Nuclear-Weapons Expert Breaks Down 8 Nuclear Bombs In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
Nuclear-weapons physicist Greg Spriggs rates seven nuclear-explosion scenes in movies.
He analyzes the portrayal of nuclear detonations and their effects in Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008), starring Harrison Ford; “Broken Arrow” (1996), starring John Travolta; Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway; and Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” (1964). He also comments on what a nuclear explosion in outer space would really look like in comparison to Marvel’s “The Avengers” (2012), starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Scarlett Johansson; and Michael Bay’s “Armageddon” (1998), starring Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, and Liv Tyler. He breaks down the underwater detonation seen in “American Assassin” (2017), starring Michael Keaton. And he explains how accurate Christopher Nolan’s recreation of the construction of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos and the subsequent Trinity test was in "Oppenheimer” (2023), starring Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh.
Spriggs has been a nuclear-weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 20 years. He worked on a special project where he scanned, reanalyzed, and declassified old nuclear test films.
You can find more information about the Livermore National Laboratory at: www.llnl.gov
These movies show simulations of the effects of using nuclear weapons near the public. To date, the 1945 atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only instances of nuclear weapons being detonated as an act of war.
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Nuclear-Weapons Expert Breaks Down 8 Nuclear Bombs In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
There's something captivating about watching a nuclear scientist give a serious analysis of something so absurd as Indy's nuke proof fridge.
It's one of those things where even a child would know it's a bit unrealistic, so having a professional tear it apart is really satisfying. It feels having a professional speak "for" you.
@@nivyan I think that’s probably the point of it though. It’s so absurd that even children know it can’t really happen but it’s entertaining to watch.
@@ruk2023-- Definitely. I was trying to specify that captivating feeling of hearing an expert talk about their field.
I always thought it would have been funny if he survived the explosion and the being thrown part, but then was unable to get out because it's an older model fridge that can only be opened from the inside (so unless he starves to death, someone would have to find it and open it for him). I've heard that was a problem sometimes for children in the early fridge models - a small child might hide inside it and then couldn't get themselves out due to how the door latched (admittedly, I haven't seen any real true stories about it, just heard about it second/thirdhand). In my mind, it would make the situation funnier - he survives the bomb and being thrown through the air at the speed of sound (which is completely impossible/fictional), then gets locked in the fridge and unable to get out (which might be a true thing that could happen).
Oh yes, so our education system is marvelous at teaching the facts of reality & life. Movies are that of fantasy, unfortunately the world is full of people who commonly believe such fantasy. More unfortunate is what we learn, be it from education or other sources are also fantasy. Those who are accepting of theories (no matter what subjective word you may place in front to describe) as definitive answers to that in which is unknown, are by right only adding to such fantasy beliefs. In our time now a serious problem emerges, has it been all but inevitable. AI in the public sector provides a strategic basis into falsification of our education & learnt knowledge of existence & life, fantasy our reality, no longer do unknowns exist, answers are but one choice of acceptance as no alternatives will be applicable.
Most underrated thing about Oppenheimer was the several seconds of silence after the detonation. Since the scientists were 5 miles away from the bomb, it would’ve been about 23 seconds before the sound reached them
I actually got scared by the explosion sound in the movie theater😂😂.
that moment when the sound hits, duude!
I knew it was coming and it still got me good @@CassidyStarke
Sound travels faster through the ground though, thus you would hear and feel the explosion first from the ground and then from through the air
@@if413true, they would have felt ground shake approx 1 second after the explosion
The Pacific Rim seabed nuke and the T2 ones should have been included for both their uniqueness and prominence in their respective films. Hope we get a part 2 to this video.
I hope so ! 😀
T2 is the most realistic for sure. Can't believe not included.
Yeah, how could they not include those two?
Sam Winston did NOT enjoy making the T2 nuke scene due to how realistic it was.
I was waiting for pacific rim :c
Should have included the nuclear detonation dream scene that Sarah Connor has in Terminator 2 Judgement Day. James Cameron has claimed physicists have complemented him on how realistic that scene was
I was expecting that would be here. What a shame...
I can't believe that wasn't included, total fail!
Could be something as simple as it being blocked by copyright.
Thank you!!!
@@Obeythebeard And all these other films _aren't_ covered by copyright in your mind? 🤦
I really enjoyed Oppenheimer and apparently I was so engaged watching it that my brain short circuited a bit. As the explosion went off without sound, the artistic part of my brain "approved" that Nolan made the scene silent to emphasize the magnitude of the test. Half a second later, the science part of my brain rebukes "light travels faster than sound dummy."
