Brainstorm

Brainstorm (1983)

1 corrected entry

★★★★☆

(2 votes)

Corrected entry: A device that works by reading the human brain wouldn't record the afterlife as that by definition transcends human bodily experience and occurs in another plane of existence. The movie could clear this if at any point the characters acknowledged they'd accidentally created a supernatural device that doesn't actually work the way they thought it did at all, but as is the story seems to confuse the human mind (which is dependent on the physical brain) with the human soul.

TonyPH

Correction: The device actually does cease to record anything once the user has died and all brain activity has ended: it's not that the device itself can suddenly see into "the other side" somehow, but rather it's picking up the brain's experience in the midst of death, whether induced by spiritual means or simply a dream-like interpretation by the mind.

TonyPH

Correction: This is a fictional device that operates exactly as the filmmakers say it does. Whether it works as you think it should is irrelevant.

This is 100% true, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a plot hole, it just means the audience doesn't mind that it doesn't strictly make sense.

TonyPH

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Mistakes

Factual error: When the Brainstorm project is taken over by the sinister military operative Landan Marks, he begins weaponizing the brain-interface technology and testing it on the human guinea pig Gordon Forbes. As Gordon is subjected to increasingly difficult fighter-jet simulations, Landan Marks gleefully exclaims to military observers, "Now watch this! He can take a full 10-G rollout without losing control, just by thinking about it!" In the flight-simulator cockpit, Gordon grimaces, but the Brainstorm device allows him to remain conscious and maintain control despite his physical distress. But the fact is that no flight simulator in the 1980s or even today would be able to simulate extreme G-forces as described in this film. In fact, flight simulators then and now can't approximate even low G-forces. Only a giant centrifuge can produce such forces; but Gordon is not in a centrifuge for this scene. It's simply a flight simulator.

Charles Austin Miller

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Quotes

Dr. Michael Anthony Brace: When I found her, she looked so peaceful. Why do you have to die to let go? All my life, I never needed anybody... And now, because of this thing she left me, I'm scared. For the first time in my life, I'm scared. But the thing is, I like it. I want more. You're married to a man who has a chance to take a scientific look at the scariest thing people ever have to face. I've gotta do this... gotta play that tape, and you gotta help me.

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Trivia

Trivia: Contrary to longstanding rumors, Natalie Wood's death did not change the plot or threaten production of this film. At the time of her death, Wood had already completed all of her principal photography, including the ending. According to producer/director Douglas Trumbull, the truth of the matter was that Metro Goldwyn Mayer was in financial trouble and saw Wood's death as an opportunity to bail itself out of debt; so, MGM halted production of "Brainstorm" and tried to write-off the film as a loss in order to collect a sizable insurance claim from Lloyd's of London. When Lloyd's investigated the claim and deposed Douglas Trumbull, he told Lloyd's that the movie was not at all damaged or threatened by Wood's death, and that it could easily be completed. Although MGM refused to pay for the film's completion, Lloyd's of London itself gave Trumbull $5.8 million to finish production.

Charles Austin Miller

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