25 Action Movies With Brilliant Hidden Details You've Never Noticed
1."The debate regarding whether the ending of Inception was real or not can be ended by looking at the wedding ring Cobb's wearing. In the real world he has no ring, whereas the ring is present in the dreams. In the final scene he has no ring on, so the 'happy ending' is reality."
Michael Caine, Inception star – and Miss Congeniality star, which is unrelated but it's not celebrated enough – knew Inception's ending was reality a different way. He once said, "When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it, and I said to [director Christophe Nolan], 'I don't understand where the dream is.' I said, 'When is it the dream and when is it reality?' He said, 'Well, when you're in the scene, it's reality.' So get that — if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream." Caine is in the movie's final scene.
2."In Air Force One, someone on the President's staff suggests sending a fax to get a message out. The President says if the plan works he will make her Postmaster General. The plan is successful, and in the credits, the actor is listed as 'Future Postmaster General'."
3."Brilliant visual humor in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz."
If you can't see it, the board behind him says things like, "Inefficient," "Rude," "Disloyal," and "Late." The protagonist of Hot Fuzz believes he is all of these things.
As one of the Reddit commenters pointed out, "The only thing written in black is, 'Lack of leadership skills.' During the shopping centre assault at the end of the film, he's shown to be able to take charge."
4. In Furious 7, Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs) uses his old wrestling finisher, called The Rock Bottom, in a fight with Jason Statham (Shaw).
In Furious 7 Dwayne Johnson uses his old wrestling finisher, The Rock Bottom, on Jason Statham from MovieDetails
5."Wonder Woman's blue dress is a nod to the 1970s Wonder Woman series."
Before we get any farther onto this article, let me say one quick thing here and now: in my head, I'm counting (most) superhero movies as action movies. And I'm correct to do so.
6."In Die Hard, Alan Rickman’s petrified expression while falling was completely genuine. The stunt team said that they would drop him on the count of three, but instead they dropped him at one."
7. When walking though salt flats in Utah in Independence Day, Will Smith said, "And what the hell is that smell?" It was improvised. No one told him it would smell so bad.
In Independence Day (1996) they filmed Will Smith dragging the alien across the salt flats of Utah. Will Smith improvised the "And what the hell is that smell?" Nobody warned him of the horrible smell that sometimes comes of the Great Salt Lake due to billions of dead brine shrimp each year. from MovieDetails
8.Now, this one isn't really a fun definition of "cool," but it's certainly noteworthy: "In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the Nazi outfits are genuine World War II uniforms, not costumes."
The costume designer Anthony Powell studied the uniforms in depth and shared his images and drawings with co-costume designer Joanna Johnston, who then found the real uniforms with her team in Eastern Europe.
9."Although the scientists in Jurassic Park were skilled geneticists, they misspelled 'Stegosaurus' and 'Tyrannosaurus' on the cryogenic storage containers."
10."In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Michelle (MJ) is reading a book titled Of Human Bondage. It's a story of an orphan boy sent to live with his aunt and uncle."
Of course, Peter Parker, Spider-Man himself, was an orphan raised by his aunt and uncle.
11."In The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, one of the fishers despairing at Sean’s early attempts at drifting is the real-life 'Drift King' Keiichi Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya helped popularize the art, as well as Touge driving, which also features heavily in the film."
12."In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the familiar Pixar A113 Easter egg can be seen on the ring of an IMF Agent. Ghost Protocol was directed by former Pixar director and animator Brad Bird."
A113 is the number for the room at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) where animation and graphic design students, including Brad Bird and Tim Burton, studied. "A113" shows up in many Pixar movies.
13. When John Wick and an enemy are in a pool in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Wick moves about three feet away from his opponent's gun. This way, the bullets are ineffective underwater.
In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), John Wick and an enemy fall into a pool and Wick immediately moves roughly three feet away just before being fired upon. At this distance the bullets are rendered ineffective which is consistent with how a typical pistol round behaves underwater. from MovieDetails
14."In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, young Indy gets trapped with a lion and uses a whip, which cuts his chin. Later in the film, present day Indy has a scar. Thought this was a pretty cool little detail."