What are you even saying?
That they got so absorbed in the spectacle of the moment they were unable to recall a basic scientific concept, and just assumed the silence was a narrative decision instead of a practical one.
@@travisearly7879and that you got so absorbed in demeaning someone else you forgot they’re a human being
@@wolfiemuse nice try, Russian Bot
Lol so true, and then I get really shocked by the explosion sound even more 😂
The way he just adamantly said he has no knowledge of a doomsday device makes me feel like there’s absolutely a doomsday device somewhere 😂
His training/indoctrination inadvertently kicked in 😅
Right?! Same stuff people said about the UFOs
USSR had plans for one, Stalin wanted the ultimate "Tzar Bomba", even bigger than the one tested, that couldn't be transported by planes or rockets, it would be so destructive that it would wipe out it's own country before enemy could, and then kill the rest of the world slowly by nuclear winter. He kicked the bucket before realization of that though, and thankfully nobody after was interested in the idea... At least officially.
He's just a physicist, why would he know. Regardless, the existence of nuclear-equipped submarines makes doomsday devices unnecessary.
I think a cobalt bomb would qualify.
I love when you have real scientists talking about real science. More please!
Thats why the video is really interesting !
Third this.
This is awesome for that reason. Too many people think things they see in the movies are accurate. Its a shame that their scientific education is so lacking.
My grandad was in the RAF's V-Bombers, who would have the job of retaliating against the USSR if nuclear war came about. Since that fortunately never happened, they spent most of their time smuggling things from the US, and dropping them from the bomb bays on their landing approach to be collected by waiting colleagues.
I'd love to hear more about this!
@@Reflectivekangaroototally nothing wrong here😅
@@rudrodeepchatterjeeThis, I believe, is what is colloquially known as "fed posting".
Can your grandad please get me a couple of kilos of Colombian?
My grandad worked on the Vulcans as an armourer, had some great stories through the years. Best one was flying back from Canada in a Vulcan with barrels of beer in the nose! Wish I'd written more of them down or got him to do some sort of interview to have all his hilarious stories recorded for posterity!
Thank you for “You don’t get EMP unless it’s a detonation high in the atmosphere” - I’ve been saying this since the movie came out. There’s also Travolta acting like an “exposed core” would affect you like poison gas or something.
I'm imagining you telling everyone you meet, every day, for the past 27 years.
But do give credit to the movie for introducing EMP to the film industry, because up till then all movies were just using"nuclear weapon". After EMP came "biological weapon", and then "cyberware attack". It's funny how a lot of things existed for decades before Hollywood make a movie about it, and when one release, 10 dozen follow.
IIRC Slater totally shrugs off getting axe handled across the spine with a crowbar during the train fight by someone twice his size, I may not have understood much about nuclear weapons when I was a teenager but that made me laugh out loud.
Good observation - I didn’t know they built cavern sets using rubber rock hangings until seeing Slater bump into one and moving it (and they used the take).
I mean exposing the core in a BWR can end pretty badly, but that's hardly a weapon, much less one reliant on an external (to the fuel core) explosion to set it off...
I would love to see a second part with some more movies like Terminator 2!
Ya, seems strange to skip it!
Includedl Alien Vs Predator too✌️
How did they not include T2?!!? Easily the most impactful depiction of a nuke on screen.
and threads...
T2 has one of the most realistic nuclear attack scenes on film, to date. According to nuclear scientists
Kinda surprised Oppenheimer only got a 7/10, it's supposed to be pretty accurate to what happened during the Trinity test as far as I know. Since it was the first ever atomic bomb test all the different scientists had different ideas of what kind of protection they thought was appropriate (Teller wearing sunscreen, Feynman with the windshield, etc)
The scientist here is talking from the years of knowledge he has acquired over the subject, whereas teller and co feynman at the time isn't aware of the consequences just assumptions and theory. It's perfect regardless of what his rating is.
Please stop thinking major film productions are ever meaningfully historically accurate or couched in evidence. The point is to tell an entertaining story, not portray facts - some parts will be accurate, most will be creative license. Unless you're watching a documentary, this will always be the case. For instance, the film entirely ignores the fact that Japan was already trying to surrender before getting bombed.
There's been a few professionals on here, where they had great, informational explanations, but completely bizarre and seemingly ratings.
