MovieChat Forums > The Signal (2014) Discussion > Physically and medically impossible

Physically and medically impossible

posted 10 years ago by Dejay
77 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS!

Why is this still acceptable to have an bionic arm or leg to give super powers that would require the same strength in the connecting body? In the main characters case, his pelvis would break and tear itself to pieces, or the bionic legs would rip off if he would exert too much power with his bionic calf muscles. It's simply impossible and doesn't make sense!

The same for crazy arms, he is basically wearing METAL GLOVES. So if I put on metal gloves, how then am I able to smash a column of concrete, since all the strength would have to come from my arm, shoulder, spine and even legs to exert that kind of force?

And while we're at it, even if the main character still has genitals, how in the world doesn't he have "scrambled eggs" after running like 100km/h? Or why isn't his head bashed in after running through the glass in the end?

Even for a science fiction, you should get fundamental physics and logic right. I'm surprised no one complains about this, because I'm incapable of suspending my disbelief when watching stuff like this.

Otherwise, it was not a bad film, but stupid writing is stupid.

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

ah. but lawrence fishburn's character being an artifically intelligent cyborg doesn't bother you at all? xD

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] Dejay 10 years ago

No lol. That bit is science fiction, but theoretically possible, unlike a human hip made of flesh that withstands the crazy forces or a normal human arm having superhuman strength. Of course you could say say change the muscles and bone structure too, but then they wouldn't have had to use the ugly prosthetics in the first place.

[–] JaggySnake 10 years ago

You do not know how the legs worked so you can't really say Fishburnes character is theoretically possible but the legs can't be. They could have replaced any of his bones or muscles for tech.

[–] chewie86 10 years ago

Sorry but it's alien tech! Anything is possible

[–] postagerequired 10 years ago

Agreed.

We do see tubes attaching the alienware to the flesh, so perhaps there is a bit of disbursement going on there to balance the pressures. Notice when him or his friend get angry or upset somehow the alienware is activated and we can see a reddish hue through the crevices. I guess it gives them extra human strength.

You just have to assume everything was thought of when the extraterrestrials but the bionic parts on the humans. Because lets face it at this point, for humans, attaching any kind of prosthetic limb to a human, to where the human can maneuver the limb subconsciously without much thought and without the motion being robotic is well beyond, many moons beyond, and even light years beyond our reach.

[–] Dejay 10 years ago

Well his hip bone and skeleton had to have been replaced by some kind of titanium alloy too. And ass muscles. But that doesn't really make sense, if they can do that, why make the legs so ugly? It's simply fact that the hip bones need to match the strength with the legs. There is no way to fiction around that. So it seems implausible and silly to me.

[–] joezeph 10 years ago

if they can do that, why make the legs so ugly?

You thought the legs were ugly?

[–] mdelvecchio 10 years ago

The legs and hands didn't have the fidelity of the human parts they were replacing. If they made his pelvis and hips and skeleton (in order to survive the physics of speedy bio legs) at the correct size, then why not make the limbs the correct size too?

[–] larz-9 10 years ago

It's not meant to be plausible. It's science fiction, for f__k's sake!

============================================

They died because ... it's in the script

[–] JeffAtlanta2004 10 years ago

Science fiction is supposed to be plausible. It's not clear that you understand what science fiction or even fiction mean.

[–] larz-9 10 years ago

So Harry Potter books are completely bunk because there's no plausibility to the references made to magic? Nonsense. It's fiction and that's the key word. Pull your head in son.

[–] kinsayder 10 years ago

Well, the HP books are bunk unless you allow yourself to be drawn into the specific fantasy world that they occupy. But if you do enter that world and then Rowling throws in something that doesn't fit there, like a Terminator from the future, you'd complain.

Or take a Bond movie. It's a different fantasy world but it has its own laws and limits. If James Bond got thrown out of a plane and then simply teleported into M's office, you'd feel a little cheated, right?

Same deal with this movie. It sets up a fictional universe in which alien tech is a reality. Fine. I'm on board with that, let's go. But then they casually add, "By the way, the laws of physics don't apply here" - which is basically just a Get Out of Jail Free card for bad writing.

The options for the viewer then are (1) switch off brain and deal with it; (2) switch off movie and watch something better; (3) come on IMDb and complain...

[–] sebaser 10 years ago

I think you are mixing up science fiction with fantasy,
Science fiction is just fiction based on current scientific knowledge, sure there is soft and hard sf-, but even Dick didnt write stuff that contradicted basic logic ( at lest the books he wrote when he wanst high, *beep* space jesus still cracks me up ).

[–] shurbanm 9 years ago

you are overanalyzing. it's a movie...

