MovieChat Forums > Showdown at Area 51 (2009) Discussion > Enough of the fake toy guns with digital...

Enough of the fake toy guns with digital gunflashes.....

posted 16 years ago by StoneGriffin
5 replies | jump to latest

At least they had tons of weapons ... er.... I mean plastic Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese/Chinese airsoft guns that don't fire, and the actors 'play fire' and shake their guns and they put in the flash after the fact in post. The reason why this looks like CRAP is because the cameraman focus on the ejection port side of the guns, and it's clear that nothing is coming out and post production digital flashes usually look bad.

Also Jake threatens the 'gasmask' alien by pointing an RPG warhead (where did he get the 2nd warhead?) at the alien's chest, while standing directly over him. Hmmmmm. A pretty good way to blow yourself sky high, fire an RPG into the ground in front of you.....

Arghhhh. It's just a stupid show, but trying to pass off toy guns in actual battle scenes in movies bugs me. The rest of you can attack the giant plot holes, cheesy camera shots and weird edits, and cheap looking props and sets.

Oh and it's been pointed out before that the Roswell Crash and Area 51 are in TWO different states!! (New Mexico and Nevada).

The list is endless. :)

Dr. Kila Marr was right. Kill the Crystalline Entity.

[–] msrp24 16 years ago

RPG rounds are normally fused, some are impact triggered armed by the booster, but usually the impact trigger is only armed when the rocket propellent is ignited, which while its less than 0.1 of a second after launching it still means the round is already 10+ meters away (gives the operator a small safety margin), I wouldn't wanna guess what would happen if he fired from that distance but either it would wedge itself deep into the ground and explode when the fuse ran out (about 4-5 seconds) or bounce very high into the air... or if the trigger was booster ignited then ooooops :D

Theres a lot of unrealistic stuff in the movie when it comes to weapons tho... at the roadblock when they open fire on the red car and then the van... that number of AR15s would have shredded the car and the occupants in seconds pumping out 10-15 rounds per second each, the only thing that really stops a bullet in a car is the engine block, axels and brake discs...

Also noticed the lack of ejecting brass and suspiciously airsoft looking weapons :D

Oh and why did I watch this... well my brother said "no really its not as bad as everyone makes out" last time I believe him on a movie :D I ended up fast forwinding through it after 15 minutes in the hope of something better happening... but theres nothing to draw you in and it spends 20 minutes pointlessly dragging out the pointless conclusion...

[–] ssmith01 15 years ago

Hahaa, yeah, this was just on The Sci-Fi Channel today, and the effects were awful. There's a scene where a Jeep is supposed to crash and tip over, but they didn't even film the actual wreck. You see the Jeep on all 4 wheels, then the next scene, you see just the wheels of an already-flipped vehicle.

And you mentioned the fake guns, half the time the muzzle end was off screen so they didn't have to bother adding the flash afterwards.

Truly awful. The only good thing about it was Gigi Edgley. She acted circles around everyone else, and with some awful dialogue, too.

[–] Necros_hun 15 years ago

Truly awful. The only good thing about it was Gigi Edgley. She acted circles around everyone else, and with some awful dialogue, too.

You're right, she was the only reason why I watched this movie.

---------
Politicians are drawn to cameras like flies are drawn to... politicians. - Boston Legal

[–] hocfocprod 15 years ago

I don't mind the digital muzzle flashes when they're handled well. It's just so much safer for the cast and crew and on low budget stuff I'm sure it helps keep the insurance down. I didn't see the movie from the beginning. Did they make a big deal that it all took place near Area 51 or was that just part of the title to help sell it?

[–] Master_X_3_1_1 14 years ago

Digital gunflashes are one of the worst things ever to hit low budget action movies. One of the things these movies can have going for them is grittyness as opposed to 100 million dollar blockbusters, but stuff like that really kills it.

"No man is just a number"