It seems like they lost 3 points because Teller put on sunscreen.
@@eikonise Maybe it never happened, but it's certainly not improbable that at least one individual would misguidedly put on sunscreen. I haven't seen it yet, but I guess it depends on who the character is and what his expertise was. If it's someone who wouldn't know any better it's not a huge flaw that he would put on sunscreen.
Christopher Nolan apparently has a monopoly on halfway decent nuclear blasts in film.
Eh 🤷♀️. In Oppenheimer, it was mostly a fireball and sound effects. I didn't find it as good as some others from older movies.
James Cameron has some classics
Oppenherimer's nuke was pretty bad. I'd have simply AI upresed the real footage and denoised.
Well too bad for Nolan there were no IMAX cameras in 1945, well, they werent before they stopped Atmosferic testing,.... las clip actualy used real footage from severals tests,.. so they coudnt make it wrong in that way...
opinion. @@kw7378a1
The detonation scene in T2 has been called by many experts as the most realistic depiction ever. So real in fact it's been called the best nuclear detearant ever from scientists.
I was also thinking that T2 should have been included. But your comment about being the best nuclear deterrent reminded me of one movie (American) "The Day After" and a British drama, "Threads" which came out close together in the early 1980s, which were instrumental in changing public perception about nuclear war; both depicting the collapse of civilisation after a nuclear war.
As a long-time Indiana Jones fan, and also a scientist who is very critical of science’s incorrect portrayal in movies, I am very glad to see Indy’s invincible fridge adventure not get the lowest possible rating in this episode 😂
he looks so much like harrison ford too
@@cia5649Wow, you're right, come to think of it. A less grumpy Ford.
It was a Maytag.
"I have no knowledge of any doomsday device in existence." Sounds like a quote from Dr. Strangelove...so it also sounds exactly like what someone with knowledge of a doomsday device would say.
Cause there is one and we have it. It's called "Dead Hand" and it launches nukes automagically when certain criteria are met. US also had special ICBM's that would launch to radio-command launch of their own arsenal.
@@RussianSevereWeatherVideos Where does it launch them to?
@@mummeliini123 To their pre-set targets. You can imagine where those targets are located.
I watched 'Dr Strangelove: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb' (1964) for the first time just recently and highly recommend it. Another Stanley Kubrick masterpiece. 🙂🇦🇺
Our precious bodily fluids!
It might be my favorite film of all time tbh.
I have a collector DVD with tons of bonus material... Legend says that Ronald Reagan, just after being sworn-in in 1981 asked to see the 'War Room' at the Pentagon - having seen the movie he was convinced such place really existed - and was really disappointed to learn the truth
POE!
He should answer to the Coca-Cola Company for giving it a 2 of 10
I've been absolutely fascinated by nuclear bombs and their destructive capabilities since I was a kid. Loved seeing Oppenheimer in theaters. Loved the HBO series Chernobyl too. Terrifying and fascinating at the same time. I hope we never see the use of a bomb capable of this ever again
the HBO Chernobyl series are terrible, and not accurate at all. like a steam explosion that would destroy kiev from 100km is just bs
@@o-hogameplay185sorry I havent watched the show but did they actually say that ?
@@boijames3253 they didnt say that. There was a potential for a steam explosion which would have released even more nuclear material from the other remaining reactors. The show didn't imply the explosion would destroy kiev but that it would just irradiate a larger portion of eastern Europe.
@@jonnypope1537 so judging by your reply, the guy that I responded to mistook the steam explosion itself as the main threat.
@@o-hogameplay185 loved how they combined an entire team of (male) scientists into one female know-it-all character
Not going to lie, they had me at Oppenheimer. The Trinity Test was one of the best parts of the movie!
It's a pity that so little of what happened at Los Alamos and the science behind it got into the movie. I would happily trade the sexy scenes and the BW ones for more science in it, including the daemon core accident after trinity.
@@TheAlchaemist You have to remember that the film is a biopic. It's not so much about the bomb or the science of the tests, it's about the man, his experiences, his viewpoint, his life and his mind. Because of that, I believe it nailed exactly what it set out to do.
@@TheAlchaemistIt’s a book adaptation, not a scientific movie
@@takoshihitsamaru4675so the movie represented the bomb as a merr fuel tank explosion intentionally? Is the movie saying that oppenheimer really didn't see it as a otherworly power but just a thing that maybe can happen by accident?
