choosing to do my paper on how one specific rule of physics is broken in three different films: John Carpenter's Vampires, Dawn of the Dead and Shawn of the Dead. Though if I can think of/get my hands on another fitting film I might swap out Dawn of the Dead (if only just because its two zombie films and one lonely vampire film ;P)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
7 - Mid-Semester Survey of the Dead
This is to certify that I completed the anonymous mid-semester survey for Art/Physics 123 and am requesting the five points of extra credit.
As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html).
:)
As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html).
:)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
6 - Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe of the Dead.
What if everything we know about the world we live in, was only a part of the world we live in. Underworld released in 2003 presents a world exactly like ours as far as humans can tell, the only difference? Humans can’t tell what lurks in the darkness. The world of Underworld is pretty much exactly the same as ours except that humans are not the only type of people that exist, in the world of Underworld humans live alongside Vampires and Lycans (werewolves.) Much like many other recent films with horror elements these creatures are not the result of some supernatural myth or lore come to life, but actually the result of a virus. Any human can become either a Vampire or a Lycan via viral infection transmitted through a bite, but if someone contracts both of the viruses it will kill them, the two viruses are definitely not compatible with a deadly result. For convenience (on my part) when I’m talking about both of the types of virally infected ‘races’ (Vampires and Lycans) I will usually refer to them as “Specials”. But as interesting as all that set up and backing info about the races this paper (and its corresponding course) is about physics and not biology, so with this essay I hope to prove that in the world of Underworld these Specials are immune to physics, how this affects the specials interactions with others around them, and how this immunity affects and plays out as a major device throughout the film and how that is used.
When the movie begins your first introduction to the world is a brief history lesson in the Vampire vs. Lycan conflict followed by a visual demonstration of how exactly this world is different, you see the main character Selene jump from a great height off of a building and land safely and carelessly on the street level and continue walking as if nothing happened. This is your introduction to Vampires and the other Specials; they are in fact immune to physics. When I say immune to physics I don’t mean they never had to take the course in college while the rest of us suffered through it no, I mean that the laws of physics seem to at times not to apply to these Specials or at least they have the ability to just bend or break the different laws of physics conveniently at will for a various list of reasons.
As mentioned above the first scene of the movie the Vampiress Selene lands safely on the street after jumping off of a tall building many stories up in the sky, if the normal laws of physics affected Selene she would need to weigh less than a squirrel who has a similar ability to be unaffected from such great heights due to reaching its maximum speed of falling at a very quick rate, but even then I don’t think she would land on her feet mid stride and walk off like nothing happened.
Another example of these Vampire and Lycan’s abilities can be seen pretty much anytime they fight each other you see one or both breeds running on the walls like it’s nothing, despite the whole slew of reasons why this is something a normal human can not do. I can not imagine how it would feel a physics professor and watching a movie like this and seeing the filmmakers break all the rules and laws that make the world the way it is right in front of your eyes so constantly. A noteworthy example of this specifically is just under half an hour into the movie when Selene is trying to get the human Michael Corvin before the pack of transformed Lycans can and there’s a whole slew of werewolves running on their hands and feet on the walls and roof towards Selene (though none on the floor cause that would be too convenient?) And she is picking them off with her gun as they approach but Lycans that she picks off on the walls fall backwards actually off the walls in a beautiful arc instead of straight down like anything else holding on to a wall would once it let go as it is affected by gravity. Nope, instead they fly backwards off the walls to make it dramatic.
The strange thing about the Specials’ abilities to break the laws of physics is that as an exception to their exceptional ability they sometimes unexpectedly find themselves affected by the various rules and laws of physics. Simply put when you least expect it and when the Special should easily be able to break a law or too (as previously shown) they get hit in the face or run down suddenly.
