MovieChat Forums > Broken Arrow (1996) Discussion > Why bother with the $250 million when yo...

Why bother with the $250 million when you can...


Ok so Deakins wants $250 million for the nukes right? But why bother stealing those nukes when he already had the stealth plane? Remember in the first part of the movie when they're flying the stealth jet Hale says, "where else can you fly a 2 billion dollar plane blah blah blah?" Why not just sell the stealth plane AND the nukes to some other country for a billion bucks and call it a day. It would have been faster, made Deakins richer, no need to fight or kill anyone, no need to hire muscled goons, so much easier and we wouldn't have had to suffer through the ridiculous and illogical behavior of the characters. All he would have to do is eject Hale's seat like he did, and just fly the plane to another country. Wouldn't that have been simpler instead of exposing yourself to your military superiors as a traitor/murderer/extortionist?? Oh ya, and Woo sucks. Thank you.

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Because then you wouldn't have a movie, good or bad.

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How about, that wouldnt work, AT ALL

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You don't think there are plenty of countries out there looking to develop stealth technology? In THIS day and age you don't believe the powers that be would want stealth technology more than ever so they can mess with anybody they want sight unseen? I bet all of them would at the very LEAST pay $250 million for the plane which was how much Deakins was asking for the nukes. He could have easily gotten half a billion for the plane. But in order to make this preposterous film he had to go sell the nukes...so predictable and shortsighted. Maybe that's why Woo favors the action genre;you don't need to really think that much.

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Yah it is kind of stupid, how much would a B-2 spirit be worth on the black market? The plane itself costs 2 billion...if you consider you're not actually selling the plane itself, but a technology which took years and billions to develop... you could get a billion easy just for the plane.

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That wasn't what Deakins wanted to do, though. He wanted to make the US Government sweat.

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I love how old all these comments are.

NEEEECCCCRRROOOOOO!

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Wasn't it supposed to be a "test run"? I wonder how much fuel they carry on test runs. If he had enough to fly out to a buyer in some other country, he should've just done that, lol. Good point krustydude; but I'd rather not have spent energy *thinking* about anything right or wrong in this movie! Honestly, I found it entertaining on a very mindless level and liked it for that (because I have no brain).

[I was tempted to say that in case he needed to park the plane locally until he found a buyer, he couldn't do that because the stealth plane was too big to hide! That would've been just plain dumb on my part though. I almost forgot it's a STEALTH plane!!!]

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Oh yeah, them Stealth planes go invisible now don't they?

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It's tough to fly a plane after someone ejects, even if the other person is still there. The aerodynamics would have been all screwed up. Not just that, but when they test these things they do keep tabs on them via radio transmitters, those people just arent involved in the exercise. So they can test them against an enemy who in theory doesn't know where they are.

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[deleted]

Lets see it this was .. Though Deakins was a real bad guy who wanted the money .. Being 20+ yrs in the army ... He must have been a real patriotic bad guy .. Remember "The Rock"... similar plot line .. military guys for money .. but they would just deter and not kill .. Deakins would have killed for the money but never see the same to a foreign enemy of his country ...
Jus my way of seeing things .. A lil too optimistic I guess

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First off Woo does not suck.Bet you have never seen Hard Boiled or The Killer or A Better Tomorrow.Plus this movie kicks ass.

Your idea sounds good and all except he wouldnt have been able to fly to another country or for very long without being seen eventully.Cus he wouldnt have been able to fly that low the whole time and would have needed gas eventully.Then theres the aerodynamic thing if he ejects his buddy.Also if he were to be attacked from the air,he wont be able to fight back or out maneuver cus those jets arnt built for it.

Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God.

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I have seen The Killer and think it's way overrated. And I thought the whole point of having a stealth plane is that you can fly at high altitude without being detected. Any aircraft can fly low to avoid radar detection right? From what I've read, a B-2 spirit can fly for about 11,000 km without refueling. More than enough to get to where you want, or at least to a place to refuel. You guys have a point with the aerodynamic issue. It's just stupid that Deakins was unable to shoot Hale with the gun. How much time does it actually take to pull out a gun and shoot someone point blank while they're distracted? He turns his head to look away, boom. End of story. But they made Deakins just pause while holding the gun to his head! Ridiculous!

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Why doesn't it happen in real life then if the planes cost billions?

Maybe there's something that stops pilots from stealing the planes in real life?

