Bulletproof Vest: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Artemus Gordon''': If I may make one last request...that she aim for my heart -- the heart that loved this country so much...

'''Artemus Gordon''': ''(under his breath)'' [[Oh Crap|Damn!]]|''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]''}}

 

** In ''[[Lethal Weapon]] 3'', the plot revolves around the sale of "cop killer" bullets that pierce through police armor. In one scene, a character survives by simply wearing ''two'' vests on top of each other.

*** Made more baffling by the fact that earlier in the same scene the bullets are shown shooting through the front plate of a bulldozer. The bullets are also demonstrated by being fired into a vest hung on a stand. The bullet easily passes through both the front and back sides of the hanging vest, thus proving the bullets could easily penetrate a double thickness of vest.

* A fantasy version appears in ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'', in the Mines of Moria. Frodo appears to be fatally stabbed by a cave troll, but soon after reveals that he's wearing an impenetrable shirt of [[Mithril]] beneath his coat. This also happens in the book, though he is stabbed by an orc and suffers a greater injury from the impact.

* The film ''[[Missing in Action]]'' features an on-the-run [[Chuck Norris]] buying a large raft-like speedboat made from "the same stuff that [[Bullet Proof Vests]] are made of". The salesman demonstrates this by getting into his handy-dandy rotating turret machine gun and putting a few hundred rounds into it, not getting a scratch on it. In reality, some boats are made from such material, but are hardly bulletproof. [[Chuck Norris]] heroically steals the super-boat by [[Ballistic Discount|holding up the salesman with his own turret gun]] and forcing him to accept a nominal sum.

* V in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' wears an armor plate under his clothing when confronting [[The Dragon|Creedy]] and his men. He lets them unload their clips in him and then proceeds to slaughter them all while they're reloading with his [[Knife Nut|knives]]. However, it is revealed that some of the bullets did penetrate the armor, and {{spoiler|he dies not long after}}.

* The cops at the beginning of ''[[The One (film)|The One]]'' wear body armor that appears to be impenetrable to small arms. The first slo-mo scene shows [[Jet Li]]'s character picking up a cop and using him as a [[Bulletproof Human Shield]] against the other cops firing rifles at full auto with all bullets bouncing off his back armor. The cop is shown to be hurt (with all the impacts still doing plenty of internal damage) but alive. Their helmet visors, though, aren't that strong. This is quite obviously not our universe, though (the guns have more electronics in them and Gore is the president).

* ''[[Raw Deal]]''. A mafia hit squad decides to murder a rival mob boss by running their car off the road. When [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] (playing an undercover cop posing as a [[Professional Killer]]) points out the limo is heavier than their vehicle, the leader replies: "Not if you shoot the driver." Cue an [[Oh Crap]] moment when the bullets are seen bouncing off window glass marked BULLET RESISTANT.

* in ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', a soldier's helmet is grazed by a bullet, he takes it off to gape at the hole... and gets a second bullet in the forehead. To be fair, though, the second bullet would have killed him anyway, seeing as how WWII (and modern) helmets primarily protected against fragmentation.

** Spider silk is impressive stuff. Bullet proof vests woven from almost any sort of silk-like material would put steel and kevlar to shame... but such materials are still totally impractical to make in bulk at the moment.

* [[Able Team]] (the 1980's [[Heroes-R-Us]] spin-off of ''[[The Executioner]]'') wore kevlar vests with a steel trauma plate insert, which came in useful when Carl Lyons got shot at point-blank range with an [[AKA-47]] in Cairo, leading to quips that he'd been shot in the head, and the terrorists had better issue armor-piercing ammo when 'The Ironman' came around.

* In the [[Adam Hall]] spy novel ''[[Quiller|Quiller's Run]]'' the protagonist runs into a problem when he wears an anti-knife vest to a confrontation with a villainess who, up till now, has used knives—only she [[Oh Crap|pulls out a revolver]] and blasts him six times in the chest. Fortunately the vest still stops the bullets.

** So, basically, she [[Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight|brought a gun to a knife-fight]], eh?

== Live-Action TV ==

* Rarely seen on [[Blue Bloods]], but whenever Danny wears a vest, it's because he expects trouble, and [[SWAT Team|ESU]] is right behind him.

** Subverted earlier, when Detectives Bolander, Felton, and Howard were all seriously wounded despite their vests, by an insane gun-nut conspiracy theorist who "probably used Teflon bullets".

** In the non-fiction book on which the series is based, one of the detectives was wounded in the line of duty when he was shot through his department issue vest.

* ''[[The X-Files]]''. Mulder is infiltrating a secret government lab when he's spotted by the [[The Men in Black|Gray-Haired Man]] who opens fire on him, but the bullets are stopped by a bullet-resistant glass door. However the Gray-Haired Man contines to fire, blasting a hole in the glass and them shooting through that—fortunately Mulder is able to get through the next door in time.

** In "Young At Heart" Scully is shot by a criminal during a sting operation, but she's saved by a hidden vest.

** Parodied another time where the department is testing new bulletproof vests. Suffice it to say, the shot landed elsewhere.

* ''[[Private Schulz]]''. On his first mission, Schulz's commanding officer proudly boasts that their car is completely bulletproof, which comes in useful later on when British agents start shooting at them...except the man with the car keys gets killed outside the car, preventing them from driving away. Fortunately ex-con Schulz knows how to hot-wire the vehicle.

 

== Music ==

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Players prefer to call them [[Fan Nickname|'T-shirts']], to match the lasgun's 'Flashlight'. That's Warhammer 40k for ya: stuff the Spetznaz would die for is considered bottom-rung...

** It gets better in RPG (''[[Dark Heresy]]'' / ''[[Rogue Trader]]'' / ''[[Only War]]''). By the stats, a full suit of Flak Armor (gauntlets, pauldrons, helmet, chest/back/abdomen, greaves, and boots) weighs 11 kg, basic vest+helmet kit 7 kg. "T-shirt" stops (weakens down to non-injuring annoyance) 1/2 of hits from SMG ("autopistol") or laspistol, 1/3 of hits from assault rifle ("autogun") or lasgun, and significantly weakens whatever does get through. It's useless against armor-piercing bullets, protects adequately from knife slashes (something at which modern light armor is not very good) and even somewhat helps against [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|mono knives]]; it works well against shrapnel (blast damage that isn't a direct hit) - an incoming frag grenade is ''very'' likely to leave typical conscripted cannon fodder in full flak armor lightly injured, rather than permanently maimed or dying like half of those without it. It's still considered one of the weakest armors in 40k with its users fairly well-known for dying in droves. Grimdark indeed.

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[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]