Movies often feature thrilling scenes of characters effortlessly picking locks and cracking safes. However, have you ever considered how accurately these films portray the art of lock picking and whether real lockpicking techniques resemble cinematic depictions? This article separates movie myths from real-life locksmithing and sheds light on what it truly takes to unlock a door or safe.
Hollywood Myths vs. Real-Life Locksmithing Techniques
How it is done in Hollywood
In cinema, locking picking is often portrayed as an effortless skill that characters develop within seconds. Characters are shown using items like credit cards, paper clips, and bobby pins to easily pick advanced locks, making lock picking look like an accessible talent that anyone can develop.
Furthermore, characters are also displayed conveniently picking safes using carefully timed spins and explosions. For example, in Mission Impossible, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) portrays the skill of lock picking and breaking into advanced safes. However, picking locks and cracking safes is not as effortless as it may seem on the big screen.
Real-Life Locksmithing Techniques
Although Hollywood may portray lockpicking as a skill that anyone can pick up, real-world lockpicking techniques require extensive understanding and practice of lockpicking techniques. A professional locksmith undergoes years of training and education in lockpicking methods to refine their skill. This training involves locksmiths learning how each component within a lock works and what components they need to identify and tackle for the lock to turn.
Apart from knowledge of the locking mechanisms and components, the intricate process of lockpicking also demands dedication and patience. The Hollywood portrayal of lock picking is misleading since it shows characters effortlessly picking locks with items like bobby pins. However, in real life, thieves can’t remain calm when picking locks and break into intricate locking systems with a mere bobby pin. Breaking into locks requires specialized tools and precision.
Moreover, Hollywood movies also show thieves relying on dramatic explosions to crack safes. However, in real life, the truth is far less dramatic. Real-world safes are built with robust materials like metal, steel, and bronze, often designed to withstand explosions. Professional safe cracking requires an in-depth understanding of the locking mechanisms of safe and specialized tools like drills. Advanced safes are also built with tamper-resistant technology that detects a break-in attempt and goes into lockdown mode.
Expert locksmiths use their knowledge of a safe’s security mechanism and work on unlocking it without triggering its emergency response. Therefore, lockpicking and safe cracking are not as effortless as it may seem in Hollywood movies. Instead, it demands in-depth knowledge of locking mechanisms and specialized tools like drill machines, handheld scopes, drill brit extractors, and padlock shims.
Movies that Portray Characters Picking Locks and Safes
Below are a few names of popular Hollywood films portraying characters picking locks and cracking codes to safes:
- Ocean’s Eleven (2001): A gang of eight highly skilled thieves plan to rob three top Las Vegas casinos on the same day. The thieves showcase several safe cracking and lock-picking techniques.
- The Town (2010): A group of bank robbers led by Doug MacRayuse (Ben Affleck) rob a bank where they showcase various safe cracking and lock-picking techniques. They hold the bank’s assistant manager hostage. However, things go south when one falls in love with her.
- Inside Man (2006): A tense hostage situation unfolds as a detective (Denzel Washington) and a robber (Clive Owen) come face to face in a bank robbery situation. The robbers are seen employing dramatic safe cracking and lock-picking techniques to access the bank’s secure locations.
- Now You See Me (2013): Illusionists (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson), or the Four Horsemen, engage in dramatic heists involving lock-picking and safe-cracking techniques. The group is forced to steal a chip that controls computers worldwide.
- The Score (2001): Along with a young accomplice (Edward Norton), Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) attempts to crack a nearly impossible-to-crack safe to steal a highly valuable artifact.
- Entrapment (1999): An insurance investigator named Virginia Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones) investigates a stolen painting and suspects Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery) of the theft. She goes undercover to help Robert MacDougal steal an artifact. When MacDougal becomes suspicious, he confronts Baker. Instead of coming clean, Baker sticks to her lie and suggests a new target of around $8 billion.
Conclusion
Although Hollywood depictions of lockpicking techniques may suggest that lockpicking and safe cracking are effortless tasks that anyone can master, the reality is far from it. Real-life locksmithing techniques require training, practice, and an in-depth understanding of advanced locking mechanisms.
