MovieChat Forums > Daylight (1996) Discussion > The fans... easily the stupidist plot an...

The fans... easily the stupidist plot angle ever!

posted 15 years ago by MOOVYZ
10 replies | jump to latest

Was there no one during the making of this movie that couldn't come up with a better idea than this fan thing?

"We can only turn them off for 2 & 1/2 minutes". I know, she explains it as the safety mechanism for too low an oxegen level... but seriously... why that amount ot time... and why is it the total time for ALL the fans?

"There no second shutdown". And what exactly would be the reason engineers made it so that it could only get turned off once?

Couldn't we just unplug them from the grid? This has to be the worst plot device in the history of action movies. It is just dumb... I MEAN REALLY DUMB! For the most part, I enjoy movies like this, even with their believability. I can suspend disbelief along with the best of them. But this one really bugs me.

Is it just me or does anyone else have serious issues with this? BTW, I know it was mentioned in other posts but none under the title of the fans specifically.

"I think that boy's cheese slid off his cracker" The Green Mile

[–] BB998 15 years ago

This movie was certainly goofy, but like you the engineering behind the fans also made me wonder what the thinking was behind that in the Daylight universe. Who would design them to not shut off more than once? What if the one in the middle broke or got debris in it and needed a repair? The maintenance guy could only be there for a minute while spinning in a circle.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mrmuggles 14 years ago

Also, does it mean they can only be shut down ONCE AND FOREVER???? After Stallone goes down no one could shut them down again... ever. What if someone already done it in the past? No movie!

I agree it's the most silly plot device ever. From every point you look at it!

[–] brightmidnight71 14 years ago

The way I understood it was that, because of the damage to the tunnel and the fires, the oxygen levels were much lower than they ever would be in normal conditions. Because of this...the fans went into this safety mode. I understood it that they could shut them down, but the computer would override that shut down and rev the fans back up in 2-1/2 minutes...and once the computer was in control, it wouldn't allow them to override it.

The fact that there were digital displays at every fan was silly.... but i think we were meant to believe that under normal conditions, they could shut the fans down for repairs and such...

"When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing."

[–] mrmuggles 14 years ago

I haven't thought that perhaps it was for the critical level of the situation that they had a very limited shut-down time. However they could have still just "unplugged" the fans from the main power. Surely any technician from the electric company could have done it in 5 minutes.

Another thing I just thought of... in the control office they were arguing with the engineers that if they escavated the entrance of the tunnel, the tunnel would have collapsed because they would have lost the air pressure that was keeping the tunnel from collapsing.
I was just thinking, if the tunnel was connected with the air outside thorugh the ventilation towers, doesn't that mean that no air pressure was keeping the tunnel from collapsing and that therefore there was no danger in escavating the entrance to free the trapped people? The engineers were right afterall.

[–] cchill808 14 years ago

Agreed, stupid.

Here is why. Shut down the fans, enter fans, enter tunnel, bring people back to fans from tunnel, shut down fans, bring people up on rope screw the air pressure people safe in fan room. End of movie, awards, parades, kisses, love and hugs. End of an awful movie.

[–] Nizzemancer-1 8 years ago

I only came here to say this, but since you just said I'll just say this:

I agree, so *beep* dumb.

Light travels faster than sound,
that's why people seem bright,
until you hear them.

[–] ng_480 14 years ago

The 'fan scene' is probably like watching someone go through a level in a video game.

[–] flynn o' thick 14 years ago

Totally agree - the one time shutdown fan is one of the dumbest plot devices ever. But there's more. Why would they put a large red LED countdown timer, counting down the seconds until the fan starts again if it only every gets used once, and furthermore, put it in a position where you couldn't see the timer unless you were actually trapped inside the fan. (Also, how did they test it)

[–] residentevil6901 8 years ago

But they had to do it to add more drama to the movie, I don't have an issue with it like you guys seem to since it's just a movie but it did make it more exciting while watching. My daughter says it makes her so nervous it makes her hands all sweaty. I do think it's funny as so many people question certain things in many disaster / action movies. You could go back to so many movies and pick them apart for things like this constantly. To act like movies have to be 100% like reality is just asinine.