MovieChat Forums > Demolition Man (1993) Discussion > The stupidest thing about this movie

The stupidest thing about this movie


This movie is pretty stupid anyway, and no one can take it seriously (as scary as its accurate future predictions are). Three seashells? Come on.

However, the thing that bugs me every time I see it, and so much that I just want to pause and delete the movie, and then shoot it in a dark alley after setting it on fire and urinate on it after I am done shooting and beating it up, is..

..when Phoenix CAN'T break the glass by punching or kicking (think of the force and laws of physics, and how a punch or kick is concentrating a lot of force on a tiny area, and experienced Martial Artist can really put a lot of force to said area)..

..but then he tosses some guy against the glass, and that glass breaks SO easily, the guy's movement is not jarred, halted, paused, or slowed down AT ALL - it's the weakest 'glass' I have ever seen break (and it doesn't even look like actual glass).

It doesn't look massive, it looks just as stupid as when Morpheus (or was it Agent Smith) hits the 'supposed brick wall' and it looks like weak cardboard breaking, it doesn't LOOK massive.

What do I mean by 'massive'? I mean, it doesn't look like the object being broken has ANY mass whatsoever. It's weak as can be. This is a movie trope mistake no one ever seems to think about, but YOUR BRAIN notices it, and it's clear to your brain what they're breaking, is incredibly weak. Because it looks that way. It has no mass.

The CORRECT way to do this scene, would be for Phoenix to:

1) Throw the guy - not from upward angle downwards, but from 'side-to-side' angle, DIRECTLY against the mid-point of the glass, VERY POWERFULLY and with force, so that it's like a wrecking ball instead of a weakly moved paper kite, like it looks like in the movie. Throw it properly, so it hits the glass 100mph (or at least APPEARS to)! WHAMMM!!

Now, THAT would give it a lot of credibility.

2) Have the glass NOT break so easily, and to so many pieces. Use the REAL glass (or at least real-looking glass, or use CGI or whatever to make it look real) that Jackie Chan used in his early movies - that looks proper and painful. Have it take MULTIPLE (very strong and powerful, 100mph) throws to break it fully. The first powerful throw should ONLY fracture the glass at the impact point. Create big lines going every which way, and have the guy fully and powerfully impact the glass, and then bounce away.

Then have Phoenix do this again, and now the glass fractures a little more, and a small hole forms in the middle - with every 100mph WHAMM!!-hit the glass also starts to turn INWARDS ever so slightly - but noticeably - until maybe 4th throw finally, and SATISFYINGLY breaks the REAL-LOOKING GLASS into BIG shards, very big, real, thick-glass-looking shards, that fly all over the place, but mostly inwards, as the (now dead) body keeps pushing the glass forward.

THIS would look like there's a lot of power and mass in Phoenix's throw, and the body, and that the glass really IS thick, powerful, heavy, and hard to break (though still I think kick should be more powerful than 'throwing something', especially something as soft as a human body, whose weight is distributed to a wider area instead of a concentrated point, like a boot or fist).

Anyway, this point (together with EVERY 'glass-breaking' scene in this movie, especially when the CAR supposedly breaks glass - the glass looks like it breaks BEFORE the car even touches it - think how this would've looked with REAL glass!) bugs me the most in the movie, as it's the STUPIDEST thing ever.

Can't break it AT ALL by punching or kicking, but casually throwing some weakling downwardly IMMEDIATELY breaks the whole thing to TINY PIECES when this weakling body barely touches the supposed 'glass'.

That's NOT how physics work, damnit!

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Long time since I saw it but didn't he scratch the glass before throwing the guy?

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Not in this movie. He tried punching and kicking. Then he picked the guy up and threw him into it.

This does remind me of a great scene in Remo Williams where he used the diamond jewelry inset in a guy's tooth to etch the glass before breaking it, by smashing his face into the glass and dragging it across the surface.

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You're right, I remember it now. It is stupid!

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Watch your tongue, this movie is brilliant.

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🤣🤣🤣🤣that was funny.

And I agree, great film.

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Glass is tougher than you think, also if someone punched you, you might not go over, if someone threw a person at you your going over, he obviously doesn't punch as hard as a 12 stone flying person.

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Force = mass * Acceleration.
That guy was a lot more mass than Phoenix foot had.

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You're right. There's no reason why tossing the attendant would somehow break the previously resistant glass. I watched the movie for the first time in years and this part was badly done in particular.

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