Films with realistic depiction's of firefights and shoot-outs
 

Hi everyone,

I thought I would come to the one place where I could get some decent feedback, on what films have realistic depiction's of firefights and shoot-outs. Of course they don't have to be totally accurate, but believable. Any period in cinema or genre.

Heat, a favorite film of many users on the site, is considered to be one of the most realistic gun movies, with great firefights and realistic gunshots (echoing loud outside and deafeningly short inside). Unfortunately magazine capacity isn't always followed and no one depicts recoil (a personal pet peeve of mine)

Another realistic one is Collateral, which is also directed by Michael Mann. After Heat though, Mann's realism got dampened a bit. Only outside do the guns even echo in Collateral an not as impressively. Tom Cruise does a great job with pistol techniques such as shooting and reloading.

Street Kings is pretty realistic, usually following magazine capacities and realistic shootouts. Keanu Reeves took training courses to be more convincing as a well trained cop (and I think he is the only person to ever use the decocker on his pistol). Gunshots were kind of crappy though.

Black Hawk Down was pretty good although the gunfire was again kind of weak. You never see someone break magazine capacity though.

Dirty Harry shows us that some people take recoil into acount, as Eastwood fired a real .44 Magnum so he could properly imitate recoil. After Dirty Harry, all of Eastwood's films have him properly depicting recoil and when he directs the film, almost everyone follows this rule as well. Just watch a movie like The Outlaw Josey Wales or Flags of our Fathers and you'll see what I mean.

Another actor who follows the recoil rule is Kevin Costner (except in Mr. Brooks), so check out his films for some good gun handling.

A History of Violence had a director who also favors recoil depiction and also shows very detailed depictions of what a bullet does to a person (so the film is pretty gorey), but still realistic.

But the sad thing is, most films don't accurately depict firearms, because Hollywood is run mainly by gun-ignorant liberals who are more concerned with what "looks cool", and usually ignore the weapons coordinator, gun coach, and armorer in favor of their own ridiculous ideas. I've always been a stickler for gun realism in movies, so I get disapointed a lot, but the movies I listed are a good place to start.

Another that's pretty realistic is "Proof of Life". The ending gun battle has some very impressive shooting and technique demonstrated by the team of private contractors led by Russell Crowe. The gunfire sounds pretty good, too, almost as good as "Heat".

the ending battle in The Kingdom was pretty good.

I also like to point out, besides the dual wielding MP5ks, or Beretta, Punisher Warzone had the Punisher wield the M4 pretty well, doing reloads and everything. The only thing about the scenes where he's using the M4 that's out of the box was when he breaks through a wooden door with the M4 and fires the grenade launcher inside the room. There was also a lot of double tapping in that movie.

Besides the fact that the gun handling was quite realistic, the best thing about "Street Kings" is the opening scene where he poses as an arms dealer and tries to sell the Korean gangsters a Browning M2. The dialogue in that scene (which I added to the quote feed on the Main Page) is just priceless.

Realistic shootouts are pretty much mandatory in war films. Just look Saving Private Ryan or Letters from Iwo Jima.

Personally I don't care if a shootout is realistic or over the top I just want it to be well done.

I'd recommend the severely underrated Way of the Gun for both realistic-looking (at least for the eye of common viewer) and exciting shootouts, with director Christopher McQuarrie's brother, a former Navy SEAL, choreographing them.

Didnt Arnold get some sort of praise for his realistic handling of weapons in Terminator? I thought I heard something about that somewhere.

Another movie that kind of stands out, but almost instantly loses my praise is Death Sentence.

I praise the movie for actually depicting Kevin Bacon, as not knowing how to use a gun at all, to the point that he reads the Owner Manuals. (which is a little odd, because its supposed to be part of the Death Wish series, and Brosnans character knew his guns.) So he goes from not even knowing how to open the chamber on his revolver, to being ok with them.

But then the film made me groan, when he uses a double barrel shotgun, and you can hear the sound guys have given the weapon a 'cocking' sound when he turns a corner or two, much, very much like the sound a pump action has in movies. Nitpicking? yes, but thats what I do.

The other movie that really messes it up, and I think its mainly due to bad editing, is Hellboy. His revolver, the Samaritan, is known for being a 4 shot gun. but in one of the shootouts you hear him fire the gun six times, then reloads. Probably just bad editing, but still.

Eight times actually. He fires six at the Samielle creature, and holsters it. He then fires two more when its tongue wraps around his arm. THEN he reloads. But there are no empty shell casings in the gun when he does.

