Factual error: The "hard suits" the divers wear have soft, relatively normal gloves and soft joints. More akin to a football uniform with armor over spandex. They are at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, at 36,0000 feet below sea level. The pressure is over 7,000 psi. Without a hard suit, they would instantly be crushed.
Factual error: The way the implosions were simulated isn't exactly accurate. At that depth, going from a pressurized suit immediately to unpressurized would completely crush you, to almost non existence. Instead, in the cases of Rodrigo and the captain, they seem to explode with such a force (an outward exertion of energy) that it blows everything and everyone back. The worst being Rodrigo, he "implodes" (as the movie says) but a regular sized (albeit torn off) human hand hits Norah on her helmet and I think there was a normal sized eyeball that floated by. Again, these parts would be reduced (or flattened) to an unidentifiable size.
Factual error: The movie repeatedly confuses oxygen scrubbers (why would you reduce the precious oxygen) with carbon dioxide scrubbers (which are essential to remove the toxic metabolic byproduct).
Answer: The helmet is designed to withstand immense pressure that is equally distributed over its entire surface. Direct blunt-force impacts by a hard metal object like a fire extinguisher may compromise the structural integrity.
raywest ★