HVAC in Popular Movies: Did Hollywood Get It Right? 'Blue Streak' Edition
Editor’s note: Hollywood long has been known for—ahem—taking liberties with the truth (just ask any composite character). In HPAC Engineering’s ongoing series “HVAC in Popular Movies: Did Hollywood Get It Right?," Ron Wilkinson, a professional engineer who moonlights as a film critic, takes a look at movies and television series whose makers may or may not have let HVAC fundamentals get in the way of a good story.
Blue Streak (1999)
Has there ever been a movie making more extensive use of HVAC systems than this action comedy starring Martin Lawrence? From jewel thief Miles Logan (Lawrence) gaining access to a priceless diamond that can not, no way, no how be stolen to his hiding the gem to his later retrieving the gem, ductwork is everywhere.
The film starts off in basic “Mission: Impossible” style, with Logan and his accomplices entering an elevator shaft through a building’s roof and rappelling to a HVAC duct. The duct takes them directly to the ultra-secure offices of an impenetrable bank. Though the film takes place in the present, the bank security system looks like something from the days of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. What’s more, a ventilation duct being connected directly to an elevator shaft is like something from a Charlie Chaplin movie, not a $65-million-budgeted Hollywood extravaganza. Is the idea to keep the elevator shaft sweet-smelling and air-conditioned, or is it to continually expose office workers to the sound of elevator machinery and the smell of cable grease? On the other hand, if the idea is to make sure fire travels as quickly as possible from floor to floor, connecting all floors to an elevator shaft with a wide open, non-fire-protected duct is a great idea.
Staying true to the characters-crawling-through-air-vents trope (see “Mission: Impossible,” “Jurassic Park,” “Die Hard,” and “Die Hard 2," but not “The Boondock Saints”), the duct easily supports a 200-pound man and all of his gear.
Next, the burglars escape through more ductwork in the building across the street.
The heist is foiled, and Logan is arrested, but not before he stashes the diamond in the ductwork of a building under construction. When Logan goes to retrieve the diamond following a two-year stint in prison, he discovers the building is, of all things, a police station. More duct-crawling ensues, and, finally, a remote-controlled car is dispatched through the duct to find the gem. Luckily, the duct is strong enough to hold a man, but thin enough to pass radio waves.
For a flick that definitely has its ducts in a row, don’t miss this HVAC Hollywood wonder.