@@spinosaurusstriker Nolan wanted the focus to be on the intricacies and reactions happening within the explosion, rather than the raw devestation of the explosion itself. He wanted to frame the little sparks, the fire, the visual as beautiful, wondrous. It's also a serious limitation that he chose to forego CG for it.
This was actually one of my favorites of this series. A lot of the physics I'd always taken for granted, like what happens with a nuke in space (especially as a sci-fi fan), really surprised me
Yes. I'm not sure if I understand it right but you've got to imagine most (sci fi) ships would be able to deal with solar and maybe cosmic radiation, so the actual impact of a nuke that detonated nearby would be practically nothing, unless it was a direct hit. I'd guess a much lower-yield explosive that left shrapnel big enough to make a hole would be much more effective as a torpedo
One thing about the Indiana Jones one is Why would they put all those trinkets and food in the houses? There would really be nothing except the manniquins
The shockwave and fireball are both atmospheric effects. Without an atmosphere, all you get is the radiation. Which as he says is over in the blink of an eye. The fireball is due to the atmosphere absorbing some of the radiation.
@@tSp289 In space, "nearby" can mean a lot of different distances depending on what you are talking about. But a nuke going off within 100 m of a ship would still instantly vaporize the outside of a vehicle causeing a strong shock through the rest of it.
I think we need a movie about the guy who invented Duct Tape. They have a lot to answer for.
Think of the poor ducks!!
He am become death
I'm surprised they didn't do the blast effects from Terminator 2's dream sequence.
My man just had nuclear goggles handy. He ready for anything.
You never know when Russia’s gonna get pissed off enough.
Fun fact about Operation Crossroads (the US nuclear naval tests), one of the ships used in the tests was the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen which was one of two of the only intact large German warships that survived WW2 (the light cruiser Nurnberg was 2nd ship).. Which it was able to survive the blasts from both of the nuclear tests Able & Baker... It did later sink though 5 months later, from the leaks it had which couldn't be repaired due it being too radioactive from the 2 bomb blasts for any personal to make repairs...
There is nuclear material that can contaminate the planet and create a "doomsday" effect. Plus all-out nuclear war will destroy a lot.
I was going to bring up Crossroads in relation to the American Assassin clip. I mean, that's literally what happened in the Baker Shot, and there is how much publicly available footage of the blast for that one?
this guys is cool, his ability to explain such complex processes and effects, is better than I have seen anywhere else.
Also, was hoping to hear an evaluation of the detonation at the end of Pacific Rim. A deep ocean, seafloor explosion. Specifically Striker's detonation and sacrifice, not Gypsy's post-portal boom.
It was shite. Especially the part where the Kaiju survives it. Multi-Megaton underwater detonation within visual range leaves only Kaiju-Goo. Realistically, even Gypsy would have been crushed like a soda can, being further away. But I still love that film. 😊
I like how the helicopter exploded from two separate areas just by scraping the ground
Yeah it's like when in the movies they shoot at the windshield and you end up with the fireball of a nuclear explosion...
Surprised you didn’t have him react to the scene from Terminator 2. I heard it is considered the most realistic portrayal of a nuclear bomb detonation in a city.
"we've had yields that were a little bit higher than people thought..." Bro Castle Bravo had more than double the predicted yield. It vaporized an island and spread fallout over hundreds of square miles.
Bravo was detonated on an artificial island off of Namu. Ivy Mike took out Elugelab, a real island.
Teller actually used suncreen and looked directly to the exploded during the Trinity test according to sources.
He said it himself
I love how people think that if your body doesn't physically touch the ground then you're safe from the impact. It's the sudden stop that causes most of the damage. You can be inside the toughest shell in the world, but once it hits the ground that sudden deceleration is killing you. It's why we build crumple zones into cars rather than making them super solid.
I understand the very crude basics of fission and fusion but it will never cease to amaze me that there is something we can extract from the earth and configure to release this kind of energy. Absolutely mind blowing.
it is and for me it is just as fascinating just how energy dense it is. Looking at a reactor and the amount of fuel used for the amount of power produced is mind blowing.
even more astounding: there is actually a thousand times more energy in that uranium, by mass equivalent (buy no known way to liberate it other than matter/antimatter annihilation)
Of the dozens of depictions of nuclear explosions I've viewed in films and on tv, by far the most soulful and emotionally gut-wrenching was the clip towards the end of Empire of the Sun. How a 13-yr old Christian Bale was scripted to react to seeing the glow from a distant Hiroshima, by seeing it as a childhood idea of a new, wonderous dawn, always gets to me.
