# Stealth, pressing the Law of excessive explosions to the limit **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863 "2005-07-30T07:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/1 "2005-07-30T07:37:01Z")
I went and saw Stealth today, mainly for novelty. Other films have dealt with the ‘AI gone haywire’ genre much better than this one. This movie was dumb for a large number of reasons, but most notably the ‘excessive explosions’ factor. Though honestly, they’ve taken it so _far_ it was actually quite funny. I recall an episode of _The simpsons_ in which a tanker truck carrying MILK serves off the road and explodes in a collossal fireball 😛 I never thought an actual movie could get more over-the-top than that. After all, the simpsons is making fun of that fact in movies. Boy was I surprised! -A convoy of 3 trucks is driving down a road. 2 missiles destroy 2 of the trucks, in rapid sucession. Then the third one blows up 😕 I found it rather funny, like maybe they used their ‘steath missile’ on that one or something. -A guard tower gets hit by a missile, blows up. Then the building next to it blows up. Then the _chain link fence blows up_ 😃 Among other things that didn’t add up The scene where Jamie Fox’s character tries to shoot down Eddie bothered me. He fires off a missile, then crashes into the cliff face. What happened to the missile?! I was kind of at a loss about that aspect. Realizing he has to cover his tracks quick, the badguy general tells the Russians the heat signature of the Talon and Eddie’s engines. Didn’t he just comprimise the _entire project_ of both jets by doing this?! Obviously Eddie was a wash, but the Talon was still pretty effective. However by giving up the head signature to the Russians, he just screwed over the advantage of some multibillion dollar stealth plane. Some iffy geography that didn’t add up quite right to me. Ganon didn’t have enough fuel to return to the carrier, but he did have enough to land in friggin Alaska? I thought the Abe Lincoln was in the Phillipine sea. ---
**Author:** ![GhostoftheNight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58f4c7/32.png) [@GhostoftheNight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GhostoftheNight)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/2 "2005-07-31T07:36:29Z")
I saw it on Friday…good 'ole mindless summer action movie, IMHO. I LOVED it (because it had planes in it), and that’s the ONLY reason I loved it. The dialoge and storyline were cheesy as Hell. I cringed at most of the non-flying scenes. I did catch one blatant verbal error during a flying sequence: during the dogfight sequence with the SU-37s, Lt Gannon (Lucas) says ‘Releasing chafe and flares’…uh, Mr. Lucas, that’s supposed to be CHAFF! I’ll forgive the other ‘innacuracies’ as this is just a movie and not a documentary. And, BTW…a bonus: After the credits roll, there is a ‘bonus scene’…nothing huge. The scene shows EDI (in a bizillion pieces after ‘sacrificing’ himself to save Wade and Gannon). However, the ‘core’ is still intact and it lights up. Yep, EDI LIVES!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/3 "2005-07-31T18:20:54Z")
I saw director Rob Cohen on TV bragging that one explosion was so big, they had to notify NASA because it would be visible from orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/4 "2005-08-01T05:55:30Z")
We just got home from seeing it and I was appropriately impressed. 😉 Another plot inconsistency was whenthe pilots arrived on the carrier, each of their rooms were decorated with personal photos and the like. They just got there, for crying out loud. No time to decorate. And some of the cheese just got annoying, especially when Gannon and Wade finally connected when he was rescuing her and they stand looking lovingly into each other’s eyes, in the middle of a friggin’ firefight. Puhleeze. If that was a rescue, even a half second delay could mean the difference between life and death. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/5 "2005-08-01T14:04:54Z")
I may have to get drunk and watch it, then. The various stuff blowing up sounds much like one our roleplaying sessions… “I use my explosion power on the building… and the fuel tank. Uh… what else? Oooh!The chain-link fence! Explode!” ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/6 "2005-08-01T15:20:58Z")
Is it just me or is this entire thread in italics? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/7 "2005-08-01T18:51:21Z")
So, it’s a Jerry “Stuff blow’ed up reeeel good” Bruckheimer film then? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/8 "2005-08-01T19:03:52Z")
