Buzz
Making a feature film or TV show is a complex task, with hundreds of people working on various aspects independently. It’s easy for mistakes to go unnoticed, leading to amusing errors in movies like Frozen or cars that magically repair themselves in Commando. Occasionally, things slip through the cracks that should have been caught, like scenes filmed in a way that makes you think, 'Hey, maybe we should rethink this shot,' or, 'I’m pretty sure we’re building penises.'
10. Fast And Furious 6 - Vin Diesel and The Rock Turn Into Giants
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson made his debut in the Fast and Furious franchise as Luke Hobbs, a special agent on a mission to stop Vin Diesel and his heist crew, in the fifth film. After its massive success, Johnson returned for the sixth installment. This time, Hobbs would work alongside Diesel’s gang of misfits, but the duo couldn’t stop growing in size, both literally and figuratively, as they clashed on-screen in epic proportions.
The original scene aimed to depict Diesel and Johnson as comrades standing side by side, united for a common cause. Yet, their inability to face each other as equals became evident, as they couldn't meet each other's gaze. Unfortunately, due to the awkward actor and camera positioning, the shot resulted in the two staring each other down, which completely opposed the intended tone. With each camera shift, the actors' heads seemed to inflate dramatically, with Johnson’s head swelling so large that it overtook Diesel's upper body at one point.
9. In TimeUsing Real Toys For Action Sequences
Many high-budget movies cleverly use miniatures to bring grandiose scenes to life. Films like The Dark Knight utilized scale models of the Batmobile and a garbage truck to pull off nearly impossible stunts while ensuring no harm came to the stunt actors. Though most productions lack the vast budget and expertise seen in The Dark Knight, it still doesn't justify the absurdity in the film In Time, starring Justin Timberlake.
During an intense chase in In Time, Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried race down a highway in a sleek convertible. But when a spike strip appears, it punctures their tires, causing the car to spin out of control. Without warning, the actors vanish into thin air, while their car transforms into a Hot Wheels toy version. After the crash, the two miraculously reappear in their real car, unharmed, despite the fact that neither was wearing a seatbelt in a convertible that had flipped.
8. LOSTThe Polar Bear Cannon
By the time LOST concluded, the island had transformed into a chaotic mix of time travel, ghosts, and monsters. However, in the early days of the show, the madness of the plot was carefully doled out in small doses to the audience. If they’d unleashed too much too soon, they wouldn’t have had room to escalate the story later on. One clever move at the start was the inclusion of polar bears on the island, a place where such creatures aren’t typically found. Initially, director J.J. Abrams was firm about not using CGI for the animals, opting instead for practical effects.
It might have seemed reasonable to have someone run around in a polar bear costume, but Abrams decided to use a poorly made stuffed bear prop, which he then shot out of a cannon toward the actors. The result was far from convincing—it didn’t resemble a bear attack at all. The bear prop could be seen flying through the air with its clearly empty legs flailing. After facing plenty of online mockery, J.J. Abrams finally agreed to switch out the bear cannon for CGI, though the original version can still be found online.
7. RoboCopThe Long Arms Of The Law
The 1980s version of RoboCop, a brutal action film about a cop who’s killed and turned into a cyborg law enforcer, is infamous for its graphic and over-the-top gore. Utilizing claymation and puppetry, the movie’s special effects look somewhat outdated by today’s standards, but its distinct style and atmosphere still hold up. Despite the weirdness of some of the effects, the film’s depiction of violence is spot on. Even now, the scene where Officer Murphy is blown to bits still manages to make viewers wince.
In the film's conclusion (spoiler alert!), RoboCop finds himself back at the headquarters of the corporation that created him. He’s there to enact his own brand of justice on a particularly corrupt employee. After receiving authorization to kill, RoboCop shoots the man through a plate glass window, sending him plummeting to his death.
At this stage in the film, the actor is replaced by a claymation dummy. While this should have fit with the movie's unique style, there was one glaring issue. The dummy’s arms were about three times longer than a human’s. With RoboCop‘s budget limitations, they probably couldn’t afford the time or resources to fix it, so we ended up with the first-ever appearance of Slender Man in a motion picture.
6. Man Of SteelThe Prison ‘Ships’
Man of Steel introduced a more grounded Superman, one who wasn’t afraid to do whatever it took to save people—even if it meant killing. While not everyone appreciated this darker version of Superman, it was clearly a precursor to much bigger things, as Warner Brothers eagerly announced a 2016 release for the next chapter in the saga, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But before we get to that, let’s talk about an early scene in Man of Steel where General Zod and his followers are sentenced to the Phantom Zone, a prison existing in subspace.
After their trial, Zod and his followers are quickly encased in cryocapsules and launched into the Phantom Zone. To put it bluntly, the cryocapsules look strikingly like giant penises with rockets attached to them, blasting off into the sky.
5. Insidious: Chapter 3Elderly Pushing Match Decides Fate Of Souls
The Insidious films have been full of wild twists ever since the first installment in 2010. Ghost stories have evolved beyond just haunting families, now including elements like astral projection, multiple ghosts from around the world trying to terrorize the family (reminiscent of X-Factor), demon fistfights, and shocking plot twists.
While all of these elements appeared in the first Insidious film, they are far outdone by the final showdown in the third movie. An elderly woman ventures into the demon realm to rescue a girl trapped in the Further, a sinister limbo where demons reside. The demon holding the girl is a frail, elderly man wearing a breathing mask.
