Question: Since they had satellite photos of the trains colliding, couldn't they simply look for where the other train went? Surely the satellite photos had been stored in order for them to look?
Question: At the end of the movie, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman are trying to remove one of the small explosive plates that surround the plutonium sphere in a nuclear weapon. Couldn't they have just disconnected the wire connected to the explosive plate to prevent that trigger charge detonating properly? Or would it have detonated because it was touching the other plates?
Question: Near the end of the movie, Dr. Julia Kelly asks an FBI guy about to enter his SUV where he is from. He answers Philadelphia, to which she asks for the keys to it and drives off. What was the meaning of this?
Answer: The F.B.I. agent was most likely called in from the Philadelphia office, which means he didn't know the streets of New York intimately. Time was short, and she needed to get moving, couldn't wait for a driver.
Question: Wouldn't they know something was up when the train explosion wasn't as huge as it should have been (because many of the bombs were missing, and thus making the explosion smaller)?
Answer: The two train engines colliding caused the explosions, all the other cars derailed. All the warheads were carefully packed and disarmed.
Answer: Presumably they couldn't take the risk that removing the wire would stop that plate detonating, and/or were worried that there might be a failsafe to detect a wire being cut. Physically removing the charge seemed like the safer bet.
Jon Sandys ★