"Why would you line your refrigerator with lead?" Probably the same reason we painted our walls with it lol
Still putting it in planes too
Lead is perfectly safe as long as you dont inhale/ingest it.
These are all great, but this one was one of the really good ones. I love listening to experts talk about their areas of expertise.
I love the way you rated the last one, specifically, because it's more than one piece of film put together.
Three I wanted to see: 1) True Lies, 2) The Peacemaker, 3) The Sum of All Fears. Surely there are others…The Day After, perhaps. Do another one with Dr. Spriggs!
Scrolled too far to finally see The Sum of All Fears mentioned...I thought that was one of the more realistic nuclear detonations.
Sum of all Fears probably has the most accurate depiction of a nuclear detonation.
Not quite... The hospital perspective: Flash followed by an immediate shockwave. Not realistic at all. If you were that close, you'd be vaporized.
I love these videos. We know most of these movies are fiction/fantasy, but so many people get their knowledge directly from these movies, or are informed by them, when it comes to concepts like this.
This guy giving 7/10 without actually mentioning why he took 3 points off
A Few nukes scene you can use for a Part Two would be: - Pacific Rim: seabed nuke - Terminator 2: Nuke at the beginning - Wolverine: Nagasaki Bombardement scene - Independance Day: B-2 Nuclear Strike & final Mother ship destruction - The Expanse: Destruction of the Canterbury (S1E1), of the Donnäger (S1E4) & the Agatha King (S3E6)
I like that, as ridiculous the lndy nuke was, it still got more realism points than Armageddon
Thanks Greg and team - that was informative and entertaining. In the past, I've been lucky enough to visit both LLNL and LANL.
4:48 "tests where the yield was a little bit higher" Castle Bravo
One of the most serious ratings by a scientist that I've seen in this platform.
I dunno how realistic it is, but my favorite nuke scene in a movie is The Sum of All Fears.
Yea, I was hoping to see his rating of this. It's like the only nuke to go off in the states in a movie not done by "evil A.I." and in a realistic setting. The ending to the movie was *chef's kiss*
The nuke is OK, but the thing in the movie that really stands out is the Backfire raid on the carrier. If only someone would make a movie version of Red Storm Rising and give us an amazing rendition of the Dance of the Vampires chapter from the book.
@@Noubers There are YT videos of someone playing around with this while the book is being read.
Noubers, the thing is, the Backfire raid on the carrier didn't happen in the book. That happened in a different Clancy novel, "Red Storm Rising". For this reason, Tom Clancy said that he would no longer agree to movies based on his novels.
Greg is lovely. Absolutely fascinating. Please bring him back for more.
That was super entertaining and insightful, much appreciated
Great video! This series is great and I hope it never ends lol
Lead lined refrigerators are actually vet common for storing radio isotopes for use in medicine/science etc. There was actually a lead lined King Cool brand fridge installed in one of the houses in Doom Town for the detonation in 1957 as shown in Indiana Jones
They were also just extremely common period during that time. Lead was in *everything* it was treated like a miracle metal for a while. I was pretty appalled that a guy his age seemed to have zero knowledge about lead lined refrigerators. He assuredly had one as a kid.
@@wolfiemuse Why would something like that appall you?
Lead assuredly was not in everything in the 50s. Its toxicity was already extremely well understood at the time and any lingering use of it in things like leaded petrol or lead crystal was more a product of willful misinformation on the part of chemical engineering companies who falsely reassured people that they were in stable or non-toxic compound form. The Surgeon General's office already knew from as early as 1925 that tetraethyl lead was horrendously toxic, but their panel was dominated by industrial lobbyists so they suppressed that info. Similarly lead paint was officially outlawed in 1978 but was already well understood as toxic and begun to be phased out by the 1950s. It certainly could not be taken for granted that you'd just find lead in everyday appliances like a household fridge by the mid-1950s; if anything the thing was more likely covered in lead paint on the outside!
@@wolfiemuseI’m appalled that you think lead lines fridges were common in most households.
@@hafor2846Because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They weren’t common for regular people to own.
The Expanse have some outer space nuke detonation, which I thought was weird at first, but after hearing his explanation of how space nuke would look like, is probably somewhat realistic
I think The Expanse got nukes right though, It's just a flash then it's over. There is no shockwave nor medium for thermal exchange to happen unless it hits a ship directly. The main threat of a nuke in space would be the radiation emitted.
