The Reality of Running Away from Stuff

In The Mummy Returns, a hero outruns the sunlight streaming over the horizon. Sunlight moves across the horizon at the speed of the rotation of the earth. So could the hero outrun it? Nope. Not even close. The fastest recorded speed for a human is around 22 mph in a 100 yard dash. The earth’s rotation speed is around 1078 mph. Similar mishegas occurs in other actions films such as The Chronicles of Riddick.

Idris Hsi has created a chart showing maximum speeds for some of the more common hazards that movie characters run away from measured against the fastest speed that a human can achieve. (Via BoingBoing)