The clearest example of this sudden reversal of what they’ve led us to believe about the specials is during a chase scene where the Lycan leader Lucian ends up on top of the car that Selene and the human Michael Corvin are riding away in and as Lucian is trying to cut his way through the roof of the car Selene slams on the breaks and Lucian rolls forward off the front of the car exactly as a normal human would, at which time the viewer may actually be surprised that for whatever reason he actually fell off of a speeding car exactly as he should have! If that wasn’t enough, as Lucian gets up Selene hits the gas and speeds towards him and although he turns around with plenty of time to notice the car speeding at him he gets hit by the car and convincingly rolls once again across the top until he catches himself mid-air and gracefully lands on the ground while Selene and Michael speed off into the distance. Why would Lucian get hit in the first place? He has plenty of time to jump out of the way or react in some way at least but he just stares and gets hit by the car letting them escape. Seeing how obtaining Michael is Lucian’s goal for the entire plot of the movie I really doubt he just let them drive off on purpose and even so why would he get hit by the car first? It’s something that obviously hurts him. Which brings me to my theory on the subject: that the Specials have to actively be aware that they’re breaking the laws of physics and it’s not something that they do instinctually or naturally but a conscious effort on their part. This seems to be the only logical way to explain these sudden lapses in ability on the Special’s part.
Another observation I made about this particular scene is that Lucian is not in his transformed ‘werewolf’ state when he rolls off the car twice making me think that the specials have a stronger ability to break these laws of physics when in their transformed state (i.e. when they’re more aware that they can break the laws)
So maybe the whole breaking the laws of physics thing is a fluke, an accident done by a director with no idea what he’s talking about. How do we know that these are conscious decisions made within the film? Where’s your faith? There’s a reason behind everything in a movie, it’s there for a reason. Going back to the first scene I’ve mentioned, why is it so important for you to see Selene break the laws of physics in the very first scene you are introduced to? The reason is to visually show you that Selene (and all the other Specials) may look like normal humans at first glance but they are vastly different. The use of the Specials’ ability to break the laws of physics is used as a clever device throughout the film for quite a few different methods.
Another way it is used not only in this film but in pretty much most Hollywood action films that were released after the film The Matrix is to use a character’s ability to break the laws of physics to give them a super feel with out making it seem too outrageous. It also adds to and intensifies the action of the scene, by having a character run up the walls it seems more fantastic and amazing than a normal fight scene.
Also within the movie Underworld the Specials’ ability to defy physics is used a way to show the relationship between Humans and Specials, basically being the absolute proof that a human would have no chance in a fight with a Lycan or Vampire and likewise magnifying the intensity of a fight between the breeds as something no human could even dream to touch.
The film Underworld presents a world much like our own with all the physics and characteristics we’ve grown to know (and study) but as an added element the film introduces its Specials’ who are at least marginally immune to the rules and laws of physics of the world. Hopefully I have proven that the Vampires and Lycans portrayed in this film can do many fantastical things that we average humans can’t, that they are aware of the abilities they possess and how the film uses this ability as a mechanism in the film for much purpose. Next time you think about the scary creature lurking in your closet I’d be less worried about his fangs and more about his immunity to gravity!
When the movie begins your first introduction to the world is a brief history lesson in the Vampire vs. Lycan conflict followed by a visual demonstration of how exactly this world is different, you see the main character Selene jump from a great height off of a building and land safely and carelessly on the street level and continue walking as if nothing happened. This is your introduction to Vampires and the other Specials; they are in fact immune to physics. When I say immune to physics I don’t mean they never had to take the course in college while the rest of us suffered through it no, I mean that the laws of physics seem to at times not to apply to these Specials or at least they have the ability to just bend or break the different laws of physics conveniently at will for a various list of reasons.
As mentioned above the first scene of the movie the Vampiress Selene lands safely on the street after jumping off of a tall building many stories up in the sky, if the normal laws of physics affected Selene she would need to weigh less than a squirrel who has a similar ability to be unaffected from such great heights due to reaching its maximum speed of falling at a very quick rate, but even then I don’t think she would land on her feet mid stride and walk off like nothing happened.
