What are your movie pet peeves re: guns?

[Skiprr]

After rounds have already been fired, actor with a pump shotgun racks it to show he really means business now. Akin to all the other redundant slide-racking and hammer-cocking (even phantom hammer-cocking), but it particularly annoys me in a max-eight-round pump when it also means a humongous 2.5” x .75” shell comes flying out.

Oh. Wait. That’s right: they never show the shell come flying out.

Firing continues after the slide has locked back on an autoloader. Saw that one in just the past week or two on some B movie; so memorable, I have no idea which one.

I’m with Steve on marksmanship. Last weekend I watched the first 30 minutes or so of The Devil’s Own with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt (1997); got bored after that. Some of that might have been caused by the shootout in Northern Ireland. Thousands of rounds out of AKs and Uzis and you name it, but no one running across flat terrain or up staircases in a tight urban environment could ever be hit by full-auto fire that sprayed shots everywhere except within three feet of the runner.

Come to think of it, in one of those scenes they got the squib timing (not a dud round: the little charges the SF guys place that pop-off to simulate bullet impacts) and the foley (the sound effects of the automatic gunfire) messed up. A string of six or eight full-auto rounds took about a half-second to impact a brick wall across the street. Talk about subsonic rounds.

Plain poor gun handling is another peeve. How many movies/shows do you see where team tactics are involved, and the operators have no issues whatsoever with continuously sweeping their teammates? Fingers on triggers (naturally) they crisscross back and forth in front of each other with gun muzzles pointing right at each other’s backs?

I wish I could suspend disbelief, but really wonky gun-stuff pulls me right out of a movie unless it’s obviously meant to be campy and over-the-top.

It can’t be very difficult to find firearms/tactical consultants for movies. It’s gotta be that directors simply don’t care about authenticity...

[philip964]

Our hero or villain with a gun in his hand (usually pointed at the police) and the police with guns drawn and pointed at him say "drop it or we will shoot"

Bad guys with automatic weapons always miss.

Magically concealing a Desert Eagle.

BTW when one fire sprinkler head is activated by heat, it is the only one that goes off not every single one in the building or in the room. (Matrix and so many others)

There is also not a valve or switch you can turn to cause all the sprinkler heads to spray (Casino Royale)

When you cut the elevator cables or they break, the elevator cab does not fall to the first floor, but instead the cab automatically brakes to a sudden jarring stop. (Matrix)

[The Mad Moderate]

In The Boondock Saints where they de-cock he gun just to fire it again.

[CEOofEVIL]

Hmm, I think number 1 is the one that jars me back into reality the most. Especially when the gun in question is a Desert Eagle chambered in .50AE and they blow like 12 rounds out of it (I'm looking at you, Matrix !!) .

I've actually been watching Flashpoint a lot recently and while I do love that show, there is one thing that always bothers me. The officers that carry MP5's never shoulder them correctly - they always have something like the lower 1/4 of the stock actually resting near the top of their shoulder O.o

For the most part though I'm pretty forgiving, unless its something absolutely dumb. In fact I love to see how many firearms I can identify in whatever it is I'm watching, its quite fun.

[karl]

Slides not locking on an empty magazine. One-shotting a rope from afar with a handgun. Stellar accuracy while mobile.

[Vecco]

Watching some of the NEW cop shows where they have this funny side hold with their finger on the trigger to clear a corner. No slicing the pie, no sectoring, just keep turning the gun on its side.

[jason237m]

I would add the crazy muzzle flame from pretty much every weapon, especially from full auto rifles. I've never seen an M-16 with a 2 foot flame during the day in my lifetime.

[Pete92FS]

One of my pet peeves is calling a magazine a "clip" as in "my clip's empty".

[MasterOfNone]

Everything Michael Moore ever says about guns.

[SQLGeek]

My top two have been touched on but:

Racking a loaded gun to show I MEAN BUSINESS!

Thermonuclear handgrenades (unless we're talking Starship Troopers)

Wearing or handling the gun very poorly.

Unrealistic restraint of deadly force in LE type shows.

The TV show Criminal Minds is a good example of both.

Also one I did not see mentioned specifically:

The scene in I AM LEGEND where Will Smith's M4 runs out of ammo and you hear several rapid clicks. Must be using an Airsoft rifle.

[Bulldog1911]

One of my pet peeves is calling a magazine a "clip" as in "my clip's empty".

That one doesn't bother me. Who care's what it's called. I was taught mag and the first time I actually heard magazine, i had no idea what it was. I was kid still. But anyway, who cares what you call it. "My bullet holder is empty"
It's like silencer vs. suppressor. Same thing.

[Bulldog1911]

A common one - any pistol going "Click, click, click" when it's empty - and it's a 1911 or Glock or something which isn't double-action.

Saw that last night halfway through Walking Tall; the cop's girlfriend empties a Glock and it then goes "Click, click, click" as she keeps pulling the trigger. I don't think the slide was even locked back, as an extra faux pas.

2. Cops and military characters with fingers in the trigger guards. This one tells me the actor has had no training, hasn't bothered to have been told, and isn't a firearms shooter.

How else are you gonna pull a trigger

Clarify the issue, please?

I think he's referring to scenes where they are not aiming at, or hunting down a BG. For instance, in "The Other Guys" with will ferrel, the chief takes his sidearm from him and the whole scene he is holding it with his finger in the trigger guard. No threat, no anticipating having to use it. But finger on the trigger. That does kinda bother me too.

[Jasonw560]

I agree with everythng said here. My biggest one (and my wife's) is when the GG and BG trade volleys of gunfire, each one taking 3 or 4 shots each, and hitting the obstacle in front of them.

That, an the dialog during these exchanges. You know, the "give up!! You'll never get away with it!!" "no one's gonna take me alive" crud.

It's like I can't watch medical shows because I know the "code blue" patient will 1) jump 2 feet off the table every time they're shocked, and 2) they stop the code, watch the monitor, and the person comes back into a normal rythym.
Oh, yeah, and hardly anyone gels up the padldles, yet there's no burn marks on the patient.

[sugar land dave]

Most of my peeves have been touched on here. I think a good one is the magic bulletproof refrigerator door. I saw that and wanted to go buy one.