Corrected entry: Another gag that's too far from reality: How on earth can a car pull a supporting beam of solid mansion out the foundation? (01:30:20)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Riggs pulls the stilts out from under the house you can see the rear end come out from under the truck but then he backs up and jerks it again.
Correction: The axle is never shown coming free. At one point, the rear end of the truck lifts upward, allowing the wheels to drop quite a bit, but this is the effect of unloading the trucks weight from its rear leaf springs (jack up a car with a scissor jack under the rocker panel to see the same effect). Regardless, the cable he is using is attached to the truck frame, not the axle, so he can yank like this 'til the transmission fails and the axle mounts will never be at risk.
Corrected entry: When Danny Glover is thrown out of the South African's office, one of the security people turns his hand as if to lock the door. Yet for the rest of the scene, the door is shown the whole time and there is NO lock on the door. This apparent lock-free policy is keeping a whole heap of protesters outside.
Correction: No one actually makes a move to lock the doors, they simply hold them closed 'til they feel Roger isn't intending to come back in. The protestors outside surely know that entering would be trespassing, so they remain outside by choice, not because of locks. Lastly, there's no reason the doors can't have remote-controlled electronic locks (especially since they are the front doors of a very real bank lobby used for this scene).
Corrected entry: In the scene with the dive into the hotel pool the hotel balcony is protected by a solid wall. Therefore, only Riggs, who was rolling on the room service trolley, would have had a chance to fly over it, whereas Leo and the attacker should have ran into the wall. (00:27:20)
Correction: It isn't a 'solid wall' but an orange metal railing. Such railings only come up to about waist level. Given the forward momentum of all three struggling men, they could easily have lost balance and toppled over the railing.
Corrected entry: When Murtaugh and Leo pull up to is house he tells Leo to stay in the car and don't go anywhere. Leo I think he says he's cold so Murtaugh turns the car on. While Murtaugh is in the house the bad guys jump in the car and the guy in the drivers seat starts the car when it was already running.
Correction: There is a significant period of time between the shots, more than enough time for Leo to turn the car off, which he would do when the car was warm enough.
Corrected entry: When Riggs is explaining to Murtaugh's wife how he found out his wife was killed, this is not how it happens (in the US). No police department would come upon a wreck and not personally (or have the agency where the officer lives) notify Riggs of his wife's death. The police community is too close. Maybe small town PD's don't but LAPD has directives on how to handle family member deaths for officers. Even if Riggs weren't an officer, no police department or hospital or doctor notifies anyone's immediate family of a serious / tragic death by phone and then asks them to drive to the morgue to "sign the body out" (identify the remains). They would tell them to come to the hospital, or wherever, making sure they have a ride, and then tell them about the death in person.
Correction: This falls under "what should" be done or "what could" be done. Just because it wasn't done, doesn't make it a mistake.
Corrected entry: During the opening car chase, a car pulls out in front of Riggs and Murtaugh and blocks their path. Just before it pulls out, the headlights on Murtaugh's station wagon flash which is the cue for the other stunt driver to move.
Correction: We don't know for sure it is a signal for the car to move. During a car chase, the occupants get thrown around and slide around on the seat, etc, making it more than possible the light switch can be switched on or off, let alone the fact that a short in the wiring could also cause it. Stunt drivers are generally using radios and have rehearsed the scene ad infinitum to do the scene, and flashing headlights may not be clear as a signal.
Corrected entry: In the opening scenes, Murtaugh and Riggs are pursuing and keeping up with a far faster BMW 635i in a big heavy Oldsmobile Delta 88 Wagon. Anyone who knows anything about cars knows that there is NO way a Delta 88 wagon could keep up with a BMW 635i in any pursuit.
Correction: It is a stretch, but a lot depends on the driver, the grade of the road and unknown modifications can also factor in.
