manthabeat

16th Nov 2015

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Visible crew/equipment: After disabling the guards, Damon and Clooney go to open the vault. The camera's reflection can be seen on the vault door as the shot pulls back. You can also see the crew member operating it.

manthabeat

18th Sep 2004

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Question: They use a pinch in this movie to cut the power. How does a pinch actually work? Why did they need one in this film?

manthabeat

Chosen answer: They needed to shut off the power in order to turn off the detectors in the lift-shaft. There was no way to do that locally, so shutting down the entire city was the only option, using an EMP, a massive wave of electromagnetic energy that disrupts electrical equipment. In real life, pinches are generally used to create high-intensity X-rays for scientific study, and they're very large - much larger than the one seen in the film. It is true that they cause electromagnetic interference when fired, but nothing like on the scale seen in the film. However, given that the only source of an EMP with the strength to really black out the whole place would be a nuclear explosion, it's understandable that the makers of the film decided to play around with the laws of physics a bit.

Tailkinker

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