An entertaining movie doesn’t always have to be an accurate depiction of real life, and it’s clear that some classics prefer creating exciting moments over realistic ones. While historical and scientific accuracy can improve some movies, they aren’t always necessary. In fact, some movies are much better because they choose to ignore the truth.
Audiences often don’t question what they see in movies. Unless something is obviously inaccurate, people might not know when movies are presenting half-truths or outright misinformation as fact. Many iconic movie scenes would never happen in real life, and they make absolutely no sense according to experts.
10
Schofield Sprints Across The Battlefield – 1917 (2019)
1917 reaches a climax as Schofield sprints across the front lines to deliver his urgent message. It’s a cathartic release after his long and arduous journey, and it provides the ultimate payoff to Sam Mendes’ use of long takes. Although it’s a striking moment, 1917 has been criticized by World War I historians for some of its details.
A review by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission noted that British ᴀssaults would never look as clumsy and disorganized as they do in 1917. The article also criticizes the lack of artillery support for such an attack. The image of British soldiers running into No Man’s Land may look incredible, but it’s a flaw in an otherwise accurate war movie.
9
The Final Standoff – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is one of the most iconic Westerns ever made, which means that it has been imitated countless times over the years. This has allowed some of its inaccurate portrayals of life in the Old West to take root and spread. The final standoff is one example of a scene that’s inspired many other movies, but it doesn’t make much sense.
In a YouTube video for Insider, Old West historian Michael Grauer gave the final standoff scene a score of 4/10 for its accuracy. He claims that single-action revolvers were notoriously inaccurate, so the idea of Blondie being able to kill Angel Eyes with one sH๏τ at such a distance is extremely unlikely. Even the best sH๏τs in the Old West would fire multiple rounds to increase their odds.
8
John Fights Killa In Berlin – John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
The John Wick franchise has changed a lot over the years, transforming a relatively grounded revenge thriller into a globe-trotting action epic that often looks more like a video game than real life. Even within the heightened reality of the later sequels, some moments stand out as being particularly absurd.
In John Wick: Chapter 4, the тιтular ᴀssᴀssin is tasked with taking down a Berlin crime boss to win back his place within his own syndicate. His fight with Killa Harkan takes place in a crowded nightclub, but nobody seems to mind. The revelers continue to dance while John and Killa fight to the death, which makes for a unique atmosphere, but it’s far from realistic.
7
Clarice Meets Hannibal Lecter – The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs is an intense thriller about the dynamic between a rookie FBI agent and the serial killer she enlists for help on a new case. It’s an Oscar-winning masterpiece of suspense, but it would never happen in real life. The idea of Clarice Starling being sent to meet Hannibal Lecter makes no sense.
An FBI profiler criticized The Silence of the Lambs for the way it suggests that Clarice would ever be sent to meet Hannibal on her own. John Douglas worked with The Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris and the movie’s director, Jonathan Demme, but he admitted that plucking Clarice from the FBI academy to meet Hannibal is a nonsensical idea.
6
Three Fords Cross The Finish Line Together – Ford V Ferrari (2019)
The ending of Ford v Ferrari shows Ken Miles putting his ego aside and doing what’s best for the Ford racing team. Despite his immense lead, he slows down to allow the three Ford cars to cross the finish line. It’s a touching moment for many reasons, but this isn’t entirely accurate to how the real race ended.
Ford v Ferrari shows the three Fords rolling over the finish line in a perfect row. PH๏τos from the event show that this wasn’t the case at all, since Ken Miles actually allowed the other drivers to overtake him slightly. It’s easy to see why Ford v Ferrari made this change to the 1966 Le Mans race, since the image of the cars in unison is more powerful.
5
Space Pirates On The Moon – Ad Astra (2019)
Ad Astra has a slow, deliberate pace, which makes its infrequent bursts of action even more startling. The lunar chase scene is one such example, with Brad Pitt’s protagonist trying to outrun a gang of pirates on the wide open plains on the moon’s surface. It’s one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, but it would never happen in real life.
A lot of movies get outer space wrong, and Ad Astra is no exception. Although a lot of it is highly accurate, the lunar chase scene goes too far. It uses the old trope of sound traveling through a vacuum, and it also fails to take into account the fact that guns would operate differently on the moon to how they do on Earth.
4
James Bond Deploys Machine Guns From His Aston Martin – No Time To Die (2021)
The James Bond franchise has often veered into the realm of science-fiction with its iconic gadgets, but Daniel Craig’s era was supposed to be much more realistic and grounded than before. This makes it more surprising for experts to criticize No Time to Die‘s use of spy technology.
Bond’s opening chase scene in Matera is one of the highlights of No Time to Die, as his Aston Martin weaves through the cobbled streets of the Italian town. A CIA expert’s review of No Time to Die highlights the absurdity of this scene, however. Dawn Meyerriecks brought things back down to Earth, insisting that no spy agency would spend money on such a flashy car with machine guns attached.
3
Velociraptors Hunt In The Kitchen – Jurᴀssic Park (1993)
The Jurᴀssic Park movies have shaped how many people think of dinosaurs, even though they aren’t the most accurate. As paleontology continues to develop a clearer picture of how dinosaurs looked and behaved, some of Jurᴀssic Park‘s biggest inaccuracies have now become hard to ignore. The scene featuring the velociraptors in the kitchen is a perfect example.
Paleontologists now believe that velociraptors were feathered dinosaurs. Although this wasn’t a known fact back in 1993, Jurᴀssic Park makes a few other errors in its depiction of the iconic dinosaurs. Even at the time, scientists knew that velociraptors were much smaller than they are in the movie, and that their wrists were turned inwards so that their palms were facing.
2
Jack Woltz Finds A Horse’s Head In His Bed – The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather is one of the best movies ever made, but that doesn’t mean that it’s free from one or two inaccuracies. Its depiction of organized crime has often been praised, with some real-life Mafia members famously questioning who Mario Puzo knew in their organization, but the iconic image of the horse’s head in the bed is one scene that goes too far.
In a YouTube video for Insider, former Colombo crime family caporegime Michael Franzese claimed that the horse’s head scene is unrealistic, since real gangsters would have many other ways of intimidating people that didn’t require such dirty work. While it’s one of the movie’s most striking images, it’s also a little too cinematic to make sense in real life.
1
Sharks Swimming In The Colosseum – Gladiator II (2024)
Gladiator II is rife with historical inaccuracies, but Ridley Scott’s interviews suggest that he doesn’t care what experts have to say. The historical epic changes the story of Lucius Verus drastically, and it also misrepresents life in Ancient Rome in many ways. One of the most glaring inaccuracies is the way that the naval battles in the Colosseum play out.
It may seem hard to believe, but historians believe that Romans really did flood the Colosseum to stage naval battles. However, these historical reenactments weren’t lethal, like the gladiator battles. Another major flaw with Gladiator II‘s naval battles is the presence of sharks. Transporting live sharks is difficult enough in the modern day, but it would have been practically impossible in Ancient Rome.
Sources: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Insider