Perhaps someone caught this goof because in the second film his gun DOES eject shells, but has no ejector so the shells flying out are CGI.

He also fires more than five shots at a time from the gun in that scene, even though it is still a four shot.

Look at the pages I made on the site, it covers all that.

And I believe it was Guns & Ammo or some other magazine that thought Arnie's gun handling was good in the Terminator, though it didn't impress me much.

It wasn't part of the Death Wish series, it was just a revenge movie loosely based on Death Wish. The guy who wrote the book and the director of the movies thought it was pretty good, and I loved it too. Guns aside though, definitely, he empties out his 1991 (and yes it is a 1991 not a 1911, whoever keeps changing that needs to stop) like it's a wondernine. Still, I love side by side double barrels, and the way he reloads his, freaking awesome.

I heard he fires 15 shots at a time, but I've never seen the movie.

I've heard Appaloosa is realistic but I need to watch it first.

I love film's with realistic shoot-outs... I really end up appreciating them more. No Country for Old Men has it's moments of semi-realism. Letters from Iwo Jima was a great war film where the guns sounded loud and fairly unflattering. The Assassination of Jesse James was pretty realistic for a film in a Western setting (though i don't really think of it as a western), the part where the two guys miss each other consistently at a close range is particularly memorable. Unforgiven was fairly realistic until the end, although i've argued about this with people on the IMDB forum, i still reckon that even if Clint's character could've taken on 5 or so guys because of his experience and cold-heartedness he probably still wouldn't take the risk. I'd also like to know of any other films with realistic firefights

It was "Soldier of Fortune" that complimented him. I'm assuming they were referring only to the scene where he's in the gun store picking out the weapons and then trying them out. If they'd seen the rest of the movie (i.e. firing an AR-18 and SPAS-12 akimbo in the police station), I can't imagine they would have said anything so ridiculous.

One movie I don't recommend is The Marine, I just bought that to screencap for the site, and it is ridiculously unreal. Apparently you can stop a hail of Uzi and CAR-15 fire by simply holding a bullet proof vest up with ONE HAND! Insanely dumb.

I didn't think Heat was realistic.

Well, when Shiherlis doesn't reload until he spits out about 100 rounds, that is a little off, but keep in mind, practically NO films had used realistic gun fire that was loud and echoed (or didn't indoors, another important thing). Also note, people hardly hit anything during the bank shootout, as opposed to action movies where a guy with two guns flies around blowing away everyone he sees.

If I ever make a movie (doubtful though), my first mission would be to accomplish the most realistic gun film ever, with Heat as inspiration.

Never ask too much from movies gun-wise, you'll always be disapointed.

Not necessarily ridiculous. SOF (from what I remember) during the interview with Cameron noted that the Terminator was holding the weapons like they weighed nothing, indicative that the Terminator was super strong and not human. Also the article mentioned that Cameron had filmed the Terminator working on his guns (i.e. parts on the table) implying that he was converting the AR-180 to full auto fire in the hotel room. The only remaining shot was a scene where the audience can see some parts on the table. There was some thought (or Cameron made up some good excuses) for the gun unrealism ;)

I like to think Terminators have no felt recoil, just so the movie seems more realistic. It'd be cooler if there was a special recoil adjustment system in their wrists so they could fire guns like Glocks without them jamming, but no film writer thinks that deep into it.

I'd like to see a Terminator fire a Browning M2HB with one out stretched arm! All it would take is some wire work but man would it show how impressive they are.

Browning M2HB... what would they grab on to, if firing with only one hand? :) If they grabbed one of the spade grips, it would surely rip off from the weight of the rest of the gun.

Hmmm, good point. I guess 120lbs is too much for the grips. It's still cool to picture though... Image wielding two none the less!

Well, it's more realistic than most movies, but not very realistic compared to real life. I guess that's the best of putting it.

Though I wouldn't classify the gunfights as extremely realistic, if you watch the opening scene of Casino Royale, when Bond eliminates Dryden, he operates the decocker of his P99 as he quips, "Yes...considerably." I think he also uses the decocker once more when he recieves his Aston Martin and another P99 from M while in Montenegro.

I'd say that Man on Fire was pretty realistic. Although there wasn't that many shoot outs, Danzel Washington was pretty convincing as an ex-counter terrorism specialist.

