MSNBC list 10 scientifically inaccurate disaster movies

William Atkins
Saturday, 14 June 2008 19:53

Opinion and Analysis

MSNBC states “Science sometimes gets twisted for the sake of a well-told story.” The website list ten disaster movies with improbable to impossible plots. Can we name more?

On the first movie in the list “The Happening,” which was released in the United States on Friday, June 13, 2008, MSNBC states, “… director M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" promises to terrify movie audiences with the tale of a mysterious toxin that causes loss of speech, physical disorientation and death. Toxicologists are bound to tease apart the movie's scientific fact from fiction – and if history is any guide, the science will likely be twisted for the sake of a story well told.”

The list of 10 scientifically inaccurate disaster movies is found at: "MSNBC Anti-Sci Movies".

A viewer review on Yahoo! Movies states, “The story simply doesn’t even attempt to make a detailed accurate scientific explanation, because the main character in this sort of movie is the fear, not the science. The fear feels real up to the point that I feel like I couldn’t just wait till the main characters overcome this threat they’re facing."

I’m sure there are many more disaster movies out there that are also scientifically inaccurate. Do you have a favorite one you would like to comment on?

In addition, Retro Fire Go! lists another ten flicks that it calls the “10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies.”. Do you agree or disagree?

And, Boing Boing reports on the “Physics report-card for science fiction movies.”

In the Symmetry Magazine article “The wrong stuff: When bad physics pop up in a movie or TV show, scientists try to set things right,” writer Amelia Williamson talks about science and the movies.

Please read on.