10 Ridiculous Movie Myths About Explosions

7. Bombs Almost Always Have A Handy Timer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohQY7kpOc50 Put yourself in the shoes of a bad guy; you've got a bomb armed, and you place it on a train/bus/ship/whatever. What is the benefit in putting a timer on the bomb? Even if you need the timer for yourself while you're transporting the bomb, how's about disconnecting it once you've planted it? Instead, you're basically helping the good guys; they now know (assuming the timer is accurate) how long they have to prevent it exploding, whereas the sheer terror of unpredictability that an absence of a timer suggests would probably prevent most people from trying to tamper with it in the first place. This is a silly cliche that even good films use; The Dark Knight Rises, for instance, and though the ticking bomb scenario is sort of important in the scope of the story, it just makes things seem a little too convenient for the good guys.