# Movies were handprints/retinal scans/ laser-array security WORKS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815 "2016-12-29T01:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/1 "2016-12-29T01:56:04Z")
In every movie I’ve watched, every time they show that the entrance to the “big important place” o “the gem of gemness” is protected by handprints, retinal scans or by an array of lasers in an intricate pattern, they are always defeated by the almost simplest of techniques. The handprint/retinal scan is bypassed by dust or glue or a picture. The laser arrays are bested by agile robbers. It’s reached, for me, the level of Chekhov’s gun. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/2 "2016-12-29T02:45:02Z")
I think the first time I saw a retinal scanner in a major film was _Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan_, in which James Kirk submitted to and passed a retinal scan to access the ultra-uber-mega-top-secret files on the Genesis Project. The concept probably appeared earlier, but this is the earliest example I can think of offhand. Although we don’t see an attempt to bypass this method of security, the implication is that Khan used force, threats and mind-controlling Ceti eels to coerce the _Reliant_ crew and later various Genesis Project scientists to bring him up to speed, i.e. anti-social engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/3 "2016-12-29T02:49:57Z")
In, of all things, one of the _Avengers_ movies Loki “defeated” a retinal scanner by the simple expedient of removing the eye of someone with access and using that - which, of course, is a nightmare scenario in SF, where instead of forcing you to reveal a password the Bad Guys instead remove the bodypart that works as ID. My understanding is that modern sophisticated systems also check for things like body temperature, heartbeat, etc. but I don’t really know that much about it. Pretty sure both the time clock where I work and my spouse’s computer (both of which use fingerprints as an ID) aren’t quite that sophisticated. Then again, I can’t imagine a scenario where Bad Guys would be so desperate to clock me either in or out at work that they’d make off with the relevant finger. I mean, seriously, if you want me to clock in/out that badly I’m willing to do it for you without violence. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/4 "2016-12-29T02:58:08Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > In, of all things, one of the _Avengers_ movies Loki “defeated” a retinal scanner by the simple expedient of removing the eye of someone with access and using that - which, of course, is a nightmare scenario in SF, where instead of forcing you to reveal a password the Bad Guys instead remove the bodypart that works as ID. Simon Phoenix did the same in 1993’s _Demolition Man_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/5 "2016-12-29T03:07:30Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > In every movie I’ve watched, every time they show that the entrance to the “big important place” o “the gem of gemness” is protected by handprints, retinal scans or by an array of lasers in an intricate pattern, they are always defeated by the almost simplest of techniques. The handprint/retinal scan is bypassed by dust or glue or a picture. The laser arrays are bested by agile robbers. > It’s reached, for me, the level of Chekhov’s gun. I’m not sure whether this counts, but the key scene in **Mission: Impossible** comes right after Tom Cruise explains that (a) yeah, the guy who uses the mainframe pretty much just walks through that door upon passing a retinal scan and a voiceprint ID, but, well, (b) _we can’t beat that,_ so we’ll do the iconic dangling-from-an-air-vent bit instead. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/6 "2016-12-29T03:24:43Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Simon Phoenix did the same in 1993’s _Demolition Man_. Thanks, you just saved me from a “What other movie did this? I’m thinking it was late '80s/early '90s…” post. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/7 "2016-12-29T04:21:39Z")
In District 9 The alien scanners in their weapons are effective in preventing the use of them by humans. There was one exception, But humans could not use it in the end. The human protagonist gets infected by an alien chemical that alters the human DNA and changes a human eventually into an alien, he decided to escape the human research place as he was going to be dissected so the military could learn how to use the alien weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/8 "2016-12-29T09:14:34Z")
In the Bond movie _Licence to Kill_, a palmprint-locked rifle actually functions perfectly, and as designed. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/9 "2016-12-29T11:28:51Z")
The laser net worked just fine in the first\* Resident Evil \*movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/10 "2016-12-29T11:49:34Z")
Actually, in _The Avengers_, Loki used a sort of holographic projection of the eye to fool the scanner. The person with the correct eyeball was forcibly restrained with a scary-looking tool held over his face, but the tool was apparently just a scanner. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/11 "2016-12-29T13:02:02Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > In every movie I’ve watched, every time they show that the entrance to the “big important place” o “the gem of gemness” is protected by handprints, retinal scans or by an array of lasers in an intricate pattern, they are always defeated by the almost simplest of techniques. The handprint/retinal scan is bypassed by dust or glue or a picture. The laser arrays are bested by agile robbers. > It’s reached, for me, the level of Chekhov’s gun. The “laser array” thing is really just for show in movies. You reveal them with an aerosol and it forms a maze for your hero to jump and tumble through. In real life, they’d more likely use invisible motion sensors. If you wanted to protect something with light beams (which, if interrupted, would set off an alarm) it would make much more sense to put them in a regular, tight-packed array (like a set of parallel beams, like the bars on a prison door) rather than having them go in crazy patterns. If they’re too close together, of course, you can’t slip through them, no matter how agile you are. But then you can’t use a scene like that in a movie – the whole point is to show how clever and capable our heroes are in breaking in to such a well-guarded system. If they use any sort of detector/security device, it must be one that can be broken, so our hero will use it. Even the close-packed-light array was used and “broken” in **How to Steal a Million** (1966) and (sort of) in the TV movie **The Man who Wanted to Live Forever** (ALA \*\* Only Way Out is Dead \*\* – 1970). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/12 "2016-12-29T14:12:10Z")
