Making Your Move
The Photo Essay
Any good training for practical pistol shooting should include what we call "making your move." The movie, Collateral
(Copywrite 2004) has the best
shooting sequence we've ever seen in a movie. That's why we've chosen to showcase it as an example of how it looks when you do it right.
The stars are Tom Cruise and Jamie Fox. Cruise
(the bad-guy) is a hit-man sent to L.A. to wipe
out all the "loose ends" regarding a drug dealer's trial which is
scheduled to start the next day.
Several
witnesses and the lead prosecutor are on the hit-list. All
the executions are to occur during the night before the trial begins.
Cruise
hires a cabbie (Fox) to drive him around to his
targets for the whole night. At some point Fox learns the true nature of the enterprise
and Cruise has to leave him zip-tied to his steering wheel while he
goes into a building to make another hit.
Fox
attempts to draw the attention of passersby but only succeeds in
getting robbed by punks. The punks also take the killer's briefcase, a big mistake.
Cruise
exits the building just as the muggers are strolling away.
He
calls to the muggers, "Yo, Homey! That my briefcase?"
The
robbers turn and approach with the intention of robbing Cruise too.
When
the robber pokes a gun in Cruise's face things happen fast.
Cruise "makes his move" and 2.5 seconds later both punks have been shot down,
one mortally. The live one is finished-off as Cruise retrieves his briefcase a few seconds later.
This
scene is a flawless example of what we practiced during the live-fire shooting we engaged in at Ft Mead, Md under the tutelage
of a master of the craft, Mr. John Pepper of Riverdale Md. All such shooting was done with a timer. You start the timer by "making your move." A time of 2.5 seconds (as in the movie) is well into competition skill level but entirely
realistic.
If you get
the movie, navigate to Scene Selection and choose, scene 7, titled Getting mugged. The action begins at the 34:00 minute mark of
the film timer and at time reference 35:13 Cruise exits the building.
Pay close attention to Cruise as the punk approaches and sticks the
gun in his face.
I
recommend playing it back several times to get the full appreciation
for all that takes place in the 2.5 seconds after Cruise makes
his move.
The
important thing to take note of is the lack of wasted motion as
the punks are calmly executed. Only serious training and practice
can achieve what you see in that scene. It's the best shooting scene
I've ever seen in a movie.
I
did a stop-action retrieval of the scene and got 17 decent pictures of that
fateful 2.5 seconds. The
following shows it frame-by-frame. Hope you can see it okay. (There's a link to a YouTube video of it at the bottom.)
Just above is where the scene gets interesting. You'll want to pay close attention every little thing that takes place from here. As the mugger approaches, watch
Cruise carefully as he raises his hands in what we call the "ready
position" which is both palms facing the bad-guy.
This
is the “ready position” that's trained and practiced by students
of practical pistol shooting until it's done without thinking. The
response time of a normal human is between a 1.5-seconds-to-2.5-seconds
to go thru the mental processes involved between realizing the need to do
something and then getting into action. Only training and practice can help
you beat that normal response time. Watch the
timer as Cruise makes his move.
As an opening move Cruise
pushes the punks gunhand across his front which gets his gun pointed away and prevents the punk's
use of his other hand. At the same time he pushes his jacket out of
the way while going for his own gun. The other punk still hasn't
realized the seriousness of what's going on.
While
punk #1 is trying to recover, Cruise is drawing his own gun. Punk #2
is just beginning to fumble for his gun in an obviously unpracticed set
of moves. Cruise has released the hand of punk #1 because he needs his own hand out of the way for whats coming. The elapsed time shows less than 3-tenths of a second have passed.
Cruise's
gun is about to clear its holster and it's now too late for punk #1.
Punk #2 is still fumbling. Start paying attention to the elapsed
time shown in each frame. Less than a half-second has gone by.
Cruise's
gun has cleared the holster and is leveling towards punk #1. Note
Cruise's arm is staying close to his body, (an important
detail.) Punk #2 is still fumbling. Just over a half-second has passed.
Note
Cruise's arm is tucked tightly against his side as he fires his 1st
shot into punk #1. Punk #2 is still fumbling for his gun. Bet he's
thinking something like “Oh Shit!” right about now.
Punk
#1 is absorbing the 1st shot as Cruise gets set for the 2nd shot. And Punk
#2 is still fumbling. Are you paying attention to the elapsed time
at the top?
Take
note of Cruise's arm again kept tight against his body as he fires
the 2nd shot into punk #1. Punk #2 is still fumbling and
his gun still hasn't cleared his clothing. Only 1-second has elapsed.
Punk
#1 is off balance and falling back from the 2 rapid shots into his
upper torso as Cruise begins turning his attention and gun on punk #2
who still hasn't cleared his gun from his clothes. Note the elapsed
time? Remember the untrained response time of 1.5-to-2.5 seconds for normal humans.
Cruise
is raising the gun as he gets his other hand on it while completing
his turn towards punk #2 who has just run out of time, (and
still hasn't gotten his gun “into action.”) Time elapsed is 1.3-seconds.
Cruise
has completed his turn and accomplished a near-perfect shooting
stance as he fires his 1st shot into punk #2 which is the 3rd
shot of the sequence. See the time elapsed?
Punk
#2 is knocked off balance by the impact of the 1st shot
and Cruise is getting set for another shot. The punk's gun is out
now but it seems too late for him at this point. See the time elapsed?
Cruise
fires the 2nd shot into punk #2 who is continuing his loss
of balance. Cruise's stance is still solid. The punk's gun is out
but his chance of recovering seems bleak.
Cruise
is adjusting his stance as he recovers from firing the 2nd shot.
Punk #2 is on his way down, his gun seems almost moot by this time.
See the elapsed time?
Cruise
has adjusted his stance and sights for shot #3 which is clearly aimed
at the head of the now-doomed punk #2 who is still falling. Time
elapsed?
Cruise
is recovering from that shot and keeps the gun “on” punk #2 who
is almost all the way down.
Punk
#2 is down for good as Cruise lowers his gun slightly to take
in the results of the past 2.5-seconds to see if more is needed.
In the next few seconds he retrieves his
briefcase, the cabbies wallet and finishes off punk #1 with a
head-shot. Folks, that's what Perfection looks like!!
As YOU work on your training and practice regimen, just remember those 1.5-to-2.5-seconds from realization-to-action really is normal for most human beings. For that reason you must practice getting things done within that time frame. What Cruise does in this sequence took weeks of all-day practice so don't be disappointed if you don't get to his level right away. When you can get 2 good shots into that in-your-face target and one into a 2nd nearby target all in 2.5 seconds you're at a competitive level. You might be surprised how fast you are once you start doing it correctly.
Just Remember! You're not TRYING to be fast!
Just work on doing it correctly. Clean, fumble-free motions are what's fast. Learn to do it right.
It's not easy to achieve this level of performance. Remember to use dry-fire and slow-motion to identify the useless, time wasting motions. Once you've eliminated the wasted motions and can perform the correct movements in a smooth manner you'll have become pretty fast. A stopwatch will make it obvious. Then keep on practicing. That's the only path to this level of performance.
Watch & learn. Or, you can just get on YouTube and search for...
SHOT FOR SHOT: "Collateral" Alleyway Gunfight Breakdown
