Armor in movies.

You know what bugs me? The fact that armor in movies does absolutely nothing for the wearer. I know, there are a plethora of problems with movies attempting to portray history, but this is in my opinion is the worst. Mail, plate, scale, all have the same protection as a sweater. The hero could slash someone wearing a mail shirt, or punch someone wearing a great helm with fatal results. I mean, even in sci-fi, the stormtroopers were wasted by Ewoks throwing rocks. They are wearing armor right? Maybe this is just a personal pet peeve, I don't know.

The only movie I've seen that ever took armor into effect was The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971). The scene could have been choreographed better, sure, but at least they made an attempt to show the protection that armor gives.

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Are there any other movies that try to portray armor as somewhat useful?

I don't know how effective armour is so I can't judge, but you are right. In the movies swords slice through them like paper.

No one wants to watch two guys club each other to death with longswords for 10 minutes....

Originally Posted by Unorthodoxt

No one wants to watch two guys club each other to death with longswords for 10 minutes....

I actually thought that scene was pretty damn good; you can see them tiring, getting more and more desperate - pretty intense.

I forgot about Excalibur, that was one of those rare movies where armor actually protected someone.

Originally Posted by Fiyenyaa

I actually thought that scene was pretty damn good; you can see them tiring, getting more and more desperate - pretty intense.

Yes. But for the most part you do not want to hold a scene for long.

In most of the movies I remember, arrows and spears go right through plate armour every time. People wearing chainmail, leather, or scale are sliced with the edge of a sword and instantly keel over. Helmets seem to offer no protection to an overhead swing of any kind. People wearing armour generally die in one hit, or even if they simply get knocked down.

As for Star Wars, I also thought it was pretty lame too how the armour offered no protection except to small rocks tossed by Ewoks. It didn't stop lasers or big rocks, or clubs... all it did was encumber the soldiers.

So yeah, Hollywood has no respect for armour beyond appearance. To them its like a fancy shirt.

There's an old Excalibur (even named Excalibur I think) movie where Arthur and Lancelot in full plate keep wailing on each other without much effect. Friends of mine were laughing saying it's so unrealistic how they could walk in that armour and that the swords would've long cut through it.
I just looked at them and sighed.

I think it has to with the near mythological qualities a sword has been given. I doubt most people even know that as armour become better swords were less and less used, while axes and maces become more popular But since those are 'barbaric' weapons according to Hollywood, you won't see them in movies, except in the hands of the obligatory longhaired and bearded guy that actually is quite barbaric.

Originally Posted by Maraud

There's an old Excalibur (even named Excalibur I think) movie where Arthur and Lancelot in full plate keep wailing on each other without much effect. Friends of mine were laughing saying it's so unrealistic how they could walk in that armour and that the swords would've long cut through it.
I just looked at them and sighed.

I actually thought of that movie since pretty much everyone in it wears full plate but I wasn't quite sure if it's always a good example or sometimes a bad example for this occurrence. Though I agree, for the most part they're banging on each others armors without doing damage to it but also kind of knocking each other out that way. Then there's nice bits with swords hacking off armored legs, so it's kinda back and forth. There was a nice bit though with a battle axe lodged into the breastplate, I think that could work.

That reminds me, I need to get my graphing calculator and that movie back from my friend. He has had that movie for almost 2 years now...

I think because armor in movies is more for eye appeal than protection. You have to admit that Hollywood has crafted some bad ass looking armor. I remember seeing that Macbeth movie in high school English and people saying that fight was unrealistic and I was like Uhhh that's actually how it was done. But good movie, same for Excalibur.

Do you have any idea how hard an Ewok can throw a rock??? Really, really, really hard.

The Stormies aren't killed by the Ewoks, though.
Knocked out, yes; you would be, too, if an insanely strong midget bear lobbed a 40 pound rock at your head. But the only Stormies to die in that battle were at the hands of Rebel commandos with blasters, or at the occasional arrow at the weaker material between the armour plates.

Besides, the plates aren't meant to give direct deflection against blaster bolts; they protect against glancing shots, like modern body armour. Just about any substance in the Galaxy would be ing melted by a direct hit from a blaster bolt, so you can't really hold that against the Stormies.

Originally Posted by MaximiIian

The Stormies aren't killed by the Ewoks, though.
Knocked out, yes; you would be, too, if an insanely strong midget bear lobbed a 40 pound rock at your head. But the only Stormies to die in that battle were at the hands of Rebel commandos with blasters, or at the occasional arrow at the weaker material between the armour plates.

