HVAC air ducts have provided protagonists and antagonists with means of escape, stealth entrances, and surprise attacks in movies. While the scenes in these movies may not be completely realistic by real life standards, they are still enjoyable and entertaining to watch. Below are some scenes where the movie characters cleverly used an HVAC air duct.
Mission Impossible
Perhaps the most infamous scene in the Mission Impossible series is Tom Cruise’s character being taken down into the white control room at Langley. Given the tight security surrounding this mission, Tom Cruise’s character cannot just walk through the front door. The air duct gives you access from the roof to retrieve information without triggering an alarm. During the scene, we see his accomplice lowering him from the safety of the immensely strong and studied air duct above.
The fifth element
In this crazy sci-fi movie, an alien transforms into a human woman. Once her transformation is complete, she is completely bewildered, confused, and scared. To escape those trying to capture her, jump head first into an air duct. There he navigates the tunnels in search of a way out. This character also tries to escape through a vent at the climax of the movie, but soon realizes that the vent is circular and there is no way out. Needless to say, ventilation comes in handy when this otherworldly creature is looking for an escape.
Alien
Alien is unique in that the antagonist (the alien) is the one who uses the ventilation system to navigate and surprise his prey. This scenario pushes the truth to the limit, as we can assume that the alien probably weighs close to a ton and spits acid. These two factors combined make it highly unlikely that the alien could be adequately supported in this way, but again, it makes the movie exciting and suspenseful.
The breakfast club
The Breakfast Club inserted a bit of truth into your HVAC air duct exhaust scene. After the rebellious character Bender is locked in the broom closet for misbehaving, he escapes through the chute over the hallways. Once he’s over the library, where all the other students are, the chute collapses and falls over. Since most airways probably cannot support the weight of a human, this is the most realistic scene on the list. The collapse also provides a funny joke for Bender’s unfinished joke.
demonic resident
A group of agents enter an underground facility that has been closed due to a virus outbreak. Once the group realizes that the virus has turned the dead into walking zombies, they scramble to find a way to get out of the underground facility safely. Navigating through corridors, lab rooms, and utility tunnels, the group finally makes their way through an air duct to get to safety and evade the hungry zombies.
Although escaping through an HVAC air vent system is probably not the best option in real life, it is an exciting and entertaining getaway in the movies. We are likely to see many more stealth entrains through the airways in the future.
