Top 10 Movies That Survived MythBusters

The cold open of this classic James Bond film sees Bond destroying a drug lab in Latin America. 007 emerges from the water wearing a drysuit, and after the job is completed, he sheds his water gear to reveal a perfectly dry white tuxedo underneath--which he proceeds to wear at a nearby local gathering. To test the myth, Jamie wore a drysuit over a tuxedo and went for a 40-minute scuba dive. When he came out of the water and removed the drysuit, his tuxedo was found to be in acceptable condition for a black tie event, confirming that the stunt is actually entirely possible.

Being a work of science fiction and all, “Star Wars” is obviously filled with (currently, anyway) unrealistic action sequences. But there are some surprisingly grounded moments - including the scene in which Luke and Leia swing across a chasm on a grappling hook. Three elements of the scene were tested. The first was actually getting the hook to snag on something sturdy, which Jamie deemed possible, but unlikely. The second was swinging from a belt, which Jamie was able to perform (albeit with some pain involved). The third was swinging with another human being, which Jamie was able to do with guest star Sophia Bush. The grapple hook swing is both unlikely and very uncomfortable, but plausible nonetheless.

The eighth film in the James Bond franchise, “Live and Let Die”' contains a very famous chase scene involving speed boats. It’s certainly a thrilling sequence from start to finish, but the highlight is when two speed boats launch themselves off a natural ramp, fly over a police officer and land in the water on the other side. While testing the stunt, Adam lost control of the remote-controlled boat and accidentally caused it to flip in the air. Be that as it may, the boat did clear the car, and did so with no real damage, so the MythBusters deemed the stunt plausible.

Released in 1989, “Speed Zone” is a high-octane comedy that delivers plenty of action and big moments. In one scene, a sports car actually skips across a lake and continues driving. It sounds like Hollywood nonsense, but hey, determining whether that’s the case or not is what the MythBusters are for! The Build Team equipped an everyday car with nitrous oxide to simulate the high speeds of a sports car, and drove it over a small artificial lake. When it came time for testing, they were amazed to find that the car skipped twice over the water before landing on the other side. This bizarre stunt is 100% possible - on the condition the correct speeds are achieved, of course.

A fun but ridiculous adventure movie, “The Mummy” contains a scene that involves Rick lighting up a treasure room by redirecting a beam of sunlight onto mirrors scattered throughout the room. It makes for a really cool visual, but as it turns out, it’s actually possible — with some caveats. They tested the stunt at San Francisco Bay’s Treasure Island and found a peak measurement of 2.5 lux when the sunlight hit the mirrors, providing more than enough light for adequate sight. However, this was reliant on numerous factors, including the sun’s position in the sky, the correct mirror alignment, and the mirror’s clarity. Therefore, they deemed the scene plausible - albeit extremely unlikely and more than a little ridiculous.

This movie franchise has lots of unrealistic, cool action. But here we’re using “The Matrix” as just one example of a popular movie trope: that of a character jumping from a high vantage point, landing in a dumpster full of garbage, and carrying on without injury. To test the concept, the MythBusters traveled to a waste management facility and equipped a dumpster with foam rubber. They dropped crash test dummy Buster from a height of 20 feet, and found that he “survived” without significant injury. Adam then performed the stunt himself, without any trouble. However, this does not account for dangerous pieces of garbage like jutting metal, needles, and pieces of wood, so the stunt was only declared plausible.

While generally ignored upon release, “The Green Hornet” does contain a spectacular stunt. The Black Beauty rides up an elevator, and the back half is severed by the ceiling. Britt and Kato then drive away using only the front half of the car. The Build Team tested this particular stunt - with mixed results. Unfortunately, the car being cut in half by the ceiling is bogus, as the car would simply be crushed. However, the Black Beauty is a special kind of car. Guest star Seth Rogen made the team aware of the car’s modifications, which includes a fuel reserve under the hood. With the right modifications installed, Tory was able to do twenty laps at Petaluma Speedway using just the front half of a car.

In this classic scene, Riggs, Murtaugh, and fellow officers deal with a pressure-triggered toilet bomb. They spray the bomb with liquid nitrogen, allowing for a very brief window of time for escape and protection; in this case, diving into a nearby bathtub. Despite the odds, every aspect of this stunt was confirmed by the MythBusters. Adam was able to pull Jamie into the bathtub and cover them with a bomb blanket in just 1.95 seconds. The bathtub also provided adequate safety from the explosion. Perhaps funniest of all, pouring liquid nitrogen over the bomb’s charge and battery delayed the explosion to fifteen minutes, negating the use of the bathtub and bomb blanket altogether. Riggs and Murtaugh could have just waltzed out of the bathroom.

A surprising amount of stunts from the “Indiana Jones” series have been confirmed by the MythBusters. For example, running through dart launchers without getting hit is entirely possible, as is falling through layers of awnings and surviving. But perhaps the coolest confirmation is the fact that you can disarm a gun-wielding enemy with a whip. Jamie was able to snag Adam’s hand with the whip, causing him to stagger off balance. Furthermore, Adam was able to smack Jamie’s gun-wielding hand in such a way that, were he not wearing protection, it would have proved painful enough for Jamie to drop the gun. Even used in different ways, the whip can indeed disarm an opponent.

During the famous Battle of Endor, the Ewoks set a trap for an Imperial AT-ST walker and crushed it between two swinging logs. To test the plausibility of such a move, the Build Team constructed massive logs measuring ten feet in length, five feet in diameter, and weighing 10,000 pounds. They first destroyed a passenger van with the logs and later knocked the side panels off the frame of an armored truck. Because the wooden logs were able to destroy the armored truck, the team declared the stunt plausible. That said, we don’t know how those little Ewoks managed to position and swing a pair of 10,000 pound logs...