Wires Don’t Cut Heads Off: 5 Movie Deaths That Can't Happen

Movies speak to the very essence of the human experience. Or, barring that, they at least show us 6,000 different ways to kill a bad guy. And yet, you may be shocked to learn that some of our most beloved movie murder methods wouldn't work in the real world. For example ...

5
You Can't Freeze Somebody With Liquid Nitrogen, Much Less Shatter Them

According to movies, liquid nitrogen is the coldest thing in the Universe. If you come into contact with it, you're a human popsicle. Get hit while frozen, and you'll shatter into a million pieces like an ice sculpture at a rowdy wedding. Side note: Probably don't invite us to your wedding.

A canister of the stuff breaks and freezes Christian Slater to death in Mindhunters. Jason uses it to shatter a woman's head in Jason X. Liquid nitrogen is so dangerous it even stops the T-1000 in Terminator 2.

This GIF is also a perfect representation of what happens to the franchise after this film.

Why It Wouldn't Work:

Liquid nitrogen is definitely dangerous. If you come across some, try not to stick your genitals in it, no matter how much Space-Jason pressures you. But it isn't nearly as dangerous as movies would have you believe. If you briefly come into contact with the gas, you'll feel a bit chilly ... as you calmly walk out of its range. As for the liquid, well, here's a guy throwing cups of it into his own face for fun:

It is so mild, in fact, that some businesses use it in freezing chambers, as a form of therapy to help cure people of their free time and disposable income.

4
You Can't Simply Shoot Explosives To Detonate Them

If you've ever played a video game, it has been driven into you so hard that it's pure reflex by now: You see a bright red barrel-
"Shoot it," you have just answered automatically.

In Furious 7, Vin Diesel takes a bag full of grenades (Vin doesn't leave home without one) and affixes it to the bad guys' helicopter. Then The Rock shoots the bag and everything explodes in a glorious orange ball of death.

Still somehow the most scientifically accurate scene in Furious 7.

In Rush Hour, Chris Tucker endangers countless lives by shooting wildly into traffic, aiming at a car with C4 in the trunk.

Wait, where's the traffic? This movie's title is bullshit.

Damn, we suppose this is why you shouldn't keep grenades in the house. One of the many stray bullets that you encounter during the day could set them off.

Why It Wouldn't Work:

As the star of an action movie, it may surprise you to learn that grenades are more than little metal balls filled with explosions. They contain a complex chain of features intended to make them blow up when the grenadier intends, and not at any other time. Releasing the handle sets off the striker. The striker hits the percussion cap and creates a spark. The spark lights the fuse, which burns for a few seconds until it, in turn, ignites a small amount of detonating fluid. That goes off, creating a very small explosion, which then sets off all the explosive material inside the grenade, called Composition B.

Shooting a grenade is a fine idea, meant to bypass most of those steps and ignite the Composition B with the kinetic energy of the bullet itself. It's a fine idea ... But Composition B is a mixture of TNT and RDX, two explosives used by the military specifically because the risk of accidental detonation is low. In fact, RDX is specifically stated to be unaffected by small arms fire.

Check out this Mythbusters segment. A handgun bullet actually disarms the grenade, while a shotgun blast turns it into so much inert dust:

But what about C4, the grenade's high-class cousin? It's so stable that it too can withstand gunshots. In fact, it can be literally set on fire and still not go off:

This is why law enforcement officers can open fire on people with bombs; there is little chance of setting them off, unless you accidentally hit a tiny portion of the detonator. And while it would be a lot more exciting to live in a movie world, where shooting anything with gas in it reduces a whole building to rubble, it's probably best that bomb squads don't have to deal with Michael Bay physics.

3
You Can't Cut Somebody's Head Off With A Wire

In movies, the human body has the structural integrity of an overripe peach. Are you a serial killer trying to butcher a cabin full of teenagers AND make your daughter's recital tonight? Well, a quick way to disconnect some heads from some bodies is to string up some razor-thin wire at neck height. Victims trying to sprint out the front door to safety? Not without their heads, they aren't. Escaping the property in conveniently located snowmobiles? Boom, wire across the road.

"Wow, those snow pants really do make my ass look big." "Told you."

Hell, even esteemed Professor of Murderology Bruce Willis pulls this move in Die Hard With A Vengeance, when an industrial wire chops a guy clean in half, even though it's moving no faster than a really motivated duck.