The movie Taken starring Liam Neeson, who also plays an ex-counter terrorism specialist. It had some pretty realistic gun fights as well. I really liked the action in that movie, it was very smooth and looked like Neeson's character was a true trained professional.

Eh....I dunno...I dunno about Taken. They didn't seem that realistic. Awesome, but not particularly realistic. Then again, I've never been in a gunfight, so...

I think Last man standing was one of the least realistic, especiallly where his 1911s not only have 50 round mags apparently but can launch a man airborne, make him flip, and land across a street, while the shooter experiences no recoil.

That's the thing with gun battles on screen. It's hard to translate what really happens in the real world and what is on TV and in movies. What we see most of the time is there for thrills and because it's cool to watch people shooting and people getting shot. That's the general response of the audience. "Realistic" or not they are designed to get a specific reaction out from those who enjoy it and most of the time we rarely nit pick the scene.

Just watched Appaloosa. pretty realistic except for the 8 gauge sending a guy flying. Gunshots were weak indoors but handling was great. I have street kings too gotta check that later.

BTW, never watch any "Operation delta force" movies, they all suck. Especially 4 where the bad guy actually has a volcano lair and once someone even said "whoah you hit someone at 300 yards." (sniper rifle)

Oh, man, tell me about it. I absolutely loved those as a kid, but today I can't for the life of me understand why.

They are great as "gun comedy" movies, though.;)

I love the low speed mountain chase where the skiing bad guys all wear orange jumsuits. And the fact that highly trained delta operators waist fire and one hand the whole time.

movies
 

"Thief" with James Caan was good.

And they can nail you right between the eyes when doing it, too. Fvck boot camp, let's send'em all to Hollywood for training! XD

While I can appreciate when an actor handles a gun properly, and filmmakers and editors take the time to count shots, I never expect films to depict realistic gunfights.

I'd rather see something dynamic and exciting than something realistic anyway. Something that works in parameters of the story they are telling and the mood they are setting.

Last Man Standing was based on a samurai fable called Yojimbo. It's not supposed to be real. At. All.

Open Range had some gun work that was meant to feel more realistic, but still be exciting. Same with Heat. It's supposed to "feel" realistic, but it's not. Not at all. The actors were trained, so they handle the weapons well, even do brass checks and we see them reload and fire without edits.

This is usually not done because actors have a bad tendency to try and slap a mag in backwards, so they cut to a close up of the prop master's hands doing it.

Michael Mann is a director who understands, handles, owns, and fires guns. His new film "Public Enemies" is a return to gun heavy storytelling for him, and I am looking forward to it. meanwhile, I thought his film version of Miami Vice, while having it's moments, was mostly boring and flat.

I'm also looking forward to seeing films I know will probably show guys and girls doing gymnastics while firing 2 guns. :rolleyes:

I liked Street Kings too, but didn't feel it was realistic, just well done.

Appaloosa was just a great story, well told with great performances. But if you read the book, gun handling was a big part of it. Reloading, the proper stance in a duel, and using rifles while on horseback were important to the story because Ed Harris read about them in the book and wanted that to carry over.

Death Sentence was WAY over the top, but it was dynamic and blood pumping. And by the time you get to the end and he's a one man army it doesn't need to be real. He's blowing holes the size of garage doors through buildings, but it works because it fits the mood of the film.

Ok, this post is long enough. :o

The Little Boheima shootout in "Public Enemies" was pretty realistic. They did a good job of using the hand held camera. To hell with it, all of Michael Mann's action films are so fucking good with shootouts and gun choices and cast. Tony Scott's films are also pretty good with the cast and firearm choices. He also does a good job with camera work. "Domino" was good with dialogue and charactor development. The film was like an acid trip.

Heat, Black Hawk Down naturally.

enemy of the state had a good depiction of a shoot out at the end.
that's basically all it is, shooting at each other.

all dazed and confused

End fight of Open Range stands out in westerns as both heroes and villains are wasting quite a lot of shots, and only scoring sure hits when basically standing next to the opponent (thought Costner's 16-shot SAA and the part when Duvall kills a thug with shotgun were pretty Hollywood). Similar thing happened at the end of Unforgiven, where Munny drew his gun last, but kept his cool while others in the saloon were panicfiring.

Appaloosa seemed to have some realistic shootouts. It didn't take a whole lot of time for everyone to be laid out on the ground in that movie, that's for sure.

The Unit and Ultimate Force had some realistic shootouts

At least until they started making 100-yard bulls eyes with pistols.