MovieChat Forums > The Ruins (2008) Discussion > if they can make fire

if they can make fire


Why not just start burning the vines? Or did I miss something while watching this?

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That's a very good question. The only thing I can think of is 1) maybe the heat of the fire would get too hot for them and they would roast to death or, 2) for whatever reason, the vines are fire resistant or 3) the vines would "run" away. Either one of those might be the reason.
Then again, maybe they didnt think of it.

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I don't think a live plant would burn very well, & the vines would probably just smother themselves & attack all at once. Great question though, I hadn't considered it before!

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In the book they tried to burn them with one of their lanterns. The vines converged on the fire and smothered it.

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As a general rule living plants burn piss poorly. Hence why you can smoke cigarettes in a rural area and every time you flick your ashes you don't burn down a field.

And didn't the vines grab some torches at some point and not go up in smoke?

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If they could just bring the temp. up enough by using the booze as a starter, it should catch on.

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The average bottle of liquor isn't flammable enough.

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Building a fire is pretty tough and the vines likely would've snatched away a lighter or torch (like they did) and snuff it anyways if they had tried.

If they could've built a big bonfire then they could've started grabbing the vines and burning them but the mayans weren't going to let them get away regardless due to the spores. That was really the main issue.

Regardless to build a fire they would've needed wood and items necessary to start fire (dry moss, paper, wood shavings, etc). Plants, especially green ones burn VERY poorly. You would never use green plants as a fire starting material in a survival situation.

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Why not use the booze they had to start a decent fire? Try to clear a big enough pathway down the hill with the alcohol they had with a fire. The vines seemed to be afraid of the torch they used in the hole.

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Most alcohol made for drinking doesn't actually burn well. Standard 80 proof liquor won't catch fire using a match or even the torches they made. You need stronger, basically 150 proof liquor, which they could've had I guess but most bottles of alcohol aren't. Barcardi 151 is probably the most well known. Regular whiskey or vodka is less than 50% alcohol, so, not likely to catch live plants on fire.

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everclear is good and burns most excellently

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They didn't have enough resources to burn all of the vines. Even if they lit everything, they would have been forced to escape, which won't be allowed by the Mayans regardless.

It doesn't matter anyway; this wouldn't be a movie if that happened, just like any other movie. "what if" questions here and there.

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Ummm the entire outside and inside was covered with the plants. You would need to nuke that place lol.

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I agree - pretty obvious plot hole. Especially since they already had fire. They could have least attempted to burn it...then *enter explanation as to why it couldn't/wouldn't burn*

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When the girls are inside the temple looking for the "phone" they hear ringing, this vines grab one of their torches and smother it pretty quickly.

"All true knowledge has a price." -Isawa Tadaka

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