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Quotes

Gen. Esperanza: Freedom.

[John McClane appears and punches him in the face.]

John McClane: Not yet.

See more...

Trivia

The film is based on a book called "58 Minutes" by Walter Wager. In the book, it is the hero's young daughter, not his wife, that is on one of the planes. See more...

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Die Hard 2 (1990) - 59 mistakes

Directed by Renny Harlin, starring Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Willis, John Amos, William Sadler (add more)

Genres: Action, Thriller

A few people have said that if the plane was running on fumes it couldn't explode into a huge fireball - yes it could, because fumes are just as explosive, if not more so.

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Plot hole: At the beginning of the film, it is still daylight, which at Christmas, would mean it's about 4:30pm at the latest. The whole incident of the film lasts around 4 hours (figured by the scene when Barnes was talking to the planes and said the trouble started around 2 hours ago coupled with the fact that not long before that, Trudeau confimed that Holly's plane had only 90 minutes worth of fuel left). So why at the very end are there shots where it appears the the sun is rising in the distance? (And no, it's not caused by the fire of the exploded plane. By that reckoning, the terroists would have had to have taken over the airport well after midnight, which is pretty much impossible since Esperanza's plane was already on route.)

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Audio problem: When Esperanza shoots the pilot of his plane the sound of the engine changes its pitch immediately. Why does it do that? It is not as if the pilot's foot slid off the accelerator when he died.

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Factual error: Several runway numbers are mentioned in the movie. Runway 10, 15, 25 right and 25 left. Runway 25 means course 250. The opposite end would then be Runway 7 (course 70). No airport would have runways running course 70, 100 and 150 - that is way too close. And Dulles certainly does not.

Edit Submitted by Jacob La Cour
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Factual error: When McClane lights the fuel with the zippo, the flame trail is all wrong. There appears to be a thin strip of fuel which accelerates away from him. However, we have seen the Fuel spurted out in a wider less controlled manner from a wing tip that has to be at least fifteen feet up, in a wind, which would have sprayed it around further. There is no way it would light in the tight manner shown.

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Factual error: The terrorists are using Kenwood 46AT Handheld Radios that operate on 440Mhz. The Army moves in with a Kenwood TS-850 Radio that operates on 30Mhz-3Mhz. Nowhere near the frequency that the terrorists are using.

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Factual error: When the terrorist clears the nearly fuel-exhausted plane to land on the lowered ILS, the terrorist says, "Windsor 114, you are cleared to land on Dulles Runway 29, ILS." Problem is: There is no Runway 29 at Dulles. The closest runway alignment for a 290 degree heading is Runway 30.

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Other: Bruce is sitting in what looks like a C-130 while terrorists throw grenades in it thru the window. Never mind the grenades going off too late, because they wouldn't all have made it thru the small window anyway. In fact some of those grenades would've bounced back killing the terrorists also, which would've made for a surprising end to this movie.

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Factual error: The chase scene involving the snowmobiles is problematic in that McClane can actually see where he's going. In driving snow, it's often difficult to see, as snow blows in one's eyes. On a speeding snowmobile, in heavy snow and with no eye protection, it would be practically impossible to see anything.

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Other: When the soldier is lighting General Esperanza's cigar while Esperanza is still a prisoner in transport, the cigar is visibly already lit before the soldier's lighter brushes over the cigar.

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Other: When we see pictures from the cockpit of the planes we can see the individual snowflakes. That is impossible with the speed an airplane is flying.

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Continuity: Two guys dressed in red go to the church and are let in by the old man. One of the men then says something like "You were right about that," and the scene shows him shoot his gun with his arm outstretched (obviously). The next scene though of the old man falling backwards shows the shooter's arm down by his side, however in the next scene where it cuts back to the shooter his arm is outstretched with the gun again.

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Factual error: When the platform falls on top of McClane and he drops his gun, I don't see how it would land more than six feet away from him. One foot at the most. Unless of course it was made of rubber.

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Deliberate "mistake": At the very end, John McClane lights the fuel trail which subsequently engulfs the plane. To do this, he tosses a lighter onto the trail which begins six inches from where he lies, having fallen from the wing while pulling the lock off the fuel dumper. Trouble is, the fuel began flooding out at the same time he fell, and the velocity would carry him some distance forward on the ground after he lands (which it visibly does); hence, it is physically impossible for him to be in the position he is in relation to the fuel.

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Plot hole: When McClane gets kicked out of the control tower and is sent down in the elevator with Coleman he quite obviously stops the elevator before saying "Here's a couple of words, F**k off." to Coleman. He then opens the top panel and climbs out WITHOUT restarting the elevator. Almost as soon as he has closed the panel again the elevator has reached the bottom and the cops are asking "Where's the other one?". As it is meant to be a single shot and there is no delay we know Coleman did not start the elevator again herself.

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Revealing: When John is fighting in the baggage area and he and the bad guy fall off one of the conveyors, you can see it is not Bruce Willis as he's falling.

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Other: At least half a dozen planes landed at the end of the movie, yet hardly any passengers are seen moving around during the closing credits.

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Continuity: McClane's fireman's jacket gets progressively bloodier throughout the film, but around the time when he is fighting the terrorists on the planes wing, it is miraculously clean again. McClane is not wearing it, but it does get cleaner.

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Continuity: Col. Stewart asks if the 747 is ready and says he wants ground personnel to inspect the plane. Maj. Grant intercedes and tells Stewart to check out his own plane so not to have potential hostages (which, of course was a ploy). When the hanger door is opened, you see ground personnel running back and forth between the door. They are noticeable by their orange vests.

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Factual error: When Bruce Willis faxes the finger prints of the person he killed to his friend cop in LA, I don't see how you can determine the prints through a fax. They would appear as blobs on the other end.

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