Hobbs & Shaw’s penultimate scene features Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson taking down a helicopter with his bare hands. Is there even the slightest possibility this could happen in real life?
Why the question mark? We watched Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Luke Hobbs pulling down a helicopter with his bare hands in the wildly successful Fast and Furious spin-off movie Hobbs & Shaw. Of course, movies aren’t real, and in reality, the helicopter probably would have ripped Johnson apart.
The film, centered on the on-again, off-again relationship between Hobbs (Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is already a massive success, drawing in over $330 million at the box office. Given the fact that it is basically just a collection of F&F’s most ridiculously unbelievable stunts packaged in a two-hour movie, that’s a pretty impressive number.
There’s one scene in the Hobbs & Shaw that stands out above the rest. The man among proverbial boys in a long list of action sequences featured in this cinematic masterpiece. It is the scene in which Hobbs is stuck trying to take down a helicopter with nothing but a chain, a tow truck, gravity and some high-octane Samoan muscle. And it works. It’s perhaps the most ridiculous scene in Fast and Furious movie history…
The investigation
Could Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson take down a helicopter, like he does in the incredible action film, Hobbs & Shaw?
What a stupid question, right? There’s absolutely no way on earth that The Rock, albeit very, very jacked, could take down a helicopter. The sheer power required is not attainable by any living being. Right? Right?
Wrong! I’m about to pull down your helicopter of common sense and logic with some protein-fueled SCIENCE. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson could absolutely take down a helicopter, as he did in Hobbs & Shaw — and I’m here to prove it. Let’s hop on the magic school bus (of dumb, impossible, uneducated, junk science) and figure this out!
First, we’ll recap the scene.
Brixton (Idris Elba, in what should be his first Oscar nominated role) is getting away. Hobbs and Shaw have to stop him. The time to Siva Tau with Roman Reigns is over. It’s time to be fast and furious. Hobbs jumps onto the back of a semi truck, operated by Shaw. He’s sure to put his shirt back on because… safety first, I guess? Shaw hits a ramp to get Hobbs closer to his target. Hobbs launches a chain from the back of the truck and holds on for dear life. They hook up to a few more trucks and with Hobbs’ ability to hold the chain to the helicopter, they eventually stop it from taking off. Simple, yet effective.
Personally, I would have aimed to land the chain over the center of the blades, thus wrapping it up in the rotor and probably stopping the ‘copter in a less exciting fashion. Another option would be to take out the tail rotor, rendering the helicopter unable to control its pitch and sending into the cliche movie tailspin. That said, I don’t have access to those strong, Samoan genes, so grip strength wouldn’t be an option. In this case, Hobbs’ plan was solid.
“But Ms. Frizzle, there’s no way Hobbs could have generated enough downward force to pull a helicopter, in flight, off it’s path.” That’s true, kids, but he wouldn’t have to do all the pulling himself.
In a real version of this situation, The Rock would merely be a link in the chain between the incredibly heavy tow truck below and the helicopter above. The Rock has gravity on his side, pulling at a constant force of 9.880665 m/s2 (meters per second squared). Gravity, paired with the force of an 15,000 lb. custom tow truck traveling at about 60 mph on the downward portion of a sick jump is about 21.77 m/s2 (give or take). The force generated by a helicopter slowly thrusting upwards at takeoff
may or may not be
is about 2.1 m/s2 (one of the first numbers I saw on Google).
Twenty-one is bigger than 2.1. Ipso facto, the tow truck and subsequent trucks, attached directly to the ‘copter, could generate enough force to throw the helicopter off-course. Surely, this is not exactly how the physics of this situation work but if you’re actually still reading this, I doubt you really care.
While it would be fairly simple for the helicopter to recover at a higher altitude, in this situation, it is low enough to the ground that it would have a difficult time realigning itself from a wobble of this magnitude (“wobble” being the correct aviation term). As seen in the movie, the helicopter was held at a low altitude long enough for Hobbs and Shaw to attach the truck to three other trucks and take everything crashing down into a heap of metal in which no one important was seriously hurt.
Let’s dive into The Rock’s personal ability to amplify this situation. Johnson lives in the Iron Paradise, clangin’ and bangin’ every damn day. While it may seem extremely improbable that any amount of weightlifting could make a difference between two giant pieces of machinery, in this case, it might be just enough to actually turn the tides. The Rock isn’t exactly human. While being the world’s biggest superstar, he is also the second strongest actor of our generation (shout out to Game of Thrones‘ Thor Bjornsson). His grip strength is stronger than your average bear.
Here’s another aspect of the situation that you may not have factored in: Helicopters suck! They are merely a set of spinning blades attached to a bubble with a tail. Planes only need two wings to fly, helicopters need four. Think back to every single action movie you’ve ever seen. Does a helicopter crash? Of course it does! This is because they are unstable and light enough to be taken down by the ridiculously sculpted demi-God that is The Rock. Helicopters aren’t reliable, but The Rock is. He’s the type of guy you could rely on for just about anything.
https://twitter.com/AsiataFive4/status/1161502548408356864
If you’ve made it this far, it’s probably safe to say you aren’t a physics major. Movies aren’t real, but there’s no doubt (okay, maybe a little doubt) after this scientific explosion of facts and knowledge that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson could in fact be an effective link in the chain that takes down a helicopter. Don’t try to fight it, just accept it as truth.
We’ll never know the real answer, but maybe, just maybe, the incredible, climactic action scene from Hobbs & Shaw could have been filmed without the use of CGI. You know, if those pesky insurance companies weren’t involved…
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