Although this scenario sounds terrifying, the elderly woman is not intimidated. She casually pushes the sickly demon aside as if rushing to the bathroom. To everyone’s surprise, the demon retaliates, and what follows is an entire action sequence of two elderly people pushing each other until one of them eventually falls.
4. Avengers: Age Of UltronUltron Is Wile E. Coyote
In the classic Road Runner cartoons, Wile E. Coyote is always concocting elaborate schemes to capture the Road Runner, only for them to backfire miserably. When he couldn’t outrun the Road Runner, he would often resort to rockets. Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron seems to adopt this strategy: When things aren’t going according to plan, just add a rocket. But just like the Coyote, his efforts always end in disaster.
Without giving away too much about his final scheme, let’s just say Ultron’s plans involve adding rockets to things. And if that doesn’t work, his contingency plan is more rockets.
One memorable sequence in the film involves Ultron being attacked while transporting his incomplete new body in a semi-truck. As the Avengers close in, Ultron’s lesser versions latch onto the truck and transform into rockets, sending the truck soaring into the sky. With shaky cam shots zooming in repeatedly, a jet gives chase to a floating truck in the middle of a city, somehow not looking completely absurd.
The real question is: Why didn’t Ultron simply carry the cradle himself? He’s capable of flying, so there was no reason to worry about the Avengers destroying his new body, as they were clearly aiming to steal it rather than destroy it. Plus, the Avengers were only searching for a truck or plane that could be carrying the cradle. Had Ultron just picked it up and flown away with his two companions, the Avengers would have wasted their time looking on the ground while he made his getaway. Moreover, if he were holding the cradle, the Avengers wouldn’t have been able to get close enough to snatch it.
Was Ultron just using a truck as a decoy to have a few minutes of fighting with the Avengers?
3. Everybody Is A Bunch Of Dummies
Insurance companies tend to be quite sensitive about directors putting their lead actors in dangerous situations for the sake of a scene. To avoid these pesky insurance complications, many filmmakers turn to CGI as a substitute for actors in risky scenes, or even go so far as to use homeless people dressed as the lead actors to create a false sense of danger.
If CGI isn’t available and the local authorities begin to notice the sudden disappearance of homeless individuals near the production set, directors have a rare but occasionally used backup plan: using a dummy. This method is hilariously mocked in films like Top Secret!, where almost every fatal scene features a glass figurine that shatters humorously. Unfortunately, the use of dummies rarely works out as planned due to how difficult they are to control.
This brings us back to the concept of the “uncanny valley.” Humans are incredibly adept at recognizing even the smallest deviations in the movements of the human body. When something feels off, it’s hard to ignore. A classic example is the iconic scene from The Fugitive, where Harrison Ford leaps off a dam to escape from Tommy Lee Jones. In that moment, he transforms into a weightless rag doll, with his limbs flailing uncontrollably.
A similar moment occurs in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. In the film’s closing scene, Marge stands outside, waving goodbye to her children as they head to school, only to be suddenly yanked through a small window in her door. While the moment might be scary for children, it’s clear that what’s really happening is a foam mannequin being dragged through the hole, which kind of undermines any tension that could have been built.
2. The RockHow Do Cable Cars Work?
Michael Bay is famous for his obsession with explosions. His craving for bigger, more spectacular pyrotechnics is so intense that it’s inspired academic studies on his distinctive filmmaking style. While Bay’s desire for more extreme explosions might only be quenched when he manages to acquire nuclear launch codes from a world leader for use in a film, there have been a few bombs he’s used in the past that definitely deserved a hard “no.”
Most of the time, Bay’s films offer logical explanations for why things explode, no matter how ridiculously large the explosions are. But in Bay’s wildly excessive film The Rock, the cable car explosion scene makes absolutely no sense. After the cable car is derailed, it starts sparking wildly as it tumbles down the track, and finally, it blows up in a massive fireball that propels the car high into the sky.
So, why is this particular explosion so absurd compared to Bay’s usual bombastic spectacles? Well, for starters, cable cars don’t run on onboard engines. They also don’t have any fuel sources that could ignite. So, there’s practically no reason for a cable car to catch fire, let alone blow up in such a dramatic fashion.
This scene is about as logical as watching Nicolas Cage suddenly burst into flames for no reason. However, just to be fair, there is at least one real-world example of a cable car explosion. The culprit? Dynamite. We’re pretty sure no one was secretly smuggling dynamite on their cable car ride in this film, but then again, this is a Michael Bay movie, so who knows?
1. American SniperAward-Winning Movie Forgets Babies Exist
We’ve already discussed the concept of the “uncanny valley” and just how challenging it is to convincingly portray something as human, especially when trying to imitate a baby. In Hollywood, there’s no shortage of parents eager for their children to become the next big star, so there should theoretically be no shortage of babies to feature in movie scenes. However, that didn’t seem to be the case for American Sniper.
Nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year at the 2015 Oscars, American Sniper made the unusual choice of using a baby doll instead of a real baby. While they might have had their reasons for this decision, they didn’t even attempt to disguise it. From the very first moment, it’s obvious that Bradley Cooper, the film’s lead actor, is holding a doll. You can even see him manipulating the doll with his fingers, almost like he’s puppeteering it.
