I know it looks real, but Gerard Butler said himself that he wore a prosthetic chest piece in many of the scenes of the movie. The scenes where he was getting it on with his wife and the scenes when he's not in battle are mostly him, but he said that many of the fighting scenes were makeup. They did a great job making it look real...I think the abs are real, he didnt say. The interview was on Leno the week the movie came out.