While Rambo may look super cool while shooting his bow and arrow, it turns out he’s not nearly the archer that a Pixar cartoon character is. At least according to bowhunter Cameron Hanes, that is.
In a new video for GQ, Hanes breaks down a number of cinematic archery scenes and gives his expert take on what Hollywood got right and (more frequently) wrong about bows and arrows. So who did well and who did poorly? As previously mentioned, Rambo’s form was not great, given that the character tilted his bow to the side in the example scene from First Blood II. This makes his bow’s sight useless, leaving it unclear to Hanes as to how he was aiming at all. Faring much better was The Hunger Games‘ Katniss, as Hanes lauded her consistent anchor — meaning she rests her drawn bow in the same spot on her face every time she shoots. Also scoring high marks were Merida from Pixar’s Brave, whose animators clearly did their homework when it comes to archery physics, and The Lord of the Rings‘ Legolas, whose quick-draw technique greatly impressed Hanes. Earning poor scores were The Avengers‘ Hawkeye, due to his lack of a good anchor, and Daryl from The Walking Dead, who showed unfamiliarity with his crossbow in a tense situation.
You can check out the video featuring Hanes below, which also includes critiques of bow and arrow scenes from Game of Thrones, The Killing Season, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, in addition to the previously-mentioned films.
