MovieChat Forums > The Equalizer (2014) Discussion > Are there really people like this?

Are there really people like this?

posted 10 years ago by digvisgrp
22 replies | jump to latest

With movies like Taken and Equalizer and many others showing these black op people with these skills. Are there really people like this? Are there these highly trained people that could do what these movies show? Or are these movies so far from reality?

I realize some of the things are setup for the movie and there are always times when you can say why didn't he just shoot him but what I am asking is are there people with special skills so highly trained they could possibly do some of what is shown?

[–] Nomad-1968 9 years ago

I thinks its a movie exaggeration. Jason Bourne is also seen to do it but he's supposed to have had extreme conditioning. But with training and the right mindset I can imagine someone being able to adapt and improvise in a conflict situation.

I was once working in a very dangerous city in an extremely unstable country and one of my colleagues was a combat experienced veteran and he showed me how when you walk through an area you should quickly note and assess potential escape routes and potential weapons (this piece of timber, that scrap of rebar) if the need arose. I also know cops who have told me that as they walk they 'read' the street, so I guess there are real world skills.

[–] jfegley1 9 years ago

The Equalizer was a television show (1985-1989). The movie is based on it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equalizer

[–] ronald-walker-1 9 years ago

It was indeed a TV Show, but the miraculous change of Robert McCall's skin from white to black is one of the smaller changes inflicted upon it. The TV show began (Series 1, episode 1) with McCall shooting a mugger on the New York (not Boston!) Metro... And it was his "Road to Domascus" moment; he'd killed the mugger almost reflexively: killing had stopped being any kind of a problem to him. He "looked in the mirror," saw what he'd turned into, and didn't like what he saw. He walked away from the CIA, and became "The Equaliser". Thereafter (For the remainder of Series 1, anyway!) The Late Edward Woodward played McCall as aman on the brink of committing suicide; his method of ending his own life was to take-on more and bigger enemies, on behalf of people unable to do so themselves, with fewer and fewer resources at his disposal. He was waiting for the enemy that he COULDN'T beat, and who would as a result kill HIM.

This, alas, was FAR too complicated for Mid-West audiences in the USA, and so the chicken-livered producers insisted upon script changes, so that From Series 2, McCall had transformed from a tortured soul into "everyone's favourite uncle".

It would be worth checking out the story of how the USA (heroically!) invaded the Island of Grenada; the small war depicted in "Heartbreak Ridge". It depicts - rather well - the difference between American and British special forces. (During the First Gulf War, "Stormin Norman" announced that he had NO time for Special Forces, because they had an absurdly inflated view of their own capabilities, and in the REAL world wound up needing to be rescued from situations they'd managed to get themselves into. The British commander - Sir Peter de la Billiere - was himself ex-SAS, and from his own combat experience in the middle east, understood the importance of keeping things SIMPLE. He brought in a large number of Brit forces, who patrolled Iraq, looking for SCUD Missiles. (With the aim to call in airstrikes on any they found).

Back in Grenada, US Special forces created an elaborate plan which would start with a daring midnight attack on the airfield, which would then allow heavier weapons to be flown in, which would allow... And so on. In fact, the Special Forces asked the Navy how long it would take to reassemble the Helos that had been packed for transport by ship...but forgot to mention that the Helos in question would be the new "Blackhawks". The Navy's mechanics gave an honest (but totally inaccurate) reply, took FAR longer than planned to make the unfamiliar birds airworthy, and the "Daring Midnight Attack" actually took place at 14.00 the following day, and produced results that were nowhere NEAR as effective as the surprise attack that had been planned was supposed to have been. Special Forces were taked with attacking the East of the Island, "Regular Marines" got the job of attacking the West. The Marines wound up rescuing the Special Forces on an embarassingly large number of occasions.

The key to successful special operations is clearly, DO NOT MAKE COMPLICATED PLANS. If your plan relies on a perpetual unbroken series of successes... then expect to FAIL. Because - sure as shooting - you'll have overlooked something which later turns out to be important.

[–] modman-2 9 years ago

whole lot of video-game earned knowledge in this thread
obviously there are bad asses and heroes out there...history is full of stories. what doesn't exist is a man who can defy physics by, as just one example, sticking a knife in an electric socket to short out the entire fuse box.

it's mostly hollywood silliness. but that's what makes it fun.

you want realistic extreme situations go watch something like Blue Ruin :-)

[–] archyros-30909 9 years ago

My impression of McCall is that he received special training, not from the military, but from the CIA, so that he could be sent in when you cannot send in a full trained team, but you still need the results that only a full team could produce. Kind of like James Bond.

As to whether there are really people who receive such training, and how much they can do in these situations, only someone higher up in the intelligence community might know.

Of course, if they told you the real answer, it might be the last answer you ever hear.😎

[–] dmgruber1 8 years ago

Not only possible but true. Trust me.

[–] Nathan_Arizona 8 years ago

I worked with a guy who was a LT. in the SEALS. I wouldn't want to fight him. But like others have said: they focus more on being team-oriented bad-asses.

He actually taught me a couple of things, not that I'll ever use them.

Or my isn't name...