MovieChat Forums > How I Live Now (2013) Discussion > Wind-ash traveling faster than the speed...

Wind-ash traveling faster than the speed of sound AND light during the n

posted 10 years ago by AureliusBady
17 replies | jump to latest

uke scene?

So apparently when a nucular detonation several hundred kilometers away happens (remember it's a 6hour drive from London-Heatrow and the cousins' house) first you're reached by the blast winds, then ash starts to fall down, then you hear the noise and finally you see the explosion itself?

How does this make any sense at all?

Plus, if they were near enough to effin get covered by ash fallout they'd be so contaminated by radiation they wouldn't last a week.

[–] Scaar_Alexander 10 years ago

No, it didn't, at least to me. I guess it was all about artistic/dramatic license. Maybe the screenwriter(s) wanted a little girl to say something like "it's snowing !", so he/she made it snow. Or something like that.

_______________
"This is ridiculous. If I'm going to die, I want to die in Manhattan."

[–] DCI77 10 years ago

It's effin hipster pretentious.

2013: Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Her, Short Term 12, Only Lovers Left Alive

[–] motaxes 10 years ago

I agree its the dumbest part of the movie. That along with not naming the "enemy" or what the conflict was about.

1st off if they were close enough for the shock wave to hit the radiation fallout wouldn't have been for 10 minutes at the soonest not instantly. More than likely it would have been longer than that considering they were in bum**** nowhere and not near any targets. It might have been a half hour or more depending on distance from the blast if at all considering wind directions.

also if they were in the fallout that heavy they would have been sick with radiation poison and died like you said very quickly.

[–] video-dublin 10 years ago

If the blast and the sound reached them from London, we can assume the explosion happened an hour or so before. They didn't "see" anything.
Fallout doesn't kill you in a week. It's not poison. Some people in Hiroshima who weren't killed or injured by the bomb survived for years after it, and they were a hell of a lot closer to the fallout.

[–] Unicorn-9 10 years ago

If the blast and the sound reached them from London, we can assume the explosion happened an hour or so before.

Sound travels about 800 miles an hour. If you're 800 miles from London, you're not in Britain any more.

Fallout doesn't kill you in a week.

It certainly can if you're exposed soon after the blast and get a significant amount in your body or on your skin (and don't wash it off). Most of the fallout from Hiroshima was blown out to sea, the only serious fallout hazard was in the areas where rain fell soon after the explosion and brought it down.

[–] targa9 10 years ago

It was terrible. I knew by the age of 13 that a nuclear bomb will first fill the sky with light. Then the sound/shock wave arrives. And only after a while, like perhaps hours later, will radioactive dust from the blast finally settle and fall.
One only had to watch a few films on the subject.

In this movie, there's a slight booming noise, and almost immediately radioactive fallout. And the kids didn't even get sick from this. It was RIDICULOUS. Next time, do a little research, people. Watch a filmstrip like they showed us in middle school.

[–] solatisa 10 years ago

Watch a filmstrip like they showed us in middle school.

Hi, I'm A-Bomb Expert Troy McClure, you might remember me from Nuclear Holocaust films such as "American Desk's Make Great Fallout Shelters!" and "Why is Daddy's Skin Melting Off?"

[–] jamest2014 10 years ago

no kidding. Just get under a desk and you'll be fine! How dumb could 50s and 60s teachers possibly be?!

"Can't deal with my tank donuts!" - VanossGaming

[–] phantomF-12 10 years ago

They made some really sturdy desks back in the 50s and 60s.

- Earthquake? Get under a desk.
- Nuclear attack? Get under a desk.
- Tornado? Get under a desk.
- Communist Invasion? Get under a desk.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Miss_Sui_Generis 10 years ago

LOL! Thanks for the laugh. Getting under a desk does work for earthquakes though. We did in the 70s and 80s in California.

That scene was terrible.

Send lawyers,guns and money/The *beep* has hit the fan

[–] TonyAtRest 10 years ago

The reason you were supposed to get under your desk as opposed to going to the window to look out and see what was going on, is that, the blast wave would shatter the window, and if you were there looking out, you would risk being injured or killed by the broken glass.

[–] raf-33 10 years ago

they'd be so contaminated by radiation they wouldn't last a week.

I don't think we use the same bombs we did in 1945. They'd be out of date and a wee bit unstable, I'd imagine that in the 69 years since we've made other bombs, you could say newer ones.

Ya Kirk-loving Spocksucker!

[–] AureliusBady 9 years ago

So you are saying that modern nucular bombs, in the megaton(s) range, DO NOT produce radioactive fallout unlike the ones used in '45?

[–] BatmanFanGirl 9 years ago

I saw some documentary on this recently. Depending the type they use and megatons, there are some newer nuclear bombs that have a much smaller blast/radioactive range then they used to have.

Of course that's assuming that's the kind they used in the movie... but considering the ash was falling on them doesn't seem likely.

[–] daryl-b-t 10 years ago

Writers today are painfully ignorant with regard to understanding scientific facts. Probably why so much of this movie sucked in other ways too.

[–] 10 years ago

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