[–] eve_campbell 10 years ago

You`re not thinking big picture here. The physics aspect you mention might be impossible on earth, but they are clearly not on earth. Whole different ball-park. But nice try.

[–] glock78 10 years ago

FYI physics works in the entire universe. It's the law.

No physics adjustment would both allow for the stuff shown in the movie to work AND not show all around them.

[–] larz-9 10 years ago

FYI physics works in the entire universe. It's the law.

...in so far as we know as humans. Remember, theories remain so until proven wrong. Just live with the fact this is a science fiction story and don't read too much into it. You might actually start enjoying some sci-fi stories.

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They died because ... it's in the script

[–] Jigsaw737 10 years ago

That's one of my pet peeves. For example the scene in The Dark Knight when Batman bends the barrel of the gun. It's great that Batman has that super suit with hydraulic enhancements, but the goon could never have held the gun that tightly when so much force was exerted on it.

Also, the movie implied that the character had these bionic legs ever since he woke up for the first time in the facility, because he couldn't move/feel his legs and he sat in a wheel chair. So... we are supposed to believe that he didn't touch his legs, or even looked at them, or went to the bathroom before he fell off that stretcher?

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The IMDb forums: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

[–] Dejay 10 years ago

I was thinking that too during that scene lol! Maybe a *very* fast twisting motion *might* use the inertia of the gun and the holders arm to bend the barrel, but it was too slow for that.

[–] glock78 10 years ago

Batman's gadget could work regardless if the gun was held by anyone - but not the way it was done in the movie.

The gadget could hold the barrel at two points, A and B.

'=A===B==[GUN,]<<(

Now isn't that some fine ASCII art?
Gripping the point B tight, hydraulics could press on the A point, bending the barrel around the point B.
Just anchor the whole thing to the Bat-suit and thus use 200+ pounds of Batman's weight as leverage.

Another way would be for Batman to have hydraulics and reinforcement in both arms, gripping the stock of the rifle with one arm, while doing the bending with the other.
Again, neither one of those was shown in the movie.

BUT... The whole "Batman has a gun-bending gadget in his glove" is well within the limits of acceptable suspension of disbelief.
I'd buy that. He's the god damn Batman, after all.

Unlike the demands that this movie makes.

[–] bigBang8 10 years ago

Two words, alien technology. It doesn't have to make sense because it's way out of our understanding on how *beep* even works. For all we know our laws are nothing but *beep* that will change a hundred times until we get it right. Those legs also glowed in red when he was about to do something strenuous. Maybe it bends the gravity or some *beep* so he can do it without breaking down to pieces.

The increase in human knowledge is the cause of the decline of religions.

[–] Tyrione 10 years ago

As a Mechanical Engineer and Computer Science grad, the trolls debating Universal Laws of Physics, without any background really explains how come we haven't evolved more quickly.

The entire hybrid skeletal structure still human crap is deplorable. The rejection by the organic system with the inorganic system alone would eliminate grafting, never mind the control systems that would run the legs would have to be matched to his neural network, etc., and his entire frame would be tossed as the only useful part is the brain.

Hell, the drag resistance force would have burned his face reaching Mach 1.

Sorry, the film is artsy, and scientifically insulting.

[–] AssetsonFire 10 years ago

You're such a genius and yet i) you don't understand the principle of cause and effect ["explains how come we haven't evolved more quickly"], ii) you don't know the meaning of the word 'troll', and iii) you judge vastly more advanced alien technology by the standards of contemporary human technology (how do you know the legs are inorganic?).

Also, how the *beep* did you graduate with such abysmal grammar?

~.~
There were three of us in this marriage
http://www.imdb.com/list/ze4EduNaQ-s/

[–] LordePrince13 9 years ago

Oh I think your post illustrated one great reason we "haven't evolved more quickly" as you put it. Your inability to think outside the box. Your argument makes me think of one that would have come from a naysayer of organ transplant back in the day before anti-rejection drugs. This movie is obviously not proposing that a mechanical engineer/computer science grad accomplished these things on earth. They are obviously advanced in ways earth humans couldn't even fathom so to attempt to discredit science fiction based on your still incredibly limited knowledge of what is possible today on earth has really put you in an intellectual box. These are advanced beings capable of interstellar travel, maybe they have more advanced anti-rejection methods, maybe a mastery of the neural network that is so advanced that hooking up a control system is to them like hooking up a DVD player is for us, they never explain just how the legs work, you are assuming they still function the same way human legs do, maybe his hips don't move just the legs at hyper speed and they were glowing because they were creating an energy field of some kind around him to protect him from high speed debris, wind resistance, and running into stuff, maybe they even have a gravitational force to reduce g-force on his head and body. Ok this is getting a bit long, my point is for you to call a work of fiction insulting because technology exists that you couldn't recreate is pretty ridiculous in its self, then to call it impossible is just ignorant, our "laws of physics" have changed a lot over the years, the theory of relativity isn't even that old and turned the physics world upside down, and I'm pretty sure it's still full of unproven theories as well, so while I'm sure you did great at physics in school, I highly doubt you have a mastery of all physics in the universe that would give you the ability to determine what is possible and impossible. So come on open up that mind, I'm sure people found Jules Verne "scientifically insulting and impossible" and look how that turned out.
"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." - Benjamin Franklin

