There’s a very simple rule of thumb that can be applied to everything one sees in a Hollywood-style entertainment: assume it’s all, without exception, totally misleading and that things in real life are totally different.

Interesting factoid: if you’re shot, you will likely fall down if you’ve seen people falling down after being shot in movies or on TV shows; if you’ve not been exposed to this myth you’ll simply remain standing because the kinetic energy of even a significant round (e.g. 7.62x51 NATO) lacks the kinetic energy to knock a person over. Handgun rounds, even the .44 magnum, merely poke holes in the human body and lack the force necessary to do more than cause a sensation of being mildly pushed. That’s why it hurts when one is shot wearing a ballistic vest (I speak from experience here) but one never, ever, falls over.

And of course, leading the list of don’t-try-this-at-home, kids, is wrapping a cape around your shoulders and then jumping off a tall building…