10 Times Movies Got Weapons Wrong

Swordfights and gun duels have been a staple in cinema since the dawn of... well... cinema. More often than not, conflicts like this are choreographed to be action-packed and thrilling rather than realistic.

That makes sense of course, viewers want to be entertained, but even though we know what we're watching is fiction, our perception on weaponry has been warped by incorrect portrayals in pop-culture over the years.

I'm not talking about fantastical weapons like lightsabers or gunswords here. Even the most basic guns and swords are portrayed unreliably in film and television. These inaccuracies may revolve around how a weapon is wielded or forged, but occasionally a movie will show a weapon having a completely fabricated function.

Of course, the average viewer can't expect to have a thorough knowledge of guns, so we assume the scriptwriters have, at the very least, the mildest understanding of how firearms work. Likewise, when we watch a medieval epic, we assume the director has done their homework on how the story depicts swords, maces, and flails.

Consequently, it's genuinely heartbreaking to learn the truth about the inaccurate portrayal of some of these weapons as they have appeared in some of the most iconic scenes in movie history.

When the titular villain in Goldfinger learns that James Bond is a secret agent, he straps him to a harness and prepares to shred him in half with a high-powered laser. As the laser begins slicing through the harness with little effort, Bond realises he will be cleaved in two if he doesn't escape.

However, lasers had only existed for four years at the time of Goldfinger's release so the technology behind it was still in its infancy. Laser weapons didn't exist until the 1980s.

However, even modern lasers are not the unstoppable weapons that science fiction always promised. A laser is so sensitive, the mildest thing can interfere with its ability to hit its target including rain, smoke, or dust.

The idea that a laser could cut through a human being is pure fantasy. They can cause blindness if aimed at one's eye but the idea that they can cut a person like a lightsaber is pure fiction. The power needed for a laser to penetrate through a solid object does not exist at the moment and may never be possible in the same way it is portrayed in pop culture.