Corrected entry: After Rudd and his men enter the office the hiding Riggs closes the door behind them. However, after Riggs shoots the aquarium he leaves through the open door. (01:03:20)
Correction: After Riggs shoots the aquarium it cuts to the bad guys trying to pick up the fish which gives Riggs plenty of time to open the door. As a matter of fact you can see the door move when the scene cuts back to him as he says 'Big Smiles', mocking the arian salute.
Corrected entry: If all the villains in this film are protected by diplomatic immunity, why is the guy who tried to kill Joe Pesci in the hotel running from Riggs and Murtaugh when they find his house? They couldn't have done anything to him anyway.
Correction: It's quite natural to panic when two armed police officers who witnessed you commit a felony (like attempted murder) turn up at your house looking for you. He was not thinking about immunity, he just wanted to get away from them.
Corrected entry: The equipment that's supposed to protect Riggs and Murtaugh from the ill effects of the loo bomb is more than insufficient: just a vest, no helmet, no face shield, and nothing for Murtaugh's rather endangered private parts. Furthermore, if the mechanism was triggered by the removal of Murtaugh's weight from the seat there would certainly have been a way to simulate the weight mechanically. (00:54:00)
Correction: That equipment would most likely have been all they had that would not require Murtaugh to get up to put it on, and was probably more to make him feel safer than to protect him. After all, he was sitting on top of a considerable amount of plastic explosive. What could save him if that went off? For all they know the bomb could be triggered by a change in the initial weight (ie. adding or removing something to fool it). Not worth the risk.
Corrected entry: After he's been thrown into the water, Riggs dislocates his left shoulder, but hits the car with his right shoulder to relocate it. (01:24:45)
Correction: It is his right shoulder that he dislocates both times. Under water you can even see him holding his right shoulder.
He dislocates the left shoulder to reach underneath the jacket but when it's off he holds the right.
Correction: He dislocates the left to reach under the jacket - you can see him jerk the left shoulder. But once the jacket is off he holds the right shoulder.
Corrected entry: When Riggs is thrown underwater he dislocates his shoulder to free himself, and as he does this he properly just rests his right arm at his side. However, once the jacket thing is off, he spots Rika and frantically swims to her. When he does this he uses both his right and left arm. After dislocating my shoulder three times, I can guarantee you it's nearly impossible to swim like he did with even the lightest degree of a dislocated shoulder. It's not a matter of being able to deal with the pain of moving your arm (which at that moment Riggs probably could've done), but the fact that a dislocated shoulder doesn't allow the arm to flex/move or rotate much farther than from your side. This is also made apparent as a deliberate 'mistake' when he climbs up and kills both men, then reduces (relocates) his shoulder. A dislocated shoulder pretty much limits most movement of said arm.
Correction: Even given your personal experience, it is still only your opinion. I, myself, have dislocated my shoulder many times, since an accident in my early teens. I can move my arm in an almost full range of motion even when it is dislocated, but it hurts like hell. If I saw the woman I was in love with underwater, the pain wouldn't matter.
Corrected entry: When Rika hands Rudd his morning faxes they are not faxes but printed sheets folded in the middle. Plus, in those days faxes would have been thermo printed and shown a tendency to roll up, since, as she said, they had just arrived in the morning. (00:48:00)
Correction: Not all fax machines in 1989 used thermal paper. In 1985 GammaLink introduced a computer based fax board, and by 1989 other companies, such as Xerox, allowed fax machines to be linked to computers with add-on PC boards which allowed users to view (and print) fax information from their computers. Even if that wasn't the case, a file clerk or secretary may have made photocopies of the faxes to prevent them from rolling or being damaged.
Correction: While this event is not very likely, the design of such a 'stilt' is intended to hold a vertical load (the weight of the house) up. The angled braces help to control lateral motion created by wind and such. Neither of these is designed to withstand deliberate attempts to pull the stilt out sideways near its base. Is it as easy to do as shown in the film? Perhaps not, but not impossible.
johnrosa