Harrison Ford's real-life scar came about when he was driving to work (pre-fame) and crashed into a telephone pole. He slammed into the steering wheel headfirst, and then he had what he referred to as "inept emergency surgery," leaving the whole ordeal with the scar on his chin.
15."In Mad Max: Fury Road, the praying hand gesture resembles a V8 engine."
16."In Hot Fuzz, all the swear box words are censored, except for 'cunt.'"
17."In Jurassic Park, when Hammond insists on pouring the champagne, he says, 'I know my way around the kitchen,' but he uses the cheap glasses instead of the champagne glasses to the left of the shot. Much like with Jurassic Park, Hammond has the best intentions but he isn’t as capable as he presents."
18. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Widow quickly saves the lives of both Captain America and Falcon.
Black Widow casually saves both Falcon's and Captain America's lives in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. from MovieDetails
19."In Wonder Woman 1984, an elderly version of Etta Candy from the first film makes an appearance in one of the photographs in Diana's apartment. The actor, Lucy Davis, actually reprised the role in elderly makeup just to create the photo."
20."During the vault scene in Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise kept hitting his head when attempting to hover inches off the floor, so he put English pound coins in his shoes to maintain his balance."
21."In The Fugitive, Harrison Ford (who's playing the framed Dr. Kimble) was not provided a script for the interrogation scene. His answers and mounting frustration with the detectives were improvised in order to seem more genuine."
Here's the full interrogation scene.
22."In Men in Black 3, the alien with an exposed brain is played by legendary SFX artist Rick Baker. He worked on all three MIB movies."
Baker has won seven Academy Awards and has been nominated for an additional five.
23."In Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Brixton's (Idris Elba's) exoskeleton displays 'force' and 'velocity' when Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) punches him, and it displays 'trajectory' and 'velocity' when Shaw (Jason Statham) attacks. This shows how Hobbs's threat is more of absolute power, while Shaw's is more about technique."
24. In Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner reacts perfectly to Iron Man's new suit.
(Infinity War) Bruce Banner's background reaction to Iron Man's new suit is priceless from MovieDetails
25."In Speed, Howard Payne, played by Dennis Hopper, always uses the phone by holding it to his left ear with his right hand. This is likely due to hearing loss in his right ear caused by the same accident that cost him his left thumb."
26. In Mission: Impossible – Fallout, before Lane gets submerged, he hyperventilates in order to bring more oxygen to his brain.
Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) - Lane hyperventilates before being submerged, giving more oxygen to the blood/brain than a single deep breath, allowing him to stay conscious longer. from MovieDetails
27."In Mad Max: Fury Road, you can see where Furiosa stored food in the War Rig when she enters the rig from below."
28."When David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is looking for his ex-wife's phone number in Independence Day, the address is a little on the nose"
If you can't read it, her address is 123 Heresheis Ave.
29."In Die Hard, we catch Ellis doing cocaine in Holly's office. Later when Hans has Ellis talking to McClain over the radio, one of the terrorists brings him in a can of Coke. He obviously asked for some 'coke' and they misinterpreted him."
30."In Captain Marvel, when Monica Rambeau is changing the color of Carol Danvers's suit, she first chooses a combination of red and gold, which are the same colors as DC's Shazam, who was previously known as Captain Marvel."
31. There's a moment in Jurassic Park where you can see an operator grab the raptor's tail.
In Jurassic Park(1993), there is a scene where the raptor opens the door to the kitchen and you can spot an operator grab the raptor's tail. from MovieDetails
32."Look at the two shooters sign during the pub shootout in Hot Fuzz."
The sign says, "2 shooters 4 the price of 1."
33.And finally, "For Mission: Impossible II, Tom Cruise suggested to John Woo to have this shot during the knife fight scene. No CGI was used and a steel cable was attached to the knife."
Note: Quotes have been edited for length and/or clarity.