Expanse has the most accurate momentum physics in all of Sci-fi. Wouldn't be surprised if the nukes were realistic as well
@@krishanuphukan80 yes, other than the protomolecule stuff, their realism level is through the roof
My dad used to work at LLNL. I think I remember seeing this guy! Thanks for the memories❤
That last one took all the detention videos that ever existed and put them all together in one explosion 🤣
If I hadn't have done law and economics, I would have done nuclear physics second. Sometimes, I regret not doing it! It's just so interesting! Definitely bring him back! I'm surprised you did not give him the 'Sum of all Fears' or 'Steel Rain', the latter which shows an ICBM launch.
Doomsday devices aren't a Hollywood invention; they are hypothetical devices that have been discussed seriously, starting in the 50s.
Is Dead Hand not a doomsday device? And real?
He's so thorough and insightful. More of him please.
This is one of my favorites of this series. Greg was great, informative and entertaining.
Talking about the thermal pulse was definitely eye-opening!
Litterally, eye-popping. It would also make your mind explode ;)
I would interested to hear what he thinks of Threads. What I think is probably the most realistic portrayal of a nuclear apocalypse.
I’m disappointed not many people outside of the UK knows this film, it’s the most disturbing ever
No movie haunts me like Threads. Aniara is a close 2nd but Threads, and The Day After, stick with me.
@@andresf1984 well they made hellot of job shaving it under rug,... since it was not good for general narative,.... great movie thou...
Totally agree about Threads. I was fourteen when I first watched it. It preyed on my mind for days. Rwal nightmare fuel
Great movie. I wish it was known better. Speaking of great nuclear bomb movies, there is also Fat Man and Little Boy, which is imho a magnitude better than Oppenheimer.
Definitely one of the more interesting information from an expert. 👍🏻
His immediate reaction to American assassin was perfect. Reminds me of what my teachers told me in school
I must be a nuclear bomb because my girlfriend always tells me that I last 10 to 20 microseconds
Greg was referring to the flash of light only. Surely, your thermal pulse, shock wave and radiation after effects has a longer time frame of pleasure!
I was seriously hoping to hear his critique of the Oppenheimer detonation scene, since Nolan's practical effects work was hyped so much, and if I'm perfectly honest, I felt like the detonation itself was a bit of a letdown. There was big boom, and even something of a mushroom cloud that was recreated - but the flash and the ball of heat expanding outward did not look like the Trinity test at all to me, having watched that footage countless times.
Well, all they have for now is trailer. We have to wait until DVD / streaming...
For people who's still think that Christopher Nolan using a real bomb is definitely wrong or getting wrong by meme. He definitely known as a guy who's not using much cgi and using practical effect. He said it before that he use some different material and liquid to recreating nuclear explosion. He also said he will recreating nuclear explosion in a safe way but still beautiful on camera. But meme makes that he will nuking a bomb or something. It's definitely wrong.
@@arigatoouu6448 it was cool in Imax 70mm, I guess. Impressive in its own right...I just felt like he fell short in making it look like a nuke.
@@ReallyBadJuJu yeah is a good movie. its very cool. Especially when they create the nuclear explosion with no cgi and using special practical effect. It's very rare and unique. It's an impressive work.
There is something funny abouth ppl who think they know how a nuke has to look, saying "thats not looking like a nuke". You know this images from cameras that where much closer to the ground zero, while in the movie you see the explosion mostly from the view of ppl who are miles away.
I love that he talked about the lead lined fridge.
I have learned more from this man about Nuclear weapons than anyone I have ever seen.
One nitpick I have about the test towns depicted in instances like Crystal Skull or Black Ops is that they are *way* overbuilt for the tests that they were conducting with the paved roads, concrete sidewalks, grass lawns and a lot of mannequins in the open so close that they were going to be incinerated anyway. In real tests, they build the same house at increments further and further away like the one-story house close in that flies apart while the furthest one was so unshaken that the lights were still on which reminds me that they *did* test how utilities would fare like power lines and radio broadcast. As for mannequins, they were placed *much* further away to test the effects of clothing material, color, and even how skintight the clothes were for absorbing and burning the skin underneath from the initial thermal pulse (take, for example, the burns on a woman in Hiroshima caused by the pattern of her kimono). Another nitpick with American Assassin this time: how was there not a *single* Wilson cloud forming during all of that? Even the shot in Operation Wigwam that was much further down than Baker generated a Wilson cloud above the hypocenter that was formed from the shockwave reflecting off of the underwater topography.