Edna Mode’s scanners worked perfectly in The Incredibles. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/13 "2016-12-29T14:32:14Z")
Strangely, the ED-209 was given live ammunition before the bugs could be worked out of its “he has a gun / he doesn’t have a gun” sensors. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/14 "2016-12-29T14:35:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The “laser array” thing is really just for show in movies. You reveal them with an aerosol and it forms a maze for your hero to jump and tumble through. In real life, they’d more likely use invisible motion sensors. If you wanted to protect something with light beams (which, if interrupted, would set off an alarm) it would make much more sense to put them in a regular, tight-packed array (like a set of parallel beams, like the bars on a prison door) rather than having them go in crazy patterns. If they’re too close together, of course, you can’t slip through them, no matter how agile you are. > > But then you can’t use a scene like that in a movie – the whole point is to show how clever and capable our heroes are in breaking in to such a well-guarded system. If they use any sort of detector/security device, it must be one that can be broken, so our hero will use it. Even the close-packed-light array was used and “broken” in **How to Steal a Million** (1966) and (sort of) in the TV movie **The Man who Wanted to Live Forever** (ALA \*\* Only Way Out is Dead \*\* – 1970). The laser system is gymnastically bypassed in _Jay and Silent Bob_ but the audio sensors work as designed. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/15 "2016-12-29T20:25:31Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In District 9 > > The alien scanners in their weapons are effective in preventing the use of them by humans. The same basic idea is used in the videogame Homefront: the Revolution to explain away why you can’t just loot an armory off the umpteen occupying North Korean soldiers you kill. In this version of alt-history, they have super advanced biometrics and the guns won’t work for anyone not registered in the military. No option to cut off some dude’s hand and use his finger on the trigger either 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/16 "2016-12-30T03:23:30Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > In, of all things, one of the _Avengers_ movies Loki “defeated” a retinal scanner by the simple expedient of removing the eye of someone with access and using that - which, of course, is a nightmare scenario in SF, where instead of forcing you to reveal a password the Bad Guys instead remove the bodypart that works as ID. > > My understanding is that modern sophisticated systems also check for things like body temperature, heartbeat, etc. but I don’t really know that much about it. IIRC for eyes it’s just how things work; the lack of blood pressure changes the patterns the scanner reads rendering a removed eye useless. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/17 "2016-12-30T18:02:54Z")
Incidentally, is Loki a better shapeshifter than Mystique? She had no problem fooling a retinal scanner when she impersonated Xavier, and he’s supposedly the _god_ of tricksters. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/18 "2016-12-30T21:59:40Z")
First of all, they don’t exist in the same universe. Second, even Loki can’t be in two places at once. His lackey had the eyeball-simulating-device at the security entrance, and he had the eyeball-scanning-device at the art exhibit. Presumably he chose the exhibit end of the operation because he wanted to be the center of attention. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/19 "2016-12-31T04:57:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The “laser array” thing is really just for show in movies. You reveal them with an aerosol and it forms a maze for your hero to jump and tumble through. In real life, they’d more likely use invisible motion sensors. If you wanted to protect something with light beams (which, if interrupted, would set off an alarm) it would make much more sense to put them in a regular, tight-packed array (like a set of parallel beams, like the bars on a prison door) rather than having them go in crazy patterns. If they’re too close together, of course, you can’t slip through them, no matter how agile you are. > > But then you can’t use a scene like that in a movie – the whole point is to show how clever and capable our heroes are in breaking in to such a well-guarded system. If they use any sort of detector/security device, it must be one that can be broken, so our hero will use it. Even the close-packed-light array was used and “broken” in **How to Steal a Million** (1966) But doesn’t that one still qualify? Peter O’Toole helpfully delivers the exposition – _“We must look at the facts impartially: we can’t get past the alarm; that’s out; we can’t tamper with it; that’s out; we can’t turn it off; that’s out … some trusted member of the museum staff has to obligingly switch off the alarm system”_ – and Audrey Hepburn, who naturally agrees that it’s not a matter of having enough agility to swipe the statuette while the beams are on, suggests they simply bribe a guard to switch the beams off. (Ah, if only they had! **How To Steal A Million: Just Spend Hundreds Of Thousands**.) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/20 "2016-12-31T09:53:52Z")
Not movies, but in the most recent _Doom_ videogame, there are retinal and handprint scanners that can’t be bypassed. Of course, given the level of blood and violence in _Doom_ surpasses even a Sam Peckinpah/Quentin Tarantino co-production, you can guess what that the solution to that is (removing the required body part from the mutilated corpse of whoever has it). Interestingly, however, There is one part where you do this and it grants you access to the secure area - but the security system activates when you enter because the rest of your biometrics don’t match up with the system. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815.md?page=2)