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The whole "I switched the circuitboards" thing is far more unbelievable than "why didn't he just steal the plane." They could've buttoned that up by putting in a comment that Deakins bribed one of the authorized technicians to do it. For a pilot, even a B-2/"B-3" one, to be given unfettered access to two nuclear weapons, allowed to dissemble both to insert uncoded circuit boards, which is wholly unbelieveable in and of itself without access to someone from Sandia or Lawrence-Livermore (the two main US nuclear weapons labs, for those who don't know - any of the bomb's "internals" would be either made or subcontracted by them - you can't get B83 arming circuitry on eBay FFS)...

Oh yeah, that and how two relatively small framed people can pick up and move TWO bombs that weighs 2400-someodd pounds loaded. Unless, of course, these are special Super-Helium-filled B83s. /rolleyes

And the last plot hole...disregarding all other things...if they knew the one bomb was going to explode, and there was nothing they could do about it, why not do the EXACT same thing to the other bomb and smash the keypads to both? If the one had 30 minutes to zero after being initiated, if they DELIBERATELY activated the second one, the detonation from the first would vaporize the second bomb before it lit. Boom, both threats neutralized. It's not like the explosion from the first bomb would "meld" with the material in the second bomb to boost it. "Deak" would be in the middle of the desert with no nukes. Oh boop.

Additionally - B-2s, and most likely the fictitious B-3, are made out of lightweight radar-absorbent composites. Popping a pilot out creates immense strain on the airframe, and secondly, disrupts the stealth "profile" of the aircraft. There's not a single right angle on either the F-117 or B-2 for the simple fact that right angles reflect radar beams with zero disruption. A single BOLT sticking out of the wing of either stealths could theoretically give up the plane's position. Imagine what would happen if explosive bolts were fired to free up the ejection seat. They'd detect him trying to run and at LEAST send fighters to "escort" him. The only active defenses he'd have is scathing wit...if the airframe held together at 500mph with a big-ass hole in the roof of it.

The moral of these plot holes? This movie takes an IMMENSE amount of suspension of disbelief to enjoy at face value. ESPECIALLY if you're like me and can see these glaringly obvious plot holes due to knowledge about the real-world equivalents.

Also, just because a plane is stealth doesn't mean the government can't find it. You honestly believe they'd build a plane as expensive as the B-2 and the fictitious B-3, and not stick a satellite transponder in it so they'd know where it was 24/7/365? There's probably TEN in there.

Oh...that's right, I'm sure Deakins would've been able to tinker with the plane without anyone thinking it suspicious in the least. The crew chiefs would love that.

And to respond to another guy's question - "stealth" isn't quite up to the "invisible to the eye" stage yet. There's good progress on it (in the very preliminary proof-of-concept technology), but just because your eyes can't see anything doesn't mean infrared, radar, or thermal scanning systems won't.

Making a *truly* stealth craft (invisible to visual AND all EM detection means) would make building the Space Shuttle look easy in comparison.

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[deleted]

Oh, OW. /sarcasm

Look for flamebait elsewhere. I know all of this because it's my JOB to know it.

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[deleted]

Like pbdye said, it would probably have some kind (or 20) of tracking device(s). And could you imagine what the US would do to the nation that "acquired" it. It would make Baghdad's "shock and awe" look like a fireworks display. Can you say: bombed to the stone age? I knew you could.

Woo's plot is stupid but the other way is stupider.

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A lot of good points have been brought up, but if you can accept that Travolta was able to change the circuit boards on the nukes, then I'm sure you can accept that he would be able to disable the tracking devices on the stealth bomber.

And the US wouldn't know which nation got a hold of the plane. That country would just get the stealth technology from the bomber and build their own ship based on a unique design and the US couldn't do jack about it.

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I thought the idea with these types of movies was to not think.

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Yup. Arguing about the story of an action flick is like arguing about a story of a porn movie.

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they probably would have a tracking device on the plane and they could just blow it up!!

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[deleted]

I actually thought this movie was a thriller about a runaway stealth fighter and the effort to track it down.

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If he tried to sell the plane, what's the guarantee the other country would pay him? They might just kill him and keep the plane for free.

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same with the nukes though, not to mention if you sell nukes to some domestic terrorist - millions die

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I would imagine tracking devices and fuel would be a serious problem.

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They never would have gotten the plane out of the country. Remember that it's no where near as fast as fighter planes. They would have caught up with it and shot it down. Even if they could escape with it, would a country dare incur the wraith of the US military by trying to buy it?

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