Trivia: The password cracked to enter the safe is Akagi / Red Castle, the name of an aircraft carrier which seemingly Takagi's grandfather served on. It fought in the Battle of Midway, under the command of Vice Admiral Nagumo. James Shigeta, who played Takagi in this film, also played Nagumo in the 1976 film Midway.
Jon Sandys
26th Nov 2021
Die Hard (1988)
13th Dec 2019
Die Hard (1988)
Plot hole: After they shoot the glass and McClane escapes, the terrorists all just leave. There are limited ways out of the room, there must be a blood trail over the glass, he's moving slowly...and they let him go.
13th Dec 2019
Die Hard (1988)
Question: The armoured vehicle that gets sent in when the SWAT team are struggling to get in, before they're even attacked...what's that meant to actually achieve? If it's just meant to smash the doors, the men with guns could do that. And if not...will it just sit there?
13th Dec 2019
Die Hard (1988)
Question: They say the wires for the electromagnetic seal "can't be cut locally" - how is that possible? I mean at some point the electricity for them has to come into the building, surely?
Chosen answer: I took this to mean that cutting the lines themselves wouldn't open the safe. The safe is designed such that the physical locks could be destroyed but the electromagnetic lock wouldn't open unless the power to the entire building was shut off.
But my point is they've got control of the building, including the basement/anywhere else. General power has to enter the building from the street somewhere, and I don't see how they wouldn't be able to just cut through a main power cable and achieve exactly the same result as a switch being flipped by a city engineer.
The city engineer shuts down an entire city grid. I think that has something to do with it. It's not as simple as cutting a power line or flipping a switch.
I get that's the argument, I just don't see how. Because eventually it has to come down to the building being connected to the city grid via...something, and I don't see why the bad guys couldn't just interfere with that "something" themselves. There's either a technical reason or it's a plot hole, but I'm not really bothered about the mistake aspect, it's more just a query my brain can't let go of and I want the answer. :-).
Answer: There's no mention as to where the cables actually enter the building. They could come in via the basement, there could be a separate utility room that can only be accessed from outside or the cables could simply be inside a wall somewhere. They'd probably need to find the building blueprints to find out where the cables come into the building.
18th Dec 2018
Die Hard (1988)
Trivia: All the terrorists are wearing the same make of watch, a fact that was cut from the movie. On leaving the truck at the start they synchronised them, and after killing some of the men, McClane noticed the matching watches. This is primarily what gave away "Bill Clay" as being a terrorist - McClane, already suspicious, noticed the brand of watch he was wearing. These references were cut because of a change to the script. The ambulance being used at the end was a late addition, however the synchronisation scene took place in the truck, where there was blatantly no ambulance (as noted in the mistake section). As such they cut that shot as short as possible, banking on audiences not registering the lack of ambulance, but the price was having to lose all reference to the watches.
29th Jun 2004
Die Hard (1988)
Continuity mistake: At the start in the limo, when Argyle is listing all the features of the car, the bear is dead centre of the back seats. The very next shot is in the rear view mirror, and the bear's now over by the window. (00:06:00)
2nd May 2003
Die Hard (1988)
Continuity mistake: When he's climbing down the vents, the strap unties, and Bruce Willis falls. He misses the vent he was reaching for, and falls past the next one, so we assume he catches the third one down. However, after he flicks off his lighter, the camera pans up from the lit vent to Karl, and we can see that he somehow grabbed and climbed into the vent he definitely fell right past in the shot from above. (00:48:30)
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Answer: I believe it is supposed to be that it was a precautionary measure and probably standard operating procedure to have it on site when dealing with a terrorist situation. To have it at the ready for if they needed it. Not only this, but a large armored vehicle like that could serve as physiological warfare to make the terrorist more fearful merely by it just being there. A show of strength. As for using it on the door, yes, guys with guns can smash those doors. But guys with guns are still targets to be shot at especially though glass doors. The armored vehicle can smash through it and get the men inside without exposing them to small arms fire.
Quantom X ★
But why send the armoured car into the lobby before being attacked? And why send it in in the first place? Once it's in the lobby it becomes a sitting duck. Easy pickings for when the occupants decide to disembark.
Ssiscool ★
In some cases, maybe. But the vehicle itself still provides cover for the men in it. They usually would exit from the back or the top, and have that as something to hide against or shoot from. Also, most armored SWAT vehicles like that usually have a very high powered water cannon on the top that has the pressure of a fire truck. This can quickly subdue any hostile forces and knock their defenses down, giving the SWAT ample time to make their move while the enemy is still recovering. Not only this, but the vehicle can have inside more equipment the SWAT members can use, like throwing out smoke and flash bang grenades, or have riot shields as the exit. But this at least gets them inside and up where they can do good. If they tried to walk up to the door without cover, they would be easy pickings from small arms fire and snipers.
Quantom X ★
Good answer. I would add that presumably, the SWAT vehicle could be put in reverse, and once the front entrance was breached, it would back up. Also, this being a movie, it's shown that the overall police and F.B.I. response is supposed to be somewhat bungled, with different egotistical characters vying for control. Plot wise, it shows how well armed the "terrorists" are supposed to be by blowing up the SWAT vehicle with a missile, and how they anticipate and outsmart the police's every move. This is not reality.
raywest ★