Another example of these Vampire and Lycan’s abilities can be seen pretty much anytime they fight each other you see one or both breeds running on the walls like it’s nothing, despite the whole slew of reasons why this is something a normal human can not do. I can not imagine how it would feel a physics professor and watching a movie like this and seeing the filmmakers break all the rules and laws that make the world the way it is right in front of your eyes so constantly. A noteworthy example of this specifically is just under half an hour into the movie when Selene is trying to get the human Michael Corvin before the pack of transformed Lycans can and there’s a whole slew of werewolves running on their hands and feet on the walls and roof towards Selene (though none on the floor cause that would be too convenient?) And she is picking them off with her gun as they approach but Lycans that she picks off on the walls fall backwards actually off the walls in a beautiful arc instead of straight down like anything else holding on to a wall would once it let go as it is affected by gravity. Nope, instead they fly backwards off the walls to make it dramatic.
The strange thing about the Specials’ abilities to break the laws of physics is that as an exception to their exceptional ability they sometimes unexpectedly find themselves affected by the various rules and laws of physics. Simply put when you least expect it and when the Special should easily be able to break a law or too (as previously shown) they get hit in the face or run down suddenly.
The clearest example of this sudden reversal of what they’ve led us to believe about the specials is during a chase scene where the Lycan leader Lucian ends up on top of the car that Selene and the human Michael Corvin are riding away in and as Lucian is trying to cut his way through the roof of the car Selene slams on the breaks and Lucian rolls forward off the front of the car exactly as a normal human would, at which time the viewer may actually be surprised that for whatever reason he actually fell off of a speeding car exactly as he should have! If that wasn’t enough, as Lucian gets up Selene hits the gas and speeds towards him and although he turns around with plenty of time to notice the car speeding at him he gets hit by the car and convincingly rolls once again across the top until he catches himself mid-air and gracefully lands on the ground while Selene and Michael speed off into the distance. Why would Lucian get hit in the first place? He has plenty of time to jump out of the way or react in some way at least but he just stares and gets hit by the car letting them escape. Seeing how obtaining Michael is Lucian’s goal for the entire plot of the movie I really doubt he just let them drive off on purpose and even so why would he get hit by the car first? It’s something that obviously hurts him. Which brings me to my theory on the subject: that the Specials have to actively be aware that they’re breaking the laws of physics and it’s not something that they do instinctually or naturally but a conscious effort on their part. This seems to be the only logical way to explain these sudden lapses in ability on the Special’s part.
Another observation I made about this particular scene is that Lucian is not in his transformed ‘werewolf’ state when he rolls off the car twice making me think that the specials have a stronger ability to break these laws of physics when in their transformed state (i.e. when they’re more aware that they can break the laws)
So maybe the whole breaking the laws of physics thing is a fluke, an accident done by a director with no idea what he’s talking about. How do we know that these are conscious decisions made within the film? Where’s your faith? There’s a reason behind everything in a movie, it’s there for a reason. Going back to the first scene I’ve mentioned, why is it so important for you to see Selene break the laws of physics in the very first scene you are introduced to? The reason is to visually show you that Selene (and all the other Specials) may look like normal humans at first glance but they are vastly different. The use of the Specials’ ability to break the laws of physics is used as a clever device throughout the film for quite a few different methods.
Another way it is used not only in this film but in pretty much most Hollywood action films that were released after the film The Matrix is to use a character’s ability to break the laws of physics to give them a super feel with out making it seem too outrageous. It also adds to and intensifies the action of the scene, by having a character run up the walls it seems more fantastic and amazing than a normal fight scene.
Also within the movie Underworld the Specials’ ability to defy physics is used a way to show the relationship between Humans and Specials, basically being the absolute proof that a human would have no chance in a fight with a Lycan or Vampire and likewise magnifying the intensity of a fight between the breeds as something no human could even dream to touch.
The film Underworld presents a world much like our own with all the physics and characteristics we’ve grown to know (and study) but as an added element the film introduces its Specials’ who are at least marginally immune to the rules and laws of physics of the world. Hopefully I have proven that the Vampires and Lycans portrayed in this film can do many fantastical things that we average humans can’t, that they are aware of the abilities they possess and how the film uses this ability as a mechanism in the film for much purpose. Next time you think about the scary creature lurking in your closet I’d be less worried about his fangs and more about his immunity to gravity!
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