How much of the film is “kewl scenes of airplanes flying” vs. “boring scenes of actors trying to act”? Because I might want to see this film if there’s lots of the former, but the trailer gave the impression that there’s more of the latter…? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/9 "2005-08-01T19:47:56Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > -A convoy of 3 trucks is driving down a road. 2 missiles destroy 2 of the trucks, in rapid sucession. Then the third one blows up 😕 I found it rather funny, like maybe they used their ‘steath missile’ on that one or something. I’d have to watch the scene (haven’t seen the movie yet) but it’s within the realm of possibility that burning shrapnel and debris from one of the previous trucks hit something blowupable in the third truck, ie: fuel tanks, ammunition, the material they use to build the chainlink fences in a later example you give… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/10 "2005-08-01T20:04:21Z")
\*Haven’t seen the movie yet (or, likely, ever) but I did see [this](http://www.checkerboardnightmare.com/) webcomic today, and I have to ask: is there any context to the movie that makes the quotes in the first panel even slightly less stupid than they appear? Any at all? ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/11 "2005-08-01T20:17:16Z")
Why is this thread italicised? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/12 "2005-08-01T21:32:17Z")
Pardon the lack of relevant material…I’m just curious about this rampant italization as well…hmmm… _test_ **test** Huh…in preview, no italics (except for that first “test”). Odd. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/13 "2005-08-01T22:16:07Z")
Hmm. Maybe _this_ will work. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/14 "2005-08-01T22:17:15Z")
Er, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/15 "2005-08-01T23:25:30Z")
The rampant italicization was because **Incubus** omitted the “end italic” in the OP. Somehow, that carried over into the later posts. It’s happened from time to time, although it’s not supposed to. Sometimes, I swear, software does have a mind of its own. Anyhow, I have edited the /i and the problem has gone away. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/16 "2005-08-02T16:49:44Z")
Could someone spoil part of this movie for me? I gather from the trailers that the AI in the plane goes haywire and they have to try to subdue it (or something). What I want to know is how an AI _fighter jet_ manages to refuel enough to be a menace. I mean, it could fly basically one mission, and then it’d be out of gas, right? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![GhostoftheNight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58f4c7/32.png) [@GhostoftheNight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GhostoftheNight)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/17 "2005-08-02T17:23:07Z")
Yes, the AI plane would need to refuel and the pilots realise that, so they scramble the access code to the tanker (which is a giant unmanned ‘blimp’ type refuelling vehicle). The AI jet would not be able to take on fuel. However, when it flies up to the refueller and is ‘denied’ any fuel, it simply blasts off the drogue on the fuel hose and goes in and gets refuelled. This also causes the fuel to leak from the damaged hose and sets of the ‘ring of fire’ scene I don’t want to give everything away, but the trailers do NOT do this movie justice. Things are not what they appear to be, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/18 "2005-08-02T19:09:28Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > I saw director Rob Cohen on TV bragging that one explosion was so big, they had to notify NASA because it would be visible from orbit. Even an explosion the size of a football field would probably look like a pinpoint of light coming on and then going off… I wonder why NASA would even be interested. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/19 "2005-08-02T19:45:52Z")
One review said that the AI had more personality then any of the human characters. Is it true? ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863/20 "2005-08-02T23:21:40Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > Even an explosion the size of a football field would probably look like a pinpoint of light coming on and then going off… I wonder why NASA would even be interested. More likely they had to notify the FAA. I can imagine the director getting this garbled, and I can also see him accidentally taking seriously someone’s BS story about having to notify NORAD because it might appear to be a launch signature of an ICBM… but things blow up all the time in America without filing warnings ahead of time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stealth-pressing-the-law-of-excessive-explosions-to-the-limit/314863.md?page=2)