Besides, the plates aren't meant to give direct deflection against blaster bolts; they protect against glancing shots, like modern body armour. Just about any substance in the Galaxy would be ing melted by a direct hit from a blaster bolt, so you can't really hold that against the Stormies.

Spoken like a true fan boy.
Those "midgets" were also throwing and slinging rocks and you'd think a fully enclosing "space man" helmet would protect against something even a WW1 metal pot does. You can also see the arrows (which are nothing more than short twigs fired by ridiculously tiny bows) lodge in the back pack portion of a Scout Trooper and he's affected by it.
Protecting against "glancing laser shots" also sounds brilliant. What is a glancing laser shot exactly? Does a laser beam have ballistic qualities? Maybe the Stormtroopers should be wearing mirror armor instead of white plastic? Oh and modern body armor, incorporating ceramic plates and such, are able to stop frontal hits from small arms up to a certain caliber.
Let me guess though, all this wealth of knowledge about storm trooper armor and what really happened on Endor can be learned in those fantastic extended universe books. The movies just showed it wrong.

Originally Posted by Rapax

Spoken like a true fan boy.
Those "midgets" were also throwing and slinging rocks and you'd think a fully enclosing "space man" helmet would protect against something even a WW1 metal pot does. You can also see the arrows (which are nothing more than short twigs fired by ridiculously tiny bows) lodge in the back pack portion of a Scout Trooper and he's affected by it.
Protecting against "glancing laser shots" also sounds brilliant. What is a glancing laser shot exactly? Does a laser beam have ballistic qualities? Maybe the Stormtroopers should be wearing mirror armor instead of white plastic? Oh and modern body armor, incorporating ceramic plates and such, are able to stop frontal hits from small arms up to a certain caliber.
Let me guess though, all this wealth of knowledge about storm trooper armor and what really happened on Endor can be learned in those fantastic extended universe books. The movies just showed it wrong.

No not all of this information is from books. A glancing shot would be if he was running and someone random shot him across the side of the chest instead of directly in the center. And don't start about modern armor even if you were wearing the toughest armor I could still walk up and shoot you with a rifle or shotgun and kill you. I agree about the ewoks and the reason they won is because good must always win over evil DUH also in Episode 4 when they get stuck in the dumpster he fires a laser and it bounces around the whole room. As far as your silly WW1 statement a metal cap might protect you against death but it would still hinder your ability if I dropped a 40-60lbs. rock on your head from 20' in the air.

Princess Leia suffered a glancing shot and lo and behold, she survived without the help of specially crafted Imperial Storm Trooper armor.

And don't start about modern armor even if you were wearing the toughest armor I could still walk up and shoot you with a rifle or shotgun and kill you.

Oh no , I could also take out a modern MBT by dropping a hand grenade into its open hatch. You're missing the point I'm afraid.

As far as your silly WW1 statement a metal cap might protect you against death but it would still hinder your ability if I dropped a 40-60lbs. rock on your head from 20' in the air.

Yeah that's why I was talking about the small rocks they were throwing and slinging. WW1 helmets do that and you can still see better while wearing them.

Originally Posted by Darth Ravenous

No not all of this information is from books. A glancing shot would be if he was running and someone random shot him across the side of the chest instead of directly in the center. And don't start about modern armor even if you were wearing the toughest armor I could still walk up and shoot you with a rifle or shotgun and kill you. I agree about the ewoks and the reason they won is because good must always win over evil DUH also in Episode 4 when they get stuck in the dumpster he fires a laser and it bounces around the whole room. As far as your silly WW1 statement a metal cap might protect you against death but it would still hinder your ability if I dropped a 40-60lbs. rock on your head from 20' in the air.

That's not true actually. A shotgun blast would be stopped by just about most modern body armor worn by military. Especially buck shot, I don't know about slug. Also the kevlar in flaks is rated to stop any pistol round, and that's without ceramic plates; which are rated to stop 5.56 and 7.62 at least a few times. I've seen plates be hit by the two or three rounds without completely shattering.

But we can hold it against them that a Legion of the Emperor's best troops got beaten by teddy bears.

I always see the guy who is killing the others getting in between the plates. But when it's leather, yeah, I see the armor being worthless.

It bothers me in so much as a realistic fight with effective armor would be much more fun to watch.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a great film that bucks the trend and has good fights.

Maraud

Gotta disagree on Excalibur - full plate was actually quite flexible so there is no problem with them being active and since a sword is not exactly good at amour penetration the whacking would go on... I believe the scene in question does some what realistically show real wounds occurring at weak spots in the amour. A better laugh would be why if everyone was in full plate why almost nobody chose weapons that could defeat it...