[–] Reptile1712 10 years ago

The thing about those experiments is they aren't focused just on the physical
aspect of human biology, but the focus is more on psychological.
We can already see they are farly successful with building cyborgs and adding
higly sofisticated prostetic limbs, so the possibility they could have
replaced his entire body with something more durable is not so implausible.

IMHO the entire point of their experiments is the fusion of human
consciousness with their technology. The fact they kept parts of the body
(to calm down human personality part), but intentionaly left some parts
exposed only strenghten that part.
They wanted him to see the limbs, but more so they wanted to see THE reaction.

You can see that other experiments have failed because other people, for
whatever reason, weren't capable of handling it.

Jonah was talking about how he feels there is something wrong with his
body, but Nic didn't. Whats better, he wasnt even aware something was
different until he saw them, but even then he was successful to be composed.
Now, did Nic talked with Jonah back then or did aliens just taunted him
to see the reaction is irelevant, the important part is he did perfect
fusion even with all that noise and in alient minds that meant successful
experiment.
Maybe that was also the reason why Damon eliminated other test subjects,
similar like in Dark City they wanted to "Shut it down... :)", they
have all the data they need.

[–] Dejay 10 years ago

You're certainly right, the focus is on the psychological. It's possible the whole thing is a virtual reality just to conduct tests on the human psyche, but what value such experiments would have eludes me.

I liked the movie it's just that science gaffes like this take me out of them.

[–] Reptile1712 10 years ago

I don't think it was virtual reality since in this case there would be no
point in eliminating other test subjects (for whatever reason Damon did it).

About the reason for experiments, that wasn't the point of the movie. Though
the real question is does this film have a point at all, which is why i
degraded the final score since i don't like ambiguity for the sake of it.

If you want reason you can have your imagination work something plausable.
Asimilation of human species (strength in diversity) so testing is crucial
to work something out, maybe they were trying to help human race somehow
(you can argue they are cruel in that regard, but we are doing same thing
with animal experiments to help other animals).
Maybe human consciousness has something that they deem useful...
Who knows, could you even understand the reasons from a higher intelligence
point of view if it was a complex subject.

Anyway, this movie succeeded to strike most of our imagination and analytical
thinking. That is a success in itself, not many movies can do that.
Hell, after 5 years i finally registered with phone just to comment on this
subject.

Maybe i dont like some parts of this movie, though most of them are fairly good,
but one thing i know is that i can damn well appreciate it.

[–] Dejay 10 years ago

Maybe human consciousness has something that they deem useful...

I guess if you follow the movies plot in experimenting with crossing human biology and brains with technology, maybe humans are more suitable for this cybernetic technology than they are themselves? Maybe their biochemistry and brains work differently, and they need human cyborgs for some task? Too bad we don't really meet any of the aliens, only the strange robot. I guess the robot is some kind of remote controlled drone, because if they have artificial intelligence that advanced that they sure as hell don't need humans. Which would only leave scientific curiosity, but the experiments didn't seem to be well structured. More like sadistic experiments of a mad scientist instead of controlled tests.

Who knows, could you even understand the reasons from a higher intelligence
point of view if it was a complex subject.

According to some discussions I had over the years on the internet, that's definitely a no ;)

[–] aknu 10 years ago

Pretty sure they did something to their entire body since the grenade left jonah relatively unharmed considering it exploded in his face and then took bullets in his back and still wrecked the ground

[–] northern-fantasia 9 years ago

Pretty sure they did something to their entire body since the grenade left jonah relatively unharmed considering it exploded in his face and then took bullets in his back and still wrecked the ground

Yes, I noticed that too. And after Nic broke the "barrier" between simulation and real world he didn't suffer more damage so I take Nic's entire body was also somehow improved.

However I think there was no aliens or alien technology but only artificial intelligence that was originating from Earth. That would also explain the arabic numbers on the space "city". AI was trying to improve humans to the next level and the alien aspect was just part of the tests. Nic had improved legs, Jonah had improved hands and Haley had improved mind but only Nic survived the improvement operations as was illustrated the tests he passed.

But as other have said this film can be interpreted in many ways so everyone can have their own version of it 😃