Just watched Oppenheimer last night, I thought it was a very well done movie. The one thing I would have added is right at the detonation of the Trinity test, they should have had a wide-angle shot of the entire valley, with the tower sitting in the middle, just this tiny little illuminated thing in the middle of complete darkness, then it detonates and the entire valley is illuminated for a second or two.
They would have had to light an entire valley
@@RealFemale69 They could have done it with CGI, and it would only have to be a two or three second shot before they cut away to a close-up of the explosion and scientists watching.
@@LordOwenLongstriderthat would be breaking Nolan's #1 rule in filmmaking
@@Quandal3Dingl3 Batman- "I only have one rule." Joker- "And tonight you're gonna break your one rule."-- The Dark Knight
@@LordOwenLongstrider damn 😂 got me there
Nice job! I would have liked to see The Day After and/or Miracle Mile reviewed as well.
I could listen to this guy for hours.
Please bring him back! This was great! I am curious how much damage a Nuke is capable of doing in space now. Are they ineffective as a possible defense against asteroids?
Did you even watch this? He talked about that directly.
My husband was Fred Vaslows care taker for him and his wife for years until they passed away two years ago in Oak Ridge TN he worked on the bomb I also got to in the Army to go to white sands New Mexico and visit the site of the first test looking back now knowing everything Fred told me they did the impossible during a impossible time
I enjoyed that a lot and the guest was intelligent and well-spoken. Thanks...
You can bring this fella back anytime, intriguing!
I wish more critics would acknowledge that 'Hollywood time' is a story-telling convention, done so that fast events unreel on a sequential time-scale to enable the audience to register what's happening without it being _blip,_ everything happens at once and it's done; and also cutting out all the boring _longeurs_ that real life puts between other events. Just because you see on the screen event B happening a few seconds after event A, that doesn't mean that that they wouldn't happen in real-life a few frames apart, or even in the same frame. Conversely, if event B happens just a few seconds after event A, when in real life like half-a-minute would pass, that is _unreal_ but it isn't _unrealistic._ 'Realism' isn't reality, it's things presented in a way that seems _like_ reality to an audience who have probably never witnessed the real thing (and hopefully never will, in a lot of cases).
Yo literally 😂😂😂 I hate this !!!! And I only hate it because some people will literally not acknowledge the concept which is simple asf
Armageddon might have been inaccurate but it was an extremely fun movie. Fun interplay among the cast.
I like that for both this movie and Deep Impact (but especially Deep Impact because they allude to it) that the debris from the asteroid would definitely burn up in the atmosphere, but in doing so would heat the atmosphere to the point where the oceans boil and the earths crust starts melting...
Nothing beats Dr. Strangelove in terms of pure entertainment value as Kong rides the bomb down.
The only unreal part of the last clip is Slim Pickens character somehow staying on the bomb when it unexpectedly drops from the bomb bay
Oh hey Broken Arrow! I loved that movie as a kid for some reason. Really interesting to hear about what nukes would be like in space. And terrifying to think it will probably happen one day. Luckily we still haven’t lived to see it.
I mean, they kinda are less dangerous up there, so if you have to do it, do it up there.
I'm sorry but why did he give Oppenheimer only a 7/10? Edward Teller really did wear sunscreen during the trinity test, so that part was accurate
I was looking for this comment! Seems like he doesn’t know as much about the test as Christopher Nolan did… Makes me discount the other feedback he gives.
He wasn't disputing that Teller did not wear sunscreen .. He said that it wouldn't be that effective
100% agree. I’m annoyed that he didn’t explain why he gave it that rating like he explained for the others. Like what was wrong with it in his opinion that made it a 7 and not 10? Because Nolan got everything right. I wish these interviewers would ask these experts to explain their reasonings because when there’s no explanation given, we can only assume the expert is not really an expert.
@@kittyhawk9707Right, but using basic logic and deduction we can conclude that since it was the only negative remark he made about the clip, and since he didn’t give it a perfect 10, then the subtraction of 3 points was due to his view of the sunscreen scene, thus he must have been disputing it. That, or simply bad editing or bad interview skills that left us without a proper explanation as to why he gave it a 7 and not a 10.
He's aware the name of the series is "How real is it" not "How effective is it," right?@@kittyhawk9707
Serious privilege to listen to such a scientist…, to have work on such engineering…..👍🙏🙏🙏
There's something fascinating about watching a nuclear scientist speak so calmly and intelligently about the known effects when the basic building blocks of matter split apart.
What he said about the mannequin just turning into a puff of smoke is inaccurate, “Operation Que” actually did this test in the 1950s and they didn’t turn into smoke, they were burned depending on there clothing and what direction they were facing.
I guess it depends how close they are. The heat pulse would obviously decay by the square of the distance.
Also probably depends on the mannequin's make.
If Stanley Kubrick knew about that detail of how the bomb worked, I’m sure it’d be in the movie. He’d probably make Slim Pickens ride it too, just for the extra authenticity.
I'm not sure the scene would work aswell with him slowly parachuting down though...
A parachute would have ruined the phallic image he wanted to create (as the nose angles downward, it looks like Slim has a massive boner).
The parachute malfunctioned like the bomb bay doors.
This is easily the best of the analysis series of videos presented by Insider. That's all to do with the sober analysis of Dr. Spriggs, who cogently deconstructs every detail in every scene, leaving no [radioactive] stone unturned. Does his knowledge crosswalk to any other subjects? We need more of his kind.
Twin Peaks Return had a nuke scene that is worth mentioning
hopefully james cameron will get a hold of a real nuclear weapon for his next movie so it will get a higher rating by this guy.
James Cameron has featured a nuclear explosion in three of his movies (Aliens, T2, and True Lies), yet not one mention of any of them. At the very least, do an analysis of T2! It's considered by physicists to be highly accurate, and it's arguably the most disturbing depiction of a nuclear bomb in film history. Gave me nightmares for many years.
This was a great video, but come on, Dr. Strangelove is 11/10 on all counts! Best movie about nuclear weapons ever made.
I like how he's like "I've never seen that," in a tone that says that if there's an effect a nuclear explosion can cause, he's seen it.
I could listen to this guy talk all day.
What about the scene in The Iron Giant where the Giant tanks the bomb to save his friends?
Stanley Kubrick is so funny and smart, he knew that the scene of the nuclear explosion will be dissected in the future, so he used the real footages 😂 no one can criticize the authenticity
i really needed this video
I hope I never have to use that information about a dirty looking mushroom cloud being a sign that the fallout risk will be higher… But it’s good to know.
kind of although it's more of their propagandic way of deflecting the disturbing levels of our atmospheric nuclear pollution which they sent across the USA & our world
Oh come on. Where is the nuclear blast scene from "Terminator 2" it's considered to be one of the most realistic ever put on film
Nobody's going to talk about the film the day after or Terminator 2 nuke scene
I can only assume they didn't include _Terminator 2_ because it's already been vindicated as fairly authentic by some experts. It still would have been nice to see though.
I paused the video so many times just to listen to what he is explaining and wrapping my head around all that. Very interesting.
The Soviet Union created "Dead Hand" which is essentially the doomsday Machine from Dr. Strangelove.
There's not a lot of credible info on what "Dead Hand" is or how it works. It _could_ be something like the Dr. Strangelove doomsday machine, but the fact that it never went off by accident, e.g. in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, makes me doubt that it's automatic. Also, salted cobalt bombs are a stupid idea & probably haven't ever been deployed IRL. So whatever dead hand is it's likely different from the doomsday machine in important ways
@@nathansmith3608 Agreed, it could be as simple as the Prime Ministers Letter that are carried on UK ballistic missile submarines, which basically is if they stop hearing Radio 4 and can't contact higher they are to open the letter and carry out the orders inside of it. _Technically_ that is a doomsday weapon.
Came looking for this. Dude is pretty smart, but not up-to-date on his doomsday devices. It's not really like the machine from Strangelove. It's not a 100-years-of-fallout salted dirty weapon. I believe it's just a way to cause an automatic launch of some/many/most/all of Russia's ICBMs if suddenly they are cut off from command and control and other sensors detect Russia has been attacked. Probably. Maybe. There are some lovely gory details about a rocket being launched to trigger it, and said rocket flies across the length of Russia sending radio signals to order the launches.
I think it’s funny that, for virtually every scene, he gives a proper and detailed explanation as to why what is happening either would or wouldn’t happen, but at 12:18 he just says “I’ve never seen that before, where did they even come up with that.”
I don’t think anyone will see the Indiana Jones clip and say wow that is a realistic take on how to survive a nuclear explosion.
I'd like to hear more from this man plz!!