-I understand it's at very close range, but it looks like the guy being shot is wearing a vest, wouldn't that stop 9mms?
He may be wearing a vest but they don't load guns with blanks at that close range, not so much due to the danger of a projectile but due to the danger of the concussion, noise, and flame.
Magnum Research Inc. Mark I Desert Eagle
When Chelios tries to interrogate Orlando, several of the gangsters in the club draw Desert Eagles. One of these Desert Eagles is an Early Mark I in .44 Magnum, the other is a flashpaper gun. Chelios later acquires one of these Desert Eagles off of Verona's brother in the back alley-way. Since he has to fire it at such close range, the gun is a flashpaper model during that scene. Later when Chelios goes to the hospital in search of epinephrine, the Desert Eagle changes to the Mark I model, which he fires several shots from before leaving it in the hospital elevator.
Chelios gets his hands on a Kahr K9 pistol which he uses to hold up one of the men on the textile mill roof before throwing him off. He then uses it for the start of the shootout in the mill before it runs out of ammo.
One of the thugs in the textile mill is armed with a SIG-Sauer P226 and has it taken by Chelios after he jams his hand into a sewing machine. He uses it for the second half of the shootout before trading it with a Glock 17. Also one of Carlito's guards has one tucked away in his pants.
When interrogating Orlando in the club, one of the gangsters draws a Glock 17 2nd Generation and holds it on him. Later in the film, one of the shooters in the textile mill uses a Glock 17 to shoot at Chelios before Chelios kills him and takes the gun for his own use.
Chelios is seen using an FN Five-seveN Tactical, the modified version of the Five-seveN with a laser mount and safety switch (the original model is double action only) as he prepares to kill Don Kim (Keone Young). His is fitted with a laser and a thread on suppressor.
A Beretta 92FS is seen in the hands of one of the gangster in the club and is the standard issue sidearms of the police department. Chelios steals a Beretta off and officer at one point and taunts his with it before tossing it away to give him enought time to steal his bike.
At one point in the film, an assassin tries to kill Chelios and his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) with a sound suppressed Beretta 92FS but Chelios kills him before she is even aware.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingChelios struggles with the assassin to stop him from killing Eve with the suppressed Beretta. The gun doesn't cycle at all. And unless Eve is deaf, she would hear the suppressed shots.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe assassin fires his Beretta during the struggle.
ISS Flashpaper Beretta 92FS
Some of the thugs during the rooftop shootout are seen using Beretta 92FS flashpaper guns.
While Doctor Miles (Dwight Yoakam) describes "Excitement, fear, and danger", the image in the middle reveals a hooded terrorist holding an AKMS. The terrorist is a cameo role for the weapons armorer of the film, Guillaume DeLouche.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingAKMS - 7.62x39mm.The terrorist in the middle image is armed with an AKMS. The image to the left had to be censored to follow site rules and regulations.
Sawed-off Double Barreled Shotgun
One of the thugs in the textile mill is armed with a Sawed-off Shotgun and tries to fire it at Chelios, who uses Kaylo's (Efren Ramirez) dead body as a shield from the shots.
When Chelios goes to visit the man in his pool, a guard on the roof is armed with a Mossberg 500 shotgun fitted with a saddle mounted spare shell holder.
To stay faithful to the character of a typical villain expression, "A little pussy with a big gun in his hand", Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo) wields the most powerful production revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 500 with a 4" barrel as his sidearm in the film. He is most prominantly seen using it during the roof shootout, in which Chelios throws a wine bottle at Verona's hand, causing him to drop his Model 500, which fires and blows off four of his fingers. One of the gangsters in the club is seen with one as well.
One of Don Kim's thugs is seen using a Glock 18 machine pistol fitted with a 33 round magazine. Although in unfocused background shots the gun is clearly seen firing, in close up shots the gun has the slide locked back and is not firing. Why they chose to do this is unknown.
The thug on the rooftop with the AKMSU pulls out an M26 hand grenade to throw at Carlito's men on the roof. Carlito then uses one of his own men to deflect the grenade.
The SWAT team responding to the shootout on the roof are armed with many M4A1 rifles with the carry handles removed, although some of them have no back sight added.
While this has nothing to do with guns, I figured this was worth noting. At the end of the film when Chelios and Verona fight in a helicopter that seems to fly up to about a 1000ft in the air, Chelios falls out and leaves one last message on his girlfriend Eve's phone. Somehow the wind that would be rushing past his phone does not interfere with the call in anyway, even though in real life the call would be inaudible.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingChelios leaves a message on his girlfriends answering machine as he falls to the ground. Somehow the rapid wind does not make the call any less clear.
At one point in the sequel, we hear the message is nothing but wind, despite the fact we hear it clear as day on Eve's message machine. Although, this was likely